Emotional Eating & Your Child: The Truth About the Unmet Need

Dr. Wendy: So your kid is an emotional eater. Now what? I need you to hear it loud and clear. Emotional eating is not fixed by focusing on the food. So let's understand emotional eating so that you can find out how to really help your child. First, let's define it. So emotional eating eating in response to an emotion, either ⁓ that you're experiencing, one that you want to experience, or perhaps one that you're trying to cope with and stop feeling. So to be honest with you, we're all emotional eaters. It's very rare that we will eat just for the sensation and the experience of hunger. Honestly, that's more of the exception than the rule at this point. We eat because of routines. We eat because it's time to eat. because there's the expectation, but also we eat because we're feeling emotions. So take a moment just to make an observation of maybe where you've seen or witnessed eating because of an emotion and check if there's any kind of judgments there. We're just noticing what's happening. Where do you notice emotional eating for yourself? Maybe for your child. Now I want to be very straightforward. emotions are normal. They are not the problem. Emotions or feelings are how we make meaning of the world. So when we take a perspective and then we feel an emotion associated with it, that's where we are really seeing the meaning that that perspective, that that thought, that that story, that that memory or anticipation has for us. emotions are really important for us as humans. They are never the problem. ⁓ of the theories about emotions ⁓ ⁓ remember so loud and clear ⁓ that when we feel good, our needs are being met. When we feel bad, ⁓ of the many different flavors of feeling bad, there's some kind of an unmet need. So if we just focus on the food when we're having emotional eating, we're not getting to the heart of the issue. The heart of the issue is really about finding out what's the unmet need? What is it that's really going on underneath the surface? many times emotional eating If you want to see change in your child's eating habits without pressure, constant mealtime battles, or the shame you grew up with, you're in the right place. Welcome to Family in Focus. I'm Dr. Wendy Schofer, the pediatrician helping parents lead meaningful change without harm. Here we focus on the connection and practical shifts that help families thrive at every size. Let's get started. is a form of stress eating more than anything else. Kind of like coping. It's a coping mechanism. So the question isn't about how do we need to change the food? How do we change the eating? It's about what is it that you're coping with? Think about that. What stresses you? that you're trying to cope with. What is it that's stressing your child? There's a long list of possibilities here. I'm just gonna put out a few, but even starting off with boredom. Boredom can be really stressful for kids when they have this space that they're like, I'm not being stimulated. That can be stressful for kids. There could also be distraction or looking for distraction from whatever it is that they're experiencing that ⁓ It could be restlessness or sadness or exhaustion or frustration or irritation or anger. Sometimes we're stressed by actually feeling good feelings. We're like, I'm not sure that I can handle all of this right now, this excitement, this anticipation. And so we turn to food. In order to be able to really understand what's going on, with the way that we eat, we have to take a moment to look at why we're eating it. And with emotional eating, it's about understanding the emotions. Now we are taking this one step at a time because there is no race to get to creating changes. We have to be able to slow down and start understanding what's going on underneath the surface. That is how we create change without harm, without jump into conclusions, making changes, diets and restriction and changing everything wholesale. You are right where you were meant to be. So the changes that we want to make for our children to support their health, to support their habits for a lifetime, it all starts with us right here. If you're ready to learn more, come on over and learn more at wendyshofermd.com. You can learn about how I help parents just like you within the Family in Focus program. And in the meanwhile, remember that while I'm a physician, I am most definitely not your physician. This is not medicine. advice. your doctor and tell them that I said hi ⁓ take what fits. ⁓ the rest ⁓ remember that you are the parent leading the change that you want to see ⁓ ⁓ home, ⁓ your family. ⁓ is truly my honor to be here with you.