Recognizing our feelings and managing them will allow us to have a better relationship with food.

The emotions we experience on a daily basis influence both the way we relate to others and the way we eat. According to Paula Andrea Henao, nutrition coach at SURA, human beings eat out of a physiological need in which Emotions play a special role when choosing what we are going to eat..   

Therefore, the conscious eating or mindful eating is so important to strengthen our relationship with food. This practice consists of paying full attention when preparing and consuming food, dedicating enough time not only to savor and enjoy what we are eating, but also to “Listen to our emotions and body, being able to satisfy nutritional and emotional needs,” in Henao’s words. 

Emotional and physiological hunger, how to differentiate them? 

Many times we have felt hungry once we have finished eating. However, let us ask ourselves this question: is it really hunger or simply the way we respond to an emotion? If the answer to this question is related to feelings, it is likely that we are facing an episode of hunger. emotional hunger.

Differentiating between physiological and emotional needs is very important. That's why we bring you some characteristics that can help you do it:

• Emotional hunger is sudden, while the physiological one is gradual. 
• When we eat driven only by emotion, we often crave a specific food. However, when it comes to physiological hunger, Any food satisfies us. 
• Normally, after satisfying emotional hunger, we can feel guilty or remorseful. On the contrary, when we obey the physiological need, We were satisfied and without negative feelings. 

Recognizing what goes through our minds when we feel hungry is very important to understand the reasons that lead us to eat and, thus, to be able to choose nutritious foods. that also satisfy emotions that we experience. These simple tips can help you curb your desire to eat: 

• Acknowledge your feelings and give them an outlet: Don't deny the emotions you are experiencing, instead, try to listen to them and do other activities that allow you to vent, such as talking to a friend or meditating. 
• Notice how you feel once you satisfy the desire to eat and ask yourself if that food achieved change your mood. 
• Distract your mind with some activity: When you feel emotionally hungry, give yourself a fifteen-minute space to do things you enjoy, such as reading a book, listening to a song or a podcast, so you can control the impulse to emotionally eat. 

Emotional eating disorders 

As we said before, human beings cannot separate the mind from the body and, when it comes to eating, this union is indissoluble. eating disorders are an example of this: these are defined as mental illnesses that affect behaviors related to food, which leads to altering the way in which we consume them, generating deterioration in quality of life of those who suffer from them. 

Knowing the symptoms and treatment is essential for comprehensive care of these pathologies. 

• • anorexia nervosa: It is a distortion of the body image even though one has a healthy weight, accompanied by an intense fear of gaining weight. This leads the patient to restrict food, which leads to extreme thinness. 

• bulimia nervosa: characterized by episodes of binge eating and, when a feeling of guilt arises, the patient decides to induce vomiting. Sometimes, it is accompanied by other inappropriate practices to avoid gaining weight, such as the use of laxatives or diuretics, fasting or excessive exercise. 

• Orthorexia: It is the excessive compulsion for a healthy diet, stopping eating foods in a normal way. Many patients even choose not to eat when they cannot find food that meets these requirements. 

El treatment of these pathologies should be integralThat is, addressing not only the nutritional and medical part, but also accompanying it with psychotherapy, which allows changing those eating behaviors and the necessary reconciliation with food.  

In this way, choosing our foods is a task that goes beyond the physiological: the recommendation will always be to wisely choose those that nourish the body while we enjoy them, aware that this process brings us physical, emotional and mental well-being.