Can the Presence of Mental Health Issues Masquerade as Increased Hunger?

Do you often find yourself stuck in a loop of eating even if you aren’t hungry and then feeling guilty about it? Do you often find yourself bingeing on food products rich in sugar during stressful times? Does your body crave palatable food just after you have had a bad day at work?  If yes, then you aren’t alone, a lot of youngsters face this. This is a common phenomenon called as “Emotional Eating”.

Read More: From Comfort to Compulsion: Decoding the Secrets of Emotional Eating

What is Emotional Eating?

As defined by Van, Emotional eating is the “tendency to overeat in response to negative emotions such as anxiety, stress or irritability” and is often used as a coping mechanism to deal with negative emotions. Research shows that females often use food as a distraction mechanism during times of emotional arousal, which is often followed by overwhelming feelings of guilt. Emotional regulation can be seen as a proxy for maladaptive emotional regulation. Even during normal circumstances, emotional eaters have been found to consume sweet and energy-dense products more than others.

It has been seen that emotional eating usually develops during high school or college due to increased levels of stress. Another factor that motivates this behaviour is the easy access to a wide variety of food products that are rich in solid fats and sugar by virtue of fancy cafes, roadside food stalls and food delivery apps like Swiggy and Zomato and the limited access to healthier food choices.

Read More: The Psychology Behind Coping Mechanisms

How does emotional eating act as a coping mechanism?

As said by Kaplan, intense emotional arousals like increased stress levels can often cause an individual to become insensitive to their own cues of hunger and satiety. Individuals often get confused between emotional arousal and hunger and misinterpret the arousal sensation as hunger which results in overeating. In line with this, research shows that stress leads to increased production of Cortisol, a hormone that helps our body to stay alert during flight or fight situations. The same hormone is also responsible for stimulating hunger appetite and sugar cravings, creating a need to consume foods that are rich in sugar.

Another explanation of emotional eating can be attributed to the reward system of our brain. This system is mechanized to reward the brain whenever a person engages in an activity that encourages survival. Hence, when a person eats, the brain interprets it as doing the right thing and releases the feel-good chemicals including the neurotransmitter Dopamine, which creates a feeling of pleasure.

Now, food products rich in fats and sugar can cause rewards that are more powerful than the rewards caused by whole foods. Hence, during times of stress consuming food products rich in fats and sugar helps in releasing Dopamine which increases the feeling of pleasure and tones down the intensity of negative emotions.

Why is emotional eating a concern?

Emotional eating involves the consumption of food products containing high sugar and fats, in amounts more than the body requires. This leads to weight gain and can lead to overweight and obesity over a period of time. Individuals who are overweight have a greater risk of developing chronic health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, arthritis, cancer, hypertension etc. Research showed that students scoring high on emotional eating assessments had BMIs higher than students with lower emotional eating scores. On average, a college student gains 5kgs of weight during the duration of their course.

Read More: Mindful Eating: A Path to Healthier Relationships with Food

How to differentiate between real hunger and emotional hunger?

Distinctions can be made between hunger eating motives, that is eating out of hunger and desire to eat motives, that is eating out of cravings for food. The PrivateDetoxBox writes about various signs that can help us differentiate between real hunger and physical hunger.

• Real hunger can be satisfied with any kind of food that is available to you but emotional hunger craves food that is rich in sugar or solid fats and mostly occurs in situations when one is bored, irritated or has a low mood.
• Real hunger usually develops gradually but in emotional hunger, the urge to eat is sudden. When one is physically hungry, one will experience an empty sensation in the stomach often leading to hunger pains.
• When someone is hungry, they will feel full after eating and will stop eating but someone who is emotionally hungry often finds it difficult to stop eating.
• Real hunger involves mindful eating and feeling good after being full whereas emotional eating is often followed by feelings of guilt.

Read More: Orthorexia Nervosa: The Obsession with ‘Healthy’ Eating

Tips To Stop Emotional Eating

• Identify if it is physical hunger or emotional hunger: Wait for five minutes before you run to grab a meal when hungry. Ask yourself if you are hungry or are your emotions responsible for the cravings. Try to indulge in some other activity like listening to a song or calling a dear one till the urge passes. Try to drink water, it just might be a feeling of dehydration.
• Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness-based exercises like belly breathing, guided meditation and yoga will make you mindful of your actions and your surroundings and help you make healthier choices. You can find guides to these exercises online. Also, try to practice mindfulness while eating, and try to understand the signals your body sends you when you are hungry and when you are full.
• Maintain a Food Diary: Keep an account of what and when you eat in a day. This will help you identify the triggers of your emotional eating.
• Identify your triggers of emotional eating: The first thing to do is to identify the situations that make you stressed and trigger your emotional eating.
• Physical exercise: Moving your body can help you cope with stress and anxiety by reducing levels of stress hormones in your body and releasing endorphins to mood your boost.
• Find better coping mechanisms: Try to find adaptive coping mechanisms that you can turn to in times of stress. This can involve activities that you like doing including listening to music, journaling, colour yoga, reading a good book etc.
• Seek Support: In case of severe distress associated with emotional eating, one should consult a mental health professional. They will support you in identifying your triggers and help you adapt coping mechanisms that are healthier. You can also consult a dietitian to help you plan your meals and exercise routine.