How many emotional eaters are there out there?

I've studied this a lot and being an emotional eater can be due to one of several reasons:

1. It could, as others have said, become a habit because we like the Dopamine 'high' from eating sugary foods - and we will indeed need more of those foods to get that same 'high' over a period of time. So we feel low, somewhere in our brain lies the thought 'sugar/high fat/fast food makes me feel better' and it then becomes a habit, triggered by our emotional state.

2. It could be a parental pattern. If our parents were emotional eaters or struggled with weight, then we will have been subconsciously taught that pattern as children. We then reach adulthood and wonder how/why we got there.

3. It could be self sabotage or punishment. Many people have had troubled childhoods in which there was abuse, or emotional harm in some way (these don't even have to be severe cases, there could just have been one angry, moody, shouty, disrespectful or depressed parent). Again, its a psychological, ingrained pattern. As kids, we were used to having a negative emotion directed at us. As adults, the person who directed that negativity toward us may not be present any more, but our 'system' is still used to and feels more comfortable with that negative treatment as that is what translates in our brain as 'normal' (crazy, but true!). So we draw negative relationships to ourselves that mirror aspects of our childhood. If no one else is giving it to us, we attack ourselves so may use food or act out & do things that ensure that somehow, we are receiving 'negative treatment'. This also ties in with self sabotage - if we have really low self esteem due to parents/family/siblings/teachers/peers that were critical or unsupportive, every time we feel like we're going to achieve something as an adult, its too alien to us, so we tear ourselves down again (self sabotage). Its sad how many adults are unhappy because of this particular psychology and it is rife in society!

4. It could be a way of avoiding emotion. If we can't handle the amount of stress or high emotion in our lives, then we literally swallow it down with food. The emotion gets swallowed up in the food, dopamine in the brain is released and hey presto, the negative emotion goes away (for a very short period of time....then it becomes habit forming....see point 1).

5. We don't feel safe. Gaining a lot of weight suddenly and keeping it there may mean we do not feel safe - either in our job, home or relationship and therefore are literally surrounding ourselves with layers of fat as a method of physical protection.

9 times out've 10, we will fall into one of the above categories and often several at once - all of them are usually attached to low self esteem on some level too.

The majority root cause of weight gain is down to lack of education, laziness or one of the above. So whilst we work out at the gym and can discipline and place goals on ourselves, if one of the above patterns is running through our lives, then we may constantly battle not to slip back into old habits.

Our actions are doing one thing (dieting, working out), but our subconscious brain is controlling us with one of the above patterns, which are much stronger than anything else. Our subconscious brain runs our lives. It would eliminate the diet 'battle' to actually explore the mental/emotional places we're in and pay attention to what our triggers are, why they are there and how to eliminate them - alongside working out and eating healthy on a physical level. If you recognise any of the above, then know you need to deal with yourself as a whole package - mental, emotional, physical and for some (depending on belief), spiritual. Otherwise, you may stay on the diet/work out see-saw for life.

Unless you're lazy, in which case, none of this applies, put down that fast food and get your bum in the gym ;-)

I know what you mean. I was doing so good until my father passed away a month ago and I can seem to get back to eating right and exercising.

It's biological. I heard a couple of researchers on talk radio a few months ago. They discovered that if you put any animal into a stressful situation, the animal responds by increasing its food intake in general, especially high-sugar carbs. Even grasshoppers do it.

Yesterday I had a very stressful afternoon of fighting with my computer (which I depend on to do my job). My eating plan completely unhinged. If I eat that way every day, in 5 weeks, I'll be heavier than I am right now. Lovely.

Back on track today.

Here's the scientific answer: There is no such thing as an emotionLESS eater. For all people, eating activates the pleasure/reward centers of the brain and neurotransmitters are released that cause us to feel a sense of general well-being. Functional MRI scans on the extremely obese (those who have become immobile due to weight) show that, for them, the brain offers such an intense pleasure response, it mimics the brain patterns of heroin addicts while taking heroin. Most of us do not have that kind of response, however they degree of pleasure we feel after eating will vary from some degree from person to person. Divorcing eating from emotional pleasure is not healthy and I am not certain that it is even possible. We could counter it with painful feelings of guilt and shame about eating, but that does not take away the comfort and good feeling it can also give.

I think that the key is understanding how this works and using it wisely. There are lots of other things that can comfort and give us pleasure, and there are healthier food options. By and large, warmer foods trigger the autonomic nervous system to calm, so even a cup of tea can be helpful and comforting. People, in general, tend to find difficulty in life when they rely on one specific way of coping with stress in the world, and this often backfires because one solution can't fit every situation and, in addition, a single repeated behavior often has consequences. Addictions, zoning out to TV or internet all day, a long succession of unsatisfying relationships, always putting others' needs first in ways that become destructive to one's own life; these can all be looked at as ways that people rely on one specific way of coping.

Life is stressful, and I don't think that will change anytime soon. Eating will always feel good, and should. Only eating in response to stress won't turn out well. Try developing many different ways to comfort yourself, and try taking a more active role in reducing stress in whatever way possible. Specifically, mindfulness meditation, just 20 minutes a day, alters neurology in such a way as to increase our tolerance of stress. Mindfulness meditation just means noticing your experience without judgement, and there's tons of information on that out on the internet and in books. Talk to friends (also shows to calm up-regulated brains), exercise (get some good nuerotransmitters flowing), have an absorbing hobby that can serve as an escape, or just yell at that *kitten* causing all the problems.

Coping with life is a skill, and you gotta have a lot of tools in your backpack, not just one, to really deal with it properly.

Hope that helps.

Does bored count as an emotional eater? All I want to do at work when I have nothing to do is eat. This is why nights and weekends are so much easier for me. I read, write, paint, workout etc and have no desire to eat. Week days, I go to my desk job, finish my work then sit & stare at the computer for the next 6-8 hours.

I used to do this too! My workouts have helped with this because now I don't have as much "down time" as I used to. I have had to readjust to eating when hungry....and really pay attention to that. It is working so far!!

I used to emotionally eat. Now I just be emotional. Life's easier that way. Eff the people who call you emo; just stab them in the jaw with a fork and tell them to eff themselves.

i am definitely an emotional eater.......i have not done it in awhile..so i am proud of myself that lol