Psychology Today Blogs - Cravings

Why There's Always Room for Dessert

Susan McQuillan, MS, RD — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:08:10 -0700

Researchers at McGill University in Montreal have discovered that ghrelin, the “hunger hormone” known to stimulate appetite when you’re hungry or in need of calories, also makes you want to eat just because the food in front of you looks especially good.

Ghrelin is secreted by your stomach and, from there, sends a message to receptors in your brain, telling them to be more receptive to food’s visual cues. Your brain responds by shooting back a reply to your belly saying, “Hey, that looks good—let’s eat it!” For many people, hungry or not, that message is just too hard to resist.

Ghrelin targets the same “reward center” of the brain as drugs like nicotine, ethanol, and cocaine, a fact which may someday help explain why some foods have addictive potential. Everyone produces ghrelin, but leaner people produce more. People with anorexia, loss of appetite due to physical illness, or who are fasting or losing weight by dieting, have especially high levels of ghrelin circulating in their bloodstreams. That makes sense, because these are conditions under which your body, fearing starvation and armed with natural survival tools, wants you to eat. People who are obese and those who have had gastric by-pass surgery are found to have lower circulating levels of ghrelin.

Ghrelin’s real job, as scientists understand it, is to work with other hormones to correct appetite and energy imbalances, and help you maintain a consistent weight. Researchers believe that ghrelin also suppresses your body’s use of its own fat for energy. If you produce too much or too little ghrelin, however, these jobs can’t be done properly.

When there is an excess of ghrelin, or when circumstances occur that are known to affect normal hormonal action (such as lack of sleep), everyone—lean or obese—ends up eating more. If the release of ghrelin also makes food appear more desirable, that may help explain why there’s always room for dessert. And why your body always seems to work against you when you’re trying to lose weight.

By the way, in the study showing that grehlin stimulates a response to the mere sight of food, the participants weren’t even looking at real food. They were looking at pictures of food. The implications of this research may reach well beyond the normal urge to indulge in a sweet treat to illustrate the true impact of fast food advertising and accessibility on the weight-related health problems that continue to plague this country.

Dieting and Disordered Eating

Susan McQuillan, MS, RD — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:05:27 -0700

The results of an online national survey by Self magazine, published in the magazine's current issue, show that 65% of American women are disordered eaters and that a number of eating habits considered normal by many women may in fact be symptoms of the condition. Disordered eating is considered more common and less serious than a true eating disorder, though much of the behavior is similar. According to the survey, disordered eaters may eat secretly, obsessively binge and then purge their bodies of unwanted calories by vomiting or using laxatives or diuretics, and exhibit many other behaviors similar to, but not as extreme, as those that define a true eating disorder such as bulimia or binge-eating disorder.

One problem with this survey, and the accompanying article which points to abnormal eating behaviors, is that some of the behaviors deemed abnormal are, in fact, the only weight loss techniques that have been shown to be even remotely successful. These include following strict food rules, eating the same “safe” foods every day, calorie restriction (less than 1,200 calories), thinking about food more than 50 percent of the time, obsessive calorie counting, daily weigh-ins, eating a lot of no- or low-calorie foods, and adopting a vegetarian diet solely for weight loss. And since 65% of the survey's respondents described themselves as overweight or obese, is it groundbreaking, or even surprising, that more than 60% have engaged in behaviors common to people who are trying to lose weight?

It is true that food addicts and compulsive overeaters suffer terribly from an unhealthy relationship with food, and all of these “abnormal” behaviors, if taken to an extreme, could be indicative of a problem. But I question the relevance of the statistics gathered in this survey, because, to come up with such a high percentage of disordered eaters, respondents who practiced one or more of these “abnormal” behaviors just a couple of times in their lives were lumped together with women who consistently practice potentially harmful eating behavior over extended periods of time. The difference between “normal” and “abnormal” lies in the amount of obsession and the degree to which eating behavior interferes with your day-to-day health and happiness. So where’s the line? To label so many women as disordered eaters because they experimented with questionable diet techniques at some point in their lives is just ludicrous.

At some point in our lives, most of us will consider a change of diet—cutting calories, eliminating certain types of foods from your diet, or making a point to eat more of some foods and less of others—because it’s part of the prescription plan for preventing or treating most age-related medical conditions, including weight gain. It takes a certain amount of obsessive behavior to accomplish any lifestyle change or to reach a difficult goal, and it’s never going to be a joy ride when you’re trying to change your eating habits. It will definitely interfere with your day-to-day happiness.

Although it seems psychologically healthier and somehow nobler to focus on your health rather than your good looks, it doesn’t really matter if your initial goal is to lose weight for vanity’s sake, or to prevent diabetes or heart disease. If you want to get fit because you’re at an unhealthy weight, it’s OK to count calories, get on a scale every day, and give yourself whatever attention it takes to keep you motivated and on course.

No matter how or why you do it, your initial reaction to any restricted diet plan is likely to be the same. You won’t like it. You’ll look for (and find) ways to rebel. Until you get used to a new way of eating, you’ll feel somewhat obsessed. You’ll cheat. Or you’ll just feel plain miserable. These are all normal responses to permanent changes you might have to make in order to succeed.

Eating fewer calories, exercising more, and paying close attention to your personal habits is how you lose weight and keep it off. It’s a lot like quitting smoking. Some people go “cold turkey,”break their bad habits, and never look back. But for most people, it doesn’t happen that way. To be successful, you ultimately have to make that one core decision to be a healthier person overall, and work up from there, one change at a time. You may give up and go back to your old eating habits many times before you’re ready to make the commitment to do better once and for all. You may need professional help to figure out the best approach to breaking old habits and maintaining the new ones that will get you to your goals. But along the way, if you stick to it, you’ll learn a lot about yourself and what works for you and what doesn’t. Practice what works and discard the rest. That’s how you’ll figure out what’s normal for you.

To Indulge or Not to Indulge

Susan McQuillan, MS, RD — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:11:35 -0700

There are two ways to deal with compulsive overeating: Avoid your favorite binge foods, or embrace them.

Researchers who support the notion of food addiction suspect that some people get a biochemical brain reward from eating foods high in fat or sugar, escalating the urge to eat in a way that’s similar to other forms of substance abuse. When food cravings lead to overeating, weight gain, or all-out binges, it’s time to seize control. Unlike someone with a drug or alcohol addiction, however, the goal of a food addict or compulsive eater obviously can’t be to give up food. Instead, the goal is to get healthy by getting your eating habits under control.

For many self-described food addicts, conventional wisdom says the only way to battle out-of-control eating is to resist temptation from the get-go. There are a lot of “don’ts” attached to this approach. Don’t keep indulgence foods around the house. When you’re in the mood to binge, don’t go food shopping. Stay away from grocery stores and fast fooderies until you’re in a more stable emotional state. Distract yourself until the urge to eat fades away. Take a walk, clean the bathroom, chew cool-mint gum, do whatever you can to keep your hands off food for a while. If your hunger is psychological, rather than physiological, it should subside within minutes and you might be able to put off eating until your next meal.

But some experts take a different line of attack. Lora Sasiela, L.C.S.W., B.C.D, a therapist with offices in New York and New Jersey who specializes in substance abuse and eating disorders, takes an anti-deprivation approach toward food. She helps some of her clients “legalize” all their food choices so they can walk into a grocery store, pick up fresh vegetables and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, and feel comfortable buying and eating both types of food.

Compulsive eaters and food addicts in recovery have a lot on their bio-psycho-sociological plates. In addition to unearthing and resolving underlying emotional issues and possibly coping with enabling brain chemistry, anyone trying to overcome disordered eating behavior must also relearn how to shop for, prepare, and eat food in moderation. Although strict weight loss diets backfire on most people, a balanced, calorie-controlled diet plan can serve as a guide to more healthful eating. Once you understand how to eat well, and healthier eating habits become your norm, you can possibly throw away the limited plan and trust yourself to eat just about anything you want.

Food Abuse

Susan McQuillan, MS, RD — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:52:33 -0700

When the editors at Psychology Today approached me a couple of years ago with an assignment to write a book called Breaking the Bonds of Food Addiction, my first (very conservative) thought was, “There’s no such thing as an addiction to food.” How could I possibly write 375 pages of material about a condition that doesn’t exist? I was wrong. While researching the book, I found out there’s plenty of evidence to support the theory of food addiction, and there’s a lot to say about it. Neuroscientists have found that food affects brain chemistry in ways that might lead to an addiction in some people. In fact, the brain chemistry and physiology of an obese person has been shown to be very similar to that of a drug addict.

It’s true that scientists have yet to figure out why or how someone can become addicted to food, or to prove that a true addiction to food even exists. But whenever I talk to someone with a compulsive overeating disorder, I inevitably hear about behavior that is secretive, self-destructive, and out of control. The obsession is the same as that of a gambler, a sex addict, or a compulsive gamer.

Food addiction goes by many names, including emotional eating, disordered eating, and binge eating. Food restriction and avoidance are also forms of food addiction. So, if you go on a diet to try to lose weight, or if you pay strict attention to what you eat so you don’t gain any more weight, does that mean you’re a food addict? No. But if you go on diet after diet after unsuccessful diet or if you are overly preoccupied with food and body size, you may be a food addict. If you constantly think about eating (or avoiding) food, if you’re planning your next meal before you’ve even finished the one you’re eating, or if the mere thought of entering a supermarket brings up feelings of guilt or shame, you may be a food addict. You’re definitely a food addict if your relationship with food interferes with your physical or emotional well-being.