Intuitive eats | Emotional eating isn't always a bad thing
On blending my family's French/Irish/German/Italian/Chinese American holiday culinary traditions
Emotional eating gets a pretty bad wrap.
Without question, numbing one’s emotions through food is not healthy. Labeling emotional eating as an altogether unhealthy and harmful experience doesn’t acknowledge the whole story, though. Foods that evoke nostalgic feelings of community and cultural history and celebration are not “bad” or “dirty” just because they might contain less nutrients— sometimes the “nutrients” of joy and connection are more important than protein and minerals.
Furthermore, foods that are high on the fun and taste and let’s face it, sugar, *gasp* shouldn’t have to be “healthified” to be enjoyed without anxiety. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for experimentation and attempting new versions of a recipe. If you genuinely prefer substituting honey for sugar, that doesn’t mean you’re failing at your rebellion against diet culture, it means you’re listening to your body. If you feel like you have to choose a substitution because it feels morally superior to sugar, then maybe there’s some work still to do.
Colleen Christensen, RDN and creator of the Intuitive Eating community The Socieaty, calls emotional eating just one of four types of hunger (the others are biological, practical, taste). She says:
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