Eating may be at the core of everyday life but what may seem a simple
act of eating to fulfil our hunger and appetite is in fact a complex
series of psychological and physiological interactions. What drives us
to eat and controls how much we eat is an area of research that has
kept many scientists occupied for their lifetime and we still don’t
know all the answers. Certainly hunger drives us to seek out food and
eat, but think of all the other influencing factors. Have you ever
eaten for any of the following reasons?
You were bored, stressed, angry or sad?
Food was around and smelt and/or looked appetising?
You were craving the food despite not being physically hungry?
Because other people around you are eating or drinking?
Habit, such as always having a biscuit with your cup of tea/coffee;
always buying a carton of popcorn at the cinema; or always having a gin
and tonic when you get home at night?
We all do this on occasion
and it is perfectly normal behaviour. However when it starts to happen
regularly it poses a problem, particularly for weight control.
We
have an innate liking for certain foods, such as sweet foods and food
causes the release of various chemicals and hormones in the body which
in turn affect our mood. This may be why foods such as chocolate give
us a temporary lift as the natural compounds in the food result in the
release of ‘feel good’ chemicals in the brain. The feeling is
short-lived of course and you may end up feeling worse if the food
involved is one you feel guilty eating. Alcohol intake can also apply
here and drinking out of habit or as a means of stress relief is
common, particularly although not exclusively, for men.
Breaking
these habits and behaviours can be difficult but left unchecked can
seriously hinder your progress towards your goals. Healthy eating is
not just about what you eat, but having a healthy attitude to food and
eating. Being overly obsessed with what you eat and when you eat is not
only destructive to your mental well-being, it will undoubtedly lead to
problems controlling your weight at a later date. Psychologists call
such people ‘restrained eaters’ and what we do know is that restrained
eaters are more likely to binge and lose control of their eating when
under stress, or when physical circumstances change.
Overcoming emotional eating/drinking
The
first step is to identify trigger situations and when you are eating
for reasons other than hunger. Keeping a food diary is an excellent
exercise to identify your food and behaviour patterns. Not only will it
help you to identify situations where you turn to drink or food as an
emotional release, but it help you plan an alternative strategy to stop
it happening.
Before you eat or drink anything other than water,
stop and fill in your hunger rating and feeling in your diary. Rate
your hunger on a scale of 1-10 where one is completely full and not at
all hungry and 10 is ravenously hungry. Then record how you are
feeling. Finally record what you eat and how much. For alcoholic drinks
you may not necessarily be hungry, but record your feelings eg
stressed, angry, frustrated etc. You need to be as honest as possible
for this to work. At the end of the week you will be able to look over
your diary and identify situations where you use food or alcohol as an
emotional release or simply out of habit.
The second stage is to
come up with strategies to overcome these trigger situations. Write
your particular strategies down so that you have a bank of ideas in
your head to apply the next time you are in that situation.
For example:
The
idea is to do something that relieves whatever feeling you have, be it
anger, boredom, frustration or stress and by the time you have finished
the activity the feeling will have passed. Write down any additional
ideas you have so that you have a strategy to follow and can break your
learned habits.