Food and feelings are closely linked — and emotional eating sits on a spectrum. It’s when eating becomes a way to suppress, soothe, or distract from uncomfortable emotions like stress, boredom, sadness, loneliness, anger, or anxiety.

You might eat:

• For comfort after a hard day

• To fill space when you're feeling empty

• To distract from difficult thoughts

• Or even to punish yourself

Emotional eating isn’t always about the food — it’s about what the food is doing for you in that moment.

Wondering if you're an emotional eater? Some common signs include:

• Eating when you're not physically hungry

• Craving specific comfort foods (often sweet, salty, or carb-heavy)

• Feeling guilt, regret or shame after eating

• Eating quickly or mindlessly

• Using food to numb, soothe or avoid emotions

• Struggling to manage stress or emotions without turning to food

Although emotional eating and binge eating can overlap, they’re not the same:

• Emotional eating is usually tied to specific feelings and may involve grazing or comfort eating, even in small amounts. And the pattern of emotional eating may naturally past when in a less stressful period of time

• Binge eating involves eating large amounts of food in a short time, often with a sense of loss of control and intense distress afterwards.

Both deserve compassion — and both can be supported with the right care. You don't need a diagnosis to deserve help.

 This is the “I’ve earned this” chocolate… the “I need something to take the edge off” snacks… the “treat yourself” meals. They can be seems as a sub-class of emotional eating.

Using food to reward, celebrate, or unwind is incredibly common. The problem is when these patterns become your onlyway of dealing with stress, discomfort, or emotions — and begin to impact your health, mindset, or quality of life.

 Emotional eating usually develops over time — and often without you realising it.
It can come from:

• Early life experiences, where food was used to comfort or emotions weren’t acknowledged

• A culture of emotional suppression, where you learned to “push through” rather than feel

• Diet culture and food restriction, which increase emotional reactivity to food

• Burnout and chronic stress, where food becomes one of the few ways you get relief or pleasure

It’s not a lack of willpower — it’s a learned coping tool that can be unlearned.

 Emotional eating is part of being human — but it’s time to seek support when:

• Food becomes your main or only coping tool

• You feel stuck in a cycle of guilt, shame or emotional overwhelm

• It’s impacting your energy, focus, self-esteem or wellbeing

You deserve care even if it “doesn’t feel bad enough.”
The most effective support comes from eating disorder-informed professionals — like a non-diet dietitian and psychologist — who understand the emotional side of food without pushing more food rules.