American Overeating

Did you know 38% of Americans in the US overeat. Overeating has been along for as long as human civilization existed. It is very dangerous and causes many casualties that occur in the US. Overeating is a harmful thing because it can affect people by giving them numerous diseases which can easily end anyone's life. The main cause of overeating is definitely depression. Depression is when someone has feelings of sadness and are depressed. This happens to teens and adults everywhere in the world. An example of how depression can be caused is by divorce now when a child's parents become divorced this impacts the child immensely and makes them feel like there is an empty space and they would fill that space with food to cover up all the emotion

I would then go on to the different reasons why people overeat and ask the client which one(s) they identify with and why, as the majority of people will be able to identify with at least one of them. One such reason is eating to lessen unpleasant experiences. This is something we learn from an early age, such as getting something sweet from a parent when we are in pain. In later life we may be taken for meals out to cheer us up or be brought 'comfort' food such as chocolate and ice-cream after a break up, for example (Chrysalis, Module Six). Eating to get attention and gain authority is another reason why people may overeat. Larger people may feel like they are more important and command attention, though not always positively. They may be for example, making a point of telling people how much they are eating at a party, gaining negative attention in replacement of the harder to achieve positive attention. People may also overeat for reward and entertainment, such as receiving a treat food for completing chores as a child, or giving and receiving chocolates and wine on special occasions later in life. However, treats are now common place in households and not necessarily used for special occasions. People can also use food for fear, overeating on unhealthy foods to help them deal with their fear.

I researched this issue for an addictions project last semester and I’ve come to understand that food can actually activate our dopamine receptors. Furthermore, people often have emotional triggers for overeating. I think as a future health educator it’s really important to understand that distinction and be aware of the emotional causes for overeating and binge eating disorder. I rated emotional as number two on my list because it is emotions that are driving my overeating. It’s possible it should be number one considering since it’s the underlying cause the physical behavior I want to change. I am aware that it’s mostly anxiety that is making me overeat or aggravation by family. I’ll have work on find ways to deal with these stressors. I recently changed my study area due to lighting and other comfort issues. The biggest plus to where I was studying it that was quiet and private. What the change of area made me notice is that most of the time, when I start to have an uncomfortable emotion I literally whip open the refrigerator which is about four feet away from where I am studying. Previously I had to walk up steps to get to the kitchen which

Signals and cues are the ones that cause us to overeat. We make dozens of food decisions daily and Wansink describes this within his studies. Wansink uses illustrations, creative examples and lab reports to conduct his experiments. Wansink is a very credible source of information. In the introduction, he doesn’t waste any time proving his knowledge over food psychology and his passion for food science. He received a master’s degree in communication research, with that degree he worked for Better Homes and Gardens. This was where he discovered the importance of choosing the best cover stories to draw in more readers and customers. Later, he applied for his Ph.D. in Consumer Behavior at Stanford. This experience was a catalyst

The critical fixing connected to overeating this can be a weariness and tiredness accompanying the frenzied food ingestion. This response to eating processed foods is similar to /or using the www and a decrease in exercising and viewing television.

There are many different ways in which we emotionally eat. There's the obvious cliché of sitting down with a pint of ice cream after a breakup and polishing it off, but there are other, more subtle ways we eat more due to our emotions. Basically, if you ever eat when you are not hungry, there's a strong likelihood that you are eating because you are subconsciously trying to deal with some kind of emotion. Boredom is a prime example of this: how often do you get snacky when you spend the afternoon zoned out in front of the TV? Our brains crave stimulation, and television is actually a pretty poor stimulator because our bodies are not involved in any way. We bring our bodies in to the mix by grabbing some

In a current study, relationships between stress and mindless snacking has led to Americans developing obesity. Most citizens in the United States who try to eat snacks to stop their stress will lead to their stress being worse and/or leading to diseases. Most foods that cause stress are candy, junk food, some nuts ( such as almonds), and high-fat food.One culprit is the fast-food industry, who has their restaurants all over America. Because of their high-fat food, most Americans are being diagnosed with chronic stress. This is bad for Mental health because it causes a trigger in multiple kinds of chronic stress. Why does the average American get stressed when they eat a lot?

Previous research has found that emotions affect eating, and that negative moods and positive moods may actually lead to preferences for different kinds of foods as well as being a major force behind food cravings.

in Chao 204). A few of the mental and health issues one can acquire from emotional eating include: obesity, binge eating disorders, and an overall negative body image. “Studies suggests that emotional eating may be one of the factors that contributes to obesity, as emotional eaters have been shown to consume more energy-dense foods in response to negative emotions than non-emotional eaters” (qtd. In Chao 204). Overeating unhealthy food will create an unhealthy weight as well as a negative body image. Once people view themselves as overweight they will want to do something about it. Some people might start a diet; whereas others might eat more as they are emotional eaters. People who want to lose weight but continue to overeat could develop an eating disorder. One eating disorder having to do with overeating is binging. Binge eating disorder is “an eating disorder characterized by recurring episodes of binge eating accompanied by a sense of lack of control and often negative feelings about oneself but without intervening periods of compensatory behavior (as self-induced vomiting, purging by laxatives, fasting-or prolonged exercise)” (Binge Eating Disorder”). A person who binges feels bad about eating large amounts of food but does not do much about it. Comfort food is used to make one feel good, but instead it could cause one to feel dissatisfied and

Through new research and numerous studies it is becoming clear and more socially-aware that overeating is causing addictive behaviors. Most clinical studies in the past have focused primarily on eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa and anorexia. In recent years more attention has been focused on the growing number of Americans with obesity which is also considered an eating disorder. In the search for possible originating causes more research has been done in the fields of brain imaging, parallel addiction, chemical malfunction and genetics.

The authority food holds over overweight people is so powerful, some overweight people become addicted to food. Addiction is defined as a dependence on a substance in which the affected individual feels powerless to stop. According to Caroline Davis, author of “Compulsive Overeating as an Addictive Behavior: Overlap Between Food Addiction and Binge Eating Disorder”, food is as addictive as illicit drugs and it takes little time to become addicted to palatable food. “...food addiction is an identifiable clinical syndrome with psychiatric co-morbidities and a psycho-behavioral profile remarkably similar to conventional drug-abuse disorders” (Davis). Davis claims people become addicted to food because they enjoy the pleasant feelings they receive from consuming the delicious food. Carolyn Ross, author of “Food Addiction Is Not About Willpower”, states that “eating triggers the dopamine reward center in the brain, making food a source of pleasure. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that regulates emotion and motivation. The release of dopamine is the brain's way of rewarding us for engaging in basic

This incident is known as overeating. Boredom, too much good food, an inability to clearly define and identify hunger, or just because the food was there are some of the reasons we overeat. If it is done occasionally, there would not be an issue. But for those of us who overeat regularly, and gain weight as a result, it may be time to take a closer look at why we are doing it. A basic definition of overeating is, simply put, excessive eating which is consuming more calories than necessary and generally consuming in large portions that cause a person to feel uncomfortably full. According to Lein (2015), overeating is not a specific diagnosis of any sort but may rather refer to a discrete incident of eating too much such as during holidays, celebrations, or while on vacation, or it may refer to habitual excessive eating. Malaysian teenagers nowadays overeat for many

There are many problems and causes surrounding eating too much junk food. One of the major ones is emotional eating. Emotional eating happens when someone eats to deal with certain emotions such as sadness or even stress. Most people gravitate towards junk food while emotional eating because it never requires any preparations, is always there and easily accessed. Boredom also leads to excessive excessive eating, this is because people will be bored and not know what to with their hands and the easiest thing to do is to eat because there is always going to be food there. For many people it can be hard for them to realize that they are eating because of boredom

Another cause of junk food over healthy food is due to stress and anxiety. After tireless hours of work, the human body can feel exhausted and stressed out, these feelings crave junk food. “Research shows that stress also interferes with hunger hormones, like ghrelin, which controls your appetite” (Immanuel 1). The weak body is basically asking for energy and is increasing appetite, therefore it wants high calorie and sugary foods. In addition, when people are under stress they do not want to add more problems or worries to their lives. In order to reduce this stress, people tend to put their clean diets on hold and choose to eat for example, a cheeseburger instead of rice and vegetables for dinner. In the end, they do not think about the consequent of eating unhealthy that night. The many people who suffer from anxiety use junk food as a self-soother. The taste of sweet and salty foods can comfort a person, which results in them calming down and being in a better mood.

Emotional eating affects most everyone to different degrees. For some of us it is something that occurs occasionally and for others it rules our day. Giving way from good intentions to overwhelming urges to eat. The good news is the emotional eating is a learned behavior so no matter how out of control we may feel right now when it comes to food, you have the ability to unlearn it. It takes a little time and effort but the pay off is huge.