Food is a temporary and suboptimal substitute for any emotional requirement. To break this pattern, one can try to express their emotional problems to an empathetic person from one’s inner circle of friends and loved ones.

Emotional pain can be corrected if it is expressed to a listener who is able to understand and acknowledge the same.

People who lack an empathic person in their lives can remedy their emotional pain by:

1. Rescuing/adopting a dog, which provides great emotional support.
2. Talking to a good therapist who is able to listen with an open heart.
3. Being in nature, which helps one feel grounded and reduces one’s anxiety.

A simple awareness that how our emotions are altering our food intake can help free ourselves from the impulse to seek food for our emotional comfort.

One’s unconscious guilt or shame may be based on childhood trauma or emotional abuse in the past. Exposing this feeling can help in catharsis, and assist in recovery.