Transcript

Hello, hello, and welcome back to The Hormone Hub. I am your host, Kylie Pinwill, and today we are delving into the topic of emotional eating. So whether that looks like stress eating, binge eating, just overeating. We are gonna have a look at, you know, what are some of the causes, like why, you know, we do it and I’ll give you the heads up, it’s not a lack of willpower. We’re gonna have a look at some of the triggers, and most importantly, we’re gonna have a look at some strategies to help you overcome it. So let’s jump in. 

So why do we emotionally eat? Okay. So we use food as a coping mechanism for dealing with, you know, a lot of our negative emotions.

And often it’s a form of, you know, self soothing or, you know, seeking comfort. So, think about it, when we were babies, we cried and our mother fed us. [00:01:00] So it’s a very kind of intrinsic trigger, you know, that, that, you know, feeding and, you know, eating food or receiving food. When we, you know, fell over and we scraped our knee, you know, we might have been given a biscuit or a cookie or, you know, something like that.

So, oh, if you stop, if you behave yourself, you know, you’ll get an ice cream at the end of the day. So, you know, you can see that we’ve had that reward system, you know, reinforced our, pretty much our whole lives. Oh, it’s Friday afternoon. I’m gonna have a glass of wine. So it’s our brain’s way, you know, when we consume certain foods, we get that little release of dopamine.

And you know, we’ve also, when we’ve got, you know, psychological things like stress going on, boredom going on, loneliness, anxiety, you know, we’re happy, we’re sad, we’re celebrating, we’re commiserating, you know, all of these range of emotions link [00:02:00] us back to, you know, emotional eating and food.

And also too, you know, I think so much of our relationship with food has been dictated to us by the diet industry. So certain foods have been, you know, deemed as bad and we shouldn’t eat them. And then, you know, there’s a whole range of guilt and shame associated with that. So, you know, we then we sort of see behaviors like, You know, like sneak eating or, you know, guilt eating or you know, eating in secret and things like that.

So, you know, emotional eating, you know, has a huge range of, you know, what it can mean to different people. Now there’s a, a lot of triggers for emotional eating. So, you know, obviously stress and, you know, chronic stress, for a lot of us, you know, can lead to increased cravings and emotional eating. So we’ve got that, that blood sugar, you know, that chronic stress, that [00:03:00] chronically elevated cortisol, which, you know, sort of drives our blood sugar.

So, you know, there’s a physiological side to that as well. When we’re experiencing negative emotions. So things like, you know, feeling sad, feeling angry, feeling frustrated. You know, it might trigger that desire for sort of what we call comfort foods. Boredom is a massive trigger.

 Mindless eating, you know, can distract us from that, that monotony or that lack of stimulation. I know that, you know, procrastination is a big trigger for me. I will, if I’m putting something off that I wanna do, and because I work at home, you know, I can find myself, you know, if I’m not in the right frame of mind, standing in front of the fridge looking at, okay, well what can I eat now?

Loneliness for a lot of people can be a trigger. So using food to fill a void or, you know, compensate for what’s missing in a [00:04:00] relationship or that lack of social connection. Fatigue, so certainly there’s a huge link between, you know, poor sleep and that lack of sleep, and now, you know, it can disrupt our hunger regulating hormones and increase that emotional eating.

So when we’re not having a good night’s sleep or, or if we haven’t had a good night’s sleep, and this is a regular thing, it messes with our production of leptin, which is our, you know, hormone that, that keeps us, gives us that feeling of fullness. So certainly, you know, fatigue is a big trigger for emotional eating. And also, you know, the environment.

So when we’re in a surrounding that reminds us of, you know, pleasurable food experiences, you know, it can be a big trigger for a lot of us. Now, like I said earlier, it’s not necessarily a lack of willpower, which is why we’re, you know, overeating or emotional eating. [00:05:00] So certainly, you know, we can look at hormonal imbalances, so fluctuations in our hormones, fluctuations in our cycle can trigger emotional eating in some people. So, you know, we are also to that conditioning of, oh look, my period’s due, so therefore I must have chocolate. I had my daughter turn around and tell me, you know, I asked her if there was anything she needed. She goes, oh yes, I need chocolate.

And I was like, oh my God. You know, she, you know, hasn’t had a cycle long enough to know that. But you know, obviously she’s heard along the way that, you know, oh, you get to eat chocolate when you get your period. 

Like I said, lack of sleep is another one, so that’s another sort of, Physiological driver for overeating.

So when, you know, we sort of have that sleep deprivation, we’re feeling tired, we tend to go for you know, those higher carb, those sugary sort of foods to lift up our blood sugar. So our insulin is [00:06:00] impacted. And then also those hunger regulating hormones, particularly leptin is, you know, Triggered when we, you know, we are not sleeping well or it’s suppressed rather.

So, you know, we, we miss that cue from our body to tell us that we’re actually full, and that’s why we tend to overeat. Certainly, you know, nutrient deficiencies and I’m just gonna say undereating in that as well. So when we are not getting enough nutrients, you know, into our body when we are not getting enough food into our body, this can contribute to, you know, cravings and emotional eating as well, because our body is driving us to want those nutrients.

And then low serotonin levels. So serotonin is one of our neurotransmitters and it’s responsible for, you know, the way we regulate our mood. And this can definitely influence our food choices. Again, we tend to go for those, those carbier type [00:07:00] of foods, sugary sort of foods, cause we want to lift up, we want that dopamine hit, we’re looking for that, or our body’s looking for that. So that low serotonin can certainly be a driver, to, you know, go and eat. 

All right, so there’s some of the reasons. So hopefully, you know, like I want you to sort of think about, you know, it’s not just willpower. It’s not just that you’re not strong enough that you’re on the wrong diet, that you need to exercise more.

You know, if we look at, you know, some of the, the physical, physiological drivers of why we might be overeating, it certainly helps them address the behaviors. But if we have a look at, you know, there’s sort of 10 strategies that I use with my clients to help overcome emotional eating. And this is something that we talk about all the time in the Well-Balanced Woman program because it is such a common thing for a lot of women.

And when we hit our, you know, mid forties, hit our [00:08:00] fifties, hit our sixties, you know, and the ability to lose weight and the ability to maintain our weight does get a bit harder. You know, with that, you know, we are more susceptible to insulin. We are more susceptible to cortisol. So, you know, when we sort of employ different strategies, and different coping mechanisms, you know, it certainly helps us combat that emotional eating without relying on willpower.

Okay, so first up, like mindful eating. So being aware and paying attention to what we’re actually eating. You know, it’s easy to eat a block of chocolate while you’re sitting on the lounge watching tv. It’s easy to eat a bag of chips while you’re driving and you are in traffic and you’re not paying attention to what you eat.

So, you know, be present with your food, sort of sit down and it doesn’t matter what you’re eating, whether that food is deemed good, bad. Or indifferent. I want you to pay attention to what you’re eating. Slow it down, [00:09:00] chew, taste your food. Savor each bite, you know? And then just that presence and awareness will help reduce those, those cravings.

 The second thing is having an emotional awareness. So identify what’s the emotion and actually acknowledge the emotion before we turn to food. So are we lonely? Are we bored? Are we, you know, actually hungry? You know, like what is the trigger there? So, you know, tuning into how we are feeling can certainly help.

Number three is developing a toolbox of healthier ways to deal with those emotions. So whether it’s, you know, talking to a friend, whether it’s getting yourself outside and moving your body, whether it is, you know, sitting down, being, still being quiet, you know, and giving [00:10:00] yourself, you know, making yourself a nice cup of tea and just taking some deep breaths.

 So we want to sort of like pull in those, those other tools. 

Managing your stress. So stress is a huge driver for emotional eating. So we want to, you know, learn to regulate our stress. And learn to regulate that cortisol response. So this is gonna help, you know, on so many levels, it’s going to help with our, it’s gonna help our digestion, our sleep, our, you know, emotional wellbeing, you know, as well as the ability to either lose weight or store weight.

But when we, you know, bring in things like meditation, bring in things like deep breathing exercises. Creating a hobby, you know, is another great one as well. So, you know so many women I ask, you know, oh, do you have any hobbies that are just for you? And I get a blank look. It is like, oh no, I haven’t had hobbies since my [00:11:00] twenties.

You know? So quite often if you can’t think of, you know, what you would like to do, maybe think about, you know, things that you used to enjoy. Was it dancing? Was it, you know, painting, was it writing poetry? You know, it doesn’t matter what it was, but, you know, think about, you know, what’s something that you really like to do.

Could be cooking, could be, you know, a number of different things. 

Number five is creating a supportive environment. So create a, you know, a kitchen full of food that you want to eat. So stock your kitchen with lots of delicious, nutritious foods. Take away the things that you don’t want to eat now if you want to avoid certain foods.

Don’t put them in the trolley and don’t put them in your house. Okay. That’s the simplest way. And often if we see foods, like that’s a trigger, that that’s what we want to eat. So if we see that packet of chips, if we see that bottle of wine, if we see [00:12:00] that piece of cake, like if you don’t want to eat it, don’t have it in the fridge.

 Now on what we are eating. So number six is to build and, you know, make sure you are getting the foundations of nutrition right. So we want to, you know, have balanced meals, so that’s gonna keep our blood sugar levels stable. It’s gonna keep our moods stable and it’s gonna keep our energy stable as well.

So we wanna make sure that we’re having, you know, a variety of whole foods at each meal. So this includes lean proteins, that includes complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, you know, lots of fiber in the form of fruit and veggies, brown rice, sweet potato, potato, all of those things. And this is going to help stabilize out our blood sugar.

And then we are not gonna have that deep later on, which is going to start that trigger off that we want something to eat. Having [00:13:00] regular meals and snacks is a huge one. Now if we are having, if we’ve got consistent eating patterns, it’s going to prevent sort of that extreme hunger and overeating.

And I see it particularly with my nighttime snackers and my nighttime eaters. They, you know, Don’t eat all morning, and the first meal that they have is at lunchtime, and then they’re looking for food, you know, to fill the gap at nighttime. So if you are a nighttime snacker, like think about where your meals are during the day.

Are you starting off the day with a good balanced meal full of protein, fiber, healthy fats? You know, and then having that again at lunchtime, having that again at dinnertime, and that will make an enormous difference to, you know, how you snack or don’t snack at the end of the day. 

Okay, sleep is the next one.

So prioritizing sleep, and [00:14:00] those regular sleep habits going to bed at the same time. Nice, cool, quiet room. No phones in your bedroom. So we wanna make sure that we’re having, you know, good quality restful sleep, because that’s gonna help with those emotions of tiredness, boredom, frustration, you know, the next day, and it’s gonna help regulate that, that blood sugar as well.

 Number nine is, you know, if you need some help, please reach out. You know, this is, we’re specialists in this, this is what we do, all day, every day, is we help support women, you know, to change their behaviors when it comes to, you know, habits that we want to change. 

And number 10 is, oh my gosh, be kind to yourself.

Alright? So, you know if the inevitable slip up happens, be kind to yourself, forgive yourself, move on. You know, let it go. It, you know, a [00:15:00] piece of cake is not gonna ruin your life, okay? So we can just let it go, you know? So yeah, above all, be kind to yourself. So as you can see, emotional eating, it’s a complex issue.

It’s influenced by, you know, lots of different factors and it’s when we understand the reasons behind this emotional eating and then we implement strategies to combat this, it’s where we can develop our healthier relationship with food. And find alternative ways to manage our emotions, you know, without sort of then feeling guilty.

We want a healthier relationship with food. We want to create a healthier relationship with our body as well. It is a journey. It’s important to be patient, be kind to ourselves along the way and you know, if you need some support, this is what we do. Alright, well thanks for listening and I will see you in the next episode.