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Eating to feed a feeling, and not a growling stomach, is emotional eating.ByHeather Hatfield
WebMD FeatureReviewed byCharlotte E. Grayson Mathis, MD


When you're happy, your food of choice could be steak or pizza, when you're sad it could be ice cream or Cookies, and when you're bored it could be potato chips. Food does more than fill our stomachs -- it also satisfies feelings, and when you quench those feelings with comfort food when your stomach isn't growling, that's
emotional eating.


"Emotional eating is eating for reasons other than
hunger," says Jane Jakubczak, a registered dietitian at the University of Maryland. "Instead of the physical symptom of hunger initiating the eating, an emotion triggers the eating."

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What are the telltale signs of emotional eating, what foods are the most likely culprits when it comes to emotional eating, and how it can be overcome? Experts help WebMD find the answers.



How to Tell the Difference



There are several differences between emotional hunger and physical hunger, according to the University of Texas Counseling and Mental Health Center web site:



1. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly; physical hunger occurs gradually.



2. When you are eating to fill a void that isn't related to an empty stomach, you crave a specific food, such as pizza or ice cream, and only that food will meet your need. When you eat because you are actually hungry, you're open to options.



3. Emotional hunger feels like it needs to be satisfied instantly with the food you crave; physical hunger can wait.



4. Even when you are full, if you're eating to satisfy an emotional need, you're more likely to keep eating. When you're eating because you're hungry, you're more likely to stop when you're full.



5. Emotional eating can leave behind feelings of guilt; eating when you are physically hungry does not.



Comfort Foods



When emotional hunger rumbles, one of its distinguishing characteristics is that you're focused on a particular food, which is likely a comfort food.



"Comfort foods are foods a person eats to obtain or maintain a feeling," says Brian Wansink, PhD, director of the Food and Brand Lab at the University of Illinois. "Comfort foods are often wrongly associated with negative moods, and indeed, people often consume them when they're down or depressed, but interestingly enough, comfort foods are also consumed to maintain good moods."



Ice cream is first on the comfort food list. After ice cream, comfort foods break down by sex: For women it's chocolate and cookies; for men it's pizza, steak, and casserole, explains Wansink.



And what you reach for when eating to satisfy an emotion depends on the emotion. According to an article by Wansink, published in the July 2000 American Demographics, "The types of comfort foods a person is drawn toward varies depending on their mood. People in happy moods tended to prefer ... foods such as pizza or steak (32%). Sad people reached for ice cream and cookies 39% of the time, and 36% of bored people opened up a bag of potato chips."


Overfeeding Emotions
"We all eat for emotional reasons sometimes," says Jakubczak, who has talked to college students at the University of Maryland about emotional eating.



When eating becomes the only or main strategy a person uses to manage emotions, explains Jakubczak, then problems arise -- especially if the foods a person is choosing to eat to satisfy emotions aren't exactly healthy.



"If you eat when you are not hungry, chances are your body does not need the calories," says Jakubczak. "If this happens too often, the extra calories get stored as fat, and too much fat storage can cause one to be
overweight, which may present some health risks."


According to an interview with Jakubczak on the University of Maryland web site, 75% of overeating is caused by emotions, so dealing with emotions appropriately is important.



Recognizing Emotional Eating



"The first thing one needs to do to overcome emotional eating is to recognize it," says Jakubczak. "Keeping a food record and ranking your hunger from 1-10 each time you put something in your mouth will bring to light 'if' and 'when' you are eating for reasons other than hunger."



Next, you need to learn techniques that help manage emotions besides eating, explains Jakubczak.



"Oftentimes when a child is sad, we cheer them up with a sweet treat," says Jakubczak. "This behavior gets reinforced year after year until we are practicing the same behavior as adults. We never learned how to deal with the sad feeling because we always pushed it away with a sweet treat. Learning how to deal with feelings without food is a new skill many of us need to learn."



Managing Emotional Eating



Here are a few tips to help you deal with emotional eating:



Recognize emotional eating and learn what triggers this behavior in you. Make a list of things to do when you get the urge to eat and you're not hungry, and carry it with you, according to the Tufts Nutrition web site. When you feel overwhelmed, you can put off that desire by doing another enjoyable activity. Try taking a walk, calling a friend, playing cards, cleaning your room, doing laundry, or something productive to take your mind off the craving -- even taking a nap, according to the Tufts Nutrition web site. When you do get the urge to eat when you're not hungry, find a comfort food that's healthy instead of junk food. "Comfort foods don't need to be unhealthy," says Wansink. For some, leaving comfort foods behind when they're dieting can be emotionally difficult. Wansink tells WebMD, "The key is moderation, not elimination." He suggests dividing comfort foods into smaller portions. For instance, if you have a large bag of chips, divide it into smaller containers or baggies and the temptation to eat more than one serving can be avoided. When it comes to comfort foods that aren't always healthy, like fattening Desserts, Wansink also offers this piece of information: "Your memory of a food peaks after about four bites, so if you only have those bites, a week later you'll recall it as just a good experience than if you polished off the whole thing." So have a few bites of cheesecake, then call it quits, and you'll get equal the pleasure with lower cost.
Lastly, remember that emotional eating is something that most people do when they're bored, happy, or sad. It might be a bag of chips or a steak, but whatever the food choice, learning how to control it and using moderation are key.






**Found on the webmd site**

I'm actually in Delaware, but couldn't find any support groups for this area. Hope you don't mind if I "tag" along...

yes, i have.. its soothing for me sometimes and i look for the cold water instead of room temp.

Yippie! I had to go shopping last night for new clothes for work, and was quite happy to see I am in a size 16 now! I started off as a 20 (probably should have been a 22, but I was in denial, lol), and while the scale hasn't moved as quickly as I would have liked, it is nice to have this happen. Made me feel really, really confident!

Yippie! I had to go shopping last night for new clothes for work, and was quite happy to see I am in a size 16 now! I started off as a 20 (probably should have been a 22, but I was in denial, lol), and while the scale hasn't moved as quickly as I would have liked, it is nice to have this happen. Made me feel really, really confident!

hmmmmmm......this was my own thread and all the responses "were" geared towards my post. Thanks anyway.

Yippie! I had to go shopping last night for new clothes for work, and was quite happy to see I am in a size 16 now! I started off as a 20 (probably should have been a 22, but I was in denial, lol), and while the scale hasn't moved as quickly as I would have liked, it is nice to have this happen. Made me feel really, really confident!

Yippie! I had to go shopping last night for new clothes for work, and was quite happy to see I am in a size 16 now! I started off as a 20 (probably should have been a 22, but I was in denial, lol), and while the scale hasn't moved as quickly as I would have liked, it is nice to have this happen. Made me feel really, really confident!

Yippie! I had to go shopping last night for new clothes for work, and was quite happy to see I am in a size 16 now! I started off as a 20 (probably should have been a 22, but I was in denial, lol), and while the scale hasn't moved as quickly as I would have liked, it is nice to have this happen. Made me feel really, really confident!

Yippie! I had to go shopping last night for new clothes for work, and was quite happy to see I am in a size 16 now! I started off as a 20 (probably should have been a 22, but I was in denial, lol), and while the scale hasn't moved as quickly as I would have liked, it is nice to have this happen. Made me feel really, really confident!

When were you banded? I was having similar frustrations last month because I went in and complained how I was able to eat like I did before surgery, and I had even gained some weight back. The PAC told me she wanted me to learn to eat properly, and that she would only give me .5cc. I was floored! I had a follow up with a NP from the weight management center (the same center we have to go to for our pre-surgical education), and I told her how I felt very unsupported, and that it was as if I was being punished. She said that at the end of the day, we are just as much a consumer as we are a patient, and that if the band is not working, we need to speak up and ask to either have another fill, or if the doctor is not agreeable, to ask to see if the band has slipped or has a leak that is causing us not to feel anything.
Hope this helps!

Have you tried Click protein? It has espresso in it, and you can heat it. Not too hot, naturally, but it is a heatable protein.

What a FANTASTIC post! Very motivational too. My husband is an enabler, and I know that he is, and I admittedly have taken advantage of that to eat some not so good for me foods. But your post reminded me that's not a good thing! I think I may have to print it out and put it at my desk at work (and some other places) to remind me that it's up to ME to make this work, not anyone else!

I would say increase your protein in the evening. That has helped me anyway. The good thing about protein is that it makes you burn twice the calories. (per my doctor) Hope this helps. I know for me night time eating is my enemy. I fight myself wanting to snack. I bought some frozen fat free lemonade and just eating that slowly in the evening helps me feel like Im getting something.

You guys, it took me 6 fills and 8.2 cc's in a 9 cc band for me to feel restriction. I'm actually going Friday to get a little bit taken out because it's too much, but still...it took 13 months to get to that place.
Don't get frustrated, you'll get there!

I have a little of the same going on. I have been banded only three weeks,but per dr. Plan am on real food, three small meals a day. I do have 2 cc's in the 10cc band and I am not hungry except when I am supposed to be. But I am finding a problem area right after school ( I am a teacher) when my own kids are scarfing snacks I want to eat bits of what they have or another unhealthy food. Yesterday I ate a doughnut because I treated my kids to one. What we need to do is find a replacement behavior for those problem times. When I am tempted to emotional eating I've found that I am usually stressed or frankly feeling sorry for myself, and have found that melancholy or inspiring music is a good replacement, I can brood and then change my outlook too. I even created an iPod album for it. Another thing I did was journal all the reasons I am doing this, so when I am feeling tempted I read that or write in it some. I am a mom of three (8,4,and,2), I work full time and am in the middle of getting a master's degree. My hubby was against my getting the surgery and has not been helpful, so I know all about stress eating. It is incredibly hard for me not to pop a little of my kids leftover snacks or dinner in my mouth and I haven't conquered it but am analyzing my habits and making plans. You ARE powerful and you do not have to succumb to this challenge, just keep plugging away at it even if you only make a little progress at a time, don't give up!

First off, I have never felt "Full" since being banded. I'm not sure where that misconception came from.
According to the definition - description of the "Green Zone", it says you will be "Satisfied" not Full.
I have been in the green Zone for almost a year, and have found my "Groove".
I can go all day, and I have, without even thinking about food let alone getting hungry. After 12 hours of no eating, you can put a piece of cheesecake in front of me
and I will say "No Thanks, I feel fine" That's being satisfied!
The presence of the band, adjusted properly, sends a signal to the brain telling it you are full. Satisfied.Don't need to eat. But physically you are not full, you may have not even eaten for many hours.
The trick to being successful with the band, is learning how to listen to it. When adjusted properly, it sends you feedback all the time.

Have you tried Click protein? It has espresso in it, and you can heat it. Not too hot, naturally, but it is a heatable protein.

I belong to other WLS sites in addition to this one. It seems that most of them are pretty harsh on us bandsters, and I can't imagine why! I mean, aren't we all in this together?

I'm very glad this site exists. It can be difficult for me on other sites that include all forms of WLS, because so many of them are populated with people who have had GB, and some people aren't always so nice to us bandsters. Here, I feel welcomed and among friends. I like reading other's stories, and seeing their success is very motivational to me.

I'm very glad this site exists. It can be difficult for me on other sites that include all forms of WLS, because so many of them are populated with people who have had GB, and some people aren't always so nice to us bandsters. Here, I feel welcomed and among friends. I like reading other's stories, and seeing their success is very motivational to me.