Emotional Eating: A Prime Ingredient for Obesity

Sandra found her weight ballooning 60 pounds after her separation from her husband.  While part of the weight gain was apparently tied to the medication she was taking, the rest appeared to be the result of what can be described as emotional eating.  In recent years, greater attention has been focused on the problem of emotional eating for both women and men.  In fact, some experts have gone so far as to claim that most weight gain can be blamed on emotional eating.  According to Women Today magazine, it has been estimated that as much as 75 percent of overeating is attributed to the emotions. 

For a number of people, overeating stems from anxiety.  For instance, if you find yourself consuming an entire bag of potato chips, it’s possible that anxiety is the cause.  While many people realize that alcohol and illegal drugs are not an antidote to anxiety, they may not understand that indulging in comfort food in order to combat anxiety can be dangerous as well.

In other cases, overeating may be the result of depression.  If you feel tired, hopeless, and have lost interest in your normal activities, you may be suffering from a depressive episode.  In order to deal with these uncomfortable feelings, people may turn to food in an effort to cheer up.  The problem is that the food can lead to weight gain, which can lead to further depression.

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