Why Some People Struggle With Emotional Eating

If I only had 60 seconds to give my younger self some health advice

Why did I do that?

You log off from work, and your eyes are strained and tired from sitting at a desk and staring at a screen all day. Your brain feels foggy, heavy even, and you’re desperate for relief from the dullness behind your eyes.

So you get up to go to the kitchen, grab that snack that you bought earlier this week, and go back to the living room couch. You won’t look at the nutrition label but you’ve already memorized the amount of calories and sugar in the product. It’s not good.

You told yourself you were cutting down on sugar.

You told yourself you were not going to eat junk anymore.

You told yourself you were going to eat healthier.

But you still finish it.

Why did I do that?

It makes you sad and frustrated, to feel like you have no control. There were apples in the fridge. Hummus and carrots too. Yet you chose something unhealthy.

Why did I do that?

You feel gross, maybe even an acute disgust toward yourself. You think you are a failure. So you think to yourself that you might as well dig…