Psychological hunger: the causes and ways of deliverance
'24.10.2017'
We already know a lot about the normal physiology of hunger. If all metabolic processes proceeded according to normal patterns, then our body would never need any outside intervention, and such problems as overweight would not arise at all. But, unfortunately, now it is almost impossible to find a person with a completely healthy body. This was the result of our mad rhythm and living conditions, poor nutrition, irrational physical and moral stress, poor ecology and many other side effects of modern urbanization. Therefore, we have no choice but to study exactly our body and try to give it everything necessary for normal life.
There are several ways to influence your body. One of the most effective and simplest is nutrition. This is something that everyone can control. Previously, a person was close to natural rhythms and ate only in order to live, listened to his body, to the feelings of hunger and satiety. Now, these processes are severely disrupted, we are exposed to various influences of advertising and marketing moves, we go on about momentary desires, and over time we are rebuilt to the fact that food is not a way to support life, but an easily accessible pleasure. The very meaning of nutrition has changed.
Initially, the attitude to food is formed in the period of prenatal development. Now it is not a secret to anyone that it is the mother who lays the foundation of eating behavior for her child, shapes his preferences and regulates the quantity and quality of food eaten. Constant overeating during pregnancy, which is often justified by the fact that "a pregnant woman cannot be refused," can play a cruel joke with the laying of the child's metabolism processes. After birth, a small person is a defenseless creature that begins, step by step, to explore the world. And the first thing he meets with is his mother, warmth and care, but the most important thing that he gets her a child is food. Close physical contact during physiological breastfeeding forms the most important basis for understanding the world. Food begins to be associated with something pleasant, safe, that gives a sense of satisfaction of bodily needs.
It is at the above stage that psychological dependence on food begins to form. But it can be both natural and normal, as well as cause enormous problems of overeating and, as a result, the occurrence of excess weight. A person is not able to live without positive emotions, being in a state of chronic stress, he will look for some kind of pleasure, a sphere where he can feel calm. And what is connected in the subconscious with this feeling of comfort? That's right, the food! So the person finds solace in consuming a huge amount of food to compensate for the positive deficit. Let's look at how this mechanism works.
First of all, you should pay attention to the two components of stress: psychological and physiological. They are very interrelated, because under the action of stress hormones our mental state changes, and vice versa, mental reactions trigger hormonal cascades.
In the event of stress, certain parts of the nervous system are excited, which in turn stimulates the release of glucocorticoids, the hormones of the adrenal cortex. Under the action of these substances, changes in metabolism occur: from the depot of the liver and other tissues, an enormous amount of glucose is released into the blood so that a person has enough energy to cope with irritating factors. As a result of a long stay in this state, the depot is depleted, there is a feeling of hunger, which is almost impossible to satisfy, because the reserves cannot resume while maintaining a high concentration of stress hormones. From the blood excess glucose should go somewhere, and they are deposited in the form of fat in the abdomen and between the shoulder blades. These two zones are most affected. But this is only a small part of the harm of chronic stress, its psychological component is much more difficult and not everyone is able to deal with it.
First of all, we remember exactly what a person feels when he eats: calm, security, pleasure. These sensations are enhanced by the consumption of favorite and sweet foods, as well as chocolate or bananas, since there is also an additional release of endorphins and enkephalins - the hormones of joy. Food turns into an easily accessible source of pleasant experiences. You do not have to strain yourself, work on your character and behavior, educate yourself: after all, you can simply go to the refrigerator and get what is missing. Only the main problem is that full saturation does not come. You can eat three pieces of cake, drink a liter of hot chocolate, add cutlets and fried potatoes "to taste", but the result will be the same - the person will be hungry, since the reason remains the same.
Let's find out why a person is in a state of stress, and what exactly is he “sticking”?
- Lack of attention. It doesn't matter who it will come from: a loved one, a friend or girlfriend, society, employees or anyone else. Everyone needs attention. Its lack becomes the main cause of unquenchable emotional hunger. One famous French writer Françoise Sagan once very successfully noticed that a woman can last all day on one sandwich and two compliments. This is the whole point of solving the problem.
How to solve the problem: In order to get rid of constant overeating because of lack of attention of others, it is better to start visiting places where you have long wanted to visit, make new friends, communicate with people that interest you. This will not only take time, but will also saturate the starving consciousness.
- Confront daily challenges. Problems need to be solved, not seized. No food is enough for everything to normalize by itself.
How to solve the problem: This item requires considerable work on yourself. Turn the word "problem" into a "task." Each decision of such a “task” will bring incomparable satisfaction with itself and its work, and the need to compensate for this feeling with food will disappear by itself.
- Food as a substitute for the feeling of love. It is also worth paying great attention to the fact that food can also partially replace the feeling of love. At the very beginning, the mechanism of the emergence of a psychological connection between food and the feeling that you are loved was described.
How to solve the problem: It is already difficult to find a solution that would concern only the person himself. Such problems must be solved in a pair, but for yourself it is better to understand one thing: food can never replace feelings of love. And overeating will not only worsen the situation, but also spoil the figure pretty much.
- “Nervous” hunger. Sometimes a person just needs to chew something. It looks like a bad habit: someone bites his nails, someone twists his hair, someone smokes, and someone just eats continuously. Thus, the food becomes peculiar soothing, and this is again connected with the initial association of food with a sense of peace and security.
How to solve the problem: In order to overcome this type of hunger, it is necessary to realize that peace is what results from trust. If you do not trust your relatives, friends, colleagues, constantly trying to keep everything under control, then you can only dream about peace of mind. The firm conviction that if you let something out of your sight or entrust the case to someone else, then everything will be done incorrectly, this is one of the signs of perfectionism. It is impossible to attain perfection, therefore it is worth treating everything simpler and easier, thereby bringing benefit and peace to your body.
In addition to the awareness of the psychological problem that makes you have too much, you need to understand exactly what products bring us to a state of equilibrium and what exactly we are sticking to all of the above problems. For this you need:
- Free up time to study your eating behavior. You will need about 2-3 weeks to describe in detail everything that you ate during the day, and also remember to write down the time when certain foods were eaten.
- Distribute the products from the received records to "useful" and "harmful".
- When you understand that you want to give preference to "useful" products from your list.
- Only if "healthy" foods did not help, eat foods from the second list. But remember that this is a last resort.
- Try to live in the "control" mode for 2-3 weeks, during this time you should understand which products from the list of "correct" ones can satisfy you.
- If the situation has not returned to normal and you could not cope with the problem or stopped at some stage, but still want to solve your problem, you need to contact a specialist in the formation of correct eating habits.
Find your favorite healthy product that will bring you a taste satisfaction. Try to just love healthy foods. It already deserves your attention only because it makes the body healthier and slimmer. After all, how can you love what hurts your body?
