Is Social Media Triggering Your Emotional Eating?

Have you ever stopped to think if your social media feeds are supporting your goals? Or could they actually be sabotaging them?

Take this test below:

Have you felt any of the below after reading others’ updates?

Envious
Stressed
Fat
Weak
Poor
Unlucky
Jealous
Angry
Frustrated
Sad
Low Self Esteem

If you answered “yes!” to any of them…know that you’re SO not alone!

Did you know that all of these emotions – if not addressed – can trigger and lead to unwanted emotional eating?

There are plenty of things that can lead us to eating unwanted calories. Do you really want your social media to be one of them? I know I don’t!

One of my favorite suggestions to make to my Health Coaching clients is: change your environment to match your goals.

Here is how you can use your social media feeds to help you achieve your health goals in a way that brings you joy, puts an end to unwanted eating, and empowers you to work toward looking and feeling like the best version of yourself:

Create an online environment that supports you.

Social media can feed into negative emotions. Obviously you can’t avoid all negative feelings in your life, but if you’re struggling with emotional eating and it’s becoming a form of self-sabotage for you, preventing you from reaching your goals, know that there are some things you can adjust to still enjoy scrolling through your feeds but without unwanted triggers happening.

Researchers have been quick to analyze the negative thought patterns that can be triggered by social media. In the UK, a study polled regular social media users and found that half of them felt it had a negative impact on their lives—and at the same time felt discomfort if they couldn’t readily access their account.

Social pressure, comparisons, insults, and a fear of missing out (FOMO) all make social media the perfect place to build stress, which can lead to psychological health effects from stress. When we’re stressed, our cortisol levels increase, triggering cravings for salty, sweet, and high-fat foods—foods that give you a temporary burst of energy and pleasure. The more stress in your life, the more likely you are to turn to food for emotional relief.

In some ways social media CAN actually lower stress levels too. Research has found that by sharing your life with others it’s actually good for women’s stress levels, and increases their feelings of having social support.

All social media is not bad or doesn’t have to be stressful; it’s all about how you use it.

Body image, how you look at and treat yourself, can also be closely tied to social media, and how/when you eat. Negative body image is a MASSIVE source of stress and increased emotional eating for seeking feelings of comfort and control.

In many cases the majority of images and messages that come through your average social media feed are definitely not helping. This study shows us that “exposure to media images of thin-and-beautiful women negatively affects the body image and mood states of young women.”

All those pictures of flat tummies with a tape measure wrapped around, or of a thin person standing inside a pair of jeans that are 5 times too big for them (implying they lost all that weight), are adding fuel to your already delicate body image worries. These idealized – and often times very Photoshopped – images really do have a bad effect on how you feel about your body and cause that evil inner voice in your head to speak up!

Removing unneeded and unnecessary negative stuff from your world can have a massive positive impact on your health, wellbeing, and eating.

That’s what you’re going to do starting today!

Social media should be a source of empowerment and joy, and by making some tweaks to your feeds, you can use it for that power of good.

Take action! Clear out your social media feeds.

By cleaning up your feeds, you can detox the negative and jam pack them with positive messages and images to help, heal, and bring you joy.

Unfollow anyone or anything that:

Gives you the slightest feelings of insecurity or negativity
Promotes unrealistic or unhealthy images, advice, or opinions
Makes you feel like your life is lacking
Makes you feel shame or failure
Makes you angry or sad
Tells you that you need to change to be happy/successful/loved
Feel like you need to improve your body’s appearance to be as happy as they appear

You’re going to clear out the bad and add in the good or inspirational.

This can include those people who post perfectionist healthy quotes that make you feel guilty for eating something, fitspo quotes or images, or even friends who post things that make you feel insecure or not enough (you don’t need to defriend them, just hide them, you can unhide them later when they no longer make you feel bad). All of these triggers can cause emotional eating to follow.

Now find, follow, and ‘like’ people whose content promotes your wellbeing and empowers you to feel good and positive about yourself. Positive inspiration to help you toward your goals is great too!

Here are some ideas for positive pages/groups on Facebook:

I don’t know about you, but my Pinterest feed used to be FILLED with ‘Shed X pounds in 10 days’ kind of stuff. When I realized what my social media feeds were doing to me mentally, I clean up my Pinterest home feed, and now am seeing way more gorgeous recipes, inspiring quotes, and empowering information that makes me feel great about myself!

Check out:

Instagram is a dangerous place for body image, if you’re not very careful. Photos are so easy to manipulate, and have a huge visual impact on us. So, if you’re following ‘fitspo’ accounts that are unrealistic, or images that promote that awful ‘if you’re not pushing yourself you suck’ message, get those outta there!

Similarly, if the posts that fill your feed are tagged with ridiculousness like #thighgap, #thinspo, or #mylifeismuchbetterthanaythingyoulleverhavemuwahaha – shut it down.

Just navigate to your profile and click ‘following’ and hit the ‘unfollow’ button to get rid of anyone who’s images or messages are not bringing you joy.

I cleaned up some of the old, and in came some of these new:

So, you have your mission. You have your instructions…

Now get out there and make your online environment support and uplift you!