Physical hunger drives eating behavior – of that, there is no doubt. When people have metabolic dysfunction (as 93% of Americans do today), physical hunger feedback loops are disrupted, which means we often feel the sensation of physical hunger inappropriately. However, most people who struggle with excess weight are driven to eat by more than just physical hunger. Being triggered to eat for non-physical reasons may be a primary mechanism of weight gain or it may also be a result of inappropriate hunger signals – regardless, identifying when this is the case and working on changing it is key when treating obesity. It’s a complicated topic full of all kinds of nuances and requires a deep dive into psychology, but here are some thoughts and musings to get you started…
Reward Eating
Many of my patients struggle with the desire to eat in the evenings – typically a few hours after dinner, usually while watching T.V. There seem to be two very distinct reasons that people do this. For many people, this is a version of what we call “reward eating.” In other words, it’s eating because […]
How to Manage Cravings
Merriam Webster defines a craving as: an intense, urgent, or abnormal desire or longing Cravings can be triggered by all different things – memories, habits, smells, thoughts, emotions – you name it. We all have cravings. If one of your goals on your health journey is to eliminate cravings – good luck. It’s not going […]
Naming Food
I listen to podcasts all the time; when I’m driving, mowing the yard and even when I’m alone in the kitchen making dinner. I typically listen to influencers and business leaders – people that are successful in various areas of life in which I want to improve. I figure I can use that listening time […]
Eating Anxiety?
I have spent almost twenty years practicing medicine and I bet there hasn’t been a day that I haven’t had to talk someone down from a place of anxiety. It’s part of the job of doctoring. Some people are anxious. Some people are just wound more tightly. That has always been the normal in my […]
Eating Happiness “Champagne Moments”
Patients come into my office all the time with “confessions” of eating off plan. After one of these confessions, I usually get to hear the reasoning behind why the choice was justified. The past two weeks, I addressed the reasoning behind why people eat negative emotions like stress and sadness. I am going to address […]
Why do we eat our sadness?
Our theme this month is my office is eating emotions. What do I mean by that? When we encounter an emotion that we perceive as being negative (sadness, loneliness, emptiness, frustration, hopelessness), we typically want to “fix” that negative emotion. We want it to go away – to be replaced by a more positive emotion […]
Why do we eat poorly when we are stressed?
I have an amazing job. I get to talk every day with people who are driven. People that are working hard to improve their health, their lives, their bodies, and their relationship with food. People that have decided to break societal norms and bravely try to do something different. It’s not normal to be healthy […]