One minute you’re reaching for a light snack while trying to meet deadline, then suddenly you realize you’ve eaten an entire bag of popcorn. As emotional beings, everyone can relate to this at some point in their lives. Sometimes it feels better to eat tasty food than deal with the overwhelming thoughts swarming your head. But whatever relief you felt immediately disappears with the last bite. But once you get into the habit of turning to food for comfort, you may not know how to stop stress eating.
How do you define stress eating, anyway? “Stress eating is when you eat in response to your emotions, as opposed to really nutritionally filling your body,” says Allison Chase, PhD, the regional clinical director at Eating Recovery Center. It’s characterized by eating more than one would consume and eating very rapidly when you’re not hungry, she explains.
It makes sense that some people turn to food when negative emotions come up—eating is a very calming experience. Because here’s the thing that’s often overlooked: It engages all five senses. Smell and taste are obvious, but a food’s texture and feel as well as what it looks like are very important too. As for hearing? Think: thee crunch of a crisp apple, or the slurp of a warming soup. While it’s good manners to refrain from munching loud enough for the entire table to hear, you can always hear yourself chew and swallow.