What is Comfort Eating?
Comfort eating is the use of food to deal with an emotional need. Emotional need can be as basic as boredom or as complex as the need to feel good about oneself. Comfort eating takes place independently to hunger. Comfort eating is therefore also overeating.
Food can be quite useful as a means of comfort. Chocolate for example contains a collection of different substances that mimic natural pleasure producing chemicals that exist within a normal happy or content person’s brain. Excess carbohydrate intake can also produce lethargy and an almost tranquilising effect! Even a non-excessive intake of food can have a physiological impact – how many times has a meal at lunch time left you feeling tired and lethargic in the afternoon?
Unfortunately, food used to address emotion has the same effect as any drug. Comfort eating does not solve any emotional problem; it can only serve as a short lived distraction – even when that emotional need is hidden from your conscious knowledge like a fear of being thin. Any psychological effect produced by eating always wears off and until one addresses the emotion, it will reoccur and need more food to repeat the effect!
If one comfort eats, one disregards the natural mechanism that controls how much we eat. If we do this, we will eat more than we need to. If we are comfort eating consistently, we will put on weight.
Many overweight people deny that they are comfort eating but often we are trained to do it from birth. If there is a general weight problem in your family you may be training your children to comfort eat in the same way that you were trained.
Hypnotherapy Can Help You Address Comfort Eating and Control Your Weight
Weight control is all about understanding ones relationship with food. Hypnotherapy can help you develop a relationship with food where you can eat what you want and be confident that you are only eating what your body requires.
Make an appointment now. Ring Stephen Rigby now on 01483 566115 or book online stating your preference of an appointment in Guildford or Woking, Surrey. Free introductory sessions are available in Guildford.