Eating anxiety

Many of us experience that irrational desire to eat food all the time, even if we have no appetite. This practice is extremely harmful, because it keeps our organism in an eternal process of digestion, which means that it cannot experience periods of rest, which are essential for the body's repair. Compulsive eating and the need for constant food intake is an expression of anxiety in combination with certain eating disorders.

This guide will address this issue from the harmful consequences to our health and recommendations on how to act on it.

How do I know if I have food anxiety?

Anxiety itself is a manifestation of the most irrational part of our body. It is easy to identify because it generates the compulsive desire to perform an action that does not make sense from a logical point of view. Think of the times we go and take small bites of a sweet or snack when we are not hungry, we do it because there is a kind of feeling that overwhelms us and we only manage to satiate it, at least temporarily, when we eat.

Food cravings are multifactorial, it may be that this is the way your body has found to satiate it or simply be a sign of a certain addiction to food, which is usually caused by overconsumption of refined carbohydrates.

Harmful effects

The first harmful effect of anxiety eating is the absolute disrespect for meal times. When we regulate our schedules in an orderly manner, we have moments to eat, digest and keep our stomachs empty. It is important that during certain periods of time our organism is not digesting food. Digestion is a process that consumes a lot of energy, that is the reason why when we eat we feel more tired or sleepy.

If we cause digestion to continue over time without giving space to rest, we will waste much of our energy and we will not give our digestive system a chance to rest.

Another harmful effect will be weight gain, this is a logical consequence because in the first place we are eating when we do not need it and besides that these random meals are usually not part of healthy food either.

Another very serious health consequence is the possible insulin resistance that can be caused by uncontrolled food intake. Insulin resistance is the phenomenon produced by the severe affectation towards the insulin receptors of the cells of the body, this occurs when we abuse the quantities and frequencies with which we incorporate glucose to the organism, phenomenon that is very common among those who maintain an uncontrolled behavior towards the food intake.

Recommendations

anxiety eating