Actual Hunger vs Emotional Hunger
Step away from the bread... put down the chips... pry your fingers off of the cup of soda. It is time to talk. In this season where most of us are indoors for the majority of the day, it becomes easy to feel bored. Feeling like there is nothing to do is often paired with a desire to move, work with your hands, and perform a small task—idle hours of the day lead to emotional eating.
Emotional eating or stress eating is the act of using food to cope with stress, sadness, or any other uncomfortable emotions. When we stress eat, there are usually no hunger pains involved, it is a mindless routine, that feels comfortable at the time, but often leads to regret. After emotional hunger has been "taken care of" with food, the emotions, and problems we tried to eat our way through, bubble back up to the surface unresolved.
Comfort food.
Why do we emotionally eat?
We all eat for reasons outside of hunger; most of our connections tie back to food. Food is psychologically linked to our emotions. A lousy breakup requires ice cream. A mellow Saturday night in almost demands pizza to your doorstep. A girl's day, a birthday party, and a job promotion all call for food to celebrate. The union of food + feelings is a hard one to break. Emotional eaters try to fill the void with food when, in reality, the task of eating simply takes your mind away from your problem temporarily.
Bread, why you no fix it?
Actual hunger
So how do you know when your belly is empty, and you really need to eat? Whereas emotional hunger is fast, spontaneous, and almost feels like starvation, actual hunger is slow and accompanied by a series of hunger pains, like warning signs that your next meal should be soon. When you feel the slightest bit hungry, try a full glass of water first, and wait at least thirty minutes. Water will not only benefit and hydrate you, but it is also a small test to see if you definitely need food. If you still feel hungry after half an hour, reflect and ask yourself if you have any emotional situations you need to deal with at the moment. Uncomfortable emotions should not remain bottled up inside. As silly as it may sound, sometimes you do not need large fries, you need to call a friend and patch up a misunderstanding.
A meal is a luxury. It is a practice of self-care, and it should be intentional. If you prepare a dish at home, honor that and refrain from snacking. If you enjoy a meal at a restaurant, luxuriate. Take small breaks between bites, set the cutlery down, and focus on flavors + textures of the food. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner should never feel rushed or feel like a chore; handle all meals slowly and with purpose, and your mindset toward food and snacking will evolve into purposely staying healthy.
