Emotional Hunger. What is it and How to Manage it?
How many times have you turned to some cookies after a stressful day or ice cream when you’re feeling blue? This is more common than you think and is often referred to as emotional hunger. While not problematic in and of itself, it can become a mechanism that diminishes our well-being. Below we will explain what emotional hunger is, when it becomes a problem and how to manage it healthily.
What is emotional hunger and where does it come from?
At the most evolutionary level, hunger appears to respond to a survival instinct. However, humans also use food as a means to get together with friends, to celebrate or even to feel better when we have had a bad day. From a young age, we are rewarded with food: “if you are good, you can have these treats”. Because of all this and other factors, food is often associated with our emotions.
Emotional hunger refers to the tendency to use food to manage our emotions. We tend to categorize it as a quick reinforcer that we think we can easily control. Faced with an unpleasant feeling such as stress, anxiety or boredom, we look for something to help us feel better. That solution is often food, especially high in sugars and carbohydrates.
In a timely and conscious way it is not usually a problem, however, it becomes one when we automatically resort to food to make up for that difficulty or lack that we feel and we notice that it is interfering with our well-being.
Why is emotional hunger considered problematic?
- We want to avoid some feelings or emotions. Through this intake, the initial feeling disappears for a while, but it is not really addressed. Sometimes, we know that we are going to feel guilty but at that moment that does not matter to us because we have the focus momentarily on the food.
- Ingestion is usually impulsive and not very conscious, so it often leads to a lack of control and prevents us from enjoying the food.
- Guilt and remorse appear. Having acted unconsciously and dominated by emotion, it can produce unpleasant feelings and remorse, especially when it is observed that the initial problem has not improved.
How to recognize emotional hunger?
Physiological hunger
Appears progressively
Resolves with any food
Can wait an hour or two
We feel satisfied and there are usually pleasant sensations.
Emotional Hunger
Appears suddenly
Craving for a certain food
Feeling of urgency
Dissatisfaction and guilt (‘I shouldn’t have done it’)
4 Steps to Manage Emotional Hunger
1. Identify your frequent triggers.
If you anticipate them, it’s easier to prevent them. In case you have trouble finding them, you can keep an emotion and food diary to identify patterns between your emotions and eating habits.
2. Action plan
Make a list of other useful alternatives. Consider what other effective methods you have to manage difficult situations. For example, listening to music, taking a walk, breathing, talking to someone close to you, etc. By having a list of things you can do, it is easier that when you get overwhelmed by a situation, you can resort to something other than food.
3. Pause for 5 minutes and distinguish whether it is emotional or physiological hunger
When you feel hungry after a complicated situation, set a five-minute timer to distinguish what type of hunger it is, review your trigger diary and list alternatives. The goal of this pause is not to convince yourself that you shouldn’t eat what you feel hungry for, but to help you act more consciously and less impulsively.
4. Decide what to do
If after the pause and evaluating the situation, you decide that you feel like eating that food, do it slowly, without distractions and enjoy it. In the case that you realize that it is to avoid an emotion and it does not compensate you, resort to one of your useful alternatives.
If you find this process difficult and you observe that guilt and difficulties persist, do not hesitate to ask for help
How do we work with emotional hunger?
The goal is not to eliminate certain foods or things that make you feel good, but to integrate them into your lifestyle, without feelings of guilt and lack of control. In Integria Psicología we work and develop adaptive strategies that you can use to manage complicated situations and emotions without resorting to food, providing greater long-term well-being.
Geraldine Martínez
English-speaking Psychologist specialist in Anxiety, Depression and Autism Spectrum Disorders.