The podcast delves into the psychology behind emotional eating and its impact on our relationship with food. It explores the reasons behind emotional eating, the influence of hormones and stress, and the role of diet culture. The speaker shares personal experiences and provides insights on intuitive eating and strategies to manage emotional eating. They also discuss cravings and the influence of advertisements on our food choices. Overall, the podcast aims to help listeners develop a healthier relationship with food and regain control over their diet and emotional eating habits.
Emotional eating is using food as a way to cope with difficult feelings or as a distraction, and recognizing emotional triggers and finding alternative coping mechanisms can help break the cycle.
Developing a healthier relationship with food involves understanding that food has no moral value, listening to our body's cues for physical hunger, and overcoming the unhealthy perception of certain foods as good or bad.
Deep dives
Understanding Emotional Eating
Emotional eating goes beyond eating for hunger or physical necessity. It occurs when we use food to cope with difficult feelings or as a distraction. Stress is a common trigger for emotional eating, as it triggers cravings for fatty and sugary foods. Boredom and loneliness are other emotional triggers that lead to mindless snacking and food as a source of entertainment or comfort. Recognizing emotional triggers and finding alternative coping mechanisms like exercise or stress management techniques can help break the cycle of emotional eating.
The Psychological Relationship With Food
Our relationship with food is complex and influenced by societal, cultural, and biological factors. Food can be more than just fuel; it can be linked to emotions, self-worth, and self-esteem. Diet culture and social media contribute to the unhealthy perception of certain foods as good or bad, leading to guilt and shame around eating. Understanding that food has no moral value and learning to listen to our body's cues for physical hunger can help develop a healthier relationship with food.
The Biological Basis of Emotional Eating
Emotional eating is rooted in the biological impact that food has on our brains and hormones. Consuming certain foods, particularly those high in fat and sugar, releases dopamine and triggers our brain's reward system. This can create a reliance on food to regulate emotions, leading to a cycle of emotional eating. Stress and anxiety also impact our eating behavior, with cortisol triggering cravings for comfort foods. Recognizing the physiological and emotional connections between food and mood can help develop strategies to manage emotional eating.
Overcoming Emotional Eating
Overcoming emotional eating involves identifying emotional triggers such as stress, boredom, or loneliness and finding alternative coping mechanisms that are healthier and more productive. Strategies can include engaging in physical exercise to release cortisol and reduce stress, practicing mindfulness and emotional awareness to differentiate between physical and emotional hunger, and adopting intuitive eating principles that focus on listening to the body's natural cues for hunger and fullness rather than external rules or restrictions.
Our relationship with food is so much more psychological then it appears to be, and the evidence for that can be seen with emotional eating. Sometimes we eat as a way to process or regulate our emotions, rather than from actual hunger. This can disrupt our relationship with food and lead us to develop unhealthy coping mechanisms. In today's episode, we discuss:
The psychology behind emotional eating
Why we emotionally eat
The impact of our hormones and stress response
How diet culture is putting food in control
The truth about intuitive eating
Tips to manage your emotional eating
And more!
I also share my own journey with emotional eating and how my relationship with food has evolved in my 20s. Listen now.