Munching at Your Desk or Stress Eating? Experts Decode the Hidden Link Between Food, Mood, and Mental Health -

World Mental Health Day 2025 serves as a reminder to recognize the complex and often unnoticed link between our diet and our mental wellness. This year’s theme, “Access to Service: Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies,” serves as a reminder that mental health is not solely a space within therapy, but is a part of our daily practice, and what we consume — how we eat, snack, or manage stress.

In the fast pace of corporate culture, it is not a strange idea to see employees eating at their desks, while powering through deadlines and stress. What may start as a quick fix for food energy and momentum, can easily drift into the patterns of emotional eating, as food starts to be used for comfort, relief, or escape.

Recognizing Stress Eating

According to Nidhi Nahata, Lifestyle Coach and Creator of Justbe, stress eating is more than just yielding to the urge to eat. “It is a physiological response to the body’s stress from an emotional trigger,” she explains. “Stress leads the body to produce cortisol, which causes cravings for sugar, salt, and fat. These foods provide a brief calming effect on the brain, but once the moment passes and emotionally, this balancing act may eventually backfire on your emotional state and crash your physical state.”

Nahata highlights that the mind and body are interconnected. “Our emotional well-being is biochemically reliant on the level of nutrients in our diet. The higher the level of processed food or artificial food in our diet will cloud the brain, reduce clarity, and raise irritability. You cannot expect a clear-minded state from a physically toxic state,” she says.

The Gut-Mood Connection

The cliché of “You are what you eat” finds support in scientific literature now – Vaishali Arora, Clinical Psychologist at Lissun, cites our gut health plays a significant role in mood and emotional regulation. “There is an intricate relationship between your gut and the brain,” she explains. “When the gut is unhealthy, neurotransmitters like serotonin – the brain chemicals used for mood regulation – are also affected, leading to increased anxiety and irritability.”

Arora adds that emotional eating often starts in early life. “For many, food becomes an emotional grip in childhood, whether as a reward, a comfort, or simply a distraction. Over time, these experiences transform into habitual responses that repeat themselves when you are in a moment of stress,” she says. She adds that stress eating can also relate to underlying anxieties, depression, and tendencies to binge eat.

Identifying Emotional Hunger

According to experts, emotional hunger is not the same as physical hunger. Since physical hunger takes time to build, anything will satisfy it. On the other hand, emotional hunger can come on quickly and often demands a particular type of comfort food — chips, sweets, or fried food. “If you find yourself eating when you have no physical hunger, especially when you are stressed or bored, that’s a sign of emotional eating,” Nahata explains.

Establishing Mindful Eating Practice

Both experts suggest that the key to breaking the cycle of mindless eating is awareness and mindfulness. Instead of eating without paying attention, people should stop and ask themselves: Am I really hungry or am I trying to fill an emotional void?

Engaging in mindful eating, which includes slowing down the consumption, being aware of textures and tastes, and removing distractions such as phones or laptops, can help re-establish a healthy relationship with food. Healthy eating, regular exercise, and using professional counselling when needed can also assist with regaining a sense of control over emotional and physical health.

To conclude Arora states, “Food should nourish, not numb. The moment we learn to differentiate between feeding our bodies and feeding our emotions, we take a giant leap toward both better mental fitness and mindful living.”