Emotional eating
Giving in to a craving or eating because of stress can cause feelings of regret, shame, or guilt, and these responses tend to be associated with emotional hunger.
On the other hand, satisfying a physical hunger is giving the body the nutrients or calories it needs to function and is not associated with negative feelings.
Current research suggests that certain individual factors may increase one's likelihood of using emotional eating as a coping strategy.
The inadequate affect regulation theory posits that individuals engage in emotional eating because they believe overeating alleviates negative feelings.
Restraint theory suggests that overeating as a result of negative emotions occurs among individuals who already restrain their eating.
In a crisis, corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is secreted by the hypothalamus, suppressing appetite and triggering the release of glucocorticoids from the adrenal gland.
[8] These steroid hormones increase appetite and, unlike CRH, remain in the bloodstream for a prolonged period of time, often resulting in hyperphagia.
Those who experience this biologically instigated increase in appetite during times of stress are therefore primed to rely on emotional eating as a coping mechanism.
[10] Contrarily, a study conducted by Spoor et al.[7] found that negative affect is not significantly related to emotional eating, but the two are indirectly associated through emotion-focused coping and avoidance-distraction behaviors.
While the scientific results differed somewhat, they both suggest that negative affect does play a role in emotional eating but it may be accounted for by other variables.
In an example such as this, the roots of emotional eating are deep, which can make breaking the habit extremely challenging.
[16][12] The findings indicate that both EOE and EUE behaviors are primarily learned during childhood, with the environment shared among family members having the most significant impact.
Numerous studies — granted, many of them in animals — have shown that physical or emotional distress increases the intake of food high in fat, sugar, or both, even in the absence of caloric deficits.
[19] A few examples from the American diet would include: hamburgers, pizza, French fries, sausages and savory pasties.
[21] The stress response is a highly-individualized reaction and personal differences in physiological reactivity may also contribute to the development of emotional eating habits.
Women are more likely than men to resort to eating as a coping mechanism for stress,[22] as are obese individuals and those with histories of dietary restraint.
Therefore, those whose lifestyles or careers entail frequent intermittent stressors over prolonged periods of time thus have greater biological incentive to develop patterns of emotional eating, which puts them at risk for long-term adverse health consequences such as weight gain or cardiovascular disease.
As coping methods that fall under these broad categories focus on temporary reprieve rather than practical resolution of stressors, they can initiate a vicious cycle of maladaptive behavior reinforced by fleeting relief from stress.
[28] Additionally, in the presence of high insulin levels characteristic of the recovery phase of the stress-response, glucocorticoids trigger the creation of an enzyme that stores away the nutrients circulating in the bloodstream after an episode of emotional eating as visceral fat, or fat located in the abdominal area.
[29] These researchers specifically focused on how different coping strategies impact distress tolerance and disordered eating.
Corstorphine et al. showed that individuals who engaged in problem solving strategies enhance one's ability to tolerate emotional distress.
The focus on thinness and dieting in our culture can make young girls, especially, vulnerable to falling into food restriction and subsequent emotional eating behavior.
For instance, studies have found young people with restrictive eating disorders had permanently stunted height growth.
Genetic factors had less impact than expected, playing only a 7% role, whereas the shared environment accounted for a substantial 91% influence.
[16][43][44] Another study highlighted that lack of social support and a negative family environment were more closely linked to EUE.
