By: Maria McConville, MS,RDN,CPT*
Everyone needs food as fuel to live. But we also eat for reasons besides fueling and satisfying physiologic hunger. For some, eating in response to emotions—whether to express them or suppress them—can pose lifelong battles with food, weight, and health. Stephanie Barrientos, an intern with CHAMP, shared her insight and struggles with emotional eating.
MM: Stephanie, please tell me about your journey with emotional eating. What led you to realize you were engaging in emotional eating?
SB: I have struggled with weight my entire life. Throughout my childhood and adolescence, food was my comfort. Whether I was bored, sad, stressed, or even happy, I turned to food. And linked with comfort was excess. My bouts of emotional eating were never in moderation. This pattern of normal and abnormal eating continued throughout my teens and early adulthood. But when I turned 30, I decided to make better health my number one priority—but not for external reasons such as looking like my friends or buying cute clothes. I was tired of external factors negatively impacting the way I felt about myself and my place in this world. I was tired of feeling tired and not having energy. I was tired of feeling held back by my body. Something had to change!
I made minor lifestyle adjustments. I ate 3 meals a day, cut back on sugar (but didn’t eliminate it), and exercised 30 minutes a day. As I made these changes, I started feeling better about myself. The hardest part was making the habits stick. The road was bumpy. But after a year, I found other ways to cope with negative feelings and stress. Exercising, watching television, and going for walks became my best coping strategies. On the days where I was overwhelmed, I still turned to food. But I started to appreciate the difference in how good my body felt when I ate mindfully and healthfully versus how awful I felt after an emotional binge. When I connected to those good feelings, rebounding from emotional eating became easier and quicker.
MM: What situations in your life led to emotional eating?
SB: My emotional eating was always triggered by stress, anxiety, or boredom. It also happened when I experienced self-doubt and lack of confidence.
MM: What strategies did you employ to manage emotional eating? Are there particular resources such as support groups, apps, or mindfulness techniques that you found effective?
SB: Exercise has been effective in curbing my emotional eating impulses. When I work out, I feel energized and motivated to eat well. Especially because I know how hard I worked in the gym. Meal planning is another effective strategy. When I don’t organize my food, I start to pick at whatever is nearby. This is a slippery slope, so planning is key. Now when I’m stressed or frustrated, I allow myself to cry it out or talk to my fiancé. When I’m bored, I answer emails or work on a project. Distraction certainly helps.
MM: What is the one thing you want people to know about emotional eating?
SB: Negative emotions can cause that emotional eating itch. It seems as if my brain asks me to choose between satisfying my body or my mind. Do I soothe emotions with my comfort foods, or do I nourish my body with something healthier? I now know that choosing body-nourishing foods also feeds my soul. When I give in to my emotional eating urges, I feel satisfied only for a moment—then the guilt sets in. I have some realistic strategies to set up road blocks to deal with the urges that enable me to make empowering decisions.
My biggest takeaway isn’t to focus on depriving myself of those unhealthy food. Instead, I focus on nourishment.
MM: Thank you for your insight Stephanie. Many Military Service Members and military community members can identify with your emotional eating struggles and your journey.
For more information, visit HPRC for tips on mindful eating for weight loss and how to eat intuitively to fuel your body. Learning how to focus on nourishing your mind, body, and soul is definitely empowering!
About the Author
Maria McConville, of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, is a Senior Nutrition Health Educator for the Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU).
Disclosure: *The opinions and assertions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of USU or DoD. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. Mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The author has no financial interests or relationships to disclose.
