Emotional Eating - What are You Feeling?

In a conversation I had with a fellow overeater some time ago, we got to talking about emotional eating. She said a very interesting thing, which was that she had no idea what emotions she was feeling when she starting in on overeating or eating when she wasn't hungry, she just knew she wasn't very happy and wanted to eat something to make herself feel better. That comment has stuck in the back of my mind for all this time, and I thought I would see if I could offer up some choices. Of course there are a million different web sites out there that have lists of emotions, but here's one more such list. If you're not sure what you're feeling, is it one of these? Acceptance, Affection, Aggravation, Agitation, Agony, Alarm, Alienation, Amusement, Anger, Anguish, Annoyance, Anticipation, Anxiety, Apprehension, Arousal, Attraction, Aversion, Bitterness, Bliss, Boredom, Caring, Cheerfulness, Compassion, Contempt, Contentment, Courage, Defeat, Dejection, Delight, Depression, Deprivation, Desire, Despair, Disappointment, Disgust, Dislike, Dismay, Displeasure, Distress, Dread, Eagerness, Ecstasy, Elation, Embarassment, Enjoyment, Enthusiasm, Envy, Euphoria, Exasperation, Excitement, Fear, Ferocity, Fondness, Fright, Frustration, Fury, Gladness, Glee, Gloom, Glumness, Grief, Grouchiness, Grumpiness, Guilt, Happiness, Hate, Homesickness, Hope, Hopelessness, Horror, Hostility, Humiliation, Hurt, Hysteria, Infatuation, Insecurity, Insult, Interest, Irritation, Isolation, Jealousy, Joy, Jubilation, Liking, Loathing, Loneliness, Longing, Love, Melancholy, Misery, Mortification, Neglect, Nervousness, Optimism, Outrage, Panic, Passion, Pity, Pleasure, Pride, Rage, Rapture, Regret, Rejection, Relief, Remorse, Resentment , Revulsion, Sadness, Satisfaction, Scorn, Sentimentality, Shame, Shock, Shyness, Sorrow, Spite, Suffering, Surprise, Sympathy, Tenderness, Tenseness, Terror, Thrill, Torment, Triumph, Uneasiness, Vengefulness, Wonder, Worry Some of my favorite choices for emotional eating: boredom, worry, melancholy, longing, loneliness, shyness. It intrigues me somewhat that for me, the more pleasant emotions didn't make my favorites list, although I can certainly see that for some it could work that way, for example, overeating while having fun at a party.