Can Stress Cause Excessive Stress Eating, and How Can I Stop It?

Stress eating is a pattern of eating as a coping mechanism to handle negative emotions that arise from stressful situations. Stop stress eating by keeping a food diary, stocking up on healthy food, and finding your stress triggers.

Stress eating is a pattern of eating as a coping mechanism to handle negative emotions that arise from stressful situations. While some degree of emotional eating is common, engaging in it repeatedly can lead to obesity and feelings of shame and guilt. Here’s what you need to know.

Stress eating is the practice of using food to cope with stress in your life. While most people have one or two “comfort foods,” stress eating refers to the persistent need to eat to avoid feeling stressed — even when you don’t feel hungry. For example, a person with omnipresent financial worries may start eating snacks and sweets throughout the day.

Stress eating forms part of a broader spectrum of eating conditions that fall under the umbrella of “emotional eating.” Sadness, loneliness, and anxiety are some emotions that can lead to unhealthy eating habits. These habits don’t always result in eating more than usual — emotional eating can also manifest as a lack of hunger and the will to eat.

Recently, researchers have started to study stress and emotional eating in more detail. While the mechanisms behind these conditions aren’t fully understood, it appears that emotional eating also affects animals. This suggests that emotional eating may not only be related to complex psychological conditions but also to physiological and neurological mechanisms.

Stress eating has come to the spotlight due to the ever-growing prevalence of obesity worldwide. Studies point out that obesity is closely linked to stress, anxiety, and other negative emotions. This is particularly relevant in Western society, where stress levels are unusually high.

However, obesity isn’t the only consequence of stress eating. This practice can make you feel guilty, shameful, and powerless. Stress eating can affect anyone, regardless of age, sex, and gender.

It’s hard to determine the exact causes of stress eating. However, researchers agree that there will typically be prolonged exposure to stress prior to the onset of emotional eating. While some initial periods of stress may not have many negative consequences, constantly feeling burdened can cause physiological and psychological symptoms. Frequently, this “wear and tear” can cause you to change your eating patterns. 

Experts have three leading theories regarding how this can happen:

Psychosomatic theory. This theory points out that stress eating is related to a lack of perception of your physical sensations. People who are under a lot of stress may not recognize when they are hungry or full, leading to inconsistent and unhealthy eating patterns.

Restraint theory. It’s no surprise that negative emotions can lead you to break your dieting rules temporarily. For example, a person who wants to avoid chocolate may allow themselves a few pieces after hearing some bad news. However, experts point out that breaking strict rules often eventually leads to disregarding the diet entirely.

Affect regulation theory. Some experts have proposed that eating palatable food counteracts the negative effects of stress. As such, your brain may start to condition itself to eat any time you start to feel bad. In psychological terms, this is known as “negative reinforcement”.

Many signs are associated with stress and emotional eating. Knowing these symptoms is essential, as they will allow you to recognize stress eating patterns early to avoid long-term consequences. Here are some of the most common stress eating symptoms:

• Resorting to food to calm negative emotions
• Eating when you’re not hungry (or even when you’re already full)
• Feeling out of control around food
• Regularly eating until you’re full

While these are common stress-eating signs, there may also be other symptoms that are harder to detect. One of the most common is using food as a reward. For example, when working on a stressful project, you may award yourself a snack after finishing a specific section. 

Some people find that food becomes a safe place for them. As such, you may recur to eating whenever you feel insecure or out of your comfort zone.

Another way to tell if you’re stress eating is to start differentiating between emotional hunger and physical hunger. Regular hunger sets in gradually and stops once you’ve eaten enough. Similarly, you typically won’t become distressed even if you have to wait until you eat.

On the other hand, emotional hunger appears suddenly and doesn’t go away after you’re full. You might also crave specific foods — usually comfort foods like chocolate and other snacks. Moreover, emotional hunger often causes negative feelings before and after eating.

Stress eating, like any other habit, can be hard to break if you have been doing it for a long time. However, there are some guidelines you can follow to start reducing your emotional cravings, making it easier to stop in the long run:

Keep a food diary. Keeping a written record of what you eat and when you eat can be a fantastic first step if you wish to stop stress eating. This will help you recognize your eating patterns and, ideally, avoid eating too many unhealthy meals.

Designate a food area. A common trigger for excessive eating is the presence of snacks and sweets around the house. Defining a specific cooking and eating area can help you curb the impulsiveness that characterizes emotional eating.

Stock up on healthy food. If you find that you’re often eating unhealthy meals and snacks, it might be a good idea to change your shopping habits. Try to stock up on healthy meals so you don’t have to resort to processed foods when you get cravings.

Find your stress triggers. Like most other eating conditions, stress eating stems from psychological conditions — in this case, stress. If you can eliminate (or at least minimize) the stressful triggers in your life, you may gradually stop feeling emotional cravings.

If you are unable to stop stress eating, check with a doctor, therapist, or nutritionist. A trained professional can give you more specific advice, taking into account the details of your situation.