Stress Eating vs Comfort Eating: Learning the Difference

Have

you ever found yourself looking in the pocket to grab a pack of chips after a long day at work and feeling the need to have something sweet when feelings are high? You’re not alone. In the modern era of busy schedules and twenty-four-hour life, most of us run to food not only as a means of sustenance but also as a way of relieving our feelings. This is where stress eating and comfort eating come into place, the two habits that are usually mixed, although they are based on very different needs.

Eating under stress is typically automatic and urgent

Stress eating presents itself when the deadlines are approaching, the notifications are not going to go away, or when life seems too stressful. During such times, the body produces cortisol, the stress hormone, which fills your body and makes you crave some fast energy, which are sugar, salt, and refined carbohydrates. You can eat quickly, hardly noticing the flavor or the amount, and then you are likely to feel guilty or feel bad. Stress eating is more of a way of numbing tension.

Comfort eating is more conscious and emotional

On the contrary, comfort eating is a matter of finding comfort, homeliness, and emotions in food. The favourite childhood dish on a lonely evening or after a difficult conversation is a typical example. Comfort eating is less rushed, less thoughtless, and commonly associated with pleasant recollections. Although, of course, it can be emotional eating, it does not necessarily mean the same loss of control as stress eating.

How do you distinguish the difference?

It is better to consider the following few questions if you are serious about distinguishing between these two habits. Do you eat because you are nervous, in a hurry, or because you are mentally tired? That’s likely stress eating. Or are you moving to food as a way to calm such feelings as sadness, loneliness, or nostalgia? That is more in the direction of comfort eating. Listening to the rate at which you eat, whether you are hungry or not, and feeling after it can tell a lot.It is not about the judgment of oneself. Both stress eating and comfort eating are pointers, not failures. They inform you that something more serious needs to be taken care of. When you are often stressed, eating, your nervous system might be signaling that it needs to rest, have limits, or be offline. When you have eating as your comfort zone, it is possible that you need human attachment, self-emotional care, or reassurance outside of the plate.Knowing the distinction will enable you to act kindly rather than feel guilty. In other cases, being mindful of consuming comfort food is all right. On other occasions, it may be enough to leave the kitchen and solve the problem at its core. Wellness will start when you listen not only to what you eat but also to why you eat.