Search Results for: emotional eating

June 26, 2018 By Samar Hafeez 5 Comments

Know all about ‘Eating Disorders’

eating problms

DO YOU look in the mirror and pick yourself apart? Do you constantly worry about what and how you look?

Ask yourself, “What percentage of your time in a day you are preoccupied with thoughts regarding food, weight, and body image?”

If your answer is that you spend so much time with these concerns that it interferes with your happiness and daily functioning, then let me tell you that you may be having an Eating Disorder.!

What Is an Eating Disorder?

Eating Disorders are illnesses that cause serious disturbances in a person’s everyday diet. They are characterized by irregular eating habits which include inadequate or excessive food intake which can damage individual’s well-being.

In addition to abnormal eating patterns, there are severe distress or concern about body weight and shape. An Eating Disorder also includes your beliefs about food and how they impact your body.

Who Suffers From Eating Disorder?

Eating disorders can develop during any stage in life but typically it appears during teen years or young adulthood but, may also develop in childhood. It can affect both men and women, however, it’s more common in women.

Eating disorder when manifested at a young age can cause severe impairment in growth development, and overall mental and social well- being.

Let’s move on to knowing three most common types of Eating Disorders

ANOREXIA NERVOSA

The Term Anorexia Nervosa literally means “Lack of Appetite induced by Nervousness”

This is perhaps the best- known eating disorder. It causes its sufferers to excessively fear to be overweight and restrict their eating habits in an unhealthy, dangerous way which leads to a significantly low body weight.

Male and female suffering from Anorexia show following hallmarks

Extremely limited food intake
Obsessive intense fear of weight gain
Problems with body image (Unrealistic perception of the body) and a low self-esteem
Denial of low body weight

Overtime, the following symptoms may develop as the body goes into starvation

Physical symptoms

Menstrual cessation
Osteopenia or osteoporosis(Thinning of bones)
Anaemia
Fatigue
Brittle nail and hair
Skin dries and can take on a yellowish cast
Severe constipation, Low BP

Emotional and behavioural symptoms

Excessive/Compulsive exercising
Frequently skipping a meal or refusing to eat
Denial of hunger
Frequent checking in the mirror for ‘perceived’ flaws
Flat mood(Lack of emotion)
Low self-esteem
Irritability
Low sex drive

BULIMIA NERVOSA

The Greek word for Bulimia is BOULIMIA which means extreme hunger. Patients with bulimia nervosa eat frequently in a discrete period of time (example within any 2 hour period) they also have a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode.

They often consume thousands of calories that are high in sugars, carbohydrates and fats. They can eat rapidly, sometimes gulping food without even tasting it.

After a binge, they PURGE their bodies of food and calories they FEAR by using laxatives, enemas, diuretics, vomiting or by excessive exercise. People with Bulimia can be underweight, overweight or even obese.

Many people don’t know when a family member or friend has Bulimia nervosa because they almost always hide their binges but Bulimia nervosa does have symptoms that should raise red flags:-

Physical Symptoms

Chronically inflamed or a sore throat
Salivary glands in the neck and below jaw bone swollen; cheeks and face often become puffy
Tooth enamel wears off and begins to decay from exposure to stomach acids
Constant vomiting causes GERD (Gastro oesophagal reflux disease)
Laxative and Diuretic abuse cause kidney and intestinal problems
Frequent Severe dehydration from purging of fluids

Emotional and Behavioural symptoms

Negative/distorted self- image
Hoarding or hiding food
Social withdrawal
Extreme guilt and sadness
Excessive worry about body weight and shape

binge eating

BINGE EATING DISORDER

It is a form of compulsive OVEREATING. Sufferers feel a compulsion to eat large amounts of food and as though they cannot stop and UNLIKE PEOPLE WITH BULIMIA, THEY DO NOT TRY TO PURGE OR GET RID OF FOOD BY INDUCING VOMITING AND BY USING OTHER UNSAFE PRACTICES.

Symptoms are more or less similar to Bulimia nervosa except for purging and laxative abuse.

Binge eaters eat a large amount of food when not feeling physically hungry, binge eating episodes typically take place in private and can last for hours or a whole day. It is common for sufferers to feel distressed or guilty about their lack of control, it is this shame and guilt that can prevent a person from talking and seeking help.

CAUSES

Eating disorders are complex thus are influenced by a facet of factors. Though the exact cause is unknown, it is generally believed that a combination of biological, psychological, and/or environmental abnormalities contribute to the development.

Certain psychological, biological/genetic, and personality traits may predispose people to develop eating disorders.

However specific traits are linked to each of the disorders. People with Anorexia tend to be perfectionists and with bulimia and binge eating disorder impulsive nature is common. Hormonal irregularities and nutritional deficiencies can be among causes. As discussed earlier in this blog, negative body image, dissatisfaction with one’s body and low self-esteem can help build tendency towards abnormal eating patterns.

Among Socio-cultural factors, the media has the largest influence on people especially teens and young adults. The media pushes body image, clothes, fast food and weight loss with unrealistic results, the combination of all these lead teens and young adults down the road to eating disorders and a confusing self- image.

And on another side of continuum popular social media pages and videos with a variety of recipes and restaurants tempt people to eat more and more.

Other causes include disruptive thinking patterns and an inability to understand the healthy relationship between food and hunger, family dysfunctions and major life stressors/changes, negative emotions or traumas such as rape, childhood sexual abuse or death of loved ones can also trigger eating disorders.

Even a happy event, such as giving birth can lead to an eating disorder because of the stressful impact of the event on an individual’s new role and body image.

IMPORTANCE OF TREATMENT

Eating disorder untreated can have serious consequences like Malnutrition, stunted growth, osteoporosis, reduced metabolic rate, critically low blood pressure, serious heart, kidney and liver damages, obesity, diabetes (TYPE 1 AND 2), depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and substance abuse, cardiac arrests and even death!

Remember, the sooner the treatment starts, the better it is. The longer abnormal eating patterns continue the more deeply ingrained they become and more difficult to treat.

EFFECTIVE TREATMENT METHODS

PSYCHOTHERAPY
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is a therapy focussing on the beliefs, values, maladaptive cognitive processes and negative emotions which are associated with meaning of weight, shape and appearance, it aims at reducing destructive eating patterns and restoring a healthy relationship with food. Psychologists identify important issues associated with causes of destructive eating habits and develop CBT plan respectively.
- Dialectical Behavioural Therapy is a form of psychotherapy that helps to cope with painful emotions. The focus is on individuals who react to emotional circumstances with extreme behaviours. Weekly sessions help a person with Eating disorder practice mindful eating, distress tolerance and emotional regulation which focus on identifying barriers to changing emotions to constructive ones and to increase positive emotional events.
- Incorporating Family, Group and Marital Therapy: This can be helpful in addressing the underlying causes of eating disorders and help prevent relapses by resolving interpersonal issues which are related to eating disorders.

Nutritional Counselling: This would involve a nutritionist’s guiding plan through weight restoration and stabilization, guidance for normal eating by keeping a food journal which includes type of food, amount, benefits, feelings thoughts associated with intake of food and drink, it also includes which binge foods are to be avoided. The inclusion of individualized meal plans for specific patients to improve nutritional intake is created.
Medication: Some patients with Bulimia Nervosa benefit from placebo or anti- depressants. But, medication should always be paired with psychotherapy and nutritional counselling.

A holistic approach involving all above methods/ways with an experienced team of caregivers and healthcare professionals can help patients suffering from eating disorder regain control of their eating behaviour and their lives!

Good Health is more than just being free from disease or injury. A healthy lifestyle helps you feel good, have a vibrant energy and maintain a positive outlook on life thereby contributing to your physical, mental, social well- being. Your mental health is as important as physical health and work hand-and-hand. Letting go of your eating disorder is one of many ways to move towards good health!

January 12, 2018 By Kajree Korade 2 Comments

Know your emotional hunger!

Have you ever made room for dessert even though you’re already full? Out of nowhere in the middle of doing something important, you start feeling hungry? Do you feel hungry before any important meeting? If yes, then you should check your emotional status.

Emotional eating is the practice of consuming large quantities of food, usually ‘comfort’ or junk foods in response to feelings instead of hunger. Emotional eating is a maladaptive coping strategy used by many of us to deal with negative emotions.

Emotional eating can be caused by many reasons like stress, tension, depression, boredom, and sometimes due to excitement.

Today, let’s focus on stress as 69% of people are suffering from stress related disorders in India. Under High stress, your biological age can be 30 times higher than your calendar age.Modern life is full of frustrations, deadlines, and demands. For many people, stress has become a way of life. When stress becomes overwhelming, it can damage your health, mood, relationships and quality of life.

Stress also affectsour food preferences. Emotional distress increases the intake of food high in fat and sugar, and you sleep excessively under stress. Also, some people consume alcohol and all this leads to gaining weight around your abdomen and unfortunately, abdominal obesity puts you at specific risk for diabetes and heart attack.

In stress, adrenal glands release a hormone called cortisol, which makes you crave for carbohydrates, sugar and fatty foods. Food is soothing due to the chemical changes it creates in your body. Chocolate is an excellent example.

When junk food is calling your name, it’s possible to put boundaries on your emotional eating habits. Ready to break free from stress eating?

The solution to emotional eating is less about eating than it is about emotions.

When you’re tempted to snack for emotional reasons, try moving instead. Just walk for 10 minutes.
Try a quick breathing exercise. Slowing down your breathing can trick your body into thinking you are going to sleep, which in turn relaxes your body. Close your eyes and slowly breathe in and out.
Sip black tea. A study in the journal ofPsychopharmacology hasfound that subjects who consumed black tea experienced a 47% drop in their cortisol levels.
Try self-massage. It can be as simple as sitting down, rub your feet, one at a time, over the top of the heel until they feel relaxed.

You’ll eat better and healthier foods if you don’t let your emotions guide your food choices.

May 19, 2017 By Geetika Patni 3 Comments

Mindful Eating: Connect Back with your food – Part 5

I hope by now, you would all be well aware of the do’s and don’ts of Mindful Eating through the series of four blogs. I have talked of of the concept of Mindful eating and how mindless Eating can be harmful. I talked of why should you eat slowly to enjoy your meal (https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-slow-down-and-enjoy-your-meal-2/) and shared some tips on how can you eat slowly. Then I took you through portion control and how to be wise (https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-control-portions-and-be-wise-part-3/). In the fourth blog we talked of emotional eating and how it can be avoided (https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-mind-your-mood-part-4/). In the last of the blog in this 5 Part series on Mindful Eating, I will talk of connecting back with food and how one can do that.

Mindful Eating is eating with attention and right intention. It is eating with the intention to care for yourself. It is also eating with the attention necessary for noticing and enjoying your food and its effects on your body.

If you choose to eat each and every thing that you can lay your hands on, you indeed are disconnected from your food-the very ingredient of life that keeps you alive and going. And, when you are disconnected from your nutrition, you make yourself vulnerable to host of illnesses, life threatening disorders and loss of longevity of life.

I was wondering-what makes us disconnected from our nutrition as we grow? For I am certain we were connected with our foods when we were a child (as that is how we learnt that seeds sitting in an apple core can grow into an entirely new apple tree! And, that the water we drink doesn’t come from tap but, from a faraway river channel).

So, I have come to conclude that with time, our body just repeats what it has done previously as trained by the mind. These are nothing but habits. And unless our mind makes a choice, body will not break the pattern even if it is a potentially harmful one. In terms of eating, since it’s the most repeated skill of all human behaviours, our mind has pretty much trained ourselves to ignore eating and be on an autopilot mode while grabbing a bite. Thus, we don’t ask ourselves any more now – where do these strawberries come from? Or what goes into making a Pizza?

If we can turn around our ways and connect back with our meals, learning about the foods which will help us and those that will not and, make a conscious choice to pick up right dish at the right time by breaking the habit of eating each and every thing at any time, a lot of our future troubles will get resolved. Turning into a mindful eater and making an informed choice-an intention to care for yourself- is what it will take.

To help you get connected, I am sharing some simple tips here with you today

1) Connect right from grocery shopping: Most of us go grocery shopping on weekends. And there is usually long queue at the billing counter. In a hurry to finish our job, we just throw in our cart, whatever is more attractive or convenient-which is mostly processed foods. To connect with your foods, shop smart at the store itself.

i) Fill up your cart from produce section first. Once you have half filled up your cart with fruits and veggies, you’ll be less tempted to shop for processed and ready-to-eat meals.

ii) Read ingredient list and nutritional labels. Choose food products with short ingredient list, ingredients that you can pronounce, with 0 trans fats, no sugar or if at all, appearing in last in the list, mentions whole grain composition, small per serving calories (and not per 100gm) and has fiber serving size >2 units. If a food product matches up this criteria, it is worthy to be nourishing you.

2) Be a food critique: You don’t need to write a review or become a fussy eater. But learn the art of analyzing your food dishes. What are you eating? What are the ingredients that go into this dish? How is it prepared? How’s the aroma, texture, color of the meal? How does it make you feel? Knowing answers to all of these questions will help you to know why you eat what you eat, and thus will help you turn into a mindful eater.

i) One of the player once mentioned to me he can’t stop eating ‘vada-pao’ the fried snack tucked between white flour bread. On my insistence, he made the attempt to analyze how he feels while having the snack. To his own surprise, he found out that it was only the act of tearing the bread apart and tucking in the fried snack, which appealed to him. He didn’t really enjoy the taste of the snack as much as he liked the procedure of eating it!

So to know yourself and your eating habits better, be a food critique.

3) Make an attempt to learn about your nutrition

# Know major food groups like carbs, proteins and fats and the minor but essential ones like vitamins and minerals. What all food dishes that you commonly eat fall in these categories and influence you.

# Know alkaline and acidic foods- because our blood Ph is slightly alkaline (7.3-7.4) and to keep our system running efficiently we need to maintain this alkaline Ph. Your food choices will play an important role in this physiological action.

# Know various benefits of different herbs-cinnamon, turmeric, coriander, cloves, ginger, garlic, fennel, cardamom, coriander, saffron, fenugreek, garam masala, varieties of pepper and so on. You have them in each and every single dish. They deserve your attention.

# Know how to eat your fruits right, what time of the day and how much and in what combination is good enough.

# Know combination of foods which can enhance each other’s nutritional values-like Vitamin C with Iron rich foods, Vitamin D and calcium rich foods and know what food combinations can interfere with each other’s absorption in the body like Iron and Calcium heavy foods don’t go well together.

# Know what meals are best options for pre and post workout nutrition

# Learn why you should not eat white sugar, white flour or white salt. Or have an aerated drink ever

# Know replacements for sugar and white salt and what you can do to beat down your sugar cravings.

# Or understand why dark chocolates or nuts are good for you inspite of being calorific or why eating a healthy ‘mukhwas’ (mouth freshner) after a meal can be a good habit.

And, there are many more such small and simple things to know about your everyday nutrition. Keep asking your coach or make an attempt to read and learn yourself.

Mindful eating is much more than learning your food or food choices alone or practicing slow eating, in the moment eating itself. It encompasses having a relationship with your food wherein you respect your meals and feel gratitude towards it.

To sum up, mindful eating is a way of nurturing your physical self, harmonizing your mental state and satisfying your soul.

If you have been missing out on it as yet, get on the mindful eating wagon now!

May 18, 2017 By Geetika Patni 3 Comments

Mindful Eating: Mind your Mood-part 4

My previous three blogs talked of the concept of Mindful eating and how mindless Eating can be harmful. In my second blog, I talked of why should you eat slowly to enjoy your meal ( https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-slow-down-and-enjoy-your-meal-2/) and shared some tips on how can you eat slowly. The third blog talked of portion control and how to be wise ( https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-control-portions-and-be-wise-part-3/). Continuing in this 5 Part series on Mindful Eating, Today, I will take you through how stress eating can be harmful and should be avoided.

Have you noticed why buttered popcorns are sold out quickly during a movie intermission break? Or why the entire packet of Oreos or chips is emptied when you are amidst a sea of emotions? That’s because certain foods can be emotionally comforting. In most cases these comfort foods have high fat and sugar and are low on nutrition. They are still comforting because they hit some neurons in the brain which can lead to false perception of well-being.

Turning to food to make you feel better is ‘Emotional eating’.

It is not necessarily a bad thing to eat food from time to time- as a pick me up meal or as a reward treat or as a celebration feast. But, if food becomes your primary coping mechanism to ward off your anxiety, loneliness, boredom, anger, frustration, exhaustion etc, and your first impulse, as soon as you are upset is to dig into a tub of ice-cream, it calls for your attention. Feeding your emotion with food may feel good for that moment but, doesn’t resolve the underlying problem. And, more often you may end up feeling worse later than you did before, because of the un-necessary calorie binge you undertook. Not to mention the physical havoc on your metabolism.

The guilt-feeling powerless over emotions and impulse eating leads to a very unhealthy vicious cycle, landing one up in physical and emotional misshape. So no matter how hard it looks to break this vicious cycle, it is still possible to make a positive change. All it requires is some effort by you.

To help you make the breakthrough out of this vicious cycle and this mindless eating habit, I am sharing few pointers which work best when you work on them in the listed order below:

Be Aware: and acknowledge your habit of emotional eating. If your near/dear ones have pointed out to you or you know it by yourself that you may eat out of emotional triggers, take it seriously! Being aware of your habits is the first positive step. Make a move ahead then and identify- what emotions can lead you to do binge eating. Is it some positive ones like exhilaration, victory, success? Or negative ones like frustration, loneliness, anxiety, depression, anger, boredom etc. Then know your comfort foods- is it sweets, chocolates, ice-creams or salty ones like chips, fries or some junk food like pizza, burger, maggi etc. that drive your emotional cravings. You may come up with multiple choices for multiple emotions and it is absolutely okay. You may also notice that your choice of comfort food is entirely different from others. So accept it.

# Maintain a food journal to help you identify your emotions and foods associated with it or use food log feature in GOQii app to get this task done.

Know your Hunger cues: Why you wish to eat. The hunger cue can be physical or emotional. So if your stomach is growling and it’s been few hours since your last meal-eating a salad or any other meal will be good enough for you in the immediate but, if there is no sense of emergency and you can postpone your hunger then you are then likely to stop once you feel full after eating. There are no traces of guilt, your hunger was driven by true physical cues.

Contrary to this, if your hunger is sudden and urgent and you crave for specific foods like cookies or chips, or specific types of foods like sweets and fried foods and you are likely to over consume, feeling guilty later, you are about to be snacking out of false hunger, then the head hunger is generated out of emotional cues.

# Next time you reach out for a snack, check in and see which type of hunger is driving you to have it.

Cross check: Your next task after you have identified your hunger cue is to ask yourself a question, and get a clear answer for it. This is another way to put a check before the binge. Most times, you may identify that you are about to eat the snack out of some emotions, but, your mind will trick you into believing you are not. So if you are heading for a snack, (and don’t know yet whether you are eating for emotions) just ask yourself – ‘Why I am eating this?’ and then take a deep breath. You’ll know your answer.

# If it’s justified hunger, grab something healthy-roasted or steamed. If not and you were eating only out of any emotional trigger-place the dish respectfully aside!

Distract: Next step is distract yourself. Once you have put the dish aside, change your location. Go to the next room (from where you can’t see the tempting dish) or head outdoors and distract your mind. This process is important because you need to find an alternative to food which will fulfil your emotions. If you are lonely talk to someone, if depressed or frustrated, watch some comic movie. If exhausted, get a foot massage or a warm soothing bath, if angry let it out or write it out, if you are anxious, listen to your favourite music and, if you are happy and feel like rewarding yourself, indulge in your hobby.

#You can also do some window shopping , reading, walking, exercising, meditating, or taking a nap which will give time to pass off the emotional storm and make you a stronger self- one who has more willpower to cope up with his/her feelings.

Giving In: Emotional eating is after all an automatic and virtually mindless eating habit. At times even before you can grab hold of yourself, you may polish off half of the tub of the ice-cream in that tornado of sentiments. But, then, if you can take a moment to pause now when you are hit with a craving, you’ll be equipped to make a different decision next time.

#When you are giving in, just pause for a minute and reflect back. Don’t shut out, wait. (Because forbidden is extremely tempting, shutting out will make you powerless to make a mindful decision later). While you are waiting, check upon yourself, what’s going on in your head? How are you feeling? Even if you eat after this reflection, you’ll have better understanding of why you did it. This will prepare you for a better response next time.

If you approach your feelings with kindness, reining in emotions is not a difficult task.

Listen to your emotions, accept them even if they are negative and when you do so, your body will understand that it doesn’t need to overeat to comfort itself and/or protect itself from powerful feelings.

Learning to mind your mood this way will enable you to repair your emotional responses and physical fitness and in this journey seeking help from experts or your personal coach may bring a turning point. So reach out if you need help and forever enjoy a better physical and mental health!

Tomorrow, in the last of the blogs in the 5 part series, I will tell you about connecting with your meals and will share tips on how you can transform and change your relationship with food for the better.

To be continued……………