Give your Emotional Eating a Name!

No, we don’t mean calling your emotional eating Bill or Angela (although if you think that might be helpful—go for it!), we suggest trying to name the emotion you’re feeling while reaching for food. Emotional eating is trying to satisfy a feeling with food that may make you feel good for a moment. Maybe that’s chips for you or maybe your sweet tooth calls for chocolate bars, no matter: when you find yourself reaching for these try and check in with naming what you are feeling.

You may start off by thinking “Am I angry? Or am I feeling sad?”. But these well-known emotions aren’t just the only ones you might come up with, emotions can be linked to each other and there can be a few layers. Other ones to think about that may be less obvious:

• If you’re angry, maybe you’re also feeling irritable or frustrated or jealous.
• If you’re sad, it could be that you’re feeling lonely or grieving or not good enough.
• If you’re nervous, think about if you’re also feeling embarrassed or confused or self-conscious.
• If you’re feeling uncomfortable, examine if you may be stressed or trapped or bitter.

There is no right or wrong way to feel! Whatever emotions come up, and what you name them, is completely and 100% valid. Sometimes just identifying what you’re feeling can make you feel less helpless when faced with intense feelings. It can make you feel like you have some power in the moment, when otherwise you may feel helpless reaching for food. 

There are so many things that can influence how we feel (which then influences what we eat). As humans, our feelings can change a bunch of times throughout the day depending on experiences, what we’ve had to eat, even how well we slept the night before. In a way, this can be comforting since a mood can change—it won’t last forever.

It can be scary to deal with the emotions behind your eating patterns, but you don’t have face them all at once when you’ve named your feelings. Just by noticing what it is you are feeling, you have a better chance of starting to discover the root of why you are overeating—because it never is about the food.

Bonus: it also means that the next time a strong emotion comes up for you, you are more capable of recognizing it and learning from it.

💛 Your peace awaits.