We don’t always eat just to satisfy physical hunger. Many of us also turn to food for comfort, stress relief, or to reward ourselves. And when we do, we tend to reach for junk food, sweets, and other comforting but unhealthy foods. You might reach for ice cream when you’re feeling down, order a pizza if you’re bored or lonely, or order takeaway after a stressful day at work. In this article we look at comfort eating and how to stop doing it. If you would like to stop comfort eating, get in touch to find out how my London hypnotherapy sessions can help. Online sessions are also available.
What is comfort eating?
Comfort eating, is very much like emotional eating. We do this when we use food to feel better. We eat to fill comfort needs, rather than your stomach. Unfortunately, comfort eating doesn’t fix our emotional problems. In fact, it usually makes you feel worse. Afterward, not only does the original emotional issue remain, but you also feel guilty for overeating.
Are you an comfort eater?
- Do you eat more when you’re feeling stressed?
- Do you eat when you’re not hungry or when you’re full?
- Do you eat to feel better (to calm and soothe yourself when you’re sad, angry, bored, anxious, etc.)?
- Do you reward yourself with food?
- Do you regularly eat until overfull?
- Does food make you feel safe? Do you feel like food is a friend?
- Do you feel powerless or out of control around food?
The comfort eating cycle
Occasionally using food as a pick-me-up, a reward, or to celebrate isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But is your first impulse is to open the refrigerator whenever you’re stressed, upset, angry, lonely, exhausted, or bored? Is you do you can then get stuck in an unhealthy cycle where the real feeling or problem is never addressed
Emotional hunger can’t be filled with food. Eating may feel good in the moment, but the feelings that triggered the eating are still there. And you often feel worse than you did before because of the unnecessary calories you’ve just consumed. You beat yourself for messing up and not having more willpower.
Compounding the problem, you stop learning healthier ways to deal with your emotions and you have a harder and harder time controlling your weight. You feel increasingly powerless over both food and your feelings. But no matter how powerless you feel over food and your feelings, it is possible to make a positive change. You can learn healthier ways to deal with your emotions, avoid triggers, conquer cravings, and finally put a stop to comfort eating. This is where hypnotherapy for comfort eating and emotional eating can really help you make wonderful changes.
The difference between comfort hunger and physical hunger
Before you can break free from the cycle of comfort eating, you first need to learn how to distinguish between comfort and physical hunger. This can be trickier than it sounds, especially if you regularly use food to deal with your feelings. There are clues you can look for to help you tell physical and comfort hunger apart.
- Comfort hunger comes on suddenly. It hits you in an instant and feels overwhelming and urgent. Physical hunger, on the other hand, comes on more gradually. The urge to eat doesn’t feel as dire or demand instant satisfaction (unless you haven’t eaten for a very long time).
- Comfort hunger craves specific comfort foods. When you’re physically hungry, almost anything sounds good, including healthy stuff like vegetables. But comfort hunger craves junk food or sugary snacks that provide an instant rush. You feel like you need cheesecake or pizza and nothing else will do.
- Comfort hunger often leads to mindless eating. Before you know it, you’ve eaten a whole bag of crisps or an entire container of ice cream, all without really paying attention or fully enjoying it. When you’re eating in response to physical hunger, you’re typically more aware of what you’re doing.
- Comfort hunger isn’t satisfied once you’re full. You keep wanting more and more, often eating until you’re uncomfortably stuffed. Physical hunger, on the other hand, doesn’t need to be stuffed. You feel satisfied when your stomach is full.
- Comfort hunger isn’t located in the stomach. Rather than a growling belly or a pang in your stomach, you feel your hunger as a craving you can’t get out of your head. You’re focused on specific textures, tastes, and smells.
- Comfort hunger often leads to regret, guilt, or shame. When you eat to satisfy physical hunger, you’re unlikely to feel guilty or ashamed because you’re simply giving your body what it needs. If you feel guilty after you eat, it’s likely because you know deep down that you’re not eating for nutritional reasons.
Common causes of comfort eating
Stress. Ever notice how stress makes you hungry? It’s not just in your mind. When stress is chronic, as it so often is in our chaotic, fast-paced world, your body produces high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol triggers cravings for salty, sweet, and fried foods—foods that give you a burst of energy and pleasure. The more uncontrolled stress in your life, the more likely you are to turn to food for comfort relief.
Stuffing emotions. Eating can be a way to temporarily silence or “stuff down” uncomfortable emotions, including anger, fear, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, resentment, and shame. While you’re numbing yourself with food, you can avoid the difficult emotions you’d rather not feel.
Boredom or feelings of emptiness. Do you ever eat simply to give yourself something to do, to relieve boredom, or as a way to fill a void in your life? You feel unfulfilled and empty and food is a way to occupy your mouth and your time. In the moment, it fills you up and distracts you from underlying feelings of purposelessness and dissatisfaction with your life.
Childhood habits. Think back to your childhood memories of food. Did your parents reward good behaviour with ice cream, take you out for pizza when you got a good report card, or serve you sweets when you were feeling sad? These habits can often carry over into adulthood.
Find other ways to feed your feelings
If you are unsure how to manage your emotions in a way that doesn’t involve food, you won’t be able to control your eating habits for very long. Diets so often fail because they offer logical nutritional advice. Advice which only works if you have conscious control over your eating habits. It doesn’t work when emotions hijack the process, demanding an immediate payoff with food.
In order to stop comfort eating, you have to find other ways to fulfil yourself more emotionally. It’s not enough to understand the cycle of comfort eating or even to understand your triggers, although that’s a huge first step. You need alternatives to food that you can turn to for comfort fulfilment.
During hypnotherapy sessions with clients, it is precisely this that we often address. Hypnotherapy is great for shifting how you think and feel about food and emotions. Wouldn’t it be great to start enjoying life again and just eating for nutrition and enjoyment, rather than to comfort eat food you don’t really need?
Alternatives to comfort eating
Here are a few idea for when you feel that urge to comfort eat. You might find some helpful and other suggestions aren’t for you. That’s ok, its about working out how to get your needs met, not through food. How to feel happy and fulfilled with real things rather than chocolate or sweets.
If you’re depressed or lonely, call someone who always makes you feel better, play with your dog or cat, or look at a favourite photo or cherished memento.
If you’re anxious, expend your nervous energy by dancing to your favourite song, squeezing a stress ball, or taking a brisk walk.
If you’re exhausted, treat yourself with a hot cup of tea, take a bath, light some scented candles, or wrap yourself in a warm blanket.
If you’re bored, read a good book, watch a comedy show, explore the outdoors, or turn to an activity you enjoy (woodworking, playing the guitar, shooting hoops, scrapbooking, etc.).
Pause when cravings hit and check in with yourself
Most comfort eaters feel powerless over their food cravings. When the urge to eat hits, it’s all you can think about. You feel an almost unbearable tension that demands to be fed, right now! Because you’ve tried to resist in the past and failed, you believe that your willpower just isn’t up to snuff. But the truth is that you have more power over your cravings than you think.
Take 5 before you give in to a craving
Comfort eating tends to be automatic and virtually mindless. Before you even realize what you’re doing, you’ve reached for a tub of ice cream and polished off half of it. But if you can take a moment to pause and reflect when you’re hit with a craving, you give yourself the opportunity to make a different decision.
Can you put off eating for five minutes? Or just start with one minute. Don’t tell yourself you can’t give in to the craving. Remember, the forbidden is extremely tempting. Just tell yourself to wait.
While you’re waiting, check in with yourself. How are you feeling? What’s going on emotionally? Even if you end up eating, you’ll have a better understanding of why you did it. This can help you set yourself up for a different response next time.
Learn to accept your feelings—even the bad ones
While it may seem that the core problem is that you’re powerless over food, comfort eating actually stems from feeling powerless over your emotions. You don’t feel capable of dealing with your feelings head on, so you avoid them with food.
Allowing yourself to feel uncomfortable emotions can be scary. You may fear that, like Pandora’s box, once you open the door you won’t be able to shut it. But the truth is that when we don’t obsess over or suppress our emotions, even the most painful and difficult feelings subside relatively quickly and lose their power to control our attention.
To do this you need to become mindful and learn how to stay connected to your moment-to-moment comfort experience. This can enable you to rein in stress and repair comfort problems that often trigger comfort eating.
Support yourself with healthy lifestyle habits
When you’re physically strong, relaxed, and well rested, you’re better able to handle the curveballs that life inevitably throws your way. But when you’re already exhausted and overwhelmed, any little hiccup has the potential to send you off the rails and straight toward the refrigerator. Exercise, sleep, and other healthy lifestyle habits will help you get through difficult times without comfort eating.
Make daily exercise a priority. Physical activity does wonders for your mood and energy levels, and it’s also a powerful stress reducer. And getting into the exercise habit is easier than you may think.
Aim for eight hours of sleep every night. When you don’t get the sleep you need, your body craves sugary foods that will give you a quick energy boost. Getting plenty of rest will help with appetite control and reduce food cravings.
Make time for relaxation. Give yourself permission to take at least 30 minutes every day to relax, decompress, and unwind. This is your time to take a break from your responsibilities and recharge your batteries.
Connect with others. Don’t underestimate the importance of close relationships and social activities. Spending time with positive people who enhance your life will help protect you from the negative effects of stress.
If you would like to kick comfort eating, consider hypnotherapy. I offer hypnotherapy for comfort eating sessions in London and online. Get in touch today to find out more.
