Emotional Hunger In Children – Being Parents

We now know that there are two types of hunger: physical and emotional. Physical hunger is felt daily in the stomach after a period without eating. But what is emotional hunger and how can we identify it in children?

Before addressing this question, you should know that food and emotions are closely related : the feelings you experience at any given time have been shown to influence the food choices you make, as well as how much and how to eat. eat.

Hence the reformulation of the adage, “ tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are ” in “ tell me what you eat and I will tell you what happens to you”.

Emotional hunger in children

Unlike physical hunger, which is heard through the stomach, emotional hunger is a call from the brain. When children feel this urge to eat, they intend to use the food as a defense mechanism to deal with the negative emotions they are feeling. In truth, they don’t know how to deal with them any other way.

Thus, the little ones take refuge in the food to calm their emotions. Increasing their food intake comforts them. And they generally turn to foods that are high in sugars and fats. In reality, this overeating will never satisfy them, because emotional hunger is limitless.

According to nutritionist Ana María Palomino Pérez, the negative emotions most often linked to emotional hunger are anger, apathy, frustration, stress, fear, grief, anxiety, restlessness, loneliness and boredom.

However, from a physiological point of view, negative feelings are often seen as a threat, and lead to the release of glucose in the blood. Logically the feeling of hunger should disappear.

Therefore, the urge to eat when you feel bad is not something that is innate. This is learned and socially inappropriate behavior.

Signs of this type of hunger in children

Here are some of the signs that will help you distinguish emotional hunger in your child from real appetite:

• The feeling of hunger can occur at any time, so sudden and urgent.
• The desire to eat a particular food arises, and not just any.
• The child consumes more amounts than usual.
• He eats uncontrollably and very quickly.
• Feelings of guilt, shame or dissatisfaction appear after eating too much.
• Rapid weight gain can be observed, which sometimes leads to obesity.

How to avoid recourse to emotional hunger in children?

Rewarding or punishing children with food is one of the primary causes of their emotional reliance on food. This teaches them to attribute certain emotional states to certain foods, and leads them to develop an unhealthy relationship with food.

It is also essential to pay attention to the eating habits of children. The aim is to provide them with a balanced diet, with control of their food intake. Be careful not to deprive them of any type of food, however, they would feel the need to compensate for these deficiencies over time.

Last but not least, the family is responsible for the emotional education of the child from the first years of his life, so that he grows up with sufficient cognitive resources to identify and correctly manage his feelings, both positive and negative, without feel the urge to eat disproportionately.