Getting off the Roller coaster of Emotional Eating
With spending so many hours inside, it can be so easy to seek comfort in food. Especially when some of us have enormous stock piles of tasty snacks and quick shelf stable carbohydrates like cereal, pasta and rice. Perhaps emotional eating is a new phenomena or we’ve struggled over the years with binge eating. Binge eating is defined as consuming unusually large amounts of food typically in a short period of time and feeling unable to stop eating. During these stressful times we want to maintain emotional, mental and physical balance. Ensuring that we are getting the right nutrients without the self harm of overeating is also vital to our immune system and sleep.
I hope these strategies will help you get off the emotional eating roller coaster for good and find renewed peace around food and body.
Make Real Balanced Meals a Priority
Like it or not we have to eat. By scheduling healthy balanced breakfasts, lunches and dinners, we ensure that our bodies will get what they need. Some of us, based on our own nutritional needs, may also need well-positioned snacks. Most importantly, prioritizing meals keeps us satiated. Skipping meals or choosing foods that are not necessarily nourishing can leave us hungry. Eventually this hunger leads to becoming ravenous and next we can easily find ourselves in the middle of a binge. Our bodies crave routine and balance. By setting specific times of day to eat meals that have names like “breakfast,” “lunch” and “dinner” ensures that we are attuned to our appropriate hunger cues. As a result we will not fall into the trap of misinterpreting boredom, frustration or thirst for hunger. So we might wonder what does a well-balanced meal actually look like. A great place to start is by reading my blog on healthy meal planning.
Some Foods Need to be Kept Out
Just as we are on lockdown, there are some foods that should be locked down. Chips, crackers, pretzels, cookies and unfortunately nuts, seeds and dried fruit can be overeating triggers for some of us. When emotions strike, we can find ourselves easily binging on them. If we are that person who can’t just have one we might need to take a good look in the mirror and accept we can’t just have one. So why should we torment ourselves? One simple strategy in binge prevention is to not have these foods in our house at all. If we live with others, who enjoy these foods safely in moderation, we might need to have them not eat them in front of us or keep them in their room. Studies show that the mere sight of food can cause us to eat even if we are not hungry. Even if we are stocking up on a month or more of shelf stable foods, there is no real reason to include snack foods among them. This is regardless if they are labeled as organic or not. A couple I know once asked me what snacks they should eat when they watched TV after dinner. I responded by asking if they were hungry. When they said no, I had to say “none” as watching TV has nothing to do with eating. Adding munch and crunch of processed snack foods including organic, gluten and dairy free versions to daily activities doesn’t really provide nutritional benefit only more calories. That being said because nuts and seeds do provide vitamins, minerals and protein, if you want to have them but find it to hard to set healthy limits individually wrapped snack packs is a good option.
Pacify the Craving Part of Our Brain
Ever wonder where craving comes from? We can thank the insula which is a prune-size slab of brain tissue responsible for feelings of guilt and anxiety as well as cravings. Acting like a sort of receiving zone, the insula assesses the physiological state of the entire body and then generates subjective feelings to bring about actions, like eating. Information from the insula is sent to other parts of the brain involved in decision making. Studies on nicotine, cocaine and alcohol addiction have shown alterations in the insula and its connectivity to other regions of the brain of addicts. This allows the addict to succumb to the craving despite the negative consequences. The insula also processes events even before they happen. For example when we smell, see or confronted with a situation related to food, the insula is activated even before we start eating. Though it might be tempting to consider having the insula surgically removed to stop our craving for chocolate cake, it’s not a solution. Without the insula, we would have complete apathy and would loose our ability to distinguish between fresh and rotten foods. Probably one of the most effective ways for calming the insula is through daily meditation. Through daily meditation, we enhance our self-regulatory processes and decrease our emotional reactivity. As a result, we can start to see our thoughts about food as a neutral behavioral option rather than an inescapable need. Spontaneous thoughts do not need a behavioral response. Meditation can help us to learn to accept these thoughts, letting them pass without further elaboration. In regards to the insula, the seat of craving, studies using MRI brain images have demonstrated the insulas of longterm meditation practitioners have greater functional connectivity with other brain regions. With a consistent daily meditation practice of even as little as 5-10 minutes, we will experience more control over our cravings overtime. If we don’t know where to start, this simple meditation can help.
Carbohydrates as Antidepressants?
Have you ever felt like you were wired to binge of chips, bread or sweets? Well guess what we are. First our brains are fueled on glucose (unless we are on a keto diet and have trained our brains to run on ketone bodies). Our brains seek out simple carbs for quick glucose. But for some of us, another factor is also at play; serotonin. Chronically low levels of serotonin can drive us to search for carbohydrates. This is because when carbohydrates are consumed they allow us to preferentially increase levels of the amino acid, tryptophan. Trytophan is the precursor of serotonin. Interestingly some studies show that having a carbohydrate rich snack prior to dinner helps to increase serotonin levels. Due to this increase, consumption of carbohydrates is actually reduced the following day. Conditions of low serotonin like depression and PMS or the more severe form of PMS (Premenstrual Dystrophic Disorder (PMDD) can lead to overeating of carbohydrate because we are seeking tryptophan to quickly boost serotonin levels to lift our mood. The dark side is that this feeling is short lived. After a carb or sugar binge, we can drift into remorse and inevitable weight gain. Making sure that we are eating enough complete protein on a daily helps us maintain a more constant supply of tryptophan for serotonin production. Complete proteins contain all the essential amino acids that are bodies don’t make. Animal protein such as beef, poulry and chicken as well as eggs are all complete proteins. Most vegetarian proteins are not complete so it is necessary to make them complete by creating complimentary proteins. Other factors at play in low serotonin levels are cofactors, which are nutrients that facilitate biochemical reactions in the body. As far as serotonin is concerned these include Vitamin B6, SamE, and niacin. If we think we may have a serotonin imbalance, it best to work with a trained professional like a naturopathic doctor or psychiatrist rather than experimenting on ourselves.
Rewarding Ourselves without Food
Why do we over indulge or crave certain foods? Because they literally make us feel good. Well at least temporarily in the moment. Biting into a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie, releases dopamine and to a lesser extent norepinephrine and epinephrine. That hit of dopamine along with the other neurotransmitters is associated with the feeling of reward. This is problematic in two ways. First, the sensation doesn’t last so we need to consume more in an effort to achieve or prolong the feeling. This can escalate where the initial taste and mouth feel is no longer the dopamine activator but the high of binging is. The other issue is we may inadvertently cause a new behavior loop to form. Why do we do most of the things we do especially our harmful habits? Because we have wired them into our behavior reward loops. Basically we have connected one activity to another activity. This is exactly what Pavlov demonstrated with his ringing of the bell dog saliva experiments. The solution is not deny our selves dopamine hits per se but to find other ways to activate this feeling of reward when we need it. Whether we require a reward when we finish a task or we are needing to pacify our emotions. Some of the best healthy ways to activate dopamine release backed by science are exercise, sunshine, listening to music, having a conversation with a close friend, and sex. So when the urge to reward ourself with a bowl of ice cream strikes, we can turn on our favorite Spotify playlist and rock on out instead.
Struggling with PMS and PMDD or depression? Then schedule a naturopathic appointment with Dr Ivy.