Obese Britain Summer 2015.pdf

THE DANGERS OF
MINDLESS EATING
MINDLESS EATING IS ONE OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL
REASONS FOR WEIGHT GAIN IN THE UK
Almost everyone can relate to the term “comfort
eating”. Whether you’re experiencing a hectic
home life or a stressful work environment,
comfort food provides a quick and easy solution for
lifting our moods. But the practice of treating ourselves
to our favourite foods in order to improve our mood
and wellbeing is thought to be the most compelling
contributor to obesity in the UK.
From the moment we are born, we are nurtured and
treated with food, so having an emotional connection
to food is normal. However, it is not uncommon
for people to use food as a way of coping with
negative emotions.
Obesity is as much a psychological problem as it
is a physical one. Many psychological issues can not
only foreshadow the development of obesity, but they
can also cause ongoing struggle to control weight
gain. Because the psychological aspects of obesity
are so important, assessments and interventions
have become an integral part of a multidisciplinary
approach to treating obesity, which includes the use
of bariatric surgery.
Dr Bijal a leading bariatric surgeon at London’s
Nightingale Hospital says:
“Overeating is about physiological needs and
emotional needs. Physiologically, if an individual’s
diet is deficient in macro and micro nutrients then the
brain keeps sending signals for more sustenance i.e.
the hunger signal. Unfortunately we misread this as a
need for more food rather than need for right food. This
is often a trigger for overeating. Once we start to eat,
it takes about 20 minutes for receptors in our stomachs
to send a signal back to our brain that “sustenance
has been received” and to stop the hunger signal. It is
in these crucial 20 minutes that we are most likely to
overeat beyond our calorie requirement. The second
physiological process that is linked to overeating is
satiety - the signal from our brain that tells us “I am
full, stop eating”. Research shows that suppressing this
signal by regular overeating or disrupting this signal
by restricting, or yo-yo dieting, we weaken this signal,
and eventually lack of satiety leads to overeating.
“Leptin, known as the anorexigenic hormone, mainly
regulates energy balance thereby suppressing food
intake. Ghrelin on the other hand is a rapid acting
hormone that initiates appetite. People with obesity
are known to be leptin resistant and thereby unable to
regulate energy. Ghrelin levels are known to decrease
with eating, essentially producing the effects of satiety
but increase before meal times producing the effects of
hunger. The regulation of the two hormones combined
with other neurotransmitters is essential in regulating
food intake and body weight,” says Dr Bijal.
Obesity and over-eating involve both physical and
psychological facets so treatment – and educating
adults in how they feed their children - should bridge
the gap and address both aspects. Currently there is
also too much focus on food with fad diets rather than
addressing the eating process, which causes obesity.
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