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When we eat highly
palatable foods (foods high in fat, sugar, or refined flour), our brain’s
reward circuitry is activated, producing pleasure and desire. These effects
motivated our ancestors to load up on high-calorie foods in times of plenty in order
to endure times of food scarcity. For them, taking advantage of available high calorie
Food was a matter of survival.
We, on the other hand, don’t usually need the extra calories. This reward
circuitry motivates us to keep eating anyway, just as it motivates the drug
addict to continue his self-destructive behavior. When we are surrounded by
highly palatable foods, it’s easy to overuse this reward circuitry. We use the
natural highs that these foods give us to comfort ourselves when we are
stressed, anxious, bored, sad, frustrated, or depressed. We often eat to
regulate our emotions, not because we are hungry. This is called self-medicating
or emotional eating.
While using food for
emotional comfort once in a while is not necessarily a bad thing, making a
habit out of it is a recipe for continued weight gain. Finding better ways to
manage your emotions can help you overcome a habit of emotional eating. You will
learn five ways to improve your emotional well-being: focusing on the present,
mental relaxation, healthy thinking, social interaction, and doing something
productive.
Copyright ©Stan Spencer, PhD –Originally appeared in The Diet Dropout's Guide to Natural Weight Loss by Stan Spencer, PhD
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