As a child in school, we learned about basic nutrition. We know that getting enough vitamins and minerals will help us be healthy. What is missing in most nutrition education is how food can strengthen the immunity system to fight the diseases. Also missing the emotions and the big role they play with choosing the food and the time to eat it.
Emotional eaters don’t necessarily eat more food; they eat more unhealthy foods, such as starchy, sweet, salty and fatty foods. Consequently, if stressed or negative emotions are chronic, emotional eating can cause health problems such as weight gain and increased heart problems.
For the People who move from their country to live in another place it’s a major life change, which has many emotional changes and a big culture change, for these people eating may be a way of suppressing or soothing negative emotions, such as stress, anger, anxiety, sadness, and loneliness.
These negative emotions can be caused by everything from major life events to simple day-to-day hassles. Though the (comfort foods)might provide short-term fixes, they can lead to an unhealthy
long-term habit of eating in response to negative feelings, not hunger.
The good news is that if you are prone to emotional eating, you can regain control of your eating habits.
By understanding why stress and negative emotions may cause you to crave those unhealthy snacks.
We need to learn how to control our selves, and choose the good food that can release the negative emotion.
The connection between mood and food
A physiologic connection
How the body reacts to mood and food may play a role. Research indicates that some foods might have addictive qualities for many people. When you eat for example chocolate, your body releases trace amount of mood and satisfaction- elevating opiates. That reward may reinforce a preference for foods that are most closely associated with specific feelings.
Also research proved that sweet and fatty food might actually relieve your anxiety, because the sweets shut down the stress response system. But this encourages the formation of fat cells, and makes you think in the direction of the unhealthy way to restore your emotional states.
A psychologic connection
From a mental standpoint, food also can be a distraction. If you are worried about an upcoming event, or thinking a conflict from earlier in the day, eating comfort foods may distract you. But the distraction
is only for short time. While you’re eating, your thoughts may be focused on the pleasant taste of your comfort food. Unfortunately, when you’re done overeating, your attention returns to your worries, and you may now feel guilty about overeating.
Managing mood and food: How to balance
Here some tips to help avoid the unhealthy emotional eating
* Learn to recognize true hunger. Is your hunger mental or physical? If you ate just a few hours ago and don’t have rumbling stomach, you’re e probably not really hungry. Give the craving a few minutes to pass.
* Know your triggers. For the next several days, write down what you eat, how much you eat , when you eat, how you’re feeling and how hungry you are. Over time , you may see when you eat the unhealthy food and try to avoid
*Look elsewhere for comfort. Instead of unwrapping a candy bar, take a walk, treat yourself to a movie or call a friend. You can write a journal or talk about your stress to someone.
* Don’t keep unhealthy food around. Avoid having high –calorie comfort foods in the house, and don’t shop while you are hungry.
*Snack Healthy. If you feel hungry between meals choose a law fat food or a fresh fruit, pretzels.
*Eat a balanced diet. if you’re not getting enough calories to have enough energy , this will keep the emotional eating habit going, eat more whole grain foods, and food with fiber, this more likely make you full.
* Exercise regularly. You mood will be better if you move.
