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To recognize the causes of your emotional eating, it may be useful to first understand when you are feeling physically hungry and when you are feeling emotionally hungry. Usually, emotional hunger comes on suddenly and feels urgent. You may be able to only think about eating and satisfying your craving right away. This is different than physical hunger, which usually comes on gradually, unless you haven’t eaten in a long time.  When you are emotionally hungry, you may also crave specific comfort foods, such as fatty foods, foods high in carbs, or foods high in sugar. You may also find yourself eating without thinking, where you eat a whole bag of chips or several pieces of cake without paying attention to what you are doing. After an episode of emotional eating, you may not feel satisfied or even full. You may try to eat more and more until you are uncomfortably full. You may also feel a sense of regret, guilt, or shame after you have eaten. This may be because you realize you are eating for emotional reasons, rather than nutritional reasons. Though emotions come into play with binge eating, binge eating usually involves eating unusually large amounts of food within a specific amount of time. Individuals with a binge eating disorder often feel they cannot control their behavior and eat even when they are full or not hungry. They may also eat rapidly during binge episodes and eat alone or in secret. They may have feelings of shame or guilt while they are eating or after they have eaten.  Many people with a binge eating disorder are overweight or obese, though you can also be at a normal weight and have this disorder. Individuals who binge eat may try dieting and weight loss programs frequently but have a hard time maintaining a healthy weight due to their disorder. Unlike bulimia, individuals who binge eat do not vomit up their food, use laxatives, or exercise excessively to get rid of the food they just consumed. Often, binge eating occurs due to certain triggers and a binge eating episode can last several hours, depending on the severity of the episode. To stop your emotional eating, you first need to determine the root causes or triggers of your eating. Identifying possible causes will then help you to better manage them and prevent you from eating emotionally in the future. Common causes of emotional eating include:  Stress: Stress can be a big trigger for emotional eating, as high levels of stress leads to a spike in your hormones and your cortisol levels. Chronic stress can make you crave salty, sweet, and high-fat foods to give you a burst of energy and relief. Intense feelings and thoughts: Feelings like anger, fear, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, resentment and shame can all lead to emotional eating. You may use eating as a way to numb yourself from these emotions or to avoid processing these emotions. Boredom: Being bored and unoccupied can lead to emotional eating, especially if you also feel unfulfilled and empty. You may try to fill this void with eating. Childhood eating habits: You may have memories of food from when you were a child that are attached to negative feelings or from being taught to view food as a reward. Maybe your parents always gave you ice cream or sweets when you behaved properly or took you out for pizza when you did well academically or needed a pick me up. Social pressures: If you tend to use food as a way to connect with others socially, you may have an emotional relationship with food. Though getting together with friends for a meal is a good stress reliever and often a good way to enjoy food, it can also lead to overeating. You may overeat in social situations due to nervousness or as an attempt to blend in with everyone else who is eating. Your family and friends may also pressure you into overeating or indulging in unhealthy foods during your meals together. To get a better understanding of your emotional eating triggers, you may want to keep a food diary. Write down your meals for the day as well as how much you eat, when you eat, how you feel when you eat, and how hungry you felt. Be specific and consistent about keeping the diary as this may allow you to recognize patterns in your eating. These patterns can help you better understand how your mood affects how much you eat and what you eat. For example, you may notice that every time you come home from work after a long day, you eat a whole bag of chips or a pint of ice cream. This could point to a pattern of emotional eating that is triggered by the stress in your workplace. Sometimes it can help to talk to those close to you about your eating habits as a way to understand your habits better. It can be hard to recognize your own emotional habits, especially around food. Do not be afraid to talk to your close friends and family about your struggles with eating. Ask them if they think you may eat based on emotion and if they notice any triggers or patterns in your behavior.  You should also see your family and friends as support systems for you to lean on as you work to stop your emotional eating. Rather than feel ashamed or embarrassed by your eating, you should try to be honest about your struggles and talk openly about them to those you trust around you. This will help you feel less guilty about your eating and help you feel supported. It may also help to eat in front of your friends and family, especially if they have healthy eating habits. Choose healthy options when you eat with family and friends and try to model your behavior after their healthy eating habits. Though you may be able to recognize your triggers on your own through self analysis and through talking to those close to you, you may also want to reach out for a professional opinion on your eating. You can talk to your family doctor about your emotional eating and get a referral for a therapist. You can also talk to a counselor at school or in the workplace. You may need to be assessed by a mental health professional before you can enter therapy or counseling. The therapist may also give you diet suggestions to help you stay healthy as you work through your food triggers and the causes of your emotional eating.
Differentiate between physical hunger and emotional hunger. Be aware of the difference between binge eating and emotional eating. Recognize your possible causes or triggers. Start a food diary. Talk to friends and family about your issues around eating. Get professional guidance from a therapist or a counselor.