"What we eat is very important, but the way we eat is no less important, and the latter has a significant influence on the former," asserts Dr. Marisa Navarro, a graduate in Medicine and an expert in emotional health and wellbeing. Thanks to her more than 30 years of experience, she explains how dealing with our emotions allows us to "enjoy life more, be happier, and improve our health."
In her latest book, Emotional Eating, she claims to teach you how to change your mind in order to change your life. "It's a book in which you'll learn to eat without relying on diets, because they are unsustainable and the rebound effect is guaranteed," she explains to EL MUNDO. It's about, says the doctor, "enjoying eating and creating habits that make it possible to change your life". Not dieting, she emphasizes. The word 'diet' carries a connotation of "restriction, prohibition, not being able to do what one wants, dissatisfaction..." and this forms the basis of her book, where she delves into the theory that emotions and feelings are the main reasons for overeating or eating inappropriately, leading to weight gain and initiating various diet regimes to counter it. There's a direct link established between food and stress: eating is something that relaxes you, that makes you feel good and that, at least momentarily, makes you forget about other problems.
"Food helps alleviate stress," adds another expert in the field, Marcela Gallego Lopera, a Gestalt psychotherapist, a form of psychotherapy focusing on self-awareness to help individuals understand and meet their needs. "Everyday language is filled with references connecting food and emotions: 'I can't swallow this,' when rejecting something; 'I can't digest it,' when struggling to accept something. 'My stomach turns,' if feeling disgust. 'I have butterflies in my stomach,' related to anxiety, and expressions like 'I want to sweeten my life' or 'a full stomach, a happy heart,' among many others," she adds.
Experts at the HeartMath Institute, a non-profit research and education organization established in 1991, say that around 75% of overeating is caused by emotional hunger, signifying the use of food to cope with feelings: "In a highly stressed society, many of us eat high-fat or high-sugar foods to calm our emotions or temporarily relieve stress and anxiety."
Filling the Emotional Void
Why do we often turn to carbohydrate-rich foods when experiencing emotional hunger? We asked Dr. Navarro. "Because they rapidly increase blood glucose levels. Few consider binging on broccoli," she replies. She poses the next inevitable question herself: Why does eating calm us when engulfed in these negative emotions? "It's very much linked to our childhood. When we cried or sought affection, our parents or caregivers offered us something to eat, from breastfeeding to a sweet treat, and everything would be better. Eating holds a significant pleasure component. So we try to fill those emotional voids by eating. However, emotional hunger, which isn't physical, isn't satiated by eating; it's satiated by loving ourselves."
Emotional hunger is the prelude to binge eating and disordered eating. "Eating in response to some emotional state, whether due to sadness, depression, anger, frustration, anxiety, or boredom, triggers overeating or worse, irregular, disordered, or compulsive eating," explains Dr. Navarro. "But emotions can also lead us to skip meals or eliminate crucial foods from our diet. Being sad, angry, depressed, or in love can lead to inadequate eating."
The percentage of people who come to her practice with overweight problems caused by mismanaged emotions is very high. "Mind and body are interconnected, and directly affect each other. We seldom feel well in one aspect and poorly in the other. Today, as much as we focus on self-care and healthy eating, obesity rates in the Western world are at an all-time high. Obesity, excess weight, and eating disorders are everyday occurrences. We've been so influenced that it's almost impossible to eat without considering if it will make us gain weight. The pressure on body image is immense, and the younger generation is particularly affected by the emergence of social media in our lives. All this brews a perfect storm for emotional, psychological, physical, and eating disturbances," points out the doctor.
And this emotional hunger affects women in particular. "We face tremendous pressure on all fronts, which, of course, translates into greater emotional strain. We're expected to excel at work, be good wives at home, mothers to our children, daughters to our parents, and also look beautiful, taking care of ourselves in every aspect. With only 24 hours a day, often, we can't do more. Hence, emotional hunger is more prevalent among females. It's a misguided attempt to show ourselves some affection, but this isn't the way to do so," warns the expert.
Draining Diets
Emotions are also decisive when it comes to following a diet. "Diets dictate how one should eat, disregarding individual preferences — quantities, what to eat, and when. They instigate a sense of control over food that doesn't align with individual needs and desires, creating a conflict with eating, which at times, becomes exhausting."
To lose weight, Dr. Navarro opposes impersonal diets, advocating for "a change in mindset that triggers a shift in feelings, actions, and attitude, maintained over time to create new habits." The goal, she adds, is to create new neural pathways informing the weight-regulating center in the hypothalamus that "this new way of eating is the healthiest and best, ensuring a constant supply of nutrients." It's the primary key to eliminating both excess weight and the dreaded rebound effect. "Much of the overweight issues in our society stem from dieting," asserts Dr. Navarro. It's due, she explains, to a safety mechanism, the familiar 'save it for later.' "Moreover, imagine how a person feels after attempting diet after diet and seeing no results or even gaining weight. Very guilty, potentially leading to depression, and this is rarely discussed," she adds.
Emotional Nourishment
"We all have a specific weight value, called predetermined weight, and accepting it is the first step we must take," notes Dr. Navarro. "Numerous factors contribute to this weight — genetics, metabolism, the quality of intake, physical exercise, food environment, family, and social relationships..." explains the doctor, who adds that only "30% of our weight depends on genetics and metabolism, the remaining 70% is our responsibility."
This is why knowing how to differentiate between physical hunger and emotional hunger is crucial. "The former occurs when our body needs nutrients, but this cannot happen all the time; if this happens, we are dealing with emotional hunger," warns Dr. Navarro.
Distinguishing Physical from Emotional Hunger
At this stage, it's evident our eating habits are influenced by emotions and feelings. But how can we recognize the symptoms of emotional hunger and differentiate it from physical hunger? "By observing it," answers Dr. Navarro, "allowing a bit of time, a simple three minutes, to observe what we're about to eat is sufficient in most cases to discern the type of hunger. If after looking at that packet of muffins for three minutes you still want to eat it, go ahead and eat it."
On many occasions it won't happen. "Those three minutes might lead to develop other kinds of thoughts, such as, 'Do I really feel hungry when I ate just an hour ago? Could I eat just one muffin instead of the whole pack? What's happening to me? What am I feeling? What thoughts are causing this feeling? Maybe I could do something else? What if I take a walk? What if I call a friend and suggest we go for a stroll together?'... It's through our thoughts that we manage our emotional hunger," explains Navarro. Being attentive to these thoughts and "knowing how to replace them with ones that make us feel good is what will help us eat well," she concludes.
Three Techniques to Control Emotional Hunger
Once identified, mastering emotional hunger isn't easy, but it's simpler with a few tricks. The first, as explained by Dr. Navarro, involves drinking water or herbal teas when we feel like eating outside mealtimes. The expert also advises drinking a glass of water before each of the five daily meals, including the mid-morning snack and afternoon snack. There's a rationale behind this: "Sometimes, thirst is mistaken for hunger. Water has a satiating power that enables us to discern whether it's physical or emotional hunger," she asserts.
In addition, Dr. Navarro has established a series of techniques to calm emotional hunger and make it easier to confront:
Fork Rest Technique: Between bites, the doctor recommends placing the cutlery on the table and not picking it up until all food is swallowed. This slows down eating, preventing hasty consumption.
Meal Break Technique: Simply taking one or several breaks during the meal. There's no set time; each person decides, but the goal is to regain awareness of what's being eaten.
Three-Minute Technique: The doctor suggests spending three minutes looking at the plate of food before starting to eat, observing what's being consumed: color, smell, texture, nutrients... Allowing this space of time is highly beneficial, aiding in food awareness, resulting in a change. "This simple exercise is a challenge. I invite you to try the three-minute test; for example, if you're about to eat a chocolate. Observe it for that time; if you still desire it afterward, I recommend you eat it; but if you realize it was just a whim, save it for another occasion," concludes the expert.