Why am I eating this? How to overcome food addiction

Most of the inhabitants of megacities suffer from food addiction to one degree or another: our life is too conducive to this. We have long ceased to use food only as a source of energy. A not very physically active modern person consumes much more calories than he spends. Food is used by us as a substitute for communication, vivid emotions, and even sex.

The law “the more harmful, the tastier” works largely thanks to the efforts of technologists, various flavor enhancers and substitutes for everything natural that should be in products. All of these enhancers affect the opioid-dopamine system in our brain and contribute to the formation of addiction – which is why sometimes you want “something harmful” so much.

Our taste buds are depleted from such a chemical attack, the body receives less nutrients and intensively accumulates toxins. Hence chronic fatigue, depressed mood and the desire to stimulate yourself in a proven way: food.

How to overcome this food addiction and help your body gradually get rid of accumulated toxins? We asked our expert, functional nutrition specialist Mikhail Gavrilov, to give his recommendations.

Distinguish between hunger and appetite

Hunger is the body’s physiological need for nutrients. It is manifested by discomfort in the body: rumbling in the stomach, a feeling of suction, headache, dizziness, nausea, and so on. Appetite is the desire to get positive emotions from food or neutralize negative ones, the desire to relieve fatigue with food, drown out the feeling of loneliness, anxiety.

Appetite can be caused by our analyzers – eyes, ears, nose, tactile and taste buds, when we see food (including in advertising), hear someone eating with appetite, feel the aroma of the dish, finally, we eat and cannot stop . Appetite can also arise as a result of a reaction to the prohibition: we know that the product is harmful, but this makes it even more attractive.

When a person is hungry (we scan our body and find uncomfortable sensations), only food can help him. When there is an appetite, you need to be distracted, relax, find pleasant entertainment. It is important to remember: the appetite is quenched not only by food.

Learn to deal with chronic stress

Stress is one of the main causes of food addiction. That is why the prevention of stress and work with already existing stressful tensions is the main task of a person who would like to eat right, without emotional breakdowns.

Set aside at least half an hour a day to de-stress. Effective tools for dealing with stress are body treatments (massages, spas), educational kinesiology exercises, meditation practices, yoga, physical exercises and any creative activity – from drawing to needlework.

Imagine that you have a beautiful black piano at home, and you need to dust it every day, otherwise it will turn gray in a week or two. It’s the same with stress – taking care of yourself every day will help you resist it and stay in shape.

Build boundaries with society

Don’t let loved ones, friends, co-workers and strangers manipulate you as you seek to get rid of your food addiction. Do not go to visits, to banquets, to the supermarket on an empty stomach. Firmly push away the product that doesn’t suit you – say “no” to yourself. In a restaurant, feel free to leave some of the food on your plate (even if you were told as a child that it was indecent).

Make your loved ones your allies in a healthy diet and lifestyle, consistently stop their “provocations” to feed you sweets or cakes. Remember, kindness and gentleness are not the same thing. Don’t try to be nice to everyone, stand up for your boundaries, because it’s about your health.

Seek help from experts

Contact a psychotherapist, a nutritionist, if you feel that you cannot cope on your own and still break down – eat too much, can not switch to a healthier diet.

Strong addictions are often caused by genetic characteristics – a violation of the production of neurotransmitters or “breakage” of receptors for them. Modern psychophysiology has effective technologies that can reduce food addiction in a short time.

Special brain diagnostics and individually prescribed amino acid therapy help, without antidepressants and other chemicals, to influence the activity of the parts of the brain responsible for overeating.

Audiovisual stimulation, combined with Ericksonian therapy, reduces the disturbing overeating that is so common among residents of large cities.