Am I an Emotional Eater or a Binge Eater? Here's How to Tell
People use the terms "binge eating" and "emotional eating" like they're the same thing... they're not! And knowing which one you're actually dealing with matters, because it changes what's going to help you in your recovery journey.
What makes it "binge eating"?
There are several things you will notice, if it is binge eating.
Binge eating is when you have recurring episodes of eating a very large amount of food in a short period of time. Technically speaking, for it to classify as binge eating disorder, this needs to be happening at least once a week for three months.
When you're eating like this, you feel like you've totally lost control — like there's no way out of the binge once it starts. It's almost automatic. And afterwards there’s a deep sense of shame, regret, failure, and disgust.
This kind of eating tends to disrupt daily life, and it can lead to real emotional and physical health issues over time.
What makes it "emotional eating"?
Emotional eating is different in a few important ways.
For a start, how much you eat is much more varied - it might be a large amount, but it might not. It can happen fairly frequently, but it usually doesn't disrupt your day-to-day life the way bingeing does.
The key thing with emotional eating is that you're eating in response to a feeling or emotion - stress, loneliness, anxiety, boredom. You might not even feel physically hungry... but you get this sudden urge to eat something specific.
That's actually a useful clue in itself: physical hunger tends to build slowly, whereas emotional hunger comes on fast, and it's usually for something specific - a bar of chocolate, a bag of crisps, a bowl of ice cream.
It tends to feel more impulsive than that total loss-of-control feeling you get with bingeing. And interestingly, you'll often feel a bit of relief straight after eating... which for most people turns into guilt pretty quickly.
I say this a lot, but it’s important to recognise that emotional eating isn't inherently a problem on its own. It only becomes an issue when food is the only coping tool you've got. If you reach for food occasionally, alongside plenty of other ways of coping, that's completely fine! It's when food becomes your only way of managing difficult emotions that it starts to feel like a real problem.
How to actually tell which is happening for you
So... which one is it for you? Maybe you already know by this point. Or maybe it feels like a bit of both - which is completely possible, by the way!
Here's a quick self-check: does your eating track closely with your mood and emotional state, or does it feel pretty disconnected from your feelings?
Ask yourself:
Do I feel like I totally lose control?
Is it happening at least weekly, with a really large amount of food (to the point where I feel physically distended, maybe even nauseous)?
Is it disrupting my day-to-day - am I eating in secret, or taking time out specifically to binge?
If that sounds familiar, it's likely binge eating.
On the other hand, if you don't feel completely out of control, and there's a clear emotional trigger (stressed → chocolate bar, anxious → crisps), and the impact is relatively short-lived without massively disrupting your day-to-day... that's more likely emotional eating.
It’s impoirtant to also say that this isn't an official diagnosis. If your relationship with food is causing you significant distress, please do go and seek proper support — there are lots of people who can help, myself included.
If it sounds like what you're dealing with is emotional eating and you're after some self-help strategies, my Emotional Eating Toolkit walks through exactly that. You can find details here.
Or if you have any questions, feel free to use the comment box below and I’ll get back to you with strategies to help.