Emotional eating has nothing to do with hunger.

Emotional eating is when you eat food to cope with difficult emotions – you’re feeling stressed, anxious, bored, lonely, sad, or tired.

At these times, it is not only typical to eat a lot more calories than your body needs or will use, but it is almost always unhealthy food. And if you always use food to soothe yourself, emotional eating becomes a habit.

Of course, emotional eating does not address the true issues, and food won’t fix those feelings. Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact, because for most people this cycle of turning to food to cope creates guilt and shame, more tough feelings to navigate.