Emotional Eating? Are you one of them? 09/30/2009
 Binge Eating
So, what can be done to prevent all the weight and health problems that result from over eating or binge eating? One thing is now very clear and it is that dieting does not work. Oprah Winfrey, Kirsti Alley and others are living examples of people who tried valiantly to lose excess weight and maintain themselves through exercise and limited caloric intake. The results were that they ultimately failed in their efforts. It is not that these otherwise successful people were failures or that they are “gluttons,” but that they exemplify the problems associated with diet. What seems to happen when people begin dieting is that the brain, feeling as though the body is starving, sets in motion a series of efforts to restore the body to its former equilibrium. In other words, sooner or later, brain and stomach, in collusion with one another, reverse the process of dieting so that weight is regained. In fact, what happens to most people is that they gain more weight than they initially lost. It may be the reason for this is that the body is attempting to store extra reserves in order to protect itself against “starvation” or what we called the diet. A common bit of wisdom in medical practice is that if you leave a disease intact and simply treat the symptoms, the patient will ultimately die. Sometimes, as in dealing with terminal cancer, medical doctors are left with no other choice than to treat symptoms to comfort the patient. However, in most cases, the goal is to cure the disease, even while helping the patient gain relief from the symptoms. In a similar way, by constantly trying to lose weight by eating less, all we seem to be doing is treat the symptom and not the disease. In this case, the disease is the depression, anxiety, stress, worry, loneliness, or other life crisis with which we are wrestling. These cause so many of us to reach for food. Until we identify and treat these underlying problems, there will continue to be the impulse to over eat. CommentsLeave a Reply |   Moi:
|
RSS Feed
