Many of us have a pattern of consuming foods to cope with either positive emotions like happiness/joy or negative emotions like stress/anxiety etc. This is termed as emotional eating. This emotional eating has become common these days and the bitter truth is that emotional eating could affect our overall health.
This emotional eating is totally different from physical hunger. In physical hunger, there would be a physical need for nourishment but emotional eating is due to the emotional or psychological needs.
There are certain signs that would reveal us that we are emotionally eating and these signs are
Eating when not hungry:
There are times when a person would eat while not feeling hungry and this is one important sign of emotional eating. Person would consume food to satisfy their emotional requirements but not on the need to fuel the body.
Cravings for certain foods:
Based on the emotions, people would crave for specific foods when they eat emotionally. It must be taken into note that when a person gets depressed then he or she might consume particular foods like ice creams etc.
Eating to numb emotions:
There are some people with emotions who would try to overcome their emotions by eating foods. Truth is that by eating specific foods they would be able to find relief from issues like anxiety and depression etc.
Eating alone:
To overcome their emotional feelings, people sometimes eat food alone. This is also one important sign of emotional eating.
Eating even after feeling full:
Normally, when a person feels full after eating, then the person would stop eating foods. In case of emotional eating,the person would continue to eat foods inspite of feeling full. It is believed that these persons might feel a sense of comfort from eating.
Eating due to triggers:
There are certain specific triggers present in the emotional eaters and these triggers would lead to eating behaviour.
Issues in regulating intake of foods:
It would be tough for the emotional food eaters to regulate the intake of foods. As a result, they would over eat. By y this, these persons might gain weight or might even get other health issues.