Not As Easy As Imagined, Recognize 5 Differences In Emotional Eating And Physical Hunger

Illustration of the difference between emotional eating and physical hunger (Pexels/Karolina Grabowska)

JAKARTA – Eating because of the call of hunger is different from eating because of emotional urges. Eating because of emotional impulses, also known as emotional eating, is the desire to eat to relieve stress, to self-reward, or to feel more comfortable.

Emotional eating is using food to make yourself feel better. With the aim of meeting emotional needs, not your stomach, it often becomes disorienting. Even eating junk food or food that does not support a healthy lifestyle is quite dangerous.

Eating for emotional reasons will not fix emotional problems. In many cases, it makes a person feel sorry, guilty, and ashamed. Distinguishing emotional eating and physical hunger is not as easy as imagined. Especially if you frequently use food to deal with your feelings. Here, the difference between the two behaviors, one is naturally called body chemistry and the other is emotional impulse.

1. Emotional eating comes on suddenly

Physical hunger comes later than emotional hunger. Emotional eating can spread in an instant and feel overwhelming and urgent. The urge to eat out of hunger doesn't feel scary or demand instant gratification, unless you haven't eaten in a while.

Illustration of the difference between emotional eating and physical hunger (Unsplash/Loouis Hansel)

2. Emotional hunger craving comfort food

When compared based on logic, healthy foods and comfort foods can be very different. When you're physically hungry, almost anything sounds good, including vegetables and healthy foods that contain both micro and macro nutrients.

But emotional hunger craves food fast, sweet, and provides an instant boost. For example, you suddenly feel like you need cheesecake, pizza, and there's nothing else to do.

3. Emotional eating often leads to thinking without thinking

Before you know it, because of an emotional urge, you've eaten a bag full of chips or a box of ice cream without really noticing or enjoying it to the fullest. Whereas when you are physically hungry, there is a hunger call before responding and you are usually more aware of what you are doing.

4. Emotional hunger is not satisfied even though it is full

Because of emotions, you keep wanting more and more. Often emotional hunger will stop until the stomach feels uncomfortable. On the other hand, physical hunger will be fulfilled and you will feel satisfied when your stomach is full.

5. Emotional eating is not located in the stomach

Physical hunger is quite familiar, the stomach will feel rumbling or pain in the stomach so it requires food intake at the body's natural call. But at the time of experiencing emotional eating, you feel hunger as an unusual craving and calls are ringing in your head.

The five differences above, you can observe every time you get an urge to eat. Try to recognize your stomach's natural calling so you don't regret or feel guilty about following your emotional urge to eat.