On the Coast – Families Issue 102 I October/November 2019 | 页面 34

eating
Managing emotional
BY NICOLE SALIBA
I
f you’ve turned to food when you
were stressed, bored, anxious or upset
even if you weren’t hungry, you are
most definitely not alone.
Emotional eating or comfort eating is a
common human instinct and a behaviour
we learn from a young age.
Just think back to visiting the doctor’s
office and receiving a lolly for getting
your childhood needles. We also know
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from experience that it actually works.
Emotional eating can help to soothe
emotional distress at a chemical level in
the body.
So what exactly is emotional eating?
Emotional eating is defined as the practice
of consuming food, usually ‘comfort’
foods, in response to difficult feelings such
as stress or sadness even when not
experiencing physical hunger. If you are
someone who emotionally eats from time
to time, this is very much normal and
nothing to worry about. If you however
constantly find yourself in a viscous cycle
of emotional eating then it can become
more of an issue. Food for some people is
consistently used as a way of dealing with
negative, stressful or difficult emotions,
which often leads to overeating followed
by feelings of guilt and poor self-worth.