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Emotional Overeating

Anytime you put food into your mouth when you are not hungry is called emotional eating. Rather than hunger fueling your desire to eat something, an emotion is driving you to binge on something you do not really want. Emotional eating is not something people only do when they are feeling down (think the newly single girl on television who indulges in a gallon of her favorite ice cream to feel better about her break up). It is something you do when an emotion drives you. That emotion could be sadness, such as when you are hurt by a loved one or lose your job. That emotion could also be simple boredom; the house is clean, the kids are in bed and you are wandering around trying to find something to do when you decide that eating cookies is the right choice. Emotional eating can lead to weight gain, depression and feelings of guilt, which is why you need to know the difference between being hungry and being emotional in the kitchen.

 

 Knowing the Difference

 

There are a number of ways to differentiate between emotional eating and actual hunger. By being in tune with your body, you will easily be able to tell the difference. The first difference between emotional eating and hunger is that hunger occurs gradually. You typically begin to feel hungry over time, becoming hungrier as time passes, whereas emotional eating is something that happens suddenly. Additionally, when you are truly hungry you are open to eating anything. When you are eating emotionally you crave something specific, because it is the only food that will satisfy that craving.

 

When you are hungry you don’t feel as if though you have to eat immediately. When you are eating because of an emotion you want to eat immediately. Finally, when you eat for emotional reasons instead of hunger, you often feel guilty afterward.

 

 Stop Emotional Eating

 

By recognizing when you are making a food decision based off of an emotion rather than hunger, you can avoid emotional eating and the subsequent feelings of guilt that come with it. The first thing you need to do when an emotional eating feeling strikes is to distract yourself. When you are craving a food because of an emotion, you are attempting to either remove or create a feeling in yourself that you are currently missing. Instead of feeding your emotions, find a healthier alternative. The next time you feel the need to eat emotionally, take a walk. Exercise helps to increase your mood and boost your level of happiness. By replacing emotional eating with exercise, you are making yourself healthier and happier.

 

You can also try making a list of things that always make you feel good. The next time you feel the need to eat something because of your emotions, refer to this list and try something on it instead. Keeping a food journal is another way to help you stop overeating due to emotional eating. This allows you to keep a tangible record of when you tend to feel the most emotional and are most likely going to overeat for the wrong reasons. By establishing this pattern, you will be able to help yourself to avoid emotional eating and maybe even figure out what the cause of your emotional eating is.

 

There is nothing wrong with indulging in something sweet from time to time. The key is not to go overboard and spend your time eating for emotions rather than hunger. Feeding your emotions has a very negative effect on your overall health, which is far more difficult to improve than your mood.

 

Richard Hasson. Finished psychology at Washington university, currently working for Long Island divorce attorneys as an consultant for people who are going through tough divorce. He also likes to write about self-help for depression and life in general.

 

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The Low Fat Fryer – Giving Dieters a Helping Hand

Every year people commit to a diet in order to improve their health and appearance, and do so with the very best of intentions of seeing it through until they reach the goals they have set for themselves. Once they start, though, they often find that it’s not as easy as they first thought – and with temptation constantly in their path, it’s all too easy to for them to give in and undo all the hard work that they’ve put in so far.

One of the hardest things about trying to stick to a diet is having to give up many of our favourite “unhealthy” foods. By making a sudden and complete change to what we eat it’s only natural that our bodies take time to adjust, and during this time we crave the foods that we always enjoyed eating. Giving in to temptation during this is the worse thing that we can do – if we start to make exceptions during this early phase, the diet is almost certainly doomed to failure.

A more sensible approach would be to try and find some way of being able to eat some of our old favourites without going against the healthy eating principles of our diet, and we can often do this simply by cooking these foods in a different way. It’s for this reason that the low fat fryer has become so popular in recent years, as they allow us to continue eating all sorts of foods that would traditionally have been deep fried, but as they’re cooked without using any (or a very minimal amount of) oil, they are far healthier.

The most popular of the low fat fryers currently on the market is the Philips Airfyer, and it’s actually a very simple device to use. It works by circulating hot air around the food as it cooks so that the surface dries out and forms a crispy coating, similar to that which it would get from being cooked in a fryer. As no oil is needed for the cooking process, anyone who’s on a diet can carry on eating chips or French fries and ‘fried’ meats with every meal… diets have never tasted so good!

By allowing ourselves to eat these types of foods whilst remaining completely guilt-free, we’re far more likely to carry on eating healthily into the long term rather than just as part of a temporary fad. The Airfryer is big enough to cook enough food for a whole family, so you can improve the health and well-being of your kids without them even knowing – and anyone who has a fussy eater for a child will know just how hard this can be!

There are many benefits that using a low fat fryer can bring, and you can read more about them here. They can be bought fairly cheaply these days, just as many kitchen appliances can – but what sets them apart is that while most modern kitchen appliances aim to make your life easier, low fat fryers aim to make your life better.

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Healthy Eating Action Plan

Sticking to your new years resolutions health goals can be tricky if you don’t have the right resources to help you accomplish your goals. Understanding that willpower and positive thinking can only get you so far, is half of the battle. By incorporating whole nutrients foods into your diet you can not only feel healthier but improve your mind as well. Here are some tips to help you feel great and reach your health goals.

Eat Your Veggies

Just what the doctor ordered, eating your vegetables and juicy leafy greens is good for you. The greener the vegetables the more nutritious they are. Eat slower to enjoy the rich nutrients and leafy satisfaction.

Eat Uncooked Foods

Cooking foods often removes some of the health benefits of food. Eating raw foods like fruits and steamed vegetables can help you feel satisfied and full longer. You will have more nutrition pumped into your body as well.

Keep it Simple

Sauces, condiments, gravy’s and salt can make any food even more addictive. Consider eliminating extra calories by reducing the condiments.

Eat More Fruit

Avoid sweets and added sugars but load up on fresh fruit. Apples, and pears along with most fruit are naturally sweet. You will learn to love the natural sweet flavors the are in fruits rather then the artificial flavors found in cookies and candy.

Avoid Caffeine

Caffeine is a drug that hypes the blood pressure. It is addiction and makes us feel awake when our body needs to rest. Limit the amount of caffeine to stabilize your blood pressure and have a more consistent heart rate.

Skip the Fried Foods

The American diet is full of fatty fried foods and super sized meals. Detox your mind, body and soul by skipping the fried food. By reducing and eliminating fried foods your will feel more healthy all around. Your body will naturally balance out and you will feel cleaner.

Drink Water

Drinking water is one of the best-kept health secrets. It flushes away toxins and helps our digestive system. It isn’t just great for the inside of your body it is great for your skin and teeth. When we eat, food particles stick to our teeth, but when we drink water it washes away particles and bacteria. This can prevent plaque build up.

Keep a Food Journal

Writing and keeping track of your food intake is one of the best ways to stay on track with new eating goals. When you write what you eat down you are more likely to be accountable.

Shannon Kaiser is a health and wellness writer for many online and print publications. For more health tips TenderCare Dental, a Dentist in Portland.

 

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dieting exercise weight loss

3 New Year Resolutions For Your Digestive System

Christmas has come and gone – just like a flash. We have eaten too much, had too much to drink and now wish we could be better people. Is this the reason New Year resolutions were invented?

The rich food on Christmas Day, the repeated helpings of left-over turkey and the celebratory drinks for the New Year have given us indigestion – good for sales of heartburn remedies, but not for our digestive systems.

So what New Year resolutions can you have to improve your digestion?

Resolution No. 1 – Put less on your plate

It is great that we have the health to enjoy our food. All the hours spent watching celebrity chefs on television have made us more discerning about food and, in theory, we know how to prepare a wide range of complex meals.

However, no matter how delicious your meal is, a great start to improving your digestion this year is to put less on your plate. A good way to achieve this is simply to use a smaller plate when you eat!

Isn’t it ridiculous that in the developed world, we waste money buying too much food, eating more than we need, putting on weight, then spend more money in gym memberships trying to get the fat off. People in the poorer parts of Africa should be laughing their heads off.

Resolution No. 2 – Eat Slowly

In a way, this is a variation of the slow food movement. Mealtimes are for conversation, to be social – not rushed with food tucked away in the 90 seconds of advertisements during Coronation Street.

The brain takes a bit of time registering the fact that food has entered the body and is filling the stomach. Take your time eating, and chew each mouthful 20 times or more. This will ensure that the nerve signals telling your brain that the stomach is ‘full up’ comes before the end of the meal, not after you have emptied your plate down your gullet.

Too often, highly processed foods can be stuffed unceremoniously into our mouths and as they do not need to be chewed, we can swallow each mouthful very efficiently. Chewing food carefully also makes sure that the digestive process starts properly in your stomach – reducing the chance for symptoms of indigestion, such as heartburn and bloating, to develop.

Resolution No. 3 – Eat bitter vegetables

Sadly, these are not readily found in our modern supermarket chains. In days gone by, bitter tasting vegetables were commonly found on dinner tables.

In the West, probably the most bitter-tasting food found readily is rocket. Other bitter leaves such as nasturtium flowers, dandelion leaves or artichoke can be used in salads, but are not so easy to procure. You can of course, pick dandelion leaves from your garden during the summer.

Bitter foods are important for the digestive process. Bitter sensations on the tongue trigger a nerve reflex, starting the secretion of gastric juices before food hits the stomach. In some countries, bitter tasting aperitifs are still popular. They contain medicinal herbs, known as ‘stomach bitters’ such as centaurium, which can start off the digestive process in the same way.

These are known, quite distinctly as ‘digestifs’ – sounds like we need more of these bitter herbs in our modern lives.

Alison lectures & trains on health issues, and is often to be found quoted in health magazines.

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The 5 Most Annoying Things About Weight Loss

Anyone who says losing weight is easy probably benefits from a fast metabolism. In most cases, it’s a challenge no matter how you look at it. It’s never something anyone looks forward to, and you know it’s going to involve a lot of hard work. It might be some consultation that most people know exactly how you feel, and you definitely aren’t alone on your journey to a healthier body. However, that still doesn’t eliminate the need to keep a balanced approach in mind while making sure your body stays healthy. You already know the basics behind healthy weight loss and you understand the science. The secret is putting various pieces of advice into effect so that they actually apply to real life. Here are some of the most annoying aspects of keeping on track with any weight loss program.

Exercise – there’s nothing worse than having to work out when you absolutely don’t feel like it. There will be days when you feel like sitting on the couch and watching your favorite movie instead. But the key to making exercise a vital part of your daily process is adding variety to your routine. Rather than settling on one single exercise to burn calories, consider other activities as well. You can also make exercise a lot less annoying if you get your friends on board. Social sports or workout classes can be a great way to break down the tedium of everyday exercise.

The Scale – what could be more annoying than stepping on the scale only to find out that you weigh more? This is a common experience and it de-motivates a lot of people. One simple solution is to not get on the scale and the first place. Most experts agree that weighing yourself once a week is all you need in order to keep on track. Any more than that and it becomes an obsession that can cause you to lose perspective on things.

Fat Free Foods Don’t Work – it would be nice if you could load up your diet with fat-free health items and lose weight automatically. Unfortunately, that’s simply not how things turn out for many people. Don’t look for any easy answers with fat-free foods and always remember that proper nutrition comes with a full menu plan. Rather than complicating the situation with so-called health foods, stick with regular eating and smart choices. Ironically, sometimes the most effective fast weight loss comes from a slower gradual approach with proper nutrition.

Skinny Celebrities – when you’re in the middle of the weight loss program, there’s nothing worse than skinny celebrities showing up on television. All you want to do is curse of them and they’re good genes. It’s even worse when a formally-fat celebrity shows up to endorse a weight loss program and tells you how easy it is. Sometimes you wish they would just shut up and go away. It’s important to remember that many of these celebrities have a whole team of experts that help them to look great. It’s probably not natural, and they benefit from airbrushing or plastic surgery in many cases.

Unsolicited Advice – perhaps there is nothing more annoying when you’re trying to lose weight is unsolicited advice from friends or total strangers. You already have your plan in place and you haven’t asked anyone for help. Yet everybody has their own idea about how to lose weight properly and they aren’t afraid to share it. A lot of people don’t recognize that many tips are incredibly personal independent on specific situations. What works for one person simply won’t work for another without adaptations.

This unique look at losing weight comes to us from our friends at rabbitsadvice.com, a site dedicated to better living and a healthier body. You can find more advice on improving your diet and staying away from high cholesterol foods.

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Essential Nutritional Advice That Everyone Should Follow

As more and more people become interested in longevity, there is an intense new focus on the role that nutrition plays in the overall health of one’s body.  There are some well understood nutritional facts that are helping people dramatically improve their well-being. When you are looking for something to snack on, open the refrigerator. You will most likely find choices that are more healthy than anything you can find in your pantry or freezer. Try filling your fridge with fruits and vegetables so you always have easy access to a snack.

One should look to the food pyramid when wondering how they can give themselves the best nutrition. The information obtained will greatly help one plan their meals to the best effect. Nutritional information should be studied to learn the best foods for one to have in their diet for optimal nutrition. Spinach is a great vegetable to consume and advantageous for your body as well.  You can add this vegetable to any meal that you choose, to restore the vitamin E in your body.  Spinach helps to reduce the amount of oil on your skin during the day and night, yielding a softer skin palette.

It can be hard to maintain proper nutrition during pregnancy when you’re feeling tired, so plan ahead for days when you just don’t have the energy to cook. Take advantage of those days when you are feeling good to make a second tray of lasagne or a double batch of chilli to freeze for later use.

Try buying your fruits and vegetables at a farmer’s market near you. Not only do locally-grown foods have a minimal impact on the environment, but they are also better for you, since small farms generally use less harmful chemicals. It’s fun to walk around and sample all the delicious fruits and vegetables. Converse with the farmers to ensure you know exactly where and how the food was produced.

Instead of snacking on sweet items like cookies and ice cream, try their healthier counterparts. replace cookies with items like granola, oatmeal and cereal and fruit bars. For ice cream, try going with low-fat or non-fat yogurt. These options not only taste better than the unhealthier ones, but you get nutrients like iron, calcium, fibre and much more in your diet.

In conclusion, if you want to live a long and healthy life, nutrition must play a role.  What foods go into your body do matter to the length and quality of your life.  The science of nutrition provides invaluable insight into the building blocks of your body, and how to maximize their potential.

Scott lives in London and orders South Kensington Delivery whenever peckish.