Times of stress can greatly influence our eating habits. Some people lose their appetite at such times and refuse to eat, while others experience a strong desire to snack, especially sugary or fatty foods. Understanding the causes and consequences of eating behavior during stress can help us develop strategies to manage and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Stress eating disorder
Stress is the body's natural response to threats or challenges, and can be
caused by various factors, such as financial problems, relationship conflicts
or work stress. During times of stress, our body produces stress hormones such
as cortisol, which can affect our eating behavior.
Emotional factors: Stress can cause
emotional distress and anxiety, and many people seek comfort in food. Food can
be a way to relieve emotional stress and create a feeling of satisfaction.
Physiological factors: Stress hormones can affect our appetite and food
preferences. Some studies show that stress can increase the desire for sweet
and fatty foods, as they promote the production of endorphins, the feel-good
hormones.
Consequences of eating behavior during stress
Increased risk of obesity: Snacking during stress can lead to the consumption of large amounts of calories, especially those needed to maintain energy. This can lead to excess weight gain and the development of obesity.
Food addiction: Constantly using food as a way to cope with stress can create a
food addiction. This can lead to poor eating habits, excessive consumption of
sweets and fatty foods, and the development of eating disorders such as binge
eating disorder.
Ways to manage eating behavior during stress
Practice healthy stress coping strategies: Instead of using food as a way to cope with stress, you can use other methods such as physical activity, meditation or deep breathing. This will help reduce your stress levels and improve your overall well-being.
Planning healthy meals: Eating regularly and planning healthy meals can help
you avoid snacking and unhealthy food choices. Eating a balanced diet rich in
fruits, vegetables and protein will help maintain energy and improve your mood.
Seek support: It is important to talk to loved ones or professionals about your
emotional experiences and stress. They can help you find alternative ways to
cope with stress and offer support.
Types of eating disorders
Eating disorders are mental disorders that
affect food intake. A person may eat too much or too little, become painfully
focused on nutrition, and even try to eat inedible objects. All this threatens
physical health and requires treatment. Such disorders can progress. Doctors at
the Panacea Medical Center recommend starting to treat them as early
as possible.
General information
When someone grapples with an eating
disorder, their relationship with food undergoes significant disturbances. This
is often invisible to others. Many of those who suffer from such disorders try
to hide them. This further worsens their condition.
The cause of the condition may be heredity,
hormonal disorders, social factors (the desire for “fashionable” thinness or a
certain standard of appearance), eating habits, as well as violations of
self-esteem, unresolved psychological problems, stress or psychological trauma.
Indirectly, the reasons that caused the
eating disorder affect its character. It is important to take them into account
during treatment. Often, you first need to eliminate the factor that provoked
the condition, and only after that work with the formation of correct eating
habits. Treatment strategies differ depending on the specific type of eating
disorder experienced.
Anorexia nervosa
The condition is associated with a painful
desire for thinness, with the desire to follow fashionable standards of
appearance. A person is so afraid of gaining weight that he practically stops
eating. He limits the caloric content of his diet, completely refuses many
foods, and eats at a certain time.
With anorexia, the patient may take
laxatives or induce vomiting to reduce weight, exercise too much, or fast.
Weight becomes much lower than the physiological norm, and basic health
indicators deteriorate. Without treatment, severe pathologies of internal
organs are possible.
Anorexia nervosa most often occurs in adolescent girls and young women. Risk factors include low self-esteem, perfectionism, family conflicts, unresolved personality problems, and dysfunction of neurotransmitters that regulate eating behavior.
Without treatment, anorexia is deadly. If
dietary restrictions are so severe that it threatens a person’s health, an
urgent need to consult a psychiatrist.
Bulimia nervosa
This is the desire for such control of
nutrition that will allow you not to gain weight. Fear of getting better causes
constant emotional stress. This provokes periodic breakdowns, during which a
person eats too much. Unable to rein in his binge eating episodes, he experiences
subsequent feelings of guilt. He needs to cleanse himself to get rid of the
guilt. Patients do this by taking a laxative or inducing vomiting.
The weight of this disorder may be normal,
but bulimia is still dangerous to physical health. Due to overeating and
subsequent cleansing, the functioning of the digestive organs, kidneys and
liver is disrupted, and the condition of the skin and teeth worsens. Often this
is how a tendency to self-harm manifests itself. Treatment requires
psychotherapy to restore self-esteem and learn to cope with nervous tension.
Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are sometimes
accompanied by rumination. In this syndrome, the patient regurgitates food that
he has already swallowed in order to chew it again or spit it out. Rumination
is not associated with health conditions that cause vomiting or nausea. It
occurs up to several times a week, persists for a long time and provokes
digestive problems.
Psychogenic overeating
These are attacks in which a person quickly
eats a lot, even if he is not hungry. As with bulimia, overeating cannot be
controlled and is followed by feelings of guilt. This condition is a reaction
to stress, severe nervous tension or psychological trauma. It often leads to
excess weight.
The condition can appear after traumatic events.
The risk that a person will experience psychogenic overeating is higher if he
was obese as a child, if he has low self-esteem, if others often criticized his
weight or appearance.
The frequency of relapses is usually directly related to how often negative situations occur. Engaging in psychotherapy will enable you to gain mastery over your condition, guiding you through strategies to navigate and resolve the underlying issues triggering psychogenic overeating.
Orthorexia
Orthorexia is a disorder in which a person
is fixated on a healthy diet, strives to eat only safe foods with a certain
composition, and experiences severe anxiety if he had to eat something
“harmful.” The obsession with the composition of the diet is so strong that
dietary restrictions begin to harm health, and anxiety levels quickly increase.
Orthorexia can have many manifestations:
- A fanatical desire to exclude from the diet foods containing “harmful” components (dyes, flavors, preservatives, genetically modified ingredients), as well as fats or sugars;
- Fixation on the composition of products: studying them for a long time before purchasing, refusing food with questionable content;
- Using only those cooking methods that preserve the beneficial properties of products;
- Using utensils made from “safe” natural materials;
- Intolerance of other people's unhealthy eating habits;
- Following scientifically unproven approaches to nutrition (for example, eating foods of a certain color or eating only at the “right” times).
Orthorexia combines features of anorexia
nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and therefore its treatment uses the
same approaches as those for these two conditions. The basis of treatment
is psychotherapy.
Pararexia
Pararexia is a craving for inedible things,
in which a person tries to eat clay, soil, paper or chalk, uncooked foods (raw
minced meat or dough, cereals). The disease is diagnosed if a person eats
inedible foods regularly for more than a month.
The cause is considered to be a deficiency
in the body of calcium, iron or other substances. To determine what exactly the
body lacks, a biochemical blood test is taken, and then treatment is prescribed
taking into account its results.
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