Thoughts on triggered eating…stress related and disordered.

I’m watching this random TV show and this hollywood-thin character is upset, so she goes to the fridge to fetch a tub of ice cream….and I do a double take.

I’ve seen this scene a million times but becasue of my involvement in Fat Acceptance I’ve trained myself to associate this scene with fat women. So, as is my nature, any time I catch myself with a bias I start to think. What I actually notice about the whole “emotional eating” thing is that it’s strongly associated with women, not just fat women.

So I wonder…is “emotional eating” a fat thing, a female thing, or a human thing?

MY EXPERIENCES

If I’m really upset, I get nauseous and can’t even entertain the idea of food. At the very same time, there is some food I find comforting becasue it tastes good. So I’m not really sure where the line that defines emotional eating from food enjoyment lies.

Also, as a fat woman, it’s possible I’m defensive about the whole emotional eating concept becasue I don’t like being broadly accused of something…if it turns out emotional eating is a human condition, then I suppose I’ll have to find some way to be comfortable with the term.

THE RANGE OF RESEARCH

For a long time the “psychosomatic theory of obesity” was popular, basically they thought all fat people eat emotionally and that’s the reason their fat. The good news is that theory never really stood up to scrutiny.

A similar lack of consistency is found in research trying to look into how stress relates to eating cues. Some research suggests that humans eat less when they get stresses others suggest we eat more. And yet other research suggests mild stress increases our appetite while major stress decreases it. So the jury is still out on that one.

The one interesting piece of information I found about stress eating is the suggestion that the foods we choose may be different under duress. That we may crave energy dense foods, ie sweet and fatty food, when stressed. So that part of the “reaching for the tub of ice cream” stereotype I could almost get on board with.

The only place there seems to be clarity about emotional eating is when it comes to eating disorders. When I searched for “emotional eating” on Wikipedia I was redirected to the page for “compulsive overeating” and in the first two lines there’s reference to “binge eating.”

BINGE EATING DISORDER (BED)

While Wikipedia makes a distinction between “compulsive overeating” and “binge eating disorder,” the terms are used almost interchangeably online. It took some searching but I finally found detailed statistics on BED.

BINGE EATING DISORDER
Female	3.5%
Male	2.0%
Obese, general population	8%
Any BED behavior in lifetime, Female	4.9%
Any BED behavior in lifetime, Male	4.0%

Although BED is said to be the most prevalent of the eating disorders, it’s still pretty rare. Also, in each of the sources I found there was mention that not all people with BED are overweight or obese.

CONCLUSION

Maybe I’m taking things to the extreme, leaping from a woman eating ice cream when she’s upset to eating disorder statistics. I find the suggestion that my mental stability is somehow related to my weight insulting. And the idea that only fat people overeat or eat emotionally just doesn’t make sense to me. I suppose those two thoughts inform my negative feelings towards the stereotype of “reaching for a tub of ice cream when depressed.”

My personal experience is that sometimes I crave burgers, fries, and a soda when I’m stressed…so the whole reaching for an energy dense food in reaction to stress makes sense to me. At the very same time; I eat when I’m hungry, I stop eating when I’m full, and I’m not one to snack through the day.

I admit my portion sizes are usually larger than my dieting counterparts but, separate from that or from enjoying food becasue it tastes good, I don’t compulsively overeat or eat when I’m not hungry in reaction to emotional events. So, I’m fairly certain I don’t have an eating disorder.

As a feminist, I don’t think broadly attributing eating disordered behaviors to the female population is fair. If a writer wants to paint the picture that humans reach for a tub of ice cream when they’re upset, then that’s fine by me. But making that a “fat” or “girl” behavior is a tired cliche.

I wouldn’t consider the representation of a fat woman that eats emotionally as insulting if that was an individual character trait. An interesting twist on that whole stereotype would be something like a thin character that routinely eats emotionally with a fat best friends that doesn’t. Or even two fat friends, one with triggered eating and one without.

As an addendum to this post…while I may feel defensive about being accused of something I feel is untrue, I want to recognize the 8% of our fattie brothers and sisters that are affected by BED. Those within our community that struggle with an eating disorder, no matter what kind, deserve our recognition and support.

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Sources:

Eating disorders and obesity by Christopher G. Fairburn and Kelly D. Brownell pg 180
Overweight and weight management by Sharron Dalton pg 443
Wikepedia, “Binge Eating Disorder”
The Prevalence and Correlates of Eating Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication
Anxiety, fear and eating: A test of the psychosomatic concept of obesity