If you've ever headed for that pint of ice cream in the freezer after a particularly brutal day, you probably are saying to yourself, why do I need a quiz? I don't need a quiz to know that Ben & Jerry's brings world peace!
But there's more to it than you might think. Emotional eaters often eat without being quite conscious of what's going in their mouths. They can be full, and yet may not be able to stop eating. They crave specific foods more often than people who are not emotional eaters. And they're more likely to choose calories rather than a friend or a walk around the block to soothe a disappointment.
Here's the quiz, from health.com. It's just 10 questions, but it's interesting to see where you fall:
http://diet.health.com/2008/12/21/quiz-are-you-an-emotional-eater/
I know I'm an emotional eater. But as I think about it, I think that it's just my default response. It doesn't occur to me (yet!) to find another quick little way to deal with boredom or disappointment. But I think it can be a matter of conscious retraining. I tend to munch as transition, as distraction, as a placeholder while I move on to the next thing. If I can substitute other transitions, other distractions, or other placeholders, I will do myself and my body a world of good. (Because, let's face it, we rarely soothe ourselves with broccoli or lettuce. Our comfort foods of choice tend to be high in sugar, salt, fat or a combination.)
I found this article on breaking emotional eating habits on the Mayo Clinic's web site:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/MH00025
And here's a test from Psychology Today on whether you have food issues. It's much more in depth and also takes into consideration behaviors that would be consistent with eating disorders:
http://psychologytoday.psychtests.com/tests/eating_disorders_access.html