Why people over eat and how to beat it!
1. Boredom- You eat when you're bored or do not have anything interesting to do or look forward to. TV is a favorite pass time especially when you are alone at home and bored. When food commercials are running 200 images per hour into our cerebral cortex it is difficult not to be draw towards the refrigerator. If food commercials are a trigger, watch nature shows or commercial-free TV.
Beat it by: If you are just grabbing anything out of the refrigerator, make something healthy like cut veggies and leave them in the fridge.
2. Feeling Upset and Hurt- You turn to food when someone says or does something that feels upsetting or hurtful to you. Anxieties and emotions can also trigger the desire to eat. Some women eat because they are sad or stressed out or even to celebrate when they are happy.
Beat it by: Going out in the open air and walk, The mini-blast of oxygen will vanquish tiredness and mental exhaustion. Leave your worries behind and be in the moment. Look at the birds. Be thankful. Let go, breathe deeply and relax.
3. Feeling Deprived- You feel deprived of the foods which you enjoy and this leaves you craving for them even more. Media's attitudes towards emphasizing thinness as ideal has lead to restrictive dieting and avoidance of whole groups of foods. Unfortunately, because the foods being avoided are abundantly available, and food visibility and availability are powerful eating stimuli, the restricter often breaks her "plan" and eats a forbidden food. Once this happens, overwhelming guilt followed by feelings of low self esteem motivate the individual to go on over consuming the avoided food in an attempt to numb these negative feelings.
Beat it by: Focusing on balancing the calorie input to calorie output. Model healthy eating and exercise habits. Do this as a genuine concern for your own well-being. Eating some fat in moderation will do no harm.
4. Glucose intolerance- This is a physiological trigger. In a healthy body, carbohydrates are converted to glucose and a blood glucose level of ~60-120mg/dl is maintained without thought to the dietary consumption of carbohydrate. In the glucose intolerant population, carbohydrates are readily converted to glucose and the pancreas responds to this shift in blood sugar by secreting an excessive amount of the hormone, insulin. Insulin’s job is to remove the glucose from the blood stream and help it to enter the body cells. If done properly, the blood glucose level returns to the normal range regardless of the amount of carbohydrate consumed. If this system is not working correctly, a quick rise in blood glucose followed by an over production of insulin occurs. The excessive insulin is not recognized by the body cells so is unable to remove the glucose from the blood stream. The result is an increase in blood insulin levels, which has an appetite stimulating effect. The person is driven to eat and if simple carbohydrates are chosen, the cycle continues.
Beat it by: Spreading the calories out by eating a small amount frequently can help maintain a normal blood glucose level. This means every ~3 hours. A recommendation is to be slightly hungry before the next eating event. If famished, then the interval between eating events is probably too long or too little was eaten at the last eating event. If one approaches the next eating event full then too much was consumed at the last eating event. The macronutrients, protein and fat, in combination with carbohydrate have the potential to delay the rise in blood glucose. Protein is preferred as fat interferes with the effectiveness of insulin. Complex carbohydrates leave the stomach more slowly than simple carbohydrate and therefore can also help in blood glucose regulation. Complex carbohydrates contain fiber. Soluble fiber is especially beneficial for this condition. If blood glucose levels do not rise rapidly, there is less likelihood of excessive insulin secretion and less appetite stimulation. It’s important to increase water consumption along with an increase in protein or fiber. Water carries nutrients and oxygen to cells and removes waste. Eating a high fiber diet requires extra water to process the additional roughage and to prevent constipation.
5.Needing Love and Comfort- You turn to food when you're really needing love and comfort. With the pressure of work both at office as well as at home people tend to be burned out. All this is acceptable if supported with constant appreciation and love. Lack of appreciation, discouraging remarks leave people sad and lonely, who tend to turn towards food to find consolation.
Beat it by: Taking out some time for yourself and relaxing.
