Emotional eating during war: this is how you distinguish between physical and emotional hunger

Not an easy week, but also familiar… For more than two and a half years we have been breathing and eating stress, worry and anxiety. Israel at war. If on normal days we experience a wide range of emotions, including negative emotions, during this period the emotions are intense and prolonged, and sometimes unbearably difficult.

For some, the effects of anxiety and stress can lead to a decrease in appetite and limited consumption of food, and for some, the reaction is the opposite, and the anxieties and stresses encourage the eating of different foods in relatively large quantities.

What triggers emotional eating?

In order to suppress difficult feelings such as anger, worry, sadness, frustration and stress, we often tend to divert them to another, comforting and relaxing action, such as eating. Eating, and especially eating food rich in sugar and fat, brings with it a feeling of relaxation. Even before the act of eating itself, the preoccupation with preparing the food: cutting, peeling, cooking and baking followed by the eating that mobilizes all the senses, is in itself an escape from the current sensations to something completely different.

The tendency to use food as a means of regulating emotions, especially negative feelings, is sometimes acquired already in childhood. For example, when parents offer their young children something sweet as compensation for a painful blow or to teenagers who have experienced heartache due to unrequited love, or failing their first driving test.

It is important to emphasize, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Food, beyond its role as a source of nutrition, to supply energy and essential components to the body, has other important and significant roles. Food connects people, it conveys a feeling of home. Food is an important part of the tradition, religion and culture of different communities. And it is indeed indulgent and sometimes also comforting, but when the use of food is a solution to a hardship or difficulty that takes root, it is difficult to change the habit.

And so it turns out that when an emotion appears (usually negative but can also be a positive emotion that is difficult to regulate) there will be an automatic appeal to food. Sometimes, without noticing, the door of the refrigerator will open, the drawer with the snack bags or the box of cookies that is on the counter.

Is food as a comforting factor problematic?

As long as the use of food as a comforter does not harm us healthily and mentally or disturb us, there is no problem. The problem starts when there is no balance and food becomes the only or the main tool for comfort. So food as a solution to an emotional problem can even intensify the problem because of the anger and disappointment with ourselves for choosing to eat or running away to unnecessary eating.

If the use of food harms us, the first step in dealing with the phenomenon is awareness of it. Emotional hunger can be very powerful, so it’s easy to confuse it with physical hunger. You can learn to notice when food is an outlet for emotional distress, and develop behavior patterns that help deal with emotional eating. It is a skill that is acquired over time and requires patience.

This is how we distinguish between physical hunger and emotional hunger

It is possible to identify whether eating is a way of dealing with emotional hunger or physical hunger. Here are several ways to help examine the motive for eating. Immediate or gradual: Physical hunger develops slowly and gradually. Emotional hunger, on the other hand, comes “urgently” and requires immediate satisfaction.

Fruits and vegetables or chocolate and borax: when physically hungry, almost anything sounds good and tasty, even foods that are less loved or popular. But in emotional hunger there is a craving for sweet and/or fatty foods that provide an immediate boost. You feel like you need chocolate or borax – and nothing else will “do the job”.

Eating on a vending machine: Emotional hunger often leads to unconscious eating. Before you know it, the rustling bag or ice cream box is already empty… and not always even enjoyed. When eating because of physical hunger, you are usually more aware of what you are eating.

The body speaks or the mind speaks: the feeling of physical hunger comes from the stomach, “a rumbling stomach”, while emotional hunger comes from the heart that leads us to certain tastes, smells and textures. Emotional eating can be recognized even in retrospect. This should not frustrate, but contribute to raising awareness and help to cope next time.

The stomach is full but something is missing: eating after physical hunger causes a feeling of fullness and satiety. Eating because of emotional hunger is not satisfying, even when there is a feeling of fullness. The desire to continue eating exists, even if the desire and the eating lead to a feeling of discomfort.

What is left after: eating following physical hunger is relaxing and happy, while after emotional hunger one sometimes realizes that the eating was “for the wrong reasons”. There is a feeling of guilt, regret, shame, frustration and helplessness.

How to deal with and reduce emotional eating?

Stop and ask what’s going on: try to dwell on the emotion. Understand what you feel and why. Allowing ourselves to be sad or hurt without looking for a solution. In the meantime find relaxing activities like a quick shower or a long bath, walking the dog, listening to music or watching an episode or two of a TV series. Such actions can help overcome the urge to eat without eating and perhaps also regulate the difficult emotion.

Write to understand: write down what you eat and your mood at the time: anxiety, sadness, frustration, anger. Sometimes identifying the cause of emotional eating alone is enough to reduce it and even prevent it.

Letting ourselves go: And if we did eat, and we didn’t manage to stop ahead of time, it is important to learn to forgive ourselves. This is what we would do if it was a good friend, who would tell us that he “eliminated the entire package of cookies, and he feels terrible”. There is no point in beating on sin and drawing guilt and anger.

Ask for reinforcement: another way to deal with emotional eating is the accompaniment and guidance of a nutritionist, psychologist or both. Emotional eating is a phenomenon known to many people, and the emotional reality in which we live is not simple. To turn to food as a response to such a time is completely human, and the science of evolution and physiology provide explanations for this. Change won’t always happen overnight, and that’s perfectly fine. The better we know the pattern, the easier it will be for us to react differently to it next time, especially if we prepare ourselves for it. 