Emotional nutrition: what it is and how to deal with it effectively

THE’emotional nutrition (also called “nervous hunger” or “stress diet”) is the impulse to ingest foods in response to unpleasant emotions. It is therefore the tendency to use food as a support to face events that cause psychological discomfort.

In these situations, food loses its biological function of contribution of the substances necessary for our body and is instead used as a remedy with which to calm the Unpleasant emotions or to fill a void.

Nourish their feelings: how emotions influence the eating habits

In itself food may seem an effective and harmless tool if we use it for alleviate stress: It happens to anyone of us what various types of daily problems (relational conflicts, health problems, work pressures, financial concerns, etc.) involve a negative impact on our mood. Then food can be a comfort that helps us to overcome a difficult day.

This can happen especially if we have learned in childhood Food reward models:

• If the parents gave us candies as a prize For an action that deserves approval, we get used to using sweet substance as self-granting and growth of self-esteem.
• If we are given of the biscuits to stop crying You learn to use biscuits as a tool to find well -being. Over time, the child eating a biscuit to relieve a tension can become an adult who takes a box of biscuits after a hard day of work.
• Inversely, you can be reproached for any reason with the Prohibition of eating the cake after dinnereven in this way reinforcing the pleasant value of a food, since taking it away is equivalent to a punishment.

These behaviors learned during childhood tend to maintain themselves during adolescence and adulthood and it is not easy then to “divest” them because they constitute one form of conditioning.

Through it, an individual creates an association between a stressful situation and assumption of food, as a consequent element of gratificationuntil you rely on food regularly to manage your mood.

This usually leads to assume More food than necessary and to make unbalanced food choices from a nutritional point of view, ingesting highly defined carbohydrate foods comfort (such as ice creams, biscuits, chocolate, fries, etc.), chosen exclusively for their flavor.

Weight gain as a consequence

Further consequence is the increase in body weight, which is accompanied by sense of guilt and dissatisfaction with one’s body. These in turn are reasons for frustration and discontent that place the premises for further use of food, so as to create in a dangerous vicious circle.

It is proven that Emotional nutrition changes normal self -control systems that make us perceive when it’s time to cease food intake.

In fact, it may happen that the pleasant sensations that are obtained by introducing foods in order to counteract anxiety, often overestures the normal feeling of “satiety”, so as to induce the body to introduce many more calories than necessary, ignoring the self -regulating signals that normally our digestive system sends us.

Numerous studies have highlighted a significant increase in these cases during the period of Covid emergency. THE‘Impossibility of leaving the houseThe Brusco change of our routinehaving to pass A long time alone Or in the company of the same people they have generated unpleasant emotions. These, in the impossibility of finding different satisfaction routes, have brought many people to take refuge in food.

As Is emotional nutrition manifested?

The impulse to eat in relation to certain moods must be recognized e differentiated from the desire to feed on “physical” hunger.

This can be more complicated than it seems because Emotional hunger can be Confused with physical hunger, but there are various elements that distinguish them. Let’s see what they are.

Do you get out of the way emotionally?

Ask yourself these questions to understand it:

• Do you eat more when you are stressed?
• Do you find yourself eating when you know you are not hungry?
• Do you continue to eat even when you are satisfied?
• Do you contact food to calm emotions?
• Do you have difficulty understanding when you are really hungry?
• Does food encourage you to better manage “difficult” situations?
• Do you often feel guilty for what or how long have you eaten?
• Do you eat at unusual times, for example late at night?
• Did you find yourself eating secretly?

Suggestions to correct emotional nutrition

Early diagnosis and awareness that food behavior is “emotional” are the fundamental premise to be able to overcome it.

You can avoid falling into the spiral of emotional hunger following some tips including:

1. Eating in a healthy and aware way:

• • sit at the table with appetite, but not hungry; Do 5 meals per daystart with one small portionuse small measuring dishes;
  • focus on taste, smell and colors of what we are eating. While chewing, try to identify all the ingredients;
  • chew well and slowly. It should chew every bite about 20 – 40 timesdepending on the type of food. This ‘patience’ allows you to hear all the flavors that are released.

2. Keep a food diaryin which to indicate what has eaten, what time and in what quantities, specifying above all how we felt after finishing.
3. Fight boredomwhich often leads to snacks even when you are not hungry, implementing healthy and “distractive” behaviors, such as take a walk, watch a movie, play With your pet, listen to music, read, call a friend, etc.
4. Focus on positive changes deriving from having introduced more correct eating habits and by having learned to recognize the sense of satiety, with the aim of strengthening self -esteem and better accept one’s body.
5. An important step in the management of stress is exercise Since regular physical activity tends to dampen the production of chemicals during the stress phase, also leading to an improvement in depression, anxiety and insomnia.
6. Contact A mental health professional if:

• • It is not possible to clearly distinguish the feeling of physical hunger from the emotional one;
  • He tried to control the impulse to feed himself without obtaining results;
  • emotions are confused with the desire to fill with food.

Treatment setting

It is important that the treatment focuses both on the relationship that a person has with food and on the relationship he has with his emotions.

The psychotherapist can help understand the reasons for these incorrect attitudes towards food, through different techniques, among which the Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) which has proven effective in the treatment of this disorder.

This approach provides support to relieve stress by helping the individual change his way of thinking about the main aspects of the problem. In the CBT, the therapist uses three techniques to achieve these objectives:

• Didactic component: This phase helps to create positive expectations for therapy and promotes the person’s cooperation with the processing process.
• Cognitive component: This helps to identify the thoughts and assumptions that influence the individual’s behaviors, in particular those that can prepare the patient to emotional nutrition.
• Behavioral component: This uses behavior modification techniques to teach the person how to cease to eat emotionally and how to use more effective strategies to deal with problems.