Kids and Emotional Eating

Silje Steinsbekk, an Associate Professor at the Dept. of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and a clinical child,- and adolescent psychologist. Surveys reveal that 38% of adults say that they eat more when stressed or sad. The problem is that emotional eating increases your risk of becoming overweight: regularly eating a large number of additional calories for reasons other than hunger will do your waistline no favors. Previous research shows that a tendency to eat for comfort begins in early childhood, but we know very little about where this actually comes from, especially during the important formative years. Is comfort eating triggered by nurture or nature? Silje Steinsbekk has performed some research and is here today to share her results.