The psychology of eating well

krawhitham

I'm only 31 days into my eating healthy and exercising plans, but I've been thinking quite a bit about what makes me eat large portions or even certain foods at certain times of the day. I realized that for me, food choices and eating is 100% psychological.

When I look in my refrigerator, sometimes I see *nothing* to eat even though it has rice and beans, yogurt, ground turkey, onions, tomatoes, avocados, eggs, bacon, kimchi, salsa, orange juice... I could go on!

In my mind I think "I better go get a burger & fries, I have NOTHING to eat in here!"

What I started to do is using transparent tupperware and cellophane to cover leftovers. I'll make a huge pot of rice and beans, or ground turkey with fried onions, and every time I open the fridge I can actually SEE the food, I remember how good it tasted when I ate it last, and for whatever reason I forget all about spending money I don't have on buying a burger that I don't need.

For me it also has to do with psychological stress. When I was working in the medical field, I would just take what I could get in terms of food and food would ease my stress. Cookies, chocolate, cakes, anything any of the patients would bring in I'd eat for snacks and I'd never think twice about the weight creeping up on me...

Now that I have almost no stress in my life (how is that possible?!) my head is so much clearer to make rational decisions about WHEN I eat, WHAT I eat and HOW MUCH I'm eating in one sitting. Psychologically, I don't have 300 OTHER things on my mind, so I can live in the moment (I swear, I'm not hippy-dippy, but I totally believe in this saying now!) and make the right decisions in an instant.

Do y'all think your eating habits have psychological roots, is it stress induced, have you ever thought about it before??

narfy88

It is SO true that most people who struggle with weight issues is because of their mindset. I have been wanting to lose a significant amount of weight for over 5 years now. I tried every new diet craze, include HCG drops (where you can only eat 500 calories a day, no duh it worked), the 4 day diet by dr Ian Smith, weight watchers, joined the gym 3 different times, I could go on and on. It wasn't until I had a very serious talk with my doctor about getting healthy that it really struck me that it's no longer a WANT because of self esteem issues. It is a seriously NEEDED change.

My weight has effected the way I feel about myself, which inturn has effected the relationships I have with people, how I view the world, how I treat others,etc. The moment I decided this is a absolute NEED, is when I laid on the couch for 10 days, unable to do anything, because of serious back pain. I went to my dr, got diagnosed with 3 bulging discs AND arthritis very advanced for my age (I'm 25) and he told me this is pretty much a direct consequence of my weight. That was a turning point in my life.

So back to the original subject at hand. Now that I am physically able and mentally READY, I am proud to say I've lost 12 pounds since the new year. I truly believe that the reason all of the diets and attempts I have made before is because I wasn't mentally prepared for it. I knew what I had to do, I had the tools I needed to do it, but I simply wasnt READY. Now that I have it 100% in my head that I AM GOING TO DO THIS. I CAN DO THIS. I NEED TO DO THIS. I AM READY TO DO THIS. These are all things that I thought before, but i didn't BELIEVE IT.

Ever since I can remember, my life has been centered around food. When I think about my 'hobbies' its pretty much going out to eat with my friend. I think we as a society have been trained that way. FOOD=FUN. I have such an emotional relationship with food. If I'm sad I want comfort food like mac and cheese or chocolate. If I'm happy I want some dessert to keep that feeling. If I'm bored, I can always wander into the kitchen to find something to munch on to pass the time. Ending my attachment to food is the only way I can embrace this change. Food is fuel for my body and brain, nothing else. Thats easier said than done, but when you start to look at it that way, it changes your perspective. Someone recently said to me "you are only going to make this change when you are ready." well how more ready can I be? And since I have put some effort into it, I have realized how ready my BODY is as well. I can't believe the results I have gotten in 4 weeks. 12 pounds isn't alot in the big picture, but its a very good start. And if there's anything I've learned, is that you have to celebrate the small victories in order to keep motivated. Sorry for the novel here, lol. Great topic tho! good luck

krawhitham

Good luck to you too! I enjoyed reading your novel

janesmith1

This is not easy but there are such things out now like "mindful eating" & "zen eating" which are really helpful.. And there's OA & BED (binge eating disorder) & other groups there that are helpful.

I find that when I exercise a lot I am less hungry. Which is interesting. Also, another "trick" I'm using, because I have BED is air popped popcorn - spray it with water and kernal seasonings popcorn seasoning on it. It fills you up, the seasoning is not a lot of cals, air popped popcorn is about 31 cals a cup cooked up. And it fills you up.

gigglesinthesun

over the years I have been both larger and smaller and being a women I have been in lots of conversations about weight :blushing:

Every skinny person I know always told me that they don't know why they are skinny, because 'they eat all the time' and 'they are never hungry'. Whereas the larger people have said 'they hardly eat anything' and 'they constantly restrict/diet' and 'they hardly ever treat themselves'.

I wonder whether that internal mindset actually caused them to overeat far more regularly then the skinny people. If you are having that piece of cake in defiance to your diet, you are not going to leave a crumb (even if the cake is rubbish) because you don't know when you 'break down' again (I once ate 2 pieces of supermarket white chocolate cake despite them being way too sweet and I don't even like white chocolate and could have gone for a third, just because the day after was the day I started my new diet :huh: ). If you on the other hand 'allow' yourself as much cake as you want, you might just have half and then stop when you are full or if you don't like it. As a consequence over time the first group consumes more calories on a regular basis then the second group. It's just a thought though, I have no evidence that this is actually the case

JesterMFP

I have thought a lot about the psychological reasons behind some of my eating habits, and I have found it interesting and helpful. I try not to get to hung up on it though. I've noticed that I hate eating lots of little meals through the day, never really feeling hungry or too full. I like to eat more in the evenings, I like to feel noticeably full, and I enjoy gradually building up an appetite during the morning. I like having something sweet in the evening, and a lot of times, find that I look forward to that treat, especially when I'm stressed. I feel anxious if I don't have a lot of calories left for the evening. Intermittent fasting is something that suits me because it suits my quirky food habits.

All my life I've used food to cope with difficult emotions and while I have changed a lot of that and learned better ways of coping, I would still call myself an emotional eater. I also have a passion for food and cooking that has nothing to do with unhealthy eating habits. Sometimes the two get tangled.

One thing I'm getting my head around lately is that the way I eat and think about food isn't wrong. When I was first losing weight, and even maintaining, I got really anxious about doing it wrong, the fact that I was still emotionally attached to food, still manipulated my eating to feel less stressed, the fact that I still want to eat food that isn't very nutritious etc. I don't think there's such a thing as the "perfect" diet or way of eating. So what if I have emotions that are attached to food? Food is embedded in culture, and I (like many others) grew up in a world where food is connected to emotion. There's nothing wrong with that unless it is having a negative effect on your health. Before, it was having a terrible effect on my health. Now, not so much.

Similarly, so what if I'm drawn to foods that are calorie dense, high in fat and sugar? It doesn't make me wrong - there are evolutionary reasons for this. It's just something to be aware of and keep in check. I make sure I have a kick *kitten* diet full of vegetables, lean meat, nuts, fish etc, and I also enjoy my chocolate and cookies in moderation. I agree that food=fuel, but I disagree that that's all it is. For me, food is fuel, nourishment, pleasure, culture, and something to share with loved ones. I'm not going to feel bad for deriving pleasure from eating. At the same time though, I'm not going to let pleasure dictate my food choices. There has to be a balance.

I think what I've discovered is that the psychological influences on my eating habits are very relevant and understanding them has been very helpful in addressing the things that have had the biggest impact on my health. Understanding what makes you tick enables you to find the way of eating that works best for you and your success. Striving for perfection isn't necessary and, in my opinion, can end up being quite a damaging process.