When it’s cold outside and not much going on, some of my clients tell me how bored they feel–or lonely, anxious, depressed–and the one thing that comforts, the one constant, is food.  Especially sweets.  I usually explain that turning to food must serve some purpose, and I ask about the perceived purpose and the resulting impact.  How do you feel during the eating episode?  Then what about after?  Always the sequence of responses:  great/dizzy/occupied then guilty/stressed/anxious. 

The cure? Eat, and repeat. 

But we know this doesn’t work because it leads to binge eating (either a subjective or an objective binge), and when the episode is over the client feels worse–not better.  The very thing/feeling that made her or him eat in the first place is still there.  The boredom or the anxiety or the loneliness or the depression never went anywhere.  It was masked for a moment.  I encourage clients to explore this with me and/or with a psychotherapist, if appropriate.

Geneen Roth wrote recently (Good Houkeeping magazine, July 2009): “After having devoted a lot of my life to being anxious about things that never came to pass, I’ve finally realized that worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair all day and thinking you’re actually going somewhere.”  Geneen’s solution, which I adore: “[Notice], on a daily basis, everything that you don’t have to worry about. Everything that is already fine, vibrant, thriving.”

To close, as I tell my clients, when thinking of reaching for food, first identify if it’s from physiological hunger or from emotional hunger.  Then proceed accordingly. 

Some of my patients report a strong urge to eat carbohydrate-containing foods, such as sweet, sugary things, especially when they feel blue, down, or depressed. This is generally thought to be the carbohydrate-craving syndrome. Eating carbs helps increase serotonin in the brain, which is a feel-good hormone. A study published in the journal Eating Behaviors in October 2008 lends more support to this carb theory linking food and mood. Study participants were able to choose a carb-laden beverage over the protein beverage. Both beverages were designed to look and taste the same, so there was no overt difference detectable. In the end, the carb cravers were more likely to select the beverage with more carbs than protein.