Have you ever find yourself at the kitchen searching for food when you are in stress or in a bad mood? As Adrienne Posey says “Good food warms the heart and feeds the soul”. I also believe that we eat food not only to fill our stomach, but also to fill our emotions. But it is very important for us to control this situation both in terms of our physical and mental health.
We all eat food in order to feel better even though it’s effect is temporary. When we skip a meal we feel tired and down due to the low blood sugar we have. Other example for that is when you reduce an entire food group from your diet, you might have worsening mood or less energy than you used to have. These are the examples of mood swings caused by nutrient deficiencies.
Also there are effects of food on our emotions in other way. So they often say that eating chocolate makes people happy. Yes, it is correct, though this has nothing to do with chocolate. If you like the taste of broccoli, it might also make you happy. When you eat something you really like, a message is sent to your brain and your brain releases the serotonin hormone, which is also know as the happiness hormone. Although food can make us happy, it doesn’t mean we should always use food to run away from our feelings.
Using food to deal with situations we feel bad about and not to satisfy hunger is called emotional eating. Emotional eating doesn’t usually occurs when you are hungry, it can happen when you feel depressed, anxious or angry. This becomes a habit and you constantly eat food when you think you can’t solve the problem. This can lead people to binge eating and to be even more depressed. Maybe you feel like it would make you feel better, but it’s just a temporary situation and running away from your emotions by eating doesn’t actually solve any problem, on the contrary, it can cause you more emotional problems.
In conclusion, I think that food is very effective on our emotions. For our own good, we should use eating only as a motivation and not to suppress our emotions. If we summarize the whole writing with a quote from Karen Salmanohn “Food can distract you from your pain, but food cannot take away your pain. In fact, overeating the wrong foods can create more pain.”