I am an emotional eater, what can help? This was the latest email that we received Friday from a woman in her late 30’s. It is very important to understand that the brain is very much involved in every aspect of our eating habits, in fact, the root cause of all overeating stems from changes in the brain related to stresses. This is where we get the term emotional eater, the fact of the matter is that stresses effect our emotions and this is where the brain tries to help by seeking food.
Overweight, sad, stress, food
Biologically the brain can help you when your mood is down, very stressful events such as arguments,worries or even a frustrating relationship causes brain changes which signal the need to relieve the stresses. Emotions are powerful and can lead to a very unhealthy cycle of stress related overeating, this can cause obesity and other health complications. The brain chooses food as the method of relief. The stomach may influence the brain by releasing hormones, says Lukas Van Oudenhove, M.D one of the study authors and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Leuven, in Belgium. If you are an emotional eater it is important to know that this is your body’s attempt to help lift your mood but it is not a healthy solution and needs to be addressed.
The failure of willpower
The study in Belgium showed just how powerful the effects of food was on the mood, the in take of chocolate or fatty foods had an almost drug like effect in addressing the emotions, will power is not strong enough to fight this effect. Do not blame yourself for emotion type eating, will power cannot stop this. What was even more amazing from the European study was the fact that sadness from just a picture ( such as a disaster or crying people) caused the brain to response by calming the sadness after ingesting fatty food. We can clearly see that stresses from jobs,divorces, or loss of life can cause uncontrollable eating in an emotional eater. The Food Addiction diet is the number one diet used over 10 countries, it was created by brain researchers to stop all overeating.
See here Take back control of what you eat