How to Manage Emotional Eating During the Pandemic

When we use food to distract ourselves from difficult feelings, we overlook the real solution

Trying to eat our way to comfort is a recipe for ongoing suffering. To move past emotional eating, we need to look inward. Nelli Syrotynska/Shutterstock

If you’ve been finding yourself visiting the refrigerator too often during the pandemic, there’s a reason why you’re turning to food—even when you’re not hungry. Eating disorders have surged since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even those without diagnosed eating disorders have noticed that they’re engaging in more frequent emotional eating since the start of the pandemic.

To rid yourself of this destructive habit, it’s important to see emotional eating not as the root problem, but rather as a symptom that will go away on its own once the root problem is resolved.