Food is a source of well-being through nutritional care. However, there are times when this experience of flavor and daily happiness becomes a focus of concern for those who establish a bond of dependency with food.
The feeling of hunger can also be emotional. In this way, the temptation to indulge can occur even after having tasted a recipe. ¿Why can’t I stop eating?? At Psychology-Online we reflect on this question.
Why can’t I stop eating? emotional hunger
Emotional hunger differs from real physical sensation in that it is conditioned by the impulse of a mood, for example, stress, anxiety, sadness or an upset.
What is psychonutrition
As shown by psychonutrition, a discipline that relates two differentiated but interconnected disciplines such as nutrition and psychology, it is positive to understand the essence of table habits, emotional motivations and the relationship that a person establishes with food in order to be able to Establish a diagnosis of habits that should be unlearned to integrate new ones.
Food is a fundamental need of the human being in relation to well-being, as explained well, however, emotional hunger reflects a different reality. When a person eats motivated by emotional hunger, he does not experience well-being after that moment after having eaten a certain food. For what reason? Because the search for that well-being involves, first of all, listening to that emotion and not hiding it.
The characteristic of this type of response is marked by immediacy. That is, a gradual appetite does not arise. The impulse is so intense that the person does not enjoy the creative process of cooking a delicious dish, but rather takes any food (often sweet) to satisfy that feeling.
How to stop eating due to anxiety
First of all, if a person feels who loses control over food It is very important that you speak with your doctor as a health specialist to determine an accurate diagnosis. Once the person is aware that anxiety is causing them discomfort, they can begin to take care of themselves more consciously.
1. Help from the psychonutritionist
The specialist can advise the person in establishing a healthy and balanced diet that fits your needs and lifestyle. But it can also help you lay the foundations for a new relationship with food. A freer, more conscious and healthier relationship.
2. Mindful eating
A person may be eating, physically present in a place, yet their mind is not truly appreciating that moment. This is what happens when a worker eats quickly in front of the computer.
Therefore, create a well-being ritual around the table, disconnecting the phone and television during that moment. Eat calmly, savor the flavors and textures of the food, apply to the table. Also take care of the aesthetics of the dishes since their visual presentation is an incentive for enjoyment. Turn the main meals of the day into spaces of calm and disconnection.
Therefore, it is also important that when you go to the supermarket to make your shopping basket, you select healthy and varied ingredients to prepare your weekly menus. Give special prominence to seasonal products.
3. Reduce stress levels in your life
This is a good time to consider significant changes in your life in order to increase well-being through agenda restructuring. Find more moments and spaces to be in contact with nature, meet others, walk and do activities you like.
4. Self-knowledge
By listening to the sensations in your body and mind you can learn to differentiate between the physical sensation of hunger and the emotional one. This differentiation increases your level of empowerment to respond thinking about your objective needs instead of continuing to feed the chain of emotional appetite.
5. Take a cooking class
A course in which you discover the potential of this art seen through cooking techniques, the wide variety of healthy recipes and creative entertainment.
Anxiety about eating while on a diet: treatment
Sometimes, the feeling of anxiety arises in the particular context of a diet process that, on occasions, has been initiated by one’s own motivation without consulting the instructions of a specialist. Therefore, anyone who wants to go on a diet should seek personal advice from an expert who will establish a personalized action plan tailored to the needs of that person.
Diet with professional advice
It may also happen that the feeling of anxiety does not arise from hunger on a physical level but from the emotional factor of resignation to certain whims that the protagonist previously indulged in (it is possible to make exceptions from time to time) or to those changes that this situation may bring to the lifestyle. For example, he may have to make changes to his social habits if the idea of meeting his friends for dinner tests his willpower in terms of sticking to the diet. In this framework, the .
It is positive to observe this diet process as a learning period in which to acquire new, healthier habits. In this way, you can discover that in a diet there is room for a wide and rich catalog of foods, however, the frequency with which they are taken responds to healthy criteria.
Making a diet with professional advice is essential to establish realistic goals throughout the action plan.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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