Stress is a very serious thing, not only is it connected to overeating but also with dangerous health complications. Emotional eating is something that million of people have no idea that they suffer from; when you are stressed out it has a very significant affect on how much they eat. The relationship between food and what we are experiencing emotionally is quite amazing; if you have stress it is linked to overeating.
Present or past stress condition the brain to overeat
The brain is a very sensitive organ, it is very susceptible
to how we are feeling, the various stresses which we experience in our live can
affect what we eat and how much. When we look at research on abuses for example
we can see that childhood verbal, physical and emotional abuses carry over to
adulthood and affect appetite. Eating disorders are almost always rooted in
prior stressful events. The majority of
people are simply not aware of how much their life experiences contribute to
their appetite. Most of us do not think
about our childhood, but it was from this early time period when we formed our
relationship with food. Stress and
overeating are connected.
In the absent of any childhood trauma, our appetites
are still affected by present day stresses.
Stressful eating is a condition where a certain situation
will cause the brain to fire a request to eat.
The brain tries to protect you from the stress by causing you to desire
“feel-good foods” usually in large amounts. The brain trigger resulting in increased
appetite is a response so as to release feel-good hormones to calm stress.
Simply trying to eat less does not work the power of the
brain triggers are too strong, the bad part is that leads to many health
complications. Binge eating is associated with liver, kidney and heart damage.
A bad argument, an unfulfilling job or home situation can all fire brain
triggers to overeating particularly if your brain is conditioned to trigger a
food response under stress. Stressful
eating and brain triggers create a vicious cycle that normal dieting does not
help.
There is some good news, there is a diet in Europe
which has been allowing people to eat what they like and still deactivate the
brain trigger to overeat. It is the only diet ever created to address food
addictions, stress eating and overeating which allows people to eat.