Are You a Foodie or an Emotional Eater?

Are you a foodie?
A foodie is a term invented in 1981 by Paul Levy and Ann Barr, who used it in the title of their 1984 book The Official Foodie Handbook. The term is used to describe someone who seeks out and enjoys new restaurants, foods, and wines. is a term used to describe someone who seeks out and enjoys new restaurants, foods, and wines. A foodie delights in the total sensory experience of food. For example, at the grocery store, a foodie will joyfully find the perfect plump fruit, squeezing it gently, smelling it, and noticing the ripeness and color. A foodie has a lust for new food experiences, and enjoys the entire experience of eating - which includes exploring food, shopping for food, preparing and cooking food, and of course eating great food.

Foodie Qualities
Below are 14 questions that can help confirm if you are a true lover of food:

Do you love to explore new recipes?
Do you have a passion for the taste of food?
Do you appreciate the wonders of fresh food?
Do you smell food, inhaling the aromas, and filling up with the joy of scent?
Do you shop for the perfect culinary tools?
Do you know the difference between Wusthof and Kershaw Shun knives?
Do you eagerly await the newest Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma monthly mailing catalog?
Is the Food Network your obsession?
Do you love finding new recipes to test?
Do you savor food, but stop when your taste buds or body tells you the experience is no longer satisfying?
Do you choose the very best food available to you?
Do you eat food that your body, senses, and intuition guides you toward?
Do you eat the types of food that make you more alive and invigorated?
Do you eat food that supports your health and vitality?

If these questions already have you dreaming about gourmet eating experiences, then you just might be a true lover of food!

Are You An Emotional Eater?
Many emotional eaters don't know they are eating for emotional reasons. They will say, "I don't eat because I'm bored or sad. I just eat because I really love food." However, if you look closely, an emotional eater doesn't enjoy the entire process of eating at all.

Emotional eaters often have "forbidden" or "bad" foods. They feel guilty about eating certain food. This have lists of what they should eat and what they shouldn't eat. And they often obsess about when to eat or when not to eat. Overall, there are many rules and restrictions around food.

Do you really love food as much as you imagine?

One way to easily tell if you love food as much as you say you do, or if you're eating to cope with life is to notice your style of eating. Below are 14 questions you can use to easily identify when eating is something other than just a love of food.

Do you inhale your food, eating in a hurry?
Do you wolf down your food because you're starving?
Do you heap mounds of food on your plate?
Do you put another bite into your mouth before finishing the last one?
Do you shove food in quickly, often using your fingers and often standing up?
Do you often have an urgent, panicky need to eat something right away?
Are an unconscious eater (eating while doing something else and unaware of eating)?
Are you a chaotic eater (over-scheduled life, haphazard eating, or eating whatever food is available)?
Are you a free food eater (eat in the presence of free food such as buffets, candy jars, office food, candy bowls, etc.)?
Are you a waste not eater, or a member of the clean plate club?
Are you a careful eater, analyzing every morsel for calories, weight, and health?
Do you skip breakfast and other meals, and then eat all night?
Are you a professional dieter?
Do you forbid sweets, but then eat them with a vengeance?

If you recognized yourself in one or more of the eating styles listed above, you might be surprised to notice that enjoying your food isn't the motivating factor for your eating. You don't need to become a food connoisseur, but an easy way to add more joy to your life is to take action and make your individual eating experiences more enjoyable. The more you enjoy your food experiences (cooking, shopping, creating, eating, and digesting), the more you enjoy life. And you just might lose weight in the process!