Emotional Eating

Mermaid brings great information to these discussions and recently she brought up the topic of emotional eating. Although I have just outlined it here, I will be covering the topic much more indepth in weeks to come.

Emotional eating is one of the major causes of obesity. Many of the people who are struggling with weight issues are doing so because they eat when they feel stressed, angry, guilty, anxious, or depressed. Some of the vices we used in recent decades to suppress these emotions have proven to be very harmful to our health when over consumed, such as cigarettes, alcohol, and prescription drugs and most people no longer use them. Food however is a readily available alternative poised to take control of these cravings. Sugary, heavily caffeinated drinks are one of the newest forms of these craving busters that are currently all the rage.

To understand why we feel the need to stuff ourselves with comfort foods high in sugar or laden in cheese, we need to understand that there are chemicals released in the brain to help us cope with certain situations, and we will crave certain chemicals to counteract these imbalances. Researchers are especially interested in the foods chosen by night eaters. The heavy preference for carbohydrates, which trigger the brain to produce so-called "feel-good" neurochemicals, suggests that night eating may be an unconscious attempt to self-medicate mood problems and relieve stress.
If we can learn to recognize the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger we can get this problem under control. A difficult obstacle to overcome is that we can start being programmed to cope this way very early in our lives; when someone close to us tries to cheer us up with a slice of pie or a big bowl of ice cream. As a tip don’t go shopping right after you have had a big argument with your husband or boyfriend, you will probably end up with a cart full of ice cream and cookies, instead try to counter the sudden release of the stress hormone cortisol with another hormone, endorphins. You can do this by something as simple as yoga or Pilates, or perhaps you would prefer something a bit more physical such as running, cardio kickboxing, or lifting weights, the high from the release of the endorphins will feel great and you will soon be in a much better mood.