Emotional Eating
Food holds a lot of emotional attachment. We have it at celebrations and events, we were rewarded as children with sweets when we were good, and food releases bliss chemicals in the brain when we eat it.
Food is our fuel and should be enjoyed, however women in particular tend to have an emotional attachment to food, usually based on preconceived ideas around food, dieting, dogmas, stigmas, and disordered eating habits.
This segment is to help you improve your relationship with food. I personally struggled for years with on and off issues around food. Cutting out whole food groups, demonising food, binge eating and the guilt after, fasting excessively and eating low calories.
I finally have a happy and balanced relationship with food armed with nutritional science and knowledge plus building on my healthy habits. I don't cut out food groups other than those that affect my digestion or the way I feel, I choose healthy options that nourish me in good portions and I eat upwards of 2200 calories a day!
At the end of the day good quality nutritional ratios and a healthy relationship with food is what helps you to achieve your goals. A balanced diet, tracking your quantities, and portions with adequate nutrients.
RESTRICTION
When women become conscious of their bodies, or compare themselves to what is the perceived standard of beauty, often their weight is one of the first things about themselves that comes under the microscope. And unfortunately this means going straight to dieting or restricting food, not looking at nourishing a healthy, happy body.
The diet industry plays on these insecurities. The marketing they put out becomes many women’s primary source of information on food and encourages extreme restriction. Severe restriction messes massively with female hormones, psychological attachments to food and hunger. Your body cannot survive on such low calories and either down regulates the metabolism, so that you burn minimal calories or causes extreme hunger, “blowing out” and binge eating. This means many women develop fear around food, believing that foods are either good or bad or that eating more food will make you fat!
The understanding that women can eat a decent amount per day is so important. The shape many women are actually looking for is achieved through training and eating a decent amount of calories a day. Deficit should only be 10-15% of maintenance max, otherwise it will cause the disordered eating. Plus life should not be lived in a deficit. Once you have achieved a healthy, happy body you should aim to build up your calories to maintenance.
OSTRACISING FOOD
Fearing foods and cutting them out is also a common theme in many diets and eating protocols. Sometimes it’s certain foods like dairy or nuts or red meat or whole food groups like fats or carbohydrates! Certain eating protocols can reinforce this and demonise food, but this creates an “us vs them” mentality. That's why I prefer to look at foods as a spectrum rather than "good" or "bad". This means that you CHOOSE to pick foods from the high-quality end of the spectrum 80% of the time, and can still have foods from the low nutrient, low-quality end of the spectrum 20% of the time, if you desire.
However, if you have food sensitivities, allergies or digestive issues with certain foods, it is fine to leave them out.
RESTRICT AND BINGE
A common behaviour when restricting is to binge eat on foods that are “restricted” until uncomfortably full. Not only is this terrible for your gut health and digestion, it dumps a huge amount of calories into your body which leaves you feeling bloated and blows your intake numbers for the week. Feeling uncontrolled leads to a lack of trust in yourself and more extremest behaviour to try and “fix” yourself. There is a difference between having a big meal out every now and then and leaving feeling full and the uncontrolled urge to eat that is binge eating.
One reason it happens is restriction, so alleviate restricting foods as much as possible, eating enough and getting good vitamins and minerals in. Taking a multivitamin such as ATP Science's MultiFood or a greens powder like Vital Greens can help. Plus getting out of the habit of psychological binging. Try to take deep breaths, have awareness when you eat, don't buy lots of low quality food, take or choose a portioned snack with you to places that trigger overeating, like the movies and learn to enjoy food guilt free if it fits in your calories.
Repatterning the binge habit means that you will need to sub in a different, healthier habit when the urge comes to binge. But I find NOT wanting to binge is highly correlated to being prepared in advance. Eating enough (ratios) and of high quality foods, getting enough sleep, handling stress effectively, including treats into your week, not restricting but being clever with calories and having good options available to you.
OVEREATING
If you are constantly overeating, and always eat over your recommended calories this can either be down to lack of awareness, a hormonal imbalance or being nutritionally deficient.
If you always unconsciously overeat this will come down to the habit of tracking your food more carefully. Get an accurate estimation of your recommended daily intake and macronutrients and plan ahead to the foods that you will fit into your day. You will see a big difference by actually being accurate and compliant! If you get hungry, eat volumetric (high fibre and water foods), utilising intermittent fasting, having more vegetables at meals, drinking tea and plenty of water in between meals.
On the other hand if you are overeating because of a hormonal imbalance, this can be a bit trickier.
This can come down to:
Your sex hormones: And imbalance of progesterone and estrogen, especially having high estrogen can cause fat storage and make you crave high sugar and fat foods. Plus it can trigger emotional mood swings.
Your appetite hormones: Leptin is the satiety hormone and ghrelin is your appetite hormone, if you haven’t slept well, are under-eating chronically these chemicals in your body can get out of whack and cause hunger.
Your stress hormone: Cortisol is your stress hormone. When you are overburdened, stressed or physically drained your body produces cortisol. Cortisol, while short term reduces appetite, over time messes with your appetite hormones and every other system in your body. Plus being stressed often triggers emotional eating.
Your gut health: While not specifically hormones, your gut health and the balance of bacteria in your gut need to be healthy to absorb enough energy, vitamins and minerals from your food. If this is poor and your body doesn’t feel nourished it can want to eat more to sustain energy. Plus bad bacteria in your gut thrive off of sugar and will crave it. Your bugs in your gut affect your brain.
You can see how this is a big topic and needs to be discussed in more detail. Getting seen to by a functional doctor or naturopath can be helpful for pinpointing what may be causing the dis-regulation in your appetite and solving the cause, not the symptom. The best recommendation you can do now is that being accurate with your healthy habits - training, eating well, reducing stress, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water will help massively with a hormonal balance to even it up.
Nutritional deficiencies can also cause appetite to surge. if your body lacks nutrients it will want to eat more food to get a supply of the nutrients, often with many more calories attached. I find taking a vitamin and mineral supplement helps hugely with hunger and cravings because your body is more nutritionally satisfied. Taking a daily greens powder or vitamin is a great fail-safe to help with the urge to eat all the time.
UNDEREATING
Under-eating has a similar effect to restriction. Consistently eating significantly under your recommended maintenance calories can slow down your metabolism. As your body gets more efficient at burning calories, it drops energy expenditure, slows hormone production and all other cellular processes of the body. It is important not to chronically under-eat. Even if it isn’t coming from a restricting perspective, and you forget to eat, it can have the same effects on your hormones, leading to cravings, low energy and hormone dysfunction. The Goldilocks rule applies, eat enough, not too little, not too much for optimum results.
EMOTIONAL EATING
Eating to sooth or comfort is a common escapism habit.
Food can trigger emotional feelings and is easily associated with events. Ever heard KitKat’s slogan “Have a break, have a KitKat?” this associates sugary treaks with a relaxing break. Or when people eat a bucket of icecream after a break-up and associating ice-cream with feeling happier. Or getting a jumbo sized popcorn every time you go to the movies and associating popcorn with fun. While they seem innocent enough, and there is nothing wrong with having a treat every now and then, these habits can be very hard to break because of the strong emotional association. I find the best thing to do is swap the treat for a healthier option, or a mindful portion size of the treat. Luckily there are many recipes out now of every possible way you can satisfy your cravings healthily, and sub in a habit with a healthier option.
Healing emotional eating is also about expressing your emotions. Emotions need to be dealt with and released. If you hold or repress them they will often come out as certain coping mechanisms and emotional eating is one of the most common. If you are feeling, mad, sad, rejected or bored it is much better to be aware of the emotion, and express it healthily. Start working on your emotional awareness and health. Do meditation, counselling, exercise, yoga, walking or find other ways to healthily express your emotions.
Low self esteem about your body is one of the biggest factors in emotional eating. Negativity, shame, and hatred rarely inspire people to make long-lasting great changes, especially when it comes to our bodies or our sense of self. Many people tell me they will stop hating their body after they reach their goal weight. I say you have to stop hating your body with self-acceptance before you can stop the emotional eating cycle.
Unconscious eating can also be a big factor. Not paying attention when you eat, snacking mindlessly or having an unportioned bag or extra big portion of food can easily be eaten.
Make sure you are feeling resilient, and this comes from being prepared. If you are nourished, have trained, drank enough water, had enough sleep and feel fulfilled you are much less likely to turn to low quality foods to feel better. If you are exhausted, burnt out and hungry you are much more likely to switch into F*$# it mode and eat everything in sight.
BUILDING A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD
Put in place these measures to build a healthy relationship with food and break free from emotional and disordered eating.
Eat enough calories and in correct macronutrient ratios
Have an 80%/20% attitude to what you eat. Accept everything in moderation, but choose wisely from the spectrum
Eat mindfully and slowly
Plan your food in advance and be prepared each day
Nourish your body with high-quality food and it will crave better foods
Quench cravings with better choices of what you are craving rather than fighting them to replace the habit
Take supplements to cover micronutrient deficiencies
Pay attention to and support your digestive health
Avoid the habit of mindlessly eating just because you are bored or emotional
Don't buy food that is low nutritional value for high-calorie value
Love and enjoy food, don't feel guilt for eating
Eat foods that make you feel good
Eat to live, don't live to eat
Please note, if you feel you have a severe relationship with food, such as anorexia, bulimia or severe binge eating it is best to seek professional help.