Don't Let Your Feelings Make You Fat

This article from the January 2010 issue of Shape magazine, discussed "emotional eating." The idea is that many people eat as a way to cope with other stresses that they are dealing with in their life. According to Jane Jakubcazak, a Registered Dietitian, approximately 75 percent of her patients who come to see her for weight-loss advice eat to deal with their feelings. Many people get into a pattern where anytime they feel anything including sadness, loneliness, anxiety, or boredom, they turn to food. The key to avoiding this behavior is to address what it really is that the person is craving.

This topic relates to the coursework that we studied in Chapter 11, Stress and Health. People often develop certain reactions as a way to deal with stressful events that are taking place in their lives. We discussed how possible reactions to the feelings of frustration can lead one to displace this aggression or escape and withdrawal. Some may even resort to drug use. However, for others the escape may be with food and eating as the means to avoid the true root of the problem or their stress.