Emotional Eating
Food and feelings go together. From birth, we link food with enjoyment, affection and nurturing. Food often accompanies emotion-filled events, both happy and unhappy ones. Eating for comfort is a common behaviour—and comes from this deep connection between the experience of eating and the sensation of comfort.
Specific patterns of emotional eating are highly individual. But researchers have discovered some common themes that lead to emotional eating. Their findings provide insight into eating as a response to emotions rather than hunger.
Emotional eating and weight
Not everyone is susceptible to emotional overeating. For those who are, however, the impact on weight can be significant. In a study on emotional eating that included both overweight and underweight subjects, it was found that those who weighed more were more likely to eat in response to negative moods and situations.
Emotional eating is not limited to bad times, however. Good moods and happy events can also lead to overeating for those who eat from emotion. In a study that evaluated overeating in a group of obese women, it was found that larger meals were eaten in response to both good and bad moods when compared to those mealtimes when the women's mood was neutral.
Emotional eating and weight-loss success
Eating in response to emotions can undermine weight loss. However, research has shown that becoming aware of emotional eating and developing strategies to manage it works. In a study conducted at the University of Birmingham in the U.K., researchers found a direct connection between a reduction in eating in response to emotion and weight-loss success among adults.
Understanding the connection between emotions and eating reveals how behaviour can impact weight. Becoming aware of the impact that emotional eating may play in a weight-loss attempt is the first step. If emotional eating is an issue, developing ways to cope without food is vital for lasting weight loss.
Eating Triggers
A trigger can be defined as something that sets in motion a course of events. For example, red wine can trigger a migraine headache in susceptible people, while seeing a spider can trigger a panic attack in those who have arachnophobia.When it comes to eating triggers, they fall into three separate categories: trigger foods, trigger feelings, and trigger environments.
Trigger foods
A trigger food is a specific food that sets off a course of overeating where control is lost and excessive amounts are consumed. The most common trigger foods are sugar/fat combinations (e.g. ice cream, biscuits) and fat/salt combination (e.g. nuts, chips). Food triggers are fairly uncommon and should not be confused with favourite foods (foods that are highly preferred), comfort foods (foods that are linked to a sense of home and contentment), or food cravings (desire for a food that has not been consumed in a long time). With a true food trigger it is the food, not an emotion or situation, that triggers the out-of-control eating. For example, open the bag of chips and it will be gone, regardless of mood, time of day, or place.
To help manage trigger foods, it is important to identify the food and avoid it altogether, at least for a certain period of time, and then reassess periodically.
Trigger feelings
A trigger feeling is an emotion, good or bad, that sets off a period of overeating. Unlike food triggers, which initiate overeating of a specific food, after an emotional trigger any available food will do. To manage trigger feelings, it is important to first identify the specific emotion that initiates the overeating and then develop positive strategies to cope with that emotion without using food.
Trigger environments
A trigger environment is a specific situation or place that sets off a period of overeating. Common examples include walking into a movie theatre, going to a buffet restaurant, attending a sporting event or visiting family. To manage trigger environments, it is important to identify the specific location, people or events that set off the overeating. As with trigger foods, avoidance is an effective strategy for many people. For example, if the movie theatre is a trigger, then going to a play or museum may be a better option. If visiting relatives in their home sets off an eating frenzy, ask to meet in a restaurant or elsewhere. When avoidance is not an option, it is important to develop tactics that minimise the likelihood of overeating.
Bottom line
Inevitably, eating triggers happen. When this occurs, it is important to recognise them for what they are and think about how you could avoid it from occurring in the future.
Mood and Weight
"Kilojoules in, kilojoules out" summarises the law of thermodynamics in weight gain and loss. But other factors also determine the outcome of a weight-loss plan, including mood.
The relationship between mood and weight is complicated – affected by a variety of components that include food choices, hormones and individual coping skills.
A trigger food is a specific food that sets off a course of overeating where control is lost and excessive amounts are consumed. The most common trigger foods are sugar/fat combinations (e.g. ice cream, biscuits) and fat/salt combination (e.g. nuts, chips). Food triggers are fairly uncommon and should not be confused with favourite foods (foods that are highly preferred), comfort foods (foods that are linked to a sense of home and contentment), or food cravings (desire for a food that has not been consumed in a long time). With a true food trigger it is the food, not an emotion or situation, that triggers the out-of-control eating. For example, open the bag of chips and it will be gone, regardless of mood, time of day, or place.
To help manage trigger foods, it is important to identify the food and avoid it altogether, at least for a certain period of time, and then reassess periodically.
Trigger feelings
A trigger feeling is an emotion, good or bad, that sets off a period of overeating. Unlike food triggers, which initiate overeating of a specific food, after an emotional trigger any available food will do. To manage trigger feelings, it is important to first identify the specific emotion that initiates the overeating and then develop positive strategies to cope with that emotion without using food.
Trigger environments
A trigger environment is a specific situation or place that sets off a period of overeating. Common examples include walking into a movie theatre, going to a buffet restaurant, attending a sporting event or visiting family. To manage trigger environments, it is important to identify the specific location, people or events that set off the overeating. As with trigger foods, avoidance is an effective strategy for many people. For example, if the movie theatre is a trigger, then going to a play or museum may be a better option. If visiting relatives in their home sets off an eating frenzy, ask to meet in a restaurant or elsewhere. When avoidance is not an option, it is important to develop tactics that minimise the likelihood of overeating.
Bottom line
Inevitably, eating triggers happen. When this occurs, it is important to recognise them for what they are and think about how you could avoid it from occurring in the future.
Mood and Weight
"Kilojoules in, kilojoules out" summarises the law of thermodynamics in weight gain and loss. But other factors also determine the outcome of a weight-loss plan, including mood.
The relationship between mood and weight is complicated – affected by a variety of components that include food choices, hormones and individual coping skills.
Food choices affect mood
Individual foods and eating patterns can affect mood and weight in both positive and negative ways. Several studies have shown that the caffeine in coffee improves mood. On the other hand, a study done in Finland found that people who responded to stress by eating had the highest body weights. More specifically, the study's "stress eaters" consumed more sausages, hamburgers, pizza, chocolate and alcohol than those who did not respond to stress by eating.
Hormones affect mood
There are several hormones and other biological factors that affect mood and, potentially, weight. Examples include cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands, and estrogen, a primary female sex hormone.
While there has been a great deal written in the media about the role of mood-altering hormones and weight management, the science is far from conclusive. For example, in a study that evaluated 35-47-year-old women over four years, there was no connection between hormone levels and weight gain. However, the same study found depression and anxiety to be linked to weight gain. This topic is likely to be an area of intense research in the coming years.
Mental skills affect mood
The coping skills needed to handle the ups and downs of daily life have been identified as an area with a significant impact on body weight. Studies show that unsuccessful dieting often follows a pattern of experiencing stress, eating in response, and then gaining (or regaining) weight.
Women with high levels of disinhibition (lack of eating control) are more likely to gain weight as adults and to be overweight. On the other hand, the development of strong coping skills is a predictor of lasting weight loss.
Active participation in a weight management program can quickly reduce the negative mood contributors to excess weight. In a study done in Canada, both men and women showed significant improvements in episodes of overeating, response to physical stress, feelings of depression and perfectionist behaviours after five weeks.
The coping skills needed to handle the ups and downs of daily life have been identified as an area with a significant impact on body weight. Studies show that unsuccessful dieting often follows a pattern of experiencing stress, eating in response, and then gaining (or regaining) weight.
Women with high levels of disinhibition (lack of eating control) are more likely to gain weight as adults and to be overweight. On the other hand, the development of strong coping skills is a predictor of lasting weight loss.
Active participation in a weight management program can quickly reduce the negative mood contributors to excess weight. In a study done in Canada, both men and women showed significant improvements in episodes of overeating, response to physical stress, feelings of depression and perfectionist behaviours after five weeks.
Plateaus and Stages of Change
The Stages of Change model states that people pass through six stages in order to make sustained changes in health behaviours. Movement through these stages occurs gradually, from being unaware or uninterested in making a change (precontemplation) to thinking about whether or not to change (contemplation), to planning to make the change (preparation), to making definite changes in behaviour (action), to maintaining the new behaviour (maintenance), and moving back and forth through previous stages before the behaviour change is established (relapse).
The Stages of Change model has been applied in a variety of situations involving changing behaviour, including diet and exercise.
The action stage and weight loss
Research suggests that the amount of time spent in the action stage may influence weight loss. A two-year study of middle-aged overweight and obese men and women looked at the relationship between the Stages of Change for five weight-related behaviours—increased fruit and vegetable consumption, portion control, planned exercise, usual physical activity, or decreased dietary fat—and weight loss or gain. They found that weight loss increased among those who spent more time in the action and maintenance stages for the five targeted behaviours.
Moving through the Stages of Change
Proponents of using the Stages of Change model as a way to encourage behaviour change believe that information and encouragement needs to be matched to a person's current stage. For example, encouraging a sedentary person in the precontemplation stage to think about beginning to exercise is more effective than pushing him or her into structured activity plan. Finding ways to stay longer in the action and maintenance stages with fewer episodes in the relapse stage may prove to be an effective treatment for weight-loss plateaus. Unfortunately, there is limited research on how best to keep people in the preferred stages.
Self efficacy, a person's perceived ability or confidence to make a desired change, is one factor that may influence a person's progression through the Stages of Change. A study evaluating Stage of Change movement across three behaviours—adopting exercise, reducing dietary fat and quitting smoking—found that the individuals' ratings of self efficacy influenced whether they progressed, regressed or stayed at the same Stage of Change for each behaviour. Strong self efficacy ratings were predictive of progression.
More weight-related research is needed to identify factors that can move people into and then keep them in the action and maintenance stages.
Mind Skills for Lasting Weight Loss
Knowing what to do to lose weight and applying that knowledge to daily life are two very different things.
For many years, weight-loss programs have expanded education to include several techniques from the field of behavioural psychology. Examples include self-monitoring food intake, exercise and body weight; altering the environment to avoid problem foods, and goal setting.
Knowing what to do to lose weight and applying that knowledge to daily life are two very different things.
For many years, weight-loss programs have expanded education to include several techniques from the field of behavioural psychology. Examples include self-monitoring food intake, exercise and body weight; altering the environment to avoid problem foods, and goal setting.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy techniques
More recently, behaviour modification methods have expanded to include techniques from the field of cognitive therapy. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, or CBT, involves the identification and modification of thinking patterns and negative mood states that can undermine lasting weight loss.
It is widely recognised that the development of behavioural and cognitive skills learned during weight loss is critical to successful maintenance. Indeed, lacking coping and problem-solving skills appear to be important factors in weight regain after a loss. Black-and-white thinking, a cognitive style characterised by viewing actions as being good or bad and as right or wrong, is also a significant predictor of weight regain.
People who have never been overweight as well as those who have successfully achieved a lasting weight loss share the characteristics of confronting problems directly (95% and 60%, respectively) and using personally developed strategies to help themselves. Those who have lost weight only to regain it are much more likely to eat unconsciously in response to emotions (70%) and not confront problems directly (10%).
Role of coping skills
Successful weight-loss maintainers are less likely to be emotional eaters (using food to regulate their mood). They have developed coping skills to deal with stress as well as the skill of flexible restraint, which refers to a moderate level of control on eating. The development of coping skills is particularly helpful in dealing with food temptations and preventing the abandonment of weight management efforts. Mental simulation, a cognitive skill that involves creating the process for reaching a goal or dealing with a stressful situation, has also been shown to produce positive results.
People who have never been overweight as well as those who have successfully achieved a lasting weight loss share the characteristics of confronting problems directly (95% and 60%, respectively) and using personally developed strategies to help themselves. Those who have lost weight only to regain it are much more likely to eat unconsciously in response to emotions (70%) and not confront problems directly (10%).
Role of coping skills
Successful weight-loss maintainers are less likely to be emotional eaters (using food to regulate their mood). They have developed coping skills to deal with stress as well as the skill of flexible restraint, which refers to a moderate level of control on eating. The development of coping skills is particularly helpful in dealing with food temptations and preventing the abandonment of weight management efforts. Mental simulation, a cognitive skill that involves creating the process for reaching a goal or dealing with a stressful situation, has also been shown to produce positive results.
