Snehanky Chattopadhyay
Imagine, you are five years old, attending a birthday party. You enter your friend’s house, play the games like passing the parcel, musical chairs and Simon says. You eagerly wait for the cream laced pineapple cake, potato wafers and samosa. Close your eyes and observe how you feel. Does it make you feel happy? Maybe even nostalgic! Now imagine that you are a college-going student; on a hot summer day, you reach out for the familiar Banta (lemonade) or any chilled soft drink and a plate of chowmein. Now imagine as an adult, you had a grueling day at work, what would you reach for?
In all of the above situations, the underlying unspoken emotion is stirred by the memory of food. Food is important! It is almost a language in itself – it conveys love, affection, anger – it is a language that is non-verbal but is used to convey our state of mind. Whenever we are ill, whether physically or mentally, one of the key indicators is our biology – sleep, appetite and hygiene. Any change in them points towards a more serious issue. So, if we eat too much or too little, sleep too much or too little, overall take care of ourselves too much or too little, means there is something we need to acknowledge.
Talk to anyone after a hard day at work, and they will tell you they need ‘comfort food’. It could be the streetside Chinese, momo, chaat, chips, ice cream, etc. Ever wondered why we reach out for specific snacks at specific times? Such as reaching out for a tub of ice cream or something sweet when we are feeling low. Scientifically we reach for sugary food because it triggers dopamine, which makes us feel better. Our preference for certain food is still guided by intuition and our emotions. For example, crunchy foods indicate anger whereas chewy foods indicate confused or pensive state of mind.
As it often happens, we never know when comfort food turns to emotional eating. Consider this, it’s not been a good day, and you feel exhausted and drained emotionally, mentally and physically. You open the food delivery app and order your favourite dishes. After eating your dinner, you feel better and ready to put the day behind you. This is comfort food. Now consider another scenario where you keep munching on something one after another even though you are not really hungry. This is emotional eating. We feel a negative emotion, could be sadness or anger, and to cope up with this emotion we tend to eat. It is like the negative emotion creates a void and the food fills up the feeling of emptiness and makes us feel temporarily better. I often hear clients say that they are eating only sweet things but have no appetite otherwise; sometimes I hear them say that they overeat junk food. People usually overeat or crave certain things when they are emotionally disturbed. This leads to mindless eating, which exaggerates the negative feelings in the first place.
How to cope?
Eat mindfully: Instead of a packet of chips, take the chips in a small bowl and eat them at the dining table. Focus on savouring each chip – holding it in your hands, smelling the chip and then slowly chewing it.
Substitute unhealthy items with healthier options: We tend to eat unhealthy items more, which leads to bloating, acid reflux or simply feeling terrible. Instead, we can substitute it with healthier options while satisfying the taste buds. For example, if we want something crunchy, instead of fries or chips we can eat roasted makhana (fox nut), or sliced apple with chat masala. Instead of a soft drink, have soda water.
Eat in moderation: Sometimes we crave a very specific food when we are feeling distressed. We can moderate the portions instead of eating the entire thing such as eating half or less than half of a chocolate instead of the entire bar.
Developing healthy coping mechanisms: Emotional eating is an unhealthy way of coping with your emotions. Adopt healthier ways such as dancing, going out for a walk, talking to a friend, journaling or watching a comedy movie.
Recognise your triggers: Knowing yourself is the first step towards solution. Observe the patterns in your behaviour – how you are feeling, what you do when you feel that way, what do you reach out for – and you may be able to reduce your emotional eating. If you are upset or angry, either stay away from that specific food or try the alternate options
Ask yourself if it is physical hunger or emotional hunger: Physical hunger feels different – it is a rumbling in your stomach or pangs of hunger – whereas emotional eating resides in the mind. It’s like a mental craving aimed at making us feel better without dealing with the issue.
Food is a love language, use it to speak kindly, gently and with compassion to yourself.