What is the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger?

Emotional hunger comes on suddenly. it hits you and feels overwhelming & urgent. physical hunger, comes on gradually, and you don’t feel the urgent demand for instant satisfaction.
Emotional hunger craves specific comfort foods. When you are really hungry, just about any type of food sounds good. But when emotional hunger hits, you crave things like sugary snacks, or junk food that give you an instant rush. You feel like you NEED that ice cream or pizza or chocolate and nothing else will do.
Emotional hunger can lead to mindless eating. When emotional hunger hits and you grab that junk food or ice cream, before you know it, you have eaten a whole bag or finished half the carton without really paying attention to it or really enjoying it. When you are eating out of true hunger, you are typically more aware of what you are eating.
Emotional hunger isn’t satisfied once you are full. Typically, when you are eating out of emotional stress, you keep wanting more and more and often eat until you so stuffed you feel sick. Physical hunger, doesn’t need to be stuffed, you feel satisfied when your stomach is full.
Emotional hunger isn’t located in the stomach. When your emotions are in control in this situation, you feel hunger as a craving you can’t get out of your head. You are focused on specific smells, tastes and textures instead of having a growling stomach or typical hunger pang in your stomach.
Emotional hunger leads to guilt, regret or shame. When you eat when you are hungry, to give yourself fuel, you don’t feel guilty or ashamed because you are doing a natural thing – giving food as fuel to your body because it needs it. When you are eating out of emotional stress, you typically feel guilty because you know that you are not eating because your body needs it, you are eating foods that aren’t that great for you and don’t make you feel good afterwards.

So how do you identify what is making you an emotional eater?

Check in to see if these could be some of the reasons you are doing emotional eating:

Emotional eating can not only be linked to stress and unpleasant feelings, but it can also be linked to rewarding yourself for achievements or celebrations! Not always bad, but if it is happening too often, it can sabotage your health goals!!

Are you eating to stuff down emotions? Anger, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, shame, resentment? When you are stuffing yourself, you are avoiding dealing with those emotions.
Are you bored or feeling empty? Are you eating to give yourself something to do? Are you trying to fill a void? Feeling unfulfilled and empty?
Are you eating out of a childhood habit? Rewarding good behavior with ice cream, eating sugary sweets when you are sad, rewarding yourself with a pizza? These habits can be carried over into adulthood – maybe you have good feelings that come when you eat certain foods – mac and cheese that your mom made, chicken pot pie that gives you memories of home.
Social influences – getting together with friends is wonderful but it can also lead to overindulging because the food is there and everyone else is eating. You may also overeat out of nervousness – not knowing many people so you just fill your plate and eat to stay busy. Maybe your family or friends encourage you to overeat and it’s just easier to do it than politely refuse.
Are you eating out of stress? Stress can make you feel hungry, it’s actually a response your body has. Chronic stress can make your body produce high levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Cortisol triggers cravings for salty, sweet and fried foods – and these foods give you a burst of energy and pleasure – the more uncontrolled stress in your life, the more likely you will turn to food for emotional relief.

REMEMBER, FOOD ISN’T BAD….IT IS OKAY TO INDULGE IN THESE FOODS ONCE IN A WHILE, BUT IF YOU ARE DOING IT MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, AND YOU STRUGGLE WITH BEING OVERWEIGHT, HIGH-BLOOD PRESSURE, HIGH CHOLESTEROL, ETC. THAN YOU MAY NEED TO RE-THINK YOUR EATING HABITS!

HOW DO YOU STOP EMOTIONAL EATING?

Well, you have to find other ways to deal with your emotions:

Diet’s often fail because they have great nutritional advice, but it only works if you have conscious control over your eating habits – when your emotions kick-in, it can sometimes sabotage your efforts!

You have to find other ways to fulfill yourself emotionally in order to be able to control and stop the emotional eating. You can understand that triggers and WHY you do emotional eating, but that’s not enough. You need a plan to CHANGE those habits when you get triggered, an alternative to the food!

1. If you are feeling depressed or lonely, call someone that always makes you feel good, play with an animal, volunteer at a local shelter, look back at a favorite vacation you took,.

2. If you struggle with anxiety, spend that energy doing something like walking, dancing, squeezing a stress ball, or some type of movement that will help you spend that energy! Try a boxing bag!

3. If you are exhausted – try a hot up of herbal tea, take a candle lit bath, wrap up in a blanket and read a favorite book. Take care of yourself, rather than keep going.

4. If you are bored, find a good book, take up a new hobby, think about something you used to love to do: knitting, quilting, playing piano/guitar, painting, playing a sport, scrapbooking…

5. Learn to accept your emotions that trigger you and work through them. Get help! Get a therapist and work through those triggers if they are painful!!

6. Take a pause when you feel those emotions are too strong – pause before you eat and ask yourself if this food is really going to make you feel better. are you really that hungry. Picture yourself after eating it and remember how it makes you feel….do you want to go there again?

Can you put it off for 5 minutes? Can you drink a hot cup of tea instead? Remember, you got this! You can replace old habits with new and better ones once you identify your triggers.