Anxiety About Eating: It’s Not Hunger, It’s Your Emotions

Sadness also eats away, as does the stress or frustration of that bad day at work. People are not always able to distinguish real hunger from emotional hunger and something like this causes the anxiety to eat often ends up translating into cholesterol, hypertension, being overweight or other health problems. Now, beyond these organic problems there is another more complex challenge.

We talk about suffering. We refer to dissatisfaction, guilt and unhappiness. It is true that there are nuances. We have all gone through that specific time in time when our nerves have caused us to fall into more inappropriate eating patterns. The times of exams or of greater workload cause that we sometimes derive in these behaviors.

However, there are other realities that often go unnoticed. Eating disorders often manifest in this way. At the end of the day, food is intimately conditioned by our state of mind and, sometimes, we fall into states from which it is very difficult for us to get out. Emotional hunger will never ask us for a plate of vegetables.

Anxiety has a predilection for “junk food.” Thus, in case of not treating what is behind the anxiety itself, we will reinforce the same behavior over and over again, the one in which food becomes the vehicle for emotional relief.

Anxiety to eat: symptoms, causes and coping strategies

The anxiety to eat, if it becomes a constant, already reflects an eating disorder. Moreover, much of the scientific studies on this subject show that anxiety disorders are, in most cases, the etiological factor of this type of eating problem.

Research, such as that carried out in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota (United States), tells us about this relationship. Study author Dr. Corine Webb points out that many of these people have, on average, poor skills to handle those emotional states that drive compulsive hunger. These are undoubtedly complex situations of which we should have more knowledge. We analyze them.

How do I know if I have anxiety about eating?

It may seem like a no-brainer. “How can I not know if I have anxiety about eating?” . As striking as it may seem, it is not always so, since there are many people who do not know how to differentiate real hunger from emotional hunger.

Let’s see some characteristic data of the latter.

• The urge to eat something appears suddenly and impulsively and in the form of cravings.

• Generally, we do these episodes of food intake due to anxiety alone, with no one in front of us.
• The brain basically looks for foods that generate pleasure, that provide us with a high cocktail of serotonin. Something like this is only produced by so-called “junk food”, which we can eat compulsively.
• Emotional hunger arises most intensely just when we have many obligations and pressures. For example, today we should have started with that project that must be presented next week at work. However, instead of doing it, we have sat on the couch with a couple of packets of chips, a pizza and an ice cream.
• That appetite isn’t physiological, but it’s still rarely satiated. We ingest and ingest until we feel the classic fullness in the stomach, although in reality the only thing we seek is to heal emptiness, turn off the anxiety and deceive it with something gratifying.

• Now, it is necessary to bear in mind that eating out of anxiety produces feelings of guilt. We proceed to eat to calm the emotional craving, but in doing so, far from feeling satisfied, discomfort appears.
• We feel bad to ourselves for not being in control. We know these foods are unhealthy, and feeling like we couldn’t help ourselves is even more frustrating.

Emotional hunger what is the cause?

The trigger for anxiety to eat is obviously our emotions. These moods are usually orchestrated in turn by very different situations, but on average the following are worth highlighting:

• High self-demand. 
• Constant need to have everything under control. This may seem like an irony, but it has an explanation: the need for everything to be under our reins and in order can exhaust us and suddenly generate a rebound effect. That exhaustion seeks an escape valve with the intake of junk food.

• Low self-esteem and see in food a rewarding refuge.
• Food is seen as an escape mechanism for times of high stress or simply when we have a bad day.

Strategies to reduce and control anxiety to eat

To reduce the anxiety to eat we must take into account one aspect. If we have been dragging this behavior for a long time, it is a priority to consult a professional who specializes in eating disorders. Both psychologists and nutritionists are the best allies in these situations.

On the other hand, if it is something occasional, if we are aware that at certain times we get for these behaviors, for falling into unhealthy eating habits, it is advisable to follow the following guidelines.

• Clarify the sources of stress and anxiety that drive you to eat impulsively. Manage them, focus on them differently and have control over them.
• Introduce changes in your routine, something motivating that helps you channel anxiety: play sports, sign up for dance classes .
• Looking for other types of rewards can help.
• Avoid eating alone.
• Plan what you are going to eat. Do not leave room for improvisation.
• Go to the supermarket with an already detailed list of healthy foods. Remember, in turn, the classic advice ” what you do not put in the shopping cart will not be at home and therefore, you will avoid temptations”
• Learn to manage your emotions, practice relaxation techniques.

To conclude, we have all dealt with the emptiness of emotional hunger for more than one moment. With that hole in the stomach that rarely satiates food. Those internal clefts are always the product of a mind that demands attention, of a self-esteem that must be repaired and reinforced. Do not hesitate to consult a good professional; our physical and psychological health is important.