EMOTIONAL EATING can be described as an eating behaviour that changes with changes in a person’s mood. Remember the time you were stressed about your work and wolfed down an entire bar of chocolate and still felt dissatisfied? Or the way chips disappear from your bowl when you are bored or alone? Those were the occasions when you gave in to your emotions and indulged in food as a form of escape instead of dealing with your emotions.

What makes one an emotional eater?

It is normal to try and divert your attention when you are faced with a problem. This can happen consciously or unconsciously, but can especially be manifested as a diversion through eating. There are myriad emotions that urge you to eat and these include stress, anxiety, anger, sadness, depression, boredom, or loneliness. Varying life events and life stages can also trigger spates of overeating and indulgence in the ‘wrong’ type of foods.

Check for yourself

Here are a few points that can help you decide whether you are an emotional eater:

• Do you eat when you are not hungry?
• Do you eat when you are bored or unoccupied?
• Do you eat immediately following a fit of anger or when you are lonely or sad?
• Do you feel guilty after eating?
• Do you crave for different types of foods when you are going through different moods, such as anger associated with salty foods and depression with sweets?
• Does eating make you feel better for a short time when you have been burdened with problems?

If your answers to most of the questions listed above are in the affirmative, you are an emotional eater.

When and how does it start?

Emotional eating can start from a very young age. It is probably initiated by those considerate gestures from loving kin who bought you a sweet when you were feeling low or as a reward for doing well in school. This blends into one’s nature and becomes part of childhood behaviour — seeking comfort food when you feel low or hurt, tough and chewy foods when angry and sugary foods when tired. This continues into adulthood and becomes an integral part of your eating habits. Foods such as coffee, tea and chocolates can add to this problem by virtue of their capability to induce addiction given their mediation in the release of chemicals that either perk you up or induce a feeling of happiness.