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What Is Emotional Eating? Is It A Type Of Eating Disorder?

by Dr. Sarah Allen
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We have all heard the term emotional eating but what does it actually mean?

Emotional eating is a term used when your intake of food is affected by your emotions in some way. It might be that you eat more food than you need to quell hunger or that there are certain foods that you feel comforted by when you eat them. If it only happens occasionally then there isn’t really a problem, but when it starts to becomes a go-to way to soothe emotions and that is when it becomes a struggle.

Emotional eating could occur you need comfort after a stressful day with a demanding boss or arguing children and there isn’t anyone you think can give you the support you need right then. It is also a way to push down fears or anger. It is a convenient distraction and occupies us so we don’t need to actively deal with the difficulties we face.

Emotional eating is usually rushed and involves way too much food than our body needs. It is used to help us self soothe and this would be fine if doing that didn’t have negative consequences, such as not really sorting out the underlying problem, weight gain or feelings of shame and guilt about the uncontrollable nature of that type of bingeing.

 

Help For Emotional Eating is available
Help For Emotional Eating is available

 

To find out more about emotional eating and to download the free booklet Simple Steps To Overcome Emotional Eating (which includes questionnaires to find out what if you are an emotional eater and if yes, type of emotional eater you are) use the sign up form below the book.

Simple Steps To Overcome Emotional Eating

You've just been sent an email that contains a confirmation link. Check your SPAM/JUNK folder if you don't see it within a couple of minutes. In order to activate to receive your free booklet, click on the CONFIRM link and you will be sent a second email with the booklet. It may also be in your SPAM folder.

For more info on emotional eating visit the Weight & Emotional Eating page and my blog.

Dr. Sarah Allen specializes in empowering women to live the life they want.

She sees clients in her Northbrook office or via telephone or Skype sessions.

Visit www.drsarahallen.com for more blog posts on a variety of issues relevant to women.

She can also be reached at (847) 791-7722 or by the form below.

    Dr. Allen's professional license only allows her to work with clients who live in IL & FL and unfortunately does not allow her to give personalized advice via email to people who are not her clients.

     

     

    Filed Under: Eating & Weight Issues Tagged With: counseling, Dr. Sarah Allen, Eating Disorders, Emotional Eating, Northbrook, Overeating, Weight Problems

    Eating & Weight Issues

  • Download This Free Booklet

    SIMPLE STEPS TO OVERCOME EMOTIONAL EATING EBOOK

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    You've just been sent an email that contains a confirmation link. Check your SPAM/JUNK folder if you don't see it within a couple of minutes. In order to activate to receive your free booklet, click on the CONFIRM link and you will be sent a second email with the booklet. It may also be in your SPAM folder.

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    I have always been on a diet and my mood went up and down as my weight did. My internist thought I might be depressed and referred me to Sarah. I was willing to give anything a try but really thought I just needed more self discipline to stick to my diet. By talking things through with her I quickly realized that not being able to stick to a diet wasn’t really about food, although I certainly craved sweets. I learned to notice how different emotions and situations triggered my overeating and S… Read more

    Anonymous

    When I first came to see Dr. Allen, I was sick of struggling with my weight. With her help, I realized that a lot of my eating habits were a way of dealing with the bad relationship I was in. With her support, I made some big changes in my life, increased my self-confidence and found better ways to deal with my stressful job. Now I don’t need to eat my way to feeling better, I have much better ways to cope with life’s difficulties.

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