Episode 172: When Stress Meets Snacks: The Hidden Costs of Emotional Eating

[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss, where I help you get on track and stay on track with your weight loss journey. I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly. So let's get started.

[00:00:27] Welcome to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly.

[00:00:34] Have you ever felt stressed and found yourself standing in front of the refrigerator or the pantry searching for something to eat, even though you knew you weren't hungry? I know I've done that. And this is a classic example of emotional eating. Emotional eating is the act of turning to food in response to emotions, stress, or other feelings, rather than a physical hunger.

[00:01:02] This can also be known as comfort eating or stress-induced eating. And this behavior often leads to consuming foods that are high in calories, but low in nutrients and foods that offer a temporary relief, but can contribute to long-term health issues. Emotional eating is a way many of us try to cope with negative emotions like sadness, anxiety, and stress.

[00:01:28] Now, while some eating disorders have emotional eating as a characteristic, such as binge eating, in this episode, we will be focusing on the general emotional eating, just in general, or the umbrella terminology.

[00:01:46] And if you experience an eating disorder, such as binge eating, or any of the other different eating disorders, it is important that you seek professional help for that.

[00:01:59] Because today, we're just going to be focusing on general emotional eating.

[00:02:04] Now, according to a survey by the American Psychological Association, 38% of adults reported engaging in some emotional eating in the past month, but nearly half of them doing it on a weekly basis.

[00:02:19] So why do we turn to food for comfort?

[00:02:23] Well, there are eight that trigger emotional eating.

[00:02:26] Number one, stress, stress, and more stress.

[00:02:29] High stress levels can lead to an increase in cortisol, a hormone that can make you crave sugary, fatty, and salty comfort foods.

[00:02:39] Also, let's not forget boredom.

[00:02:41] Eating out of boredom can occur when people use food to fill time or give them something to do.

[00:02:48] Loneliness is a trigger.

[00:02:50] Food can provide temporary comfort when somebody's feeling lonely or isolated.

[00:02:55] And number four is sadness or depression.

[00:02:57] Emotionally eating is often used to soothe feelings of sadness or to lift a mood temporarily, especially with foods that are high in sugar or carbs.

[00:03:08] And these are going to be the ones that you really like.

[00:03:11] Your cakes, your ice cream, your cookies, all the different high in sugary carbs type foods.

[00:03:18] Next, fatigue.

[00:03:19] Fatigue.

[00:03:19] When you're tired, sometimes people can reach out to food, especially high calorie snacks to boost energy or to stay awake.

[00:03:27] Man, I knew when I was in the hospital, I have to like drink all types of sugary things and eat sugary things so I could stay awake while I was on shift.

[00:03:37] Next, anxiety or feelings of nervousness or worry can lead to emotional eating as a way to manage or suppress anxious thoughts.

[00:03:45] And sometimes even celebration and social influences can trigger emotional eating, especially during social gatherings where food is often the focus.

[00:03:57] But the emotional eating in this context is triggered by peer pressure or the expectation to indulge.

[00:04:04] I mean, how many of us had somebody look at our plate and say, that's all you're eating?

[00:04:08] You're not eating anymore?

[00:04:11] You're not eating anymore.

[00:04:13] Last but not least, we have emotional triggers from childhood.

[00:04:17] Many people associate food with positive childhood memories like, oh, when you did something good, you got an A on your report card.

[00:04:25] So you all went out and got an ice cream.

[00:04:27] You know, we were rewarded with a treat.

[00:04:30] And these patterns can continue into adulthood.

[00:04:33] Now, these triggers highlight just how emotions rather than hunger can drive the desire to eat.

[00:04:40] But let's look a little bit deeper at the science behind emotional eating.

[00:04:45] And it involves a complex interplay between the brain, hormones and emotional responses.

[00:04:52] Here are eight key mechanisms on why we indulge in emotional eating.

[00:04:58] The first mechanism is the brain's reward system.

[00:05:02] Now, when we eat, especially foods that are high in sugar, fat or salt, the brain releases dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter or a hormone in the brain associated with pleasure and reward.

[00:05:17] The dopamine creates a temporary feel-good effect, making us feel so good when it hits, which reinforces the idea that food can alleviate negative emotions.

[00:05:30] Over time, the brain begins to associate eating with emotional relief, encouraging the behavior even when we're not physically hungry.

[00:05:41] Another mechanism is the interplay between stress and cortisol.

[00:05:46] Now, we've spoke about cortisol in our prior episodes.

[00:05:50] So definitely look that up if you want more in-depth information.

[00:05:53] But here we're just going to do a little quick note is that when we experience stress, the body releases the hormone cortisol.

[00:06:01] Cortisol is part of the body's fight or flight response and can increase appetite, particularly for energy-dense, sugary or fatty foods.

[00:06:10] These comfort foods provide a quick energy that the body may crave in stressful situations.

[00:06:16] Chronic stress can lead to consistently elevated cortisol levels, resulting in a stronger drive to eat in response to emotional triggers.

[00:06:26] The number three mechanism is emotional eating and serotonin.

[00:06:30] Certain foods, especially carbohydrates, can temporarily boost levels of serotonin,

[00:06:36] another neurotransmitter or hormone from the brain that regulates the mood.

[00:06:41] Eating foods rich in carbs can create a calming or mood-stabilizing effect,

[00:06:47] which is why so many people reach for something starchy or sugary when feeling down or stressed.

[00:06:52] However, this is a short-term solution.

[00:06:55] It can lead to a cycle of overeating.

[00:06:57] I kind of think about Thanksgiving Day when we're eating all these carbs and you just feel like,

[00:07:02] oh, I need to take a nap.

[00:07:04] That's the serotonin working.

[00:07:06] So serotonin can trigger emotional eating.

[00:07:09] Also, we need to look at the role of leptin and ghrelin, which we also talked in prior episodes.

[00:07:15] Now, for those who this is your first time listening,

[00:07:18] leptin is a hormone that signals to the brain when you're full and helping regulate appetite,

[00:07:24] whereas ghrelin, on the other hand, signals hunger.

[00:07:27] During emotional eating, the balance between leptin and ghrelin can be disrupted.

[00:07:31] Chronic stress or overeating may desensitize the brain to leptin's signal,

[00:07:36] signals causing people to eat more than they need, even when they're not hungry.

[00:07:42] Emotional triggers can also override ghrelin's natural hunger regulation,

[00:07:46] pushing the individual to eat regardless of physical hunger.

[00:07:50] The number five mechanism is habit formation in the brain.

[00:07:54] The amygdala, which is a region in the brain responsible for processing emotions,

[00:08:00] works in conjunction with the brain's reward center called the nucleus accumbens.

[00:08:05] This reinforces emotional eating behaviors.

[00:08:08] Every time food is used to cope with negative emotions,

[00:08:12] the neural pathways between emotion and eating is strengthening,

[00:08:16] which makes it a habitual response.

[00:08:20] And for some, emotional eating can be a way to self-medicate.

[00:08:25] And food can act as a distraction,

[00:08:27] helping suppress difficult emotions or unresolved stressors.

[00:08:32] And by turning to food, instead of addressing the root cause of the emotion,

[00:08:36] this coping mechanism offers temporary relief,

[00:08:39] but does not solve the underlying issue,

[00:08:42] which perpetuates the behavior.

[00:08:45] Next, let's look at insulin and blood sugar fluctuation.

[00:08:48] Highly processed sugary foods spike blood sugar levels quickly,

[00:08:53] but they also cause rapid drops in blood sugar soon after,

[00:08:57] which can leave individuals feeling more irritable, tired, or anxious.

[00:09:02] These blood sugar fluctuations can exacerbate emotional eating as people crave more high sugary foods

[00:09:10] to alleviate the discomfort caused by low blood sugar.

[00:09:14] And last but not least, the impact of sleep deprivation.

[00:09:18] Sleep deprivation has been shown to reduce leptin, the satiety hormone,

[00:09:22] and increase ghrelin, the hunger hormone,

[00:09:25] leading to increased appetite, particularly for high calorie foods.

[00:09:29] So poor sleep also affects the brain's ability to regulate emotional responses,

[00:09:35] making individuals more prone to emotional eating when tired.

[00:09:39] Now, emotionally eating is driven by biological mechanisms that involve the stress hormones,

[00:09:45] brain reward pathways, disruptions in appetite regulating hormones.

[00:09:50] And these processes work together to create a cycle where food provides temporary emotional relief,

[00:09:57] but can lead to a long-term health and emotional challenges.

[00:10:01] And emotional eating can turn into a habit through a cycle that reinforces itself over time.

[00:10:07] And here's how this happens.

[00:10:09] First, it begins with a negative emotion or an emotional trigger,

[00:10:13] such as stress, sadness, or anxiety.

[00:10:16] That emotional discomfort creates an urge or to soothe or distract from that feeling.

[00:10:22] And instead of dealing with that emotion directly,

[00:10:25] the individual may seek comfort in food,

[00:10:27] particularly high calorie, sugary, or fatty foods that trigger the brain's reward system by releasing dopamine,

[00:10:36] making them feel better momentarily.

[00:10:38] And then eating may provide a short distraction or relief from the emotional discomfort,

[00:10:44] which reinforce that idea again that food can solve the emotional problem.

[00:10:48] After the person has eaten what they've eaten,

[00:10:52] there's feelings of guilt, shame, or even physical discomfort from overeating may set in,

[00:10:58] which again creates this negative loop of negative emotions.

[00:11:02] And these negative emotions may trigger the cycle again,

[00:11:07] leading the person to eat more to cope with those feelings.

[00:11:10] Over time, the brain starts to associate certain emotions, stress, sadness, border with food.

[00:11:16] And every time the emotional trigger occurs, the automatic response is to eat.

[00:11:23] This repeated behavior becomes a conditioned response,

[00:11:27] turning emotional eating into a habit.

[00:11:30] And as the habit forms, emotional eating can become automatic,

[00:11:34] happening without a conscious thought.

[00:11:36] And the individual may reach for food out of routine,

[00:11:40] often mistaking emotional hunger for physical hunger.

[00:11:44] And over time, the person will rely on food as their go-to coping mechanism for handling emotions.

[00:11:51] And the brain reinforces the pattern each time it's repeated,

[00:11:55] making it harder to break the cycle.

[00:11:57] So let's talk about how we can manage our emotional eating tendencies.

[00:12:03] The first step is to manage these emotions is to recognize them.

[00:12:08] Recognize the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger.

[00:12:12] So emotional hunger is a sudden craving a specific comfort food,

[00:12:17] which often leads to overeating.

[00:12:20] I know sometimes all of a sudden it'll hit me like,

[00:12:23] I want this particular ice cream from this particular store right now.

[00:12:28] That is emotional hunger.

[00:12:30] But a physical hunger is different.

[00:12:32] It's more of a gradual hunger where you're like,

[00:12:35] all of a sudden, oh, you know, I am hungry.

[00:12:37] And it could be satisfied with anything.

[00:12:39] I didn't have to be ice cream.

[00:12:40] It could be satisfied with whatever is there.

[00:12:42] And then I feel full and I'm able to move on.

[00:12:45] That's the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger.

[00:12:49] Next, it's important to check in with yourself before eating.

[00:12:53] Ask yourself, am I truly hungry?

[00:12:56] Or am I just eating because I'm stressed out?

[00:12:59] I am lonely.

[00:13:01] I am bored.

[00:13:03] Ask yourself, why do I want to eat at this moment?

[00:13:06] Why am I in front of this refrigerator again?

[00:13:10] Especially if I just ate.

[00:13:12] Sometimes what I'll do is I'll drink a glass of water before I eat

[00:13:16] just to make sure I'm eating due to a physical hunger versus an emotional hunger.

[00:13:22] Especially if it's a little bit, if it's, you know, if I'm not sure if I'm still hungry or not.

[00:13:27] The next tip would be to incorporate more stress management techniques.

[00:13:31] Especially if you're going through a rough time, such as deep breathing, journaling,

[00:13:37] taking a walk to cope with the emotions instead of turning to food.

[00:13:41] And the next is to distract yourself with healthy distractions.

[00:13:44] Whether you're going to exercise, whether you're listening to music,

[00:13:47] or just calling a friend, you distract yourself with something else that's more healthy for you.

[00:13:53] Also, it's important to eat in moderation to reduce the urge to binge.

[00:13:57] And create a routine which encourages setting mealtimes so you know which hours you do eat.

[00:14:04] And when you do eat, eating a balanced meal to reduce mindless snacking.

[00:14:08] But last but not least, consider seeing a therapist or a counselor if emotional eating is chronic

[00:14:14] or linked to a deeper mental health issue.

[00:14:18] Emotional eating is a deeper health issue.

[00:14:23] In conclusion, emotional eating is the act of turning to food in response to emotion,

[00:14:28] stress, or other feelings rather than physical hunger.

[00:14:31] And there are many, many, many triggers such as stress, loneliness, or boredom.

[00:14:36] But the first step is recognizing these tendencies and trying stress management techniques

[00:14:41] and techniques and healthy distractions.

[00:14:44] And if they become more chronic, seeking professional help to help you manage these tendencies.

[00:14:50] Because remember, overcoming emotional eating is a process.

[00:14:54] And it's okay to seek help.

[00:14:56] Thank you again for joining us on the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss podcast.

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[00:15:08] And we will see you all next time.