The Oprah article thread has gotten me to thinking about "emotional eating" and how this has become a major marketing point in diet culture...
Why the heck shouldn't eating be emotional? Other than reproduction, food is the primary focus of life (biologically speaking). People link food with survival, family, security, and happiness. I don't label myself an "emotional eater" because I don't like what that implies: it implies the individual is at fault. Like, Joe Schmoe would be thin except he can't control his emotions and eats his sorrow away. And I don't eat every time I'm sad, or stressed, or tired. But I DO link food with good feelings (survival, family, security, and happiness) because I'm human.
Another reason I've been thinking about this recently is because there was an article in Women's Health this month about Norway and how low the obesity rate is there. Do you think they have emotional eaters in Norway? Sure they do! Are they obese? Nope! That's because they have a culture of eating small portions, lots of fish, and they walk, jog, or bike to get where they're going.
The more I read about, and think about, and live this obesity epidemic, the more I'm convinced that the ONLY reason for obesity is the toxic culture we live in. It's not genetics, or hormones, or emotional eating, or a lack of willpower. It's a toxic enrivonment "perfect storm" of marketing, capitalism, and technology. The individual is not to blame!
I agree with what the OP said. I don't have much to say except that I made a similar observation regrading marketing and capitalism. I'm a night owl and tend to watch tv at late hours. The late night food commercials are insane. How can people not be overwieght with all the junk we're forced fed? if anything in the past I would fall for those commercials and eat because of the ads boredom, not huunger! Is boredom an emotion? If so I am or used to be an emotional eater.
I think you can call it whatever you want, but pathological eating to fill a void in your life (other than an empty stomach) is a very real phenomenon. I know, I've done it for decades. I agree that of course not everyone with a weight problem is an emotional eater/compulsive eater/binge eater/whatever and in that sense it has been perhaps overused by marketing folks to sell books, products, etc.
I would be cautious about dismissing real problems experienced by others as rubbish simply because they do not apply to you. For example, you may not be anorexic or bulimic, but it doesn't mean that others aren't.
And how do you know that Norway has no emotional eaters who are obese? Obesity is not a problem limited to the US, though we have taken it to new extremes. One article I looked up stated that in Norway obesity rates "from 2000-2003 show a rate of 19 percent for men and 16 percent for women." Unless you know them, you cannot possibly know the reasons why they eat what they eat.
The more I read about, and think about, and live this obesity epidemic, the more I'm convinced that the ONLY reason for obesity is the toxic culture we live in. It's not genetics, or hormones, or emotional eating, or a lack of willpower. It's a toxic enrivonment "perfect storm" of marketing, capitalism, and technology. The individual is not to blame!
Thoughts?
Well, I think you raise some interesting points, but I disagree that the ONLY reason for obesity is the toxic culture we live in, and I disagree that the individual does not share any blame. I think those are pretty extreme statements.
I do think our culture has a lot to do with how people eat and the obesity levels here, and I do think people have to take responsibility for their own weight problems.
I think BOTH are true - that emotional eating can be a problem, and that the US food environment is toxic.
Emotional eating is a real problem, which affects many people, probably across all nations. And while I'll never be someone who goes in for the whole "food as FUEL ONLY" perspective, as I'm rather attached to food-based celebrations, not to mention the pure pleasure of eating as the foodie I am, there is nothing about a bad day that makes a cookie necessary for my body. I did have to break that cycle of mindless emotional eating to successfully lose weight, just as I had to break many other cycles and habits. For me, celebratory, with other people, or just plain "special" eating will always have a place in my life...whether going out for a friend's birthday or having an amazing meal at a fabulous restaurant on vacation. But sad, alone, anxious/uncomfortable BINGING had to go.
The other side, though, that is equally undeniable to me is that we have a food culture in the U.S that encourages overconsumption, far more than in other countries. Food is not only available EVERYWHERE (In other countries, having a fast food restaurant inside a gas station would be strange. Here, it's commonplace), but we are advertised to and told we "deserve" it. For a bad day, for a good day, because we were good all day...whatever. The ads are designed to take down the psychological barriers one might have to overeating for emotional reasons. So someone already prone to emotional eating would be exposed to ads that say "Yes, you're sad, and that means you deserve a cookie! Or maybe you're tired, and you need a sugary perkup!" and then have fairly-immediate access to food, either because we store more in our homes than in other countries, or because gas stations/convenience stores/drugstores/etc all sell cheap convenience food and blanket most cities with near-perfect coverage.
And as we ALL know, once you give in to a craving for refined, sugary junk food (which is what is typically advertised with the "You deserve a break" type ads), you just crave it more, which doesn't help anyone, emotional eater or not.
To lose weight I basically had to "check out" of the entire American convenience food system. I eat at home, or in a sit-down, non-chain restaurant unless I have no other options. I do not purchase pre-packaged snack/convenience foods. If I want a cookie (and there is nothing wrong with wanting a cookie, sometimes), I bake them, take two, and give the rest to a neighbor or my wife's coworkers. Doing so has broken the "easy access" part of the equation, which has helped when the emotional side starts taking over.
I don't think there is any one "ONLY" reason for obesity, but the "culture of dieting" makes it popular to look at obesity this way (because if there's one cause, then only one solution needs to be found and it will work for everyone). We like simple formulas, but I don't think there is one.
I think there are thousands of factors contributing to obesity, and every individual has a unique blueprint for their own obesity.
I think that genetics, hormones, emotional factors, stressors (physical, mental, social, environmental, emotional), modern technology and marketing/capitalism... are all factors in obesity, and there are thousands more as well.
I do agree that willpower (at least the "white knuckle" mind-over-matter variety) is often overrated. Ignoring all of the other factors and just relying on "will-power," is either ineffective or makes success harder than it has to be.
In our culture, emotions are tied to food, not only negatively, but positively as well. So I don't consider that emotional-eating. I consider emotional eating to be emotional over-eating - uncontrolled eating in response to stress - this is even seen in animals. If you put rats on crash or yoyo diets (deprived intermediately of food), they become more likely to eat in response to stress or boredom than rats who have never been food deprived. The changes can be long-lasting.
I found that I am not an emotional overeater, as long as I don't crash diet. I haven't had a true gut-busting binge in years. It didn't take in-depth psychotherapy, it just took refusing to crash diet (I want to make it clear, that I do not believe that emotional overeating doesn't exist - just that it turned out not to be MY problem).
That wasn't enough to reverse my obesity, but it was one factor - and a factor I needed to address. One down and an unknown number to go - but it was a start.
I do think genetics played a role, but it's a suspicion, not a fact. My brother and I were adopted (not bio-related) and my younger sisters are my parents bio-kids. I'm the only person in the family to have been overweight as a child (and a very young child - I was thin at 4 and obese at 5), and the only person to become super obese, exceeding 300 lbs. If looking at weight issues, one sister followed my dad with no weight problem, and the other taking after Mom gaining weight in the hips starting in the late 20's, and my brother (again, not related biologically to our parents) had a different weight story - underweight until adulthood with a hummingbird/shrew metabolism - sometimes eating a whole box of cereal for breakfast. The pattern of differences does hint at a genetic component (which I consider a predisposition - not a predestination).
Sleep deprivation turned out to be a factor. When I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about four years ago, my pulmonologist told me I'd probably lose some weight without even trying (yeah, I thought he was nuts). I didn't give it much thought, because I had so given up on weight loss at the time, I didn't even own a scale. A few months later, at a doctor's appointment I discovered that I had lost 20 lbs without trying, as predicted (it's what eventually inspired a bit of hope that I could lose weight without ultimately gaining more than I had lost).
I also had to stop looking at myself and looking at food, eating and fat as being bad or evil. Berating myself for mistakes, especially food slips made it much easier to think "since I've already been so bad, I might as well eat whatever I want and start fresh the next day (or worse, the next Monday)."
I've known that PMS/PMD played a role in my weight gain/ appetite since my early teens. I didn't know that birth control might help until my early to mid twenties. It helped a lot, but I still had one week (the placebo week) of insane hunger and cravings for things I normally didn't care for the rest of the month (fatty red meat and chocolate). The difference was so intense, that my hubby began called me "werewolf" and the week around my period "meat week." I didn't know, but he was tracking my periods on his calendar so that he could be "prepared" for my mood swings. Changing my bc to one that provides more constant hormones, and fewer periods (like YAZ or Seasonique), made a HUGE difference in my appetite.
My doctor recommended that I consider a lower carb or lower GI diet, and I do find that reducing carbs/grains, not only makes it easier for me to lose weight, it seems to dramatically reduce my arthritis, fibromyalgia and autoimmune disease symptoms also.
I also started eating very tiny, fequent meals to shrink my stomach, and stopping eating before I feel "full," and even stopping feeling a bit hungry. If I'm still hungry 20 minutes later, I'll have another small snack. This has helped a lot, not only in weight loss (not even primarily in weight loss), but it's helped me feel a LOT better. Large meals, I've found make me feel sluggish and sapped of energy.
None of these factors, instantly "cured" my obesity. The weight isn't falling off, but it is a much easier less stressful path to weight loss, than I've ever taken before.
I know I've gone on and on a bit, but I think that it's vital that we not look at obesity as a single factor issue, because dong so only sends us on a wild goose chase. I think one of the reasons that I didn't find long-lasting success in the past, wasn't due to lack of effort (I'm working a LOT less at weight loss than I ever, ever have in the past). Instead, it was dismissing some efforts as ineffective, when really they were just a small part of the problem. I had to chip away at the problem, instead of thinking there would be a dramatic "cure."
I actually think that part of the problem is that we're taught that "Food is Fuel." We aren't taught to really enjoy and pay attention to food when we are kids. Personally, I find that when I really focus on what I'm eating and don't just shovel it in, I enjoy it more and I eat less. I think the American way of mindless eating is part of the cultural problem.
I also think that our food system here in the US is backwards. It's so focused on cheap quantity that the quality has been lost. A friend of mine goes to Austria ever year for work. She's always talking about how pure their food is and how important it is to them. From what I've been told, they eat meat, lots of pastry, full fat dairy, they drink, and they don't eat many vegetables. My friend also says that their portions aren't that small. Yes, I'm sure they walk more and get more daily exercise, but after talking to my friend I wonder if food purity is part of the equation as well??? That's hard to quantify, but it certainly makes me think. Maybe they are satisfied quicker because the food is more tasty? I don't know, I haven't been there, but it's an interesting thought.
Eating, as far as I'm aware, for most if not all cultures has always been associated with community, gatherings, celebrations, mourning, etcetera. When someone gets married? We gather and eat. Parties? we gather and eat. Deaths? we send copious amounts of food to the family and still gather and eat. Way, way, way back eating was a commodity of sorts and one would often equate their wealth, status, etc. with how much food they had and the quality of it. It was a way of showing people gratitude, hospitality, etc and it still is. I think to say that obesity is associated with emotional eating is too broad of a statement. Is food often tied to emotions? Certainly. To me, emotional eating is someone who turns to food as a means of comfort, when they're sad, angy, etc. I would venture to say that a great percentage of overweight people aren't overweight for that reason.
I think they obesity issue is much more so related to the processed, easy access food of today. I don't think it's as simple as saying it's the marketing and such. But, how many times do you see a commercial showing a juicy, steaming, delicious serving of broccoli? You see a million fast food, microwave food, easy peasy commercials though. If it's in your face constantly it's going to be on your mind. Similarly, how many times do you see a commercial with a balanced meal waving at you through the tv telling you how you can lose weight by eating it? Nope, you see, for the most part, the diet pill commercials, the gimmicky weight loss stuff. I think the larger and way more important issue here is education. Sure it seems simple enough, eat better, move your arse and you'll be on the road to being a healthier you. But really? Isn't it easier, or at least perceived and thought to be easier to grab that slim fast shake? Hey, it says I can lose weight drinking it, right? This has really been a subject that I feel like something has to change. I don't know if it's education in schools, public service announcements, I just don't know. It's sad. Obviously because I'm here and on a weight loss journey I too have or have had some of these issues myself.
I have been going to Overeaters Anonymous ... it is just not the environment we live in and the culture of abundant food we live in that causes some of us to be obese. Overeating can be a disease just like Alcoholism. Nobody was ever born an alcoholic but just like over eating it can consume you.
I have come to realized I am an emotional eater. Just like an alcoholic who turns to booze when they cannot cope I found that I would eat to feel better.
There is no simple answer or solution. There are as many answers and solutions as there are people.
Kaplods--I appreciated your long and detailed post. It certainly can be several factors which contribute to each of us being over weight.
Personally, I can't blame advertising or fast food. We haven't eaten out in ages (5x a month would be considered a month where we over did it!) and I don't watch TV--we confine ourselves to DVDs and you-tube.
Yet, I'm overweight--I use food to "handle" stress. I used food to help me stay awake at night when my son had insomnia and I needed to be up with him. Now, I strongly believe, we're both overweight because of our lousy sleep hygeine. I have many pains and aches which restricted my movement more and more every year.
So, no, there isn't one contributing factor. There are lots and lots of them--and some of us will have similiar ones and some of us won't. We need to learn why stuff goes into our mouths (without spending all our time on it.) so that we can figure out other different ways to meet those needs, if that's what it is. As well, there's a great deal to be said for picking ourselves up after going off plan, dusting off and just getting on with it, too! I could write a book at this point, so I'll stop now.
In the end, each one of us has chosen to be responsible for what goes into our mouths--whenever and for whatever reason. That's worth celebrating! (But not with a cookie. )
Emotional Eating
You see a million fast food, microwave food, easy peasy commercials though. If it's in your face constantly it's going to be on your mind. Similarly, how many times do you see a commercial with a balanced meal waving at you through the tv telling you how you can lose weight by eating it? Nope, you see, for the most part, the diet pill commercials, the gimmicky weight loss stuff. I think the larger and way more important issue here is education. Sure it seems simple enough, eat better, move your arse and you'll be on the road to being a healthier you. But really? Isn't it easier, or at least perceived and thought to be easier to grab that slim fast shake? Hey, it says I can lose weight drinking it, right? This has really been a subject that I feel like something has to change. I don't know if it's education in schools, public service announcements, I just don't know. It's sad. Obviously because I'm here and on a weight loss journey I too have or have had some of these issues myself.
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