Transcription:
Emotional Eating: Is Stress Driving Your Hunger?

Deborah Howell (Host): with busy schedules and trying to keep up with all of our responsibilities.

We can start to feel stressed and this stress can lead to overeating and eventually weight gain Let's talk with Marissa Parminter. She's a Registered Dietician for WakeMed Health and Hospitals, Corporate and Community Health about how stress may be driving our hunger and how we can improve our eating behaviors.

This is WakeMed Voices, the podcast from WakeMed Health and Hospitals. I'm Deborah Howell. Welcome Marissa.

Marissa Parminter, MS, RD, LDN (Guest): Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

Host: Oh, we need you here because there's so much information around this topic we need to get out there. What is emotional eating?

Marissa: Absolutely. So emotional eating is generally considered to be, you know, when food is used to suppress or used to manage negative feelings or emotions. This is most often going to be things like stress or sadness or anger, really kind of, any of those really uncomfortable feelings. We do, of course know that like other negative coping mechanisms, just like those, emotional eating may worsen these negative emotions or even produce new negative emotions, like shame or guilt.

Those are probably the most common ones that we do see with emotional eating. So that can then lead to a period of restriction following an emotional eating binge, which of course, after we restrict ourselves for a period of time, leads to another binge, because we're, we're missing all of those great foods that we've were previously having.

And so the cycle just continues. The negative feelings never really get addressed. And unfortunately it can result in more serious disordered eating patterns.

Host: Right. Well, thank you for that wonderful description of it. Let's talk a little bit about emotional hunger versus physical hunger. Cause there's definitely a big difference in the two.

Marissa: There is. Yeah. So what we'll typically see is that, we all are fairly familiar, at least what physical hunger feels like for us. It may take a couple hours to come on. It generally is not super sudden. While we may have cravings or things that sound good to us, there may not be a specific food that we're just really, really wanting. But with emotional hunger, it tends to be the opposite of those things. So the hunger may come on quickly, have an urge to eat right away. You may want to eat something really, really specific. And on a more, you know, if, you really kind of go down to the, to the depths of it, physical hunger, you may feel it in your body, however, however that feels for you, but with the emotional hunger, you may just feel the need for security. You may feel the need for comfort, and it may not even be something that you necessarily even feel within your body.

Host: Right. Not a physical manifestation of it, right?

Marissa: Right. Right. It's definitely far more emotional as the name implies.

Host: I need me some Haagen Daus.

Marissa: Right. Right. Yeah. Just feeling the need for something comfortable, andeven if you just ate. That's another common one, as well, as, you know, you could have a really big meal, but if that didn't really quell that emotion that you were having, you may still be feeling the urge to eat more.

Host: So Marissa, how can emotional eating be improved?

Marissa: So it's tricky. There's a lot of things that kind of need to be put in place. Because often it's not just about the eating piece, it's about the emotions that cause the eating. So the first step is really just to notice those triggers. Notice when you're emotionally eating and figure out why that may be happening. It can also be important just to practice some alternative coping strategies. So even just taking a second to do something else, to distract yourself from that desire or urge to eat can be as simple as taking a step outside. Standing outside taking some deep breaths. Of course, more self-care techniques, too, like exercise or journaling or, or other things of that nature can be helpful as well.

But even just those couple minutes, where you just, you have the urge to eat, but you know, it's coming from a negative emotion that you're feeling. So you take a few minutes, you just distract yourself for those few minutes and more often than not, that feeling may just pass.

Host: I have a little trick. I brush my teeth.

Marissa: Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, for some people that may work, but it doesn't even have to be something that in depth like I was saying, even just those, those couple breaths can really make a big difference. But, on a more broader note I think beyond that sort of acute need to distract yourself or acute need to, to not emotional eat for those few minutes; in general, mindful eating practice can be, can be really, really helpful.

Host: Okay. That's a phrase I want to get into. Can you describe mindful eating for us and let us know how it can help with emotional eating? Maybe give us some tips?

Marissa: Sure. Absolutely. So this is a field that I'm very passionate about. I love to educate people on. So mindful eating is essentially just a practice that encourages listening to your body, listening to your mind all throughout the process of eating. So before that meal, during that meal, and then after that meal. It's characterized by a few different main things. One of those is by learning what hunger and fullness feels like in your body, and then making an active effort to pay attention to those cues and honoring them when you're eating. So as simple as eating, when you're hungry and stopping, when you're satisfied, when you've had enough food. Sounds really simple on paper, you know, and when the dietician is just telling you, oh, you just need to do this. Of course it's more complicated than that. And it, it does take some practice, but can ultimately lead to being able to, make sure that you're not feeling out of control with food, to make sure that you're not having really large portion sizes or overeating every time you go to the dinner table.

Which is a sentiment that I think a lot of people feel. So, it's kind of a whole mind and body process. You're listening to those hunger and fullness cues in your body. It is also very important to make sure that you're savoring the food that you're eating. So, thinking about the textures and the flavors and the smells when you're sitting down to eat. Trying to avoid distractions, is one of the biggest tips that really helps with mindful eating. So turning off the TV and putting down your phone and, even if it's just having conversations with your family, your friends, or the people that you're eating dinner with, or, just kind of sitting with your thoughts, that's okay too, but really being active in that meal and not letting your mind wander off to other places.

Host: And, you know, I'm guilty of, there is no fire, no one's going to take your plate of food away from you. Just slow down. Right?

Marissa: You know, I'm, I'm glad you brought that up. That's a huge piece of it, as well as the best thing that you can do for yourself when you're just learning how to mindfully eat. Cause it can take some practice and take a while, is just to slow down, like you said. So putting your fork down in between bites, taking smaller bites, counting how many times you chew your food, if you think that's going to be beneficial for you. So a couple tips there, but just starting off with mindful eating, I think is, is huge with slowing down, paying attention to that hunger and fullness, putting a number on it is generally what I advise people to do.

So on a scale of one to 10, one is super, super starving, 10 is super, super stuffed, and we just want to be right in the middle. So if we can always, it's, it's, it takes a broader explanation than just that, but if we can kind of hang out in the happy medium and make sure that we are eating when we're just feeling hungry and stopping when we're feeling satisfied, but not overfull, that leads us to pretty good places. And it's paying attention to that in particular can be helpful for the emotional eating piece, because I think with the emotional eating is often characterized by just eating too much of whatever food we're going for.

Host: Right. And that's not great for your stomach, right, to eating just a huge amount of food all at one time.

Marissa: Yeah, certainly. And I think it's too, it's, it's very much just driven to that emotional state. You know, it's still, it's a negative coping mechanism. It's still something that, we want to explore more healthier coping mechanisms that really do provide benefits for yourself. Things like breathing and journaling and stretching, rather than going to food, which is great, in, in many circumstances, but perhaps not, if we're only eating because we're feeling sad or eating too much because we're feeling sad that kind of warrants deeper explanation, and then a deeper search.

Host: Right. Well, those are great, great tips. So when is it time to seek professional help when it comes to our eating behavior?

Marissa: So, I think first of all, it is important to state that emotional eating is very normal. I do think it's something that we've all partaken in at one point in time. And of course when we did the standard trope of get broken up with and you just have to get all the chocolate and ice cream things like that, I think it is super super common. And for most people, emotional eating is going to come and it's going to go. And, and that that's going to be that. But if you do ever start to feel like you're unable to control your eating habits, if you are always eating to the point where you are just so full, you just cannot eat another bite. You're feeling sick. Or if it's something more like your stress or your negative emotional state that that's maybe driving that emotional eating is feeling out of control for you; I absolutely would encourage you to get some relief, speak with your doctor or reach out to a counselor or a therapist or someone that can help you work through those emotions in a more healthy way.

Host: Yeah. And there's no shame in that at all right?

Marissa: Absolutely. Absolutely. And if it is more of a less of an emotion piece, but if you just have concerns, about overeating or, or want more help with mindful eating in ways that, that you can be better about that, you know, a registered dietician can be a great resource for you as well.

Host: This has been so helpful. Is there anything else you'd like to add to our conversation Marissa?

Marissa: I think, I think that's it, but thank you so much. I think, my final message, I suppose, to everybody would just be that everyone deserves to have a healthy relationship with food. It's such a huge part of our life. And everyone also deserves to feel like they're in control of their eating habits. So that's really huge where the mindful eating piece comes in. And I just hope everybody that's listening is able to have a that healthy and really enjoyable relationship with food.

Host: Well, we really appreciate all your good work, Marissa, and it's been so great to have you on today. Thank you so much for your time.

Marissa: Yeah. Thank you for speaking with me.

Host: That's Marissa Parminter, a Registered Dietician at WakeMed Health and Hospitals. Thanks so much for checking out this episode of WakeMed Voices. To learn more about nutrition services offered at WakeMed, please visit wakemed.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. That'll help us out a lot and be sure to check out the entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Deborah Howell with WakeMed Voices brought to you by WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina. Thanks for listening. Have a great day.