Food, the Holidays & the Truth about Eating Disorders

Think about your favorite holiday food. Maybe pecan pie, maybe roast beef, maybe stuffing, maybe sugar cookies. Let’s say you are hungry. Think about eating that food right now. Do you feel excitement? Pleasure? Anxiety? Internal conflict? Guilt? Are you thinking about the calories? The grams of fat? Carbs? Whether you exercised enough today and are allowed to eat it? If you ate this food, how long would your feelings about it last? Would you feel guilt all day? Would the anxiety about eating it linger and affect your mood? Would you feel fat or uncomfortable in your own skin? Think about your friends or family members. Do they seem calm and at ease when they eat? Are they flexible and able to be spontaneous about food? Do you feel a vibe of anxiety when you are eating together? If you can identify pervasive tension and anxieties around food and eating, there is likely an eating disorder at play. People with eating disorders are highly anxious about food and eating. This is because their brain is telling them that food is a threat to their survival. This brain pattern is largely genetic and gets activated the first time the person goes on any type of diet. From that point on, they have a ramped-up fear of food. The fear of food is a phobia much like a phobia of spiders. Unlike spiders, however, food is an ever-present and essential substance that cannot be fully avoided. And, unlike many other phobias, the fear of food is almost never a conscious fear. In an attem...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Addictions Anorexia Binge Eating Bulimia Diet & Nutrition Disorders Eating Disorders General Healthy Living Holiday Coping Phobias Psychology Weight Loss Anxiety dieting dinner with the family eating too much Fear Food Source Type: news