We can define emotional hunger as the cycle of hunger felt under the influence of emotions, regardless of physiological satiety. Satisfying emotional hunger is the attempt to achieve satiety by consuming high-calorie foods containing high sugar and fat, which the person chooses in order to combat the negative emotions he feels. It is observed that inadequate healthy food choices in the nutrition routine and insensitivity to psychological needs and unhealthy excessive food consumption can negatively affect psychological and physiological health.
1 - What can we do about the treatment of emotional hunger?
First of all, you should carefully examine your hunger state and determine whether you are experiencing emotional or physiological hunger. Physiological hunger and satiety are necessary and normal processes for the body. Emotional hunger is a condition that can cause frequent overeating attacks and psychological/biological discomfort in a person. It can be treated by working with dietitians and psychologists.
2 - How can we understand whether the hunger felt is emotional or physiological?
Physiological hunger is a state of physical hunger that makes itself felt slowly, does not necessarily require a satisfactory state by eating certain foods, is not a deprivation felt by an emotion, but is felt physically. In addition, one does not feel regret or feel guilty about the foods and amounts consumed as a result of physiological hunger. On the contrary, in case of emotional hunger, the aim is to satisfy certain emotions through nutrition, and at the end of the feeding process, intense regret and guilt are often experienced.
3 - Which foods are frequently preferred by those who feel emotional hunger?
In case of emotional hunger, it is seen that foods that the person can describe as "comfort food" are consumed. These can be completely personalized. However, we can give examples as high-calorie and packaged products that generally contain high amounts of fat or sugar. Junk foods (ready-made, packaged foods) can be called junk foods (ready-made, packaged foods) that can be preferred more frequently with an emotional connection or triggering situation (advertisements, etc.).
4 - Emotional eating affects the body's health. What are the negative effects it may have on health?
During the emotional eating process, awareness of hunger and satiety is challenged. In this process, people may seek to get rid of the effects of negative emotions or even try to feel positive emotions through nutrition. When this situation becomes a habit, automatic eating may occur in response to certain negative emotions. As a result, as the frequency of emotional eating increases, a decrease in control and monitoring of healthy body weight begins to occur. As excess weight gain increases the body fat ratio, the incidence of various diseases, especially obesity, increases.
5 - What behaviors can be included in daily life with the support of a dietitian and psychologist?
First of all, by being aware of emotional hunger, we can have information about the frequency of emotional eating and the type and amount of foods consumed in this process. We can examine in detail the reasons for this situation and its effects on your body's health. In order to prevent the recurrence of eating attacks, we can say that being able to recognize these emotions instead of suppressing or avoiding negative emotions and trying to prevent food consumption from being the first choice in response to emotions are recommended behaviors.
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