5 Reasons Why Emotional Eating Is Often Experienced When Stressed

Illustration of emotional eating when stressed (Pexels/Pavel Danilyuk)

JAKARTA – When you're in a bad mood, a jar of chips can help distract you. This is known as emotional eating. Emotional eating is defined as eating foods high in fat, both salty and sweet to calm negative emotions.

This method is classified as unhealthy for dealing with stress, reported by Psychology Today, Friday, March 4. The reason is, emotional eating contributes to obesity, excess sugar, and creates the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and depression. According to Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D., licensed clinical psychologist and author of The Stress-Proof Brain, here are 5 reasons why emotional eating is often experienced when stressed.

1. Lack of time or money

When stress hits, generally someone has a lot of agendas with limited time. They even have little time for self-care. Because time is limited, they don't have much time to eat during the day so they don't have the opportunity to choose healthy foods, let alone prepare them themselves. As a result, fast food and a bag of cakes are a tantalizing alternative.

According to a 2014 APA survey, it was found that the scarcity of money causes people to choose processed foods that are easier, high in fat, salt, and sugar than vegetables and fruit which are more expensive.

Illustration of emotional eating when stressed (Pexels/Pavel Danilyuk)

2. Not paying attention to healthy needs

A lot of tasks and having to finish them quickly makes us rush and stress. The fight-or-flights brain response urges you to carry on with your task without taking a break. This makes a person not pay attention to what he is doing, including not realizing that he has eaten four slices of pizza. In this condition, the brain tends not to perceive that you are full, so you overeat.

3. Due to lack of sleep

Stress, according to surveys, often makes a person difficult to sleep or wake up at night. Lack of sleep can interfere with the function of leptin and ghrelin, the body's chemical compounds that control appetite. This is what makes a person angry. Depression also makes us tend to like to run to the refrigerator and look for food to calm our feelings.

4. Cortisol makes you feel hungrier

The increase in the hormones adrenaline and cortisol is an effect of stress. These chemicals prepare to fight off the attacker or flee. In the short term, adrenaline helps you feel less hungry. Once the effects of adrenaline wear off, cortisol signals the body to supply food. As a result, you feel hungrier and potentially eat without consideration.

5. Decreased metabolism

The body's metabolism decreases when stressed. So that more glucose is ready to be processed into energy. So when many tasks need to be completed with little time to eat. Finally all eat a lot but regret comes when the stomach circumference widens.

Excess belly fat also releases chemicals that cause inflammation. This has an impact on overall health.

Greenberg advises, first, eat regularly on a schedule. Then plan your meal plan, and eat mindfully. In addition, he suggests managing stress in a healthy way instead of consuming foods and drinks that are harmful to health.