The Five Kinds Of Emotional Eaters

If you're struggling to lose weight and can't understand why, one expert's theory may help you finally shift the pounds.

Hala El-Shafie, a consultant nutritionist and founder of nutrition-rocks.co.uk, says that there are five eating categories that everyone falls into - and when you work out which one you belong to, it's easier to slim down.

According to Hala the five categories are: Stress eater, sleep-deprived, reward eaters, perfectionist and those influenced by their surroundings.

1. Stress eaters: These are the people who are always on deadlines or eating during times of high stress and anxiety

When you are under stress, your body is likely to be producing higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that tends to make people crave sweet and salty food - the stuff that's generally not good for us. If you are experiencing stress on a regular basis and not finding ways to relax, cortisol could be creating these cravings, as well as contributing to other health problems.

2. Sleep-deprived eaters: These people have poor sleep so turn to sugar/caffeine to get them through nutritionally and emotionally

When we're tired, we're irritable, moody and in need of comfort and that's where the risk factors come into play with the urge to emotionally eat are triggered. Studies have shown that sleep loss initiates the process of overeating, poor food choices and leads to weight gain.

3. Perfectionist eaters: Those who follow a restrictive diet and bingers

The perfectionist eaters usually have an all or nothing approach to the way they eat.
It may also be indicative of you being a perfectionist in other areas of your life but that challenge is that this can severely affect self esteem and also set you up for failure with unsustainable and unrealistic goals.

4. Reward eaters: Those who celebrate and commiserate with food

If you cast your mind back to your childhood, did your parents reward good behavior with ice cream or sweets, or tell you that you could have a dessert once you had finished your main meal?

5. Influenced eaters: Those who are easily influenced emotionally by surroundings/the people they're with

This usually happens to those of us that would identify with being 'people pleasers' and struggle with assertiveness, finding it difficult to say no.

When people are together, they tend to eat more, or less, than when they're alone depending how much others eat. Additionally, the type of food eaten in social situations can be different to the food eaten when a person is alone. Office environments can be the worst influencing environments particularly when cakes, chocolates and biscuits are readily available and you have to walk past them.