Oprah: I gained weight and overate to numb my emotional pain

Oprah Winfrey, whose weight battles have been documented over the years, says she overeats
to numb her emotional pain. (Photos/AP, Oprah)

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey has often publicly discussed her food addiction and lifelong weight battle.

On her show May 12, Oprah revealed that she finally figured out her compulsion to overeat had less to do with food and more to do with coping with emotional pain.

While the triggers for overeating vary from person to person, Oprah, 56, admitted she would "stuff" her feelings with food whenever she felt sad, empty, unhappy with herself or anxious.

OPRAH: 'I ATE WHENEVER I WAS UNHAPPY'

 "There's still anxiety when I have to say no to someone," said Oprah. "I still worry, 'What are they going to think' ... [That happened to me recently and] I did not eat a pound of potato chips. I ate a pound of lettuce. But it's the same thing. I've switched the drug from potato chips to lettuce."

Geneen Roth, author of the diet book Women, Food, and God, said many women eat when they're not hungry to cope with emotional pain. Roth, 58, confessed to Oprah that she herself has struggled with anorexia and wild weight fluctuations since the age of 11.

After crash-dieting and gaining and losing more than 1,000 pounds over the years, Roth had a breakthrough when she found herself on the verge of suicide.

'DIETING LEADS TO SELF-HATRED'

"What happens is that people end up losing [and regaining the same weight] 10, 20, 30, 50 times in their lives," Geneen explains. "They just endlessly do it, because they think endless dieting is a way to get a handle on their problem. But even if they get a handle on their dieting, just losing weight is not the point."

She explains: "Dieting leads to self-hatred and self-loathing, making you feel crazy about yourself."

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE FOOD

Having issues with food and weight is always about more than the food, she says.

"Your beliefs show up in your relationship with food," explains Roth. "So if I'm eating when I'm not hungry or bored, I'm basically saying I can't feel these feelings. 'Life is too much for me. There's no goodness in my life except for food right here, right now. You're basically eating because you've given up on something, some part of yourself."

Oprah agrees. "I realized that is what I have done, and so many other people have done, for years," she says. "You think that, 'I am so small that the pain is going to overwhelm me,' but really the truth is you've already experienced that pain."

'ONLY KINDNESS MAKES SENSE'

Conquering issues with food starts with learning to love yourself, Geneen says. "People say, 'I hate myself and I hate my thighs and how do I start looking at myself and loving myself?' And sometimes I'll say: 'How would you treat a child who needed your love? Would you just whack them around and just say: 'Wrong! Bad. Look at your thighs, look at your legs'? No. Kindness. Only kindness makes sense. Only kindness ever makes sense."

GENEEN'S 7 EATING GUIDELINES

In an excerpt from Women, Food, and God, Roth shares seven tips for mindful eating:

1. Eat when you are hungry.
2. Eat sitting down in a calm environment. This does not include the car.
3. Eat without distractions. Distractions include radio, television, newspapers, books, intense or anxiety-producing conversations or music.
4. Eat what your body wants.
5. Eat until you are satisfied.
6. Eat (with the intention of being) in full view of others.
7. Eat with enjoyment, gusto and pleasure.

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