Support for Emotional Eating

CONSIDERING THE ROLE STRESS MAY PLAY IN EMOTIONAL EATING. WHAT ARE SOME POTENTIAL MIND-BODY INTERVENTIONS THAT MAY FACILITATE DECREASED STRESS AND BALANCED EATING HABITS?

Stress can stem from a plethora of sources, and the perception of stress varies from person to person. This stress can lead to a variety of disordered eating habits, especially around emotional eating (Hernandez-Hons & Woolley, 2012; Ramos-Jiménez et al., 2015). Some individuals may have a physiological response where blood flow is directed away from the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in reduced appetite (Hernandez-Hons & Woolley, 2012). This can transition into a coping mechanism or manifest into a full-blown eating disorder (Hernandez-Hons & Woolley, 2012). Others will take the opposite tact and respond to stress by increasing their intake of certain foods, often evolving into a bingeing pattern of eating (Hernandez-Hons & Woolley, 2012; Lattimore et al., 2011). Regardless of the change in eating behavior, the influence on health and well-being is far-reaching, creating a perpetual cycle of increased stress and continued disordered eating patterns.

Yoga and meditation are two mind-body interventions that simultaneously decrease stress and positively influence eating behavior (Ramos-Jiménez et al., 2015; Sampaio et al., 2021; Watts et al., 2018). Meditation can help regulate the body's stress response and support anxiety management by improving self-regulation and awareness, which influences eating behaviors by increasing mindfulness around food choices and physiologically adjusting reward pathways in the brain (Sampaio et al., 2021). Yoga works in a similar fashion but also adds a physical activity element through the movement aspect of the practice, which improves awareness of nutrient and caloric needs (Ramos-Jiménez et al., 2015; Watts et al., 2018). There can also be a strong community influence from a yoga practice that provides an emotional support system to help the individual cope with stress-related challenges (Ramos-Jiménez et al., 2015; Watts et al., 2018).

Yoga and meditation offer the individual an alternate method to manage stress, and just as stress and disordered eating are perpetual and cyclic in the influence of each other, so too are healthy habits and mind-body modalities. As a former colleague of mine so eloquently stated: “Eating chips, drinking beer, and sitting on the couch go really well together, but none of those go well with walking on the treadmill.” In other words, healthy habits beget healthy habits, just as poor habits beget poor habits.
 
 
References 
Hernandez-Hons, A., & Woolley, S. R. (2012). Women's experiences with emotional eating and related attachment and sociocultural processes. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 38(4), 589-603. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00239.x
 
Lattimore, P., Fisher, N., & Malinowski, P. A. (2011). Cross-sectional investigation of trait disinhibition and its association with mindfulness and impulsivity. Appetite, 56(2), 241-248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2010.12.007
 
Ramos-Jiménez, A., Wall-Medrano, A., Corona-Hernández, R. I., & Hernández-Torres, R. P. (2015). Yoga, bioenergetics and eating behaviors: A conceptual review. International journal of yoga, 8(2), 89–95. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-6131.158469
 
Sampaio, C. V. S., Magnavita, G., & Ladeia, A. M. (2021). Effect of Healing Meditation on stress and eating behavior in overweight and obese women: A randomized clinical trial. Complementary therapies in clinical practice, 45, 101468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2021.101468
 
Watts, A. W., Rydell, S. A., Eisenberg, M. E., Laska, M. N., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2018). Yoga’s potential for promoting healthy eating and physical activity behaviors among young adults: a mixed-methods study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-018-0674-4