Emotional and comfort eating

Woman eating pizza and French fries.

Comfort eating and emotional eating are more common than you might think. Food has become much more than just fuel and it plays a big role in our lives and cultures. Sometimes, we use it as a coping mechanism or a stress reliever – and that is when we can fall into the trap of comfort or emotional eating. If you have been struggling with this for a while, it might be difficult at first to break the habit, so be prepared for it – but it certainly is entirely possible!

There are many possible triggers for comfort eating, for example work stress, loneliness, unemployment, money worries, bad weather, health problems, tiredness, arguments with a partner, sadness, bereavement, boredom, peer or social pressure – you name it. The first step to overcome it is to recognise your own triggers. If you’re unsure what they are, keeping a food diary that includes your mood can help you identify these patterns. If you are aware of those, you can recognise a ‘danger situation’ before it gets out of hand - pause in that moment, take a breath and give yourself a moment to process whatever emotion you are feeling. Then you can try and find a different activity that can help you deal with whatever you are feeling at that moment – that could be a meditation, a walk, talking to a friend – anything that you like. Sometimes just recognising the situation and allowing yourself to pause and sit with it at the moment can help prevent overeating that often normally follows – ask yourself, what is it that you are feeling/dealing with? Is overeating/eating that half a cake or whatever you were going to eat really going to help you? How are you going to feel afterwards? Is there anything else that could actually help you to feel better?

Now, if you are struggling with binge eating disorder, which is different from comfort eating, please do not be afraid to ask for help – it is the most common eating disorder and there are health professionals best placed to help you. If you are unsure where to get help, you can speak to your GP and they will be able to point you in the right direction. Or you can try joining an online support group first if you feel like it is manageable with self-help. They might offer therapies or other management techniques so that you can get to the bottom of the issue and resolve it once and for all.