Emotional Eating!

Eating to kill boredom is the main cause for emotional eating. The kind of relation that we share with food can lead to emotional eating. The idea should be that we should eat to live and not live to eat. Many a times I ask myself this question, do I consume food or does food consumes me? We often forget that the primary function of food is nourishment.

The most obvious question therefore is not what do we eat? Or what we are fond of eating? But how much do we eat and why do we eat? When we consume food other than our physiological needs then that is what is called emotional eating. Unaware of this we enroll ourselves to health club to shed weight, but all in vein. We focus on what we are eating and not what is eating us up.

When we are stressed, our body releases hormones that stimulate our appetite and we crave for calorie dense food. This stress alters our mood as much as drug does. Stress eating leads to weight gain which in turn again adds to our stress. Physiologically comfort foods and pleasure inducing drugs excites the same circuit in our brains, giving us a short-lived emotional high. Food then becomes a stimulant and we crave for rich food to give us that short-lived happiness, but in turn we end up endangering our health.

Take charge of your life and don’t be a slave to food. Explore non-food options to come out of stress or boredom. Consider options like a hobby, healthy friendship or a brisk walk.