Emotional Eating Study

A recent CNN story explored the science behind emotional eating. Specifically, the study in reflection examined why some people gravitate to fatty or sugary foods when feeling emotionally “under the weather”. How the study worked is patients were tube fed patients particular nutrients (in this case saturated fat vs a saline solution) while they watched sad faces or listened to sad music. The saturated fat seemed to result in the most upbeat reactions (post-negative stimuli). See the article for more on how these reactions were measured. The article underlines that this research suggests a biological component to emotional eating. The biological mechanism is not understood, but suggests a relationship between the stomach, brain, and hormone stimulation that moves us towards certain nutrients.

The following piece of the article intrigued me specifically:

“The deep-seated connection between our stomachs and our brains helped keep humans alive when food was scarce (as it was during most of human history), but it may have outlived its usefulness and may be contributing to modern health problems such as obesity, Van Oudenhove adds.

‘Evolution has made every aspect of feeding as rewarding as possible," he says. "These days it may not be a good thing anymore. When food is available anywhere, then it may be a bad thing, leading to obesity or eating disorders in some people.’

The study drives home just how difficult it can be to eat healthy and resist so-called emotional eating in our stressful world, says Susan Albers, Psy.D., a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic and the author of "50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food.””

At this point, I was just really hoping that the article wasn’t going to end up blaming food and biology entirely for food-related behavior. Fortunately, it did not:

“Therapy or other treatments that ‘teach people how to deal with strong emotions would likely...help people improve their eating habits,’ she (Susan Albers) says.”

Thank you! (Cheering from Creating Peace with Food). “Would likely”, in my opinion, is not accurate enough though. Therapy and other treatments that help people work through strong emotions without food DOES help people improve their eating habits. I am a blessed eyewitness of this change in our clients every day! Whether a client is coping with strong emotions by restricting or over-eating food, introducing new coping mechanisms and developing healthy eating habits together has been a success for our clients time and time again.

Don’t get me wrong, I think this research about the biological connection with emotional eating is imperative for our society’s understanding of emotional eating. This will only help us and our clients more. At the same time, I am grateful that the ability for a person to change their behaviors was somewhat mentioned. Regardless of the biological component of emotional eating being fully understood or not, people can and do change their behaviors daily. Food is not an exception and with a little support and guidance, success can be achieved in this area of health and well-being.

I encourage you to read this article and post comments if you have them. Be informed about this article for in the case that someone you know says something along the lines of, “oh well, I can’t do anything about it; it’s just the way my biological makeup is,” you will know how to respond with another perspective. :)

Article Source linked above: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/25/study.clues.emotional.eating/index.html  

Play with My Food? Yes!

Growing up, most of us probably got scolded for playing with our food. It's time to change our perspective on the subject.

Playing with your food does have it's own boundaries so let's set them out to be clear. On one end of the spectrum is the curious toddler-inspecting, tasting, spitting out, touching, and staring at their food. On the opposite end is the person struggling with an eating disorder who is cutting up the food, strategically moving pieces on the plate so others think more is being consumed than what really is.

When I say, play with your food, I'm encouraging you to do just that! Set up mini-experiments, indulge in taste tests with your family, or copy Gordon Ramsey's blind taste test challenge from his TV show Hell's Kitchen. 

Doing this serves an important purpose! It gets you & your family/friends together by introducing everyone to new foods in a fun, non-threatening way. It encourages food acceptance, reduces the risk of developing eating disorders(ED), and can help an person struggling with ED to challenge those feared foods in a supportive environment. For those of you just beginning to develop your kitchen skills, playing with your food will help you feel more comfortable in the kitchen and familiar with foods you don't have experience working with.

Paddle Boarding!

Between recipes, nutrition, and behavior change tactic posts, I thought it would be also fun to write an activity-related blog post.

Have you ever heard of paddle boarding? Apparently, it is also referred to as SUP- Stand Up Paddle Boarding. Think surf board, but not surfing; and paddling without the boat. This will give you an idea:

Image: Alki Kayak Tours

I went for the first time on the 4th of July and it was a blast! We went to the Alki Kayak Tours stand, paid 15 dollars, signed a waiver, put on our life jackets (of course!) and we were off. There are lessons too if you desire though. I thought it was going to be a lot harder to balance than it was. I actually ended up jumping off my board at one point just because I wanted to get into the water. SUP is a sneaky workout too! I didn't even know that I was really getting a workout until we got back to the shore and I almost fell over when I tried to pick up my board.

There are many places to try paddle boarding in the Seattle area: Alki, LakeUnion, Green Lake.

Do you know of others? Please post them. Have you tried it before? We would love to hear about your experience. And if you have advice for others, that would be helpful too.

Also, for those of you looking for a real challenge, there are SUP races and also SUP Yoga and Pilates- yes you heard me right, yoga on a paddle board. I would have never thought of that. It sounds really tough but really fun.

Whatever you have planned this weekend, be safe and enjoy! And if the weather is nice (or not) maybe give paddle boarding a try. Cheers!

What do We Really Want?

This post is to help those who struggle with emotional eating and overeating.

Have you heard of intuitive eating before? Intuitive eating is a way of eating that involves some concepts like: eat when hungry, stop eating when satiated, enjoy eating, eat mindfully, and eat as desired.


I want to help you use intuitive eating concepts to work through a common stumbling block: eating "post-full" at a restaurant. You may have heard all the tactics: box half to take home, eat until satisfied, eat vegetables if I want more, or share the meal with someone else. These are all great tactics and yet, we often still find ourselves munching on food we are not even hungry for!

Let’s check a typical restaurant situation with intuitive eating concepts:

1.      Did I eat when hungry? Yes, and it was delicious.

2.      Did I stop when satiated? Well, I am and have stopped but I still want more.

3.      Eat as desired. Wait, what? Stop when I am satiated but eat as desired? How is that not contradictory when what I want is more food?

This is my challenge to you the next time you are in this situation. What do you really want? Is it that you want more food? Yes, maybe in the moment. Food can be very gratifying; however, is it not also common that as we take that next bite, and the next, and the next, we end up wishing we would have stopped at checkpoint #2 above? Pause and ask yourself again: “what do I really want?” I may want that extra bite on the surface but on a deeper level what do I want? I want to not overeat.

Explore this concept of “surface want” versus “deeper want” the next time you have welcomed a nourishing meal and still desire to eat more.

Instead of focusing on thoughts like:

-          Just one more bite

-          I’ve already started overeating, I might as well finish

-          This is not enough to put in a box

-          I am full but that was just so good, I just want a little more

Try focusing on thoughts like:

-          I may “want” that next bite on the surface

-          What I really want though is to be able to sit here some day and not take that next bite

-          What I really want is peace in these moments of tension

-          What I really want is to not eat until I am stuffed

The key is to actually give ourselves the space to even explore these thoughts; we usually are too busy taking that next bite and then getting down on ourselves for taking that bite! 

Give these thoughts a try and follow them up with action. Let us know what your experience is like! Remember, we have to start somewhere and we have to make the conscious effort to get started.

Great summer side or appetizer recipe (with a little kick!)

Cantaloupe and Mozzarella with Prosciutto and Basil
- 1 cantaloupe halved and seeded
- 3/4 pound bocconcini (bite-size fresh mozzarella balls)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp red-pepper flakes
- Coarse salt and pepper
- 1/2 pound thinly sliced prosciutto
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn

With a large melon baller, scoop melon flesh into a large bowl (or cut into bite-size pieces). Add bocconcini, oil, and red-pepper flakes; season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Arrange prosciutto along edges of a large serving platter. Stir basil into melon mixture, transfer to center of platter and serve.

This recipe is from the Martha Stewart Everyday Food July edition.