Emotional starvation

Nourishment/20 January 2021

Most often in everyday life a person does not even think about whether he wants to eat because of physiological needs or still on the emotional background, in particular because of stress.

Physical hunger, as a rule, appears gradually, after the last meal. In a healthy person with adequate nutrition, this moment comes after 4-5 hours. Our body itself tells us about hunger by bodily sensations: there is a feeling of emptiness in the stomach, there may be dizziness, weakness or rumbling. To satisfy physical hunger it is enough to consume your usual meal as soon as possible to reach satiety. When you are busy, you can postpone eating for a while to avoid overeating. After eating, you will feel satisfied, energized and satisfied.

Emotional hunger occurs as a compulsive thought: I want candy, snacks, pizza right now. The momentary desire does not depend on whether you have eaten before or not. The hunger hormone ghrelin activates a person’s craving for a new sensation in food. Under chronic stress, levels of the hormone ghrelin increase, which leads to the feeling of eating something explosive, bright in sensation and empty in nutrients, in particular sweets with a ton of different sugars or snacks with a lot of salt and monosodium glutamate (enhance the taste).

If a person is "going ghrelin", they are not solving the problem, they are literally eating it up. Of course here the situation lies in the psychological plane, but I have a few working recommendations:

sleep 7-8 hours regularly
when the desire to "eat something" - drink a glass of water
ask yourself the question: "what is bothering me right now and how is it related to my desire?"
be active every day
incorporate anti-stress practices into your life:
– meditation
– yoga
– breathing
– essential oils
– swimming
– dancing and singing
read a great book
spend time with your children, loved ones, pets.