Julie Lichtman, RDN, shares her skilled know-how on tackling overeating and emotional consuming, plus firsthand expertise on sustaining wholesome patterns by bipolar melancholy and anxiousness.
Hunger vs. Appetite
As a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN), I counsel folks on nutritious consuming and a wholesome relationship with meals. As a person identified with bipolar II dysfunction, I’ve confronted my very own struggles with staying on observe by melancholy and anxiety.
I do know firsthand that the instruments of my commerce do assist—however extra on that later. First, let’s look usually at overeating. And step one in tackling overeating is studying to tell apart starvation from urge for food.
Although the phrases usually get used interchangeably, starvation is technically a physiological state. It is a sensation that happens when the hormone ghrelin sends alerts from our GI tract to our mind that blood glucose ranges have dropped and we have to replenish the physique’s gasoline provides. Leptin, a hormone made by fats cells, has the job of telling us we’re now not hungry.
Appetite is extra a want to eat primarily based on exterior elements: the odor of meals, the considered meals, social cues, and our feelings.
Emotional Eating
Eating to feed our emotions somewhat than to fulfill precise starvation is called (shock!) emotional eating. However, utilizing meals as a coping mechanism could arrange a type of habit.
Eating high-fat, high-sugar foods triggers the mind to launch dopamine, a neurochemical linked to our inner reward circuit—an incentive system that motivates us to do one thing as a result of we predict it’ll really feel good. Dopamine gives us with a right away sense of enjoyment. When we’re feeling susceptible emotionally we crave any type of reduction.
Whenever uncomfortable emotions trigger us to self-soothe by consuming, it’s vital to do not forget that it’s our mind chemistry at work somewhat than ethical weak point or lack of willpower.
With different types of habit, we’re suggested to steer clear of the substance or habits in query in addition to the environments that we affiliate with that exercise. Obviously, we are able to’t cease consuming. Not solely do we have to eat to outlive, however having meals with others types a mainstay of social interplay—and denying ourselves the pleasurable points of consuming could backfire into bingeing.
Still, we are able to determine recurring patterns that encourage overeating and purchase methods and methods to average our consumption. For instance, after I order my favourite espresso drink from Starbucks, I at all times ask for half the quantity of syrup the baristas would usually use.
Strategies for Healthy Eating
#1 Portion Control
Eating out is a standard setting for overeating, particularly at venues with outrageous parts. Ask to have simply half the portion served on the plate and the opposite half instantly boxed as much as go. Voila: An affordable serving at this meal, plus lunch for the following day.
Portion management performs an vital position in relearning starvation cues. By consuming a set quantity at every meal or snack break, we are able to dial consumption ranges down nearer to what the physique wants, somewhat than what we merely want. It’s a victory to start out feeling starvation pangs once more.
#2 Scheduled Meals
As a school pupil with a makeshift schedule, I’d eat no matter I wished every time the temper struck me. After I began working as a dietitian, I made a decision I ought to apply what I used to be preaching. I created scheduled consuming patterns, beginning with breakfast every single day.
After just a few weeks, my physique started to anticipate when its subsequent meal was coming, and I began to reconnect with that sense of being hungry. I additionally began to really feel extra energized.
#3 Food Diary
I’ve extra of an issue with undereating than overeating. Anxiety upsets my abdomen, and melancholy typically makes me neglect to eat. I have to problem myself to maintain to a sustaining weight-reduction plan. That’s why I began retaining a meals journal.
Journaling what you might be consuming and why you might be consuming is a superb device to start out understanding behavioral patterns. It’s particularly helpful in addressing emotional consuming, and much more so if you put collectively a listing of other methods to search out pleasure, consolation, distraction, or assist.
Read extra:
How to Beat Emotional Eating
12 “Superfoods” That Help Manage Bipolar Moods
Bipolar & the Carb Connection
Printed as “A Dietitian Helps Herself,” Winter 2022
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