Emotional Eating – We all do it

• EBT
• emotional eating
• food

I am really enjoying learning more about the connection between food and our brain.  I hope that the articles and studies that I am finding are helpful to all of you.  I have discovered that the more I understand about my brain and my body, the more compassionate and patient I am with myself.  Remember…it is not you, it is just a circuit.

After my posting last week, I took some additional time to read though some of the postings on the healthy eating section of www.cnn.com.  I came across another wonderful article that I found very interesting about emotional eating.  I know that I have sat down and needed some chocolate when I was stressed.  I believe that most, if not all of us, have eaten for an emotional reason as some point.
 
Most of my articles have been about the brain.  Sometimes I worry that my postings may make it seem separate from the rest of the body.  However, we all know that mind and body are connected and this article shows that there may be more of a connection than previously know.  Click here to be taken to the article.
 

The study design was simple.  There were two groups.  One group received a saline solution via a stomach feeding tube and one group received a fatty solution via a stomach feeding tube.  The groups didn’t know what they were receiving.  Then, they were shown pictures of sad people while listening to sad classical music.  Finally, they were surveyed about their mood and MRI images of the brain were performed.
 
The results of the survey showed that the group that received the fatty solution felt less sad.  The results of the MRI study showed that the group that received the fatty solution had less activity in the sad parts of their brains.  The conclusion…fatty foods may actually trigger the stomach to release a substance that travels to the brain to decrease sad emotions. 
 
So, it is not at all surprising when we live in a world with so much stress and sadness that people would turn to food for comfort.  And, it is probably okay once in a while.  The problem is when we don’t have other tools to use to help deal with the stress and the sadness.  Then we begin to rely on food.  So, keep up the hard work to fill up your tool box with lots of other tools!!!