Emotional Eating Print

by Andrea Holwegner | Nov 8, 2012

Listen to my QR77 Radio Program here:

Every Monday at 4:15pm on QR77 Radio join me and Angela Kokott host of Calgary Today with our segment “You are what you eat” to get the goods on healthy eating. If you missed my segments I will be archiving these audio discussions on my blog here.

Episode 35 – Emotional eating

Listen to Episode 35 here: Emotional eating

Understand “stomach hunger”

Stomach hunger can be defined as the physical symptoms that remind us we need to eat.

You may relate to signs such as the stomach rumbles, a feeling of emptiness in the stomach or lowered mood, energy or concentration. If you ignore these symptoms, you may even feel hostile, depressed, very lethargic, shaky or headachy.

Children are great role models.  They intuitively trust their own biologic reasons to eat: they naturally eat at sporadic times and the amount they eat always fluctuates based on stomach hunger and growth.

Listen for “emotional hunger”

Chances are good that the main reason you are overeating is not about food at all.

Gorging on a bunch of cookies or chips may be more about feeling unsatisfied and undeserving. It may also be about feeling that your body isn’t good enough the way it is or that you are lonely, sad or mad.

Everyone eats for emotional reasons sometimes. It is perfectly normal to eat when you are sad, mad, happy or stressed. However, if your eating is bringing you down and making you feel uncomfortable regularly, there is hope if you are willing to ask yourself some tough questions.

Here are the three most important questions you need to contemplate:

1.  What is eating me? What am I “stuffing”?  If I am eating when I am not truly hungry, is it because I am stressed, sad, bored, angry, worried, etc.?

2.  What am I hungry for? What am I looking for in my life that has not come my way yet? What fulfils me and brings me joy?

3.  How can I comfort myself without food? How else can I soothe or nurture myself? Is there an enjoyable hobby, task or activity that I could do instead of turning to food?

If you are brave enough to really explore these questions and do the work to solve them, I guarantee your relationship with your body and weight will improve.