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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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, […]