Emotional eating
In our quest to create distance from ourselves and control emotional pain, we often resort to “eating our pain”. Food is especially well adapted toward this end since certain foods can very much act as a drug in terms of its effect to sooth pain. This in turn is a primary cause of obesity and resultant hypertension, diabetes, heart attack, stroke and now cancer is being linked as well. Many diet plans are effective in the short term but are almost inevitably doomed to fail in the long term since they don’t address the emotional forces that galvanize overeating or food selection issues.
Hunger may be defined as a biological drive connected to the need to take in calories and nutrients sufficient to keep us alive and active. “Appetite” on the other hand may be defined as the desire to consume food independent of biological necessity. Keep in mind that our central nervous system has not changed one bit since the time when we where “hunter-gatherers”. At that time, food scarcity and not overabundance was the consistent theme. They did not have refrigeration, or preservatives or otherwise have the capacity to stockpile food. Furthermore, they did not have the means of processing food which strips food of much of its nutritional benefits. Doughnut bushes, pasta plants, and candy trees did not exist. The point here being, is that modern man has a nervous system that is ill equipped to deal with the incredible overabundance of low nutrient and high caloric foods. As a result, human obesity is greatly on the rise, especially in America and followed (though distantly) by other western nations.
There are many factors that influence what and how much humans eat. This is a very complex area. There are biogenetic, sociocultural, and environmental factors that influence food consumption patterns. There are also critical emotional factors. There is an increasing body of research which explores the so called “food-mood” connection. This research looks at how mood and emotions effect food selection, and how the foods that we eat influence mood.
Some of what we know about how food effects mood:
1) You lack specific nutrients – Various nutrients such as iron, niacin, folic acid and others can often be deficient with notable negative impacts on energy, mood, and activity .
2) Skipping meals – Missing meals, especially breakfasts has been linked to irritability, fatigue, depression, increased acting out behavior. For kids, sufficient nutrition is linked to better learning and behavior modulation. High enough levels of protein can help reduce many symptoms of ADD in kids. Also, if we skip meals, we are likely to slow down our metabolism such that when we do eat, we will be more prone to large insulin responses and therefore greater fat storage. Further, when we skip meals, our body will be more likely to seek high fat and carbohydrate foo0ds to compensate for the “missing” calories. Our body doesn’t “know” that calories are available. It is evolutionarily designed to respond to actual decreases in food availability. So if it thinks food is not available, it will respond accordingly.
3) Overabundance of dietary fat – research indicates that diets heavily represented with fat increases depression, as well as the likelihood of dementia.
4) diets rich in Omega-3 fatty acids (as is found in oily fish) can improve memory and mood.
Now the question becomes, how does mood influence what and how we eat?
Ask your self the following questions:
1) What factors, outside of biological hunger, determine your desire to eat? Hints: time of day, see a commercial of people eating, easy access to food…)
2) What feelings are you most likely avoiding/escaping through food? (shame, emptiness, loneliness, boredom, anxiety, sadness etc.).
3) What feelings are produced when you do eat to “medicate” the above moods? (more shame, guilt, more emptiness and so on).
4) Can you distinguish between emotional eating and true hunger?
5) When you are emotionally eating, you may find that your cravings are of sudden onset, and are very food specific e.g., “I am hungry for ice cream”.
The next blog will contain tips for Mindful Eating.
Please feel free to add your comments, perspectives, experiences, or questions to help make this a more interactive experience for all.
