Do you reach for the that chocolate chip cookie after having a big mealIJ Do you eat more when you are upsetIJ If, yes then beware, you are an emotional eater and it could be the reason why you are overweight. MANJARI SINGH talks to people who find solace in food and nutritionists who tell you how to overcome this disorder

Thirty-year-old Nishtha Singh was inconsolable when she lost her husband to cancer three years ago. lonely, depressed and clueless Singh could only find solace in foods that were high in calorie like chips, cookies, pastries, fried snacks and aerated drinks. She would eat even when she was not hungry. She gained 40 kg in a year but she couldn’t care less. She would eat when she was upset and also when she was not so upset. She would reach for that odd packet of chips in the middle of the night. “All I wanted was food, high calorie food to be precise. Eating made me feel better. The fact that I could not fit into my clothes didn’t matter,” Singh says.

She didn’t realise she was an ‘emotional eater’ till she was diagnosed with diabetes. However, Singh is just one in millions of those who mix food with mood. Nervousness, anxiety, sadness or happiness, food is the answer to all problems. “Mood and food do go together and it’s one of the main reasons for obesity. So many women come to me who angst eat. When they are depressed, they eat food rich in carbohydrates and sugar which stimulate them and relaxes them,” Ishi Khosla, clinical nutritionist and director, Centre for Dietary Counseling says.

Seconds another dietician Neelanjana Singh. “Foods rich in carbohydrates affect the pleasure centre in the brain that’s why people turn to carbohydrates and its derivatives like sugar,” Neelanjana tells you.

But why only foods rich in carbs and not something healthy like saladIJ “When people are nervous they tend to release energy and that’s why they binge on food rich in carbs,” Trinka Arora psychologist with Max Healthcare Gurgaon says. Needless to say, this kind of eating disorder is obviously not healthy. When the real hunger strikes, brain knows when the stomach is full and when to stop but it’s not the same with emotional eating. “Emotional eating distorts the hunger hormones and also the signal that one gets from brain,” Khosla explains.

Not only does it lead to obesity but it leads to high blood pressure and heart diseases. Also emotional eaters may suffer from malnutrition because whatever they are binging on is anything but healthy. “Yes, I feel guilty after finishing a whole packet of chips or after buying another burger,” Naman Malhotra, an MNC employee says and the guilt makes him purge sometimes. “But I eat again, it is a chain that I can’t break,” he says. But under stress Malhotra can’t think of anything but food. It’s midnight when the craving to eat hits the hardest. “That’s the time when mind is free and all people can think of is food,” Arora says. “People tend to eat just before they are about to sleep,” Neelanjana explains.

The cure to this problem is to first identify it. “If one is hungry within two hours after having meal, it is sufficient for the body and crave for some snack rich in carbohydrates then please remember it’s not the stomach but the mind which is hungry,” Neelanjana says adding that when one is into emotional eating there is always a craving to grab that something extra. That is how one differentiates between normal hunger and emotional eating.

To tide over this phase she advises that people reach for a glass of water, if it’s an emotional pang, it will calm down. “Also try distracting yourself, outdoor activities help,” Neelanjana avers.

Although, this disorder is not gender specific but it is generally seen in women than men. “It can affect both men and women but it is seen more in women because they are more prone to stress more. I get many people suffering from this kind of disorder but they don’t come to me saying ‘I am suffering from emotional eating’ simply because they can’t identify it,” Neelanjana tells you.

“They know something is wrong but not exactly what. Once identified, one can work on it,” Neelanjana says. That’s exactly how Nishita managed to lose all that weight she gained due to mindless eating. “I went to the dietician when my weight became unmanageable. He told me that I had a problem. So he gave me a chart and in the next couple of years, I lost what I had gained,” Nishita says.