Many people think they crave food because they are hungry. But the truth is, there are plenty of times people want to eat only because they want to cheer themselves up. This kind of eating is called emotional eating.
According to a report from The Daily Mail which was originally posted in Healthista, falling into the habit of being an emotional eater can cause problems later on. Emotional eating can be described as eating for reasons other than hunger which include feeling bored, frustrated, tired, sad and stressed.
"Everybody's an emotional eater some of the time," says Dr. Julia Buckroyd, psychologist and eating behavior expert. "In all human societies, food has been used to mark life events from births to funerals to coming of age parties, so few people eat only in response to physiological need such as hunger, all the time."
Emotional eating can be considered as a problem if it is already causing you to gain excessive weight, affect your relationships and eat with feelings of shame or guilt, according to Dr Buckroyd.
Dr Ken Goss, writer of "The Compassionate Mind Approach to Beating Overeating", says that fatty and sugary foods or junk foods are similar to anti-depressant medicines when talking about its effects on a person's mood.
"Scientists have in fact used brain-scanning technology to prove that eating substances such as sugar, fat and salt is closely linked to emotional centres in the brain, proving we literally self-medicate our feelings with food," says the report. The problem is that people abuse food as an emotional crutch which leads to a host of health problems. Emotional eating can also make people ignore the healthier ways to cheer up like socializing with others.
According to Help Guide, one of the ways to beat emotional eating is by practicing healthy lifestyle habits. Regular exercise, relaxation and socializing with others are healthier ways to cheer up -- a whole lot better compared to always relying on emotional eating.
