Can Food Fill An Emotional Void?

When we are sad, depressed, or bored, we often eat. It is as if food could fill that emotional void that we feel and that we do not know how to manage. In fact, we can even do it in a way that is quite harmful to our health.

At the moment in which we try to fill an emotional void with food, we tend to choose unhealthy foods, eat them in excess even without being hungry and, all this, with the consequent feeling of guilt.

Today we will discover if food can fill an emotional void. Although, if you find yourself in this situation, do not hesitate and ask a professional for help.

Food doesn’t fill the emotional void

Do we understand and identify what our needs and our problems are? Not knowing how to express what is happening to us can cause us to tend to eat in an uncontrolled way.

For this reason, today we are going to see a series of questions that will allow us to reflect on what is happening to us to open our eyes a little and be more aware of what is happening to us.

Because like?

The answer may seem simple: because I am sad. But we go a little further. It is not simply sadness as something abstract or general, but what leads us to feel that way.

It can be a problem at work, a fight with your partner, lack of money, personal dissatisfaction, not meeting goals, a poor grade in college, etc. Let’s get a little deeper into the situation to understand what’s going on and work to improve. A psychologist will be indispensable in this process.

When do I feel like eating?

Perhaps the answer is related to the previous question. If every time we are depressed we eat, this is the reason for our supposed “desire” to eat.

However, it can also be due to being alone at home, because there is nothing interesting on television or that we are waiting for our family to arrive.

Boredom gives us an appetite that is not real.   In the event that the desire to eat is due to a specific time of day (at night, if it is raining, when it is cold, if it snows, etc.) we must analyze why this specific situation leads us to eat .

Does it make me sad that it rains outside because of some bad experience from the past on a rainy day? Does having cold in the body make me feel vulnerable?

What do I choose to consume when I feel an emotional void?

It is likely that when we want to fill an emotional void we “select” to eat sweets, chocolates or chips. Nobody chooses an apple or a carrot!

Junk food, very caloric or sugary is what usually brings us satisfaction. For this reason, when we open the cupboard or the refrigerator, we will lean towards foods that we might not choose if we felt good.

How do I eat food to fill the emotional void?

Another of the typical eating habits to fill the emotional void is the speed with which we eat food, almost without realizing it and without chewing. Such is the anxiety that invades us that the only thing that matters is gobbling and gobbling as if there were no tomorrow.

It is also likely that we mix sweet and salty foods or that nothing we eat really satisfies our appetite. Because, in reality, it is not hunger, but emotional emptiness.

How much quantity do I consume?

Surely, you do not even notice how many times you serve yourself on a plate or if you have finished the packet of chips. Your mind is thinking of something else.

Also, with the rush with which you put food in your mouth, you cannot measure the amount you are eating either. It would be good to take a break to analyze how much you are eating.

Where do I invest the energy obtained from food?

Once you have eaten more than you can, you think you feel better and, even if this is so, it is a false happiness. As we have already told you, the brain was in charge of making you believe that the pain disappeared while the hormones of happiness were doing their job.

Also, when the stomach is full, we do not feel like doing much more than taking a long nap or spending hours in front of the television.

If instead of eating large amounts of chocolate, potatoes or anything else “unhealthy” we chose fruits, vegetables or nuts, maybe you could go for a walk, clean your house, play sports, work … All these tasks are what really They can help you let go of sadness.

Eating to relieve pain doesn’t fix things. It is as if we use a Band-Aid when we suffer a fracture. To avoid these situations in which food is the supposed only way out, we need to strengthen self-esteem, surround ourselves with happy people and do therapy.

Have you ever eaten to fill an emotional void? Have you seen a psychologist to solve this?