Emotional Eating and Weight Gain
Mood – Food Cycle to lose weight naturally: Mood states such as stress, not being happy, or any other negative situations in our daily life affect food choice and energy metabolism. Overeating and obesity is often associated with daily stressful situation. Individuals experiencing negative or swing moods show preference for and consume palatable “comfort foods” as a mean to alleviate their negative feelings. Although on a short-term basis, palatable foods can provide some relief from negative emotions and mood states, chronic consumption of calorically-rich foods ultimately leads to obesity, which in turn promotes vulnerability to daily stress. Conversely, there are findings showing that prolonged high-fat feeding leads to negative emotional states, increased stress sensitivity, and altered cortisol low levels. Thus, negative emotion impacts food choice and intake that in turns affects mood in a bi-directional manner.
Mood and Food Intake: All together, these findings suggest that high-fat feeding promotes negative emotional states and potentiates condition for enhanced sensitivity to stress that leads to continuous repetitive cycles of overeating, weight gain, and be stressed out about that. For healthy weight loss that balance is critical.
Food Controls Mood: As more tryptophan enters the brain, more serotonin is synthesized in the brain, and mood tends to improve. Serotonin, known as a mood regulator, is made naturally in the brain from tryptophan with some help from the B vitamins. Foods thought to increase serotonin levels in the brain include fish and vitamin D.
Mood Changing food:Foods rich in vitamins B6 and B12, which aid in building serotonin (the happy hormone), and magnesium to curb cortisol levels when stressed can be helpful and it is a way to lose weight. Sources of Vitamin B6: Pistachios, garlic, salmon, tuna, chicken, spinach, cabbage, bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados and whole grains.
A lot of factors can throw the body out of balance. People who don’t eat regularly often have big shifts in blood sugar.” People also have chemical sensitivities to certain foods that can govern mood.
Comfort Foods Really Work
If you have let your neurotransmitters get off balance or if external forces have conspired to put you in a bad mood, don’t fret, it happens. That’s when your body will start to think “comfort food.”
According to reseacrh you should fulfill that craving — but in moderation. “You might take time to think, ‘Am I really hungry or just feel like eating because I am stressed.. However, if you can’t think of a healthier response, eat your comfort item and enjoy it! If you must eat a deep-fried Twinkie, eat one and lighten up on (but don’t skip) the rest of the meals in the day.
You could make comfort foods more nutritional. Interestingly, both men and women choose ice cream as their preferred comfort food, but coming in second is chocolate for women and pizza for men. “If you want a cookie, make it oatmeal raisin or vanilla wafers. Buy low-fat ice cream. Make your hot chocolate with skim milk. And forget the chips, in favor of popcorn.
Recommendations for weight loss appetite control
• Maintain a stable blood sugar, no big swings. This means frequent small meals and snacks, every four hours or so.
• Drink a lot of water.
• Exercise 20 minutes a day for mood — and an hour for fat-burning.
• Do not follow an extremely low-fat diet (quick weight loss is also bad for mood, Heller says). Even fat is needed for proper function of the human body.
• Take an amino acid that makes blood sugar accessible to the neurotransmitters. This means milk or turkey. Eat a carb alongside your amino acid source for better absorption.
• Have breakfast.
• Pass on food items that come wrapped in crackly cellophane.
• Limit coffee consumption.
Conclusion: Stop eating with your eyes. Let real data influence when and how much you eat. Simply put; eat sensibly, mindfully and with purpose. Eat what you want but not in excess.
