Emotional Eating: Are You Feeding Your Body or Your Feelings?

Definition | Risk Factors | Causes | Mechanisms | Health Impact | How to Stop

It’s midnight. You just downed a deliciously bland slice of leftover pizza. You’re on your way to the fridge for seconds. And you want to break this emotional eating cycle so bad.

Well, you can—with a perfectly simple hack. Next time you face the same scenario, this one thought will set your mind off the most tempting of snacks:

Sigmund Freud thinks your first love is your mother’s breast [1].

That’s it. Blog post over. You’ve cured your emotional eating!

Okay, sorry for planting that unappetizing (to say the least) idea in your head. But, even if you don’t plan on using it to force off your emotional cravings, it’s still a somewhat relevant intro to our topic today. 

Freud’s theories about how people desire to romance their parents have been (thankfully) dismissed by modern psychology. However, we can still reflect on the foundational influence of breastfeeding in providing not just physical but emotional nourishment as well.

That is to say, emotional eating is embedded into our biology. In our infancy, breastfeeding provides warmth that, in turn, alleviates developing emotions like stress and anxiety [2].

As natural as both are, the difference between breastfeeding and emotional eating is that, in the former, mothers are steering the wheel. They may not always resort to feeding to resolve our distress. As grown individuals, perhaps we aren’t capable of such control. 

And what does that leave us with? A 45% prevalence of emotional eating worldwide [3].

For some of us, that’s just fine, while for others, it could pose certain health issues down the line. What are these issues? Who’s most at risk? And what can we do about it? 

Today, we dig into all that and everything emotional eating, starting with a clear definition.

What Exactly Is Emotional Eating?

Emotional eating is a behavior in which individuals change their eating patterns in response to their emotional states rather than their physiological hunger [4]. Several nuances exist within this complex behavior.

For example, we tend to think it refers only to overeating; however, many emotionally undereat too. Interestingly, the same person could have a tendency to overeat and undereat in response to their emotions, as both behaviors seem to be correlated [5]. It may depend on the intensity of the emotion and its duration.

So if we think about stress, about 30% of us will eat less in response to it, while the others may overeat. Then again, the more intense and prolonged the stress is, the higher the likelihood of undereating [6].

It’s not just stress or negative emotions that affect our cravings too. Food is such an integral part of our lives that it permeates the entire spectrum of emotions we experience. On joyous occasions, for instance, we’ve all indulged in celebratory eating—like birthday cakes or those sundaes you have to go out for whenever you reunite with school friends.

So, it can be joy, sadness, or even boredom. Every emotion may influence our food choices, and each may evoke a different response as well [7].

Because of food’s common misuse as a coping strategy [8], we’ll focus more on overeating today. So, in the rest of the blog post, emotional eating will be referring specifically to emotional overeating.

Is Emotional Eating a Disorder?

Emotional eating isn’t a disorder. It’s not in the DSM-5, which is used to diagnose disorders (food and otherwise) internationally. On the contrary, as we mentioned earlier, emotional eating is often a normal part of life. As Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Laura Holsen, says:

“It’s incredibly ingrained in our biology and our environment.”

While not itself a disorder, emotional eating is being studied as a bridge to developing binge eating [8], which is a full-on food disorder that may require professional help.

Who Is More Prone to Emotional Eating? 

Unsurprisingly, considering what we’ve covered already, genetics plays only a minor role in whether a person grows into an emotional eater. The hereditary component contributes just about 10% to the equation, according to twin studies [9]. The rest is all about the environment, which now we know begins with the breastfeeding phase. 

Curiously, researchers studied the effect of the length of the breastfeeding period on the probability of developing emotional eating tendencies as a child. And they found out that longer breastfeeding durations were actually associated with children eating less in response to their emotions [10]. This is in line with research that suggests we learn the crucial skill of emotional self-regulation during early feeding experiences [11].

With infancy and childhood essentially out of her hands, we then grow capable of various behaviors that affect our odds of falling into emotional eating. One of the most significant behaviors is restricting our diets. Indeed, studies show individuals who follow restrictive diets may be at a higher risk of ultimately succumbing to their emotions and feasting when not hungry [12].

What Are The Causes of Emotional Eating?

Now it’s time to dig further into the psychological, behavioral, and physiological drivers underlying emotional eating tendencies. Three factors contribute the biggest impact:

Impaired Hunger Perception

Not all of us are as in-tune with our bodies as we'd like to be. This is defined by our unique interoceptive awareness, which helps us connect with our body’s internal sensations, such as heart racing, muscle tension, and hunger. When our ability to recognize hunger is impaired, our probability of eating in response to our emotions tends to increase [13]. Later on, we’ll explore how to differentiate between physiological hunger and emotional cravings.

Emotional Blindness

Just as some of us have trouble identifying bodily sensations, others face the same struggle with emotions. This “emotional blindness” affects 10% of the population [14]. The effects it has on day-to-day life are plenty, including an increase in emotional eating potential [15]. That’s because individuals with emotional blindness may misinterpret their emotions from their daily stressors as a physical discomfort that could be resolved with food.

Food-as-a-Fix Upbringing

We all had a sweet tooth growing up. Our parents indulged us most of the time, especially when rewarding our small achievements or soothing our negative feelings. And that’s where it all went wrong. Studies show not only does that practice push children toward emotional eating, but also that parents keep at it when they see their children’s mood improve [16]. This pattern of ‘get your dose of emotional validation through this 300-calorie chocolate bar’ turned so many children into adolescent emotional eaters.

Okay, But What Really Happens Inside Our Bodies?

We’ve seen a bird’s eye view of why some of us are predisposed to emotional eating. We’re ready now to zoom in on the body to examine the mechanisms that govern our eating impulses.

The HPA Axis

It’s a mouthful, but the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis is our bodies’ main stress response system. It releases the hormone cortisol when we're stressed. While acute stress might briefly suppress appetite, chronic stress often leads to sustained high cortisol levels. This typically boosts appetite and cravings for high-calorie, sugary, or fatty "comfort foods" (more on them later). This cortisol-driven desire to eat is a primary biological reason people turn to food during stress [17].  

The Dopamine Reward System

When we anticipate or eat enjoyable foods, especially those high in sugar and fat, our brain releases dopamine, a chemical linked to motivation and pleasure. This creates a craving, driving us to seek out these foods. During emotional eating, this system is highly active; the prospect of reward from comfort foods offers a temporary distraction or mood boost. This makes the behavior highly reinforcing, encouraging repetition even if we're not physically hungry. Some individuals might have lower baseline dopamine function too, experiencing a decrease in the activation of this reward circuit and making them seek food-induced dopamine surges more intensely [18].  

The Endogenous Opioid System

Our bodies produce natural opioid chemicals, such as endorphins, that are key for experiencing the liking or intense pleasure from palatable foods, especially sugary and fatty ones. These opioids also have pain-relieving and stress-reducing effects. Eating comfort foods can trigger their release, providing temporary emotional relief and a soothing sensation. This powerful combination of pleasure and comfort strongly reinforces the habit of turning to specific foods during emotional distress, and can even lead to craving these foods as a form of opioid-related reward [19].  

The Impact of Emotional Eating on Our Health

We’ve done all the nerdy, mechanistic stuff. Let’s now examine the consequences of emotional eating.

We’ll start with weight gain. While it’s difficult to calculate the net gain for each person, a study has provided an estimate. 

That study involved 535 women and tracked their weight changes over 20 years, as they aged from their 30s into their late 50s. One key aspect the researchers examined was "emotional disinhibition," which is essentially a measure of the tendency to overeat in response to emotional states. 

When the researchers statistically isolated the impact of this emotional disinhibition on weight gain, they found that women who scored highest on this measure gained about 4.1 kilograms more over those two decades compared to women who reported the lowest scores for emotional disinhibition. This difference was specifically attributed to the variations in their emotional eating tendencies, after accounting for other eating behaviors measured in the study [20].

Now, you might think that an extra 4.1 kilograms over 20 years is insignificant. But that accounted for about 5% of the study participants’ mean weight. This can easily push an individual to their next BMI zone and precipitate different diseases.

Speaking of which, emotional eating significantly raises the risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. When we frequently eat high-sugar or high-fat foods to cope with emotions, it can disrupt how our bodies process sugar and lead to insulin resistance, a major step towards diabetes [21]. 

This eating pattern also harms heart health by contributing to obesity, high blood pressure, and unhealthy cholesterol levels. Research has directly linked emotional eating habits to higher blood pressure, increased triglycerides (fats in the blood), and even issues like impaired heart function and stiffer arteries [22].

And Who Is the Biggest Benefactor from Emotional Eating?

You guessed it. The food industry, for sure—with all its subsectors.

For decades, we’ve seen numerous food brands associate their products with positive emotions like happiness to rev up their sales. It’s unfortunate, but we have gotten used to it at this point.

Relatively recently, however, some brands have even actively tried to associate their food with stress and other negative emotions.

In 2018, former Applebee’s president, John Cywinski, famously said:

“Americans are stressed. When stressed, they tend to go to comfort food, and we’re pretty darn good at comfort food. That’s the role we play.”

Unfortunately, that means as much stress as we deal with nowadays, as much comfort food as these chains will produce to drag us further into the emotional eating rabbit hole.

So, How Do We Cut Back on Emotional Eating?

If you’re an emotional eater and you have read this far, one thing you know by now is that you’re certainly not alone. What you should also know is that there are some strategies to keep your emotional eating in check. Here are the most promising ones:

Recognize the ABC of Emotional Eating

Psychologists employ a fairly effective ABC framework to aid with behavior change. “B” is the “behavior” that needs to be regulated, while “A” stands for the “antecedents” that trigger the behavior, and “C” is short for the consequences of the behavior (short-term and long-term) [23].

The framework will look different based on the behavior that needs to be changed. For emotional eating, the ABC cycle will look like this:

• Antecedents, such as negative thoughts, emotions, and internal body sensations, will drive an individual to eat as a coping mechanism.

• This emotional eating behavior will bring about relief as a short-term consequence.

• Unfortunately, after a while, guilt takes over and becomes the long-term consequence.

• This consequence then acts as an antecedent for another ABC emotional eating cycle.

And there you have it. A loop. But the way to break out of it is to see it for what it is. That’s when we realize that food isn’t capable of solving our emotions for us.

Differentiate between Physiological and Emotional Hunger

Yes, we mentioned earlier that some people are physiologically not adept at recognizing hunger. But knowing the differences between physical hunger and emotional cravings can help [24].

Physical Hunger	Emotional Hunger
Emerges gradually and can be postponed	Develops suddenly and feels urgent
Can be resolved with any type of food	May trigger certain cravings
Goes away when you feel full after eating	May cause you to eat after being full
Shouldn’t cause you guilt afterward	Can cause you guilt afterward

Try Healthier Comfort Foods

When we think about comfort foods, we think about French fries and brownies. We’ve already discussed how this is reinforced by our neurobiological wiring as well as our Big Food-dominated environment.

But, at the cost of sounding cheesy, have you ever tried fruits to please your emotions instead?

An interventional study looked at the mental health effects of chocolates versus crisps versus fruits. And, yes, you called it; the group that consumed fruit showed lower anxiety, depression, and emotional distress than the other groups.

That’s one of the reasons researchers are testing fruits as healthier comfort foods, with positive results so far [25]. Not only would that increase a consumer’s intake of health-promoting fruits, but it would also steer them away from eating unhealthy comfort foods. So, it’s a win-win.

Conclusion

Neurobiology, psychology, environment—all twisted together. That's the emotional eating struggle we all experience throughout our lives.

From our first taste of nourishment to the slick marketing of "comfort," numerous factors don't just shape our relationship with food. They attempt a takeover of our very choices and agency.

But, it's worth it to fight back. The potential toll on our health reminds us that maybe we're not so helpless after all. It all starts with self-awareness. It brings us to the core: Distinguishing between genuine hunger and emotional urges.

It’s okay to indulge from time to time. But, it’s better when we equip ourselves with the right techniques to set boundaries and make conscious choices (maybe ignore that Freud hack though).

References

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