We all know the feeling: we’re stressed, anxious, or sad and we turn to food for comfort. This is what we call comfort eating. It provides an immediate way out of our feelings.

It often starts in childhood; we learn that food can be soothing and distracting, and it provides an immediate way to escape something stressful. We are often rewarded with food as children for being quiet and for stopping crying. We learn very early that food can be used to distract us from stress.

Triggers for Comfort Eating

Common triggers include: stress, anxiety, sadness, boredom, loneliness and tiredness. Rather than tackling those emotions head on through decisions, action or talking to someone, we turn to food to distract us from those emotions. Sometimes we aren’t even aware that we are eating until afterwards.

It often becomes a numb, distanced, joyless experience.

Comfort Eating is a Coping Mechanism

As with all coping mechanisms, if you aren’t eating your feelings, what will you do instead? There is no option to simply do nothing because your body is seeking an outlet. You have to replace the comfort eating with something else… or your body will choose for you.

There is an excess of unexpressed or confusing emotion spilling out; you now have the opportunity to direct it.

Think Of It Like Information

When you realise that you are comfort eating, think of it like information; something is bothering you at a fundamental level and you are trying to drown out the emotional noise through food.

• What are you feeling?
• What happened today?
• What happened immediately before you started eating?

Talk It Out

There is always something underneath the emotional eating. Talking it through, ideally with a professional, can help you to identify what is really going on. Eating to mask your feelings doesn’t work; because the feelings are still there at the end of the binge.

Comfort eating provides nothing more than temporary distraction. So you will probably keep doing it until you resolve the underlying issue.

Stop Beating Yourself Up

Berating yourself for comfort eating is unhelpful – it only adds more stress into the situation and makes you more likely to comfort eat. Instead of beating yourself up, ask what you are feeling. What is the underlying emotion? What would be a healthier way to express that? A boxing class? A walk? A chat with a friend?

Healthier Alternatives

Most of us will comfort eat at some point, so why not plan for it? What healthier foods bring you comfort? I usually resort to protein bars, nuts, fruit as a first port of call. Obviously that doesn’t always work and I sometimes resort pizza or cake! But it’s a start.

What healthier alternatives can you plan for?