Emotional eating- An emotional pang that summons damnation

Posted by alisonreid29 on October 6th, 2015

‘Foodie’- this is one such phrase that we often use to refer ourselves or someone we know. Who is a foodie? A foodie is someone who is completely in love with food. But, are all foodies victims of food addiction? Are all of them quarries of emotional eating? Well, the answer is both yes and no. There is a thin line between being a foodie and a food addict emotional eater. We juggle on this line and become and un-become both. However, while being on the green side of being a foodie is good because appreciating culinary is appreciating art. Stepping on the red zone however means inviting obesity and physiological and psychological disorders and naturally not at all good.

Food addiction is that stage when we eat not to satisfy hunger, but to use food as a medium to overcome stress or shadow what is probing us within. A food addict is always in search of issues to use it as some chance to eat. While emotional eating is a maladaptive coping strategy, it is important to remember that it is mal-adaptive, and thus is never advisable and nor is scientific. Food addiction usually happens towards food products that are highly palatable. This is because high palatable foods trigger dopamine, the hormone that triggers the ‘feel good factor’ in us.

The more one experiences the pleasure due to the secretion of dopamine, the more one becomes a food addict. Overeating because of addiction towards food or because of emotional eating causes obesity too. It also makes you as dependent on food as a narcotic addict would be on drugs. Such becomes the situation that a victim of food addiction starts seeking not temporal but permanent refuge in food. Usually, there are two thought processes behind eating on the emotional quotient- a) I need something to divert my mind and b) I tried dieting and it did not work, so I chose eating.

It is needless to say that both these thoughts carve a strong niche on our mental health. And here comes the need to take professional help. There are many people today who have specialized in psychology and have become motivational speakers and emotional eating experts. These practitioners are coaches who teach you how to locate, assess and treat food addiction. Moreover, these sessions also make you more aware towards the various aspects of such addiction and also opens a window in front of you of a more scientific and healthy world.

The practitioners who help you to fight with food addiction can be searched and contacted online. There are physical, mental, social and spiritual reasons that act as catalysts to make someone an emotional eating victim. While the first and foremost thing is to use the will power and determination, a perfect blend of grit and professional help can take a victim of addiction of food out of the trap eventually. Such eating pangs are referred as ‘mindless eating’ in medical terms, and the hunger is not in the stomach but somewhere deep inside. So, it is important to identify the causes that trigger pangs of addiction in you, like stress, boredom, loneliness etc. and fight them with resolve.

To fight with emotional eating it is important to take the help of a practitioner. It is never healthy nor physiologically nor psychologically to become a victim of food addiction.