Are You An Emotional Eater?

Was just watching another episode of Luther today, that BBC show I mentioned yesterday. And there was a scene where someone distraught was drinking a bottle of wine to dull the pain. And once again it brought home for me just how different I am than most people when faced with a stressful or depressing scenario. I never can understand why people overeat or booze it up when sad. I think my wiring must be completely off, then. Because for me, the last thing I want to do in such a scenario is eat or drink or do any of the things I do normally when I'm happy. It's like hypocrisy for me to stuff my face when the whole world is going to shit around me.

I guess the reason why some people do this is because food and drink actually does release happy endorphins into their bodies. Like eating chocolate when sad, for instance. Whereas for me, if those endorphins are being released, my brain doesn't seem to be registering the effect when I'm blue. A good meal or bottle of wine doesn't make me feel any better, and as such I tend not to have much of an appetite when I'm down.

Then again, I'm very rarely down. It's not that I live such a wonderful, Disney-fied life or anything. Just that I'm generally not somebody who focuses too much on how bad the world is or on the things I *wish* I had in my life. Despite my innate sarcasm and the don't-fuck-with-me persona which I adopt in public, I'm actually an optimist. I see the best in humanity, and the world, even when evidence to the contrary abounds everywhere I look. And even despite the pretty shitty things that have happened to me in my past.

So, are you a depressive binger? Does food make you feel happy when you're down? Or, like me, can you only properly enjoy food when you are already happy first? There is a difference, in case you haven't realized.