Click here to read Part I of the story.
Have you ever found yourself polishing off a plate of chocolate chip cookies, not even conscious of your actions or submerged yourself into a whole pizza wondering why you’re still eating when you’re not even hungry? Over 9 million American men and women would answer this question, yes. And with that confirmation would undoubtedly reveal shame, regret, fear, disappointment, frustration, loneliness, and confusion.
While we are wired to love food and derive great pleasure from the act of eating, somehow our love affair with food has become an abusive relationship. We are suffering as a community – women and men, all races, ethnicities, and socio-economic groups are struggling to find solace in healthy eating behaviors. We have a national eating disorder and it is time we shed some light on this skeleton in our closet.
Emotional eating is the title bestowed on the act of using food to escape painful emotions or as a means to press the pause button on a life disrupted from its expected trajectory. Some find a sense of control in the act, while others feel their sense of self diminish with each bite.
Emotional eating can run the gamut from unconsciously or consciously eating in the absence of hunger to an intense binge where complete loss of control takes over while food is used to create a numbing effect in the body so that reality can fade away for a fleeting moment.
Binge Eating Disorder, Compulsive Eating, and Emotional Eating are given a bad name in our culture. These titles are limiting and trap the person suffering with these conditions in their own isolated inner turmoil. The pain that some of my patients share with me about wanting to be free of this imprisonment is as intense and real as the complex medical imbalances I note as I review their patient histories.
We often focus on the fact that chronic overeating leads to diabesity and predisposes the body toward inflammation from elevated lipids, insulin resistance, dysglycemia, elevated blood pressure, psychiatric illness, poor digestion, malnutrition, and hormone imbalance.
While it is true that over 65 percent of people with Binge Eating Disorder, or BED, are obese it would be too simplistic to reduce this disorder to a mere prescription of weight loss without addressing the underlying causes.
A culture that enforces perfectionism, idolizes unrelenting ambition and exalts emaciated bodies at the expense of health has led to a society of people fearing food as the enemy. How did something so natural and necessary to our survival encourage an overly aggressive milieu of critical, restrictive, and incessant dieting commonly seen amongst those struggling to befriend food?
Addressing the Root Cause of Emotional Eating
Some physicians are treating patients desperate to be free from disordered eating patterns with certain drugs that alter the neurotransmitters in the brain. Do I think Topamax and Meridia are the answer to our nation’s disordered relationship with food? No, I certainly do not.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, imbalances in the brain corrected by SSRI’s, or psychiatric medications, do not imply we have a deficiency in these pharmaceuticals – they are purely band aids covering up important information we must deal with in order to heal correctly.
In my book, The UltraMind Solution, I discuss the etiology of syndromes comprising the constellation of mental health disorders and brain conditions and offer solutions from the principles of Functional Medicine. If you are concerned about your mental wellness, then I strongly suggest you consider your symptoms in the context of this medical paradigm for a fresh and nonjudgmental take on health and healing.
Addressing imbalances in The 7 Keys of UltraWellness is critical to healing and preventing emotional eating. In my most recent book, The Blood Sugar Solution, I discuss the steps you can take to reset your metabolism and create hormonal balance in your mind and body.
You can use food to balance blood sugar, optimize nutrition status, and improve digestive issues implicated in disordered eating as well as include supplements relevant for cravings, mood, and energy. Restoring health in these 7 Keys is one way to approach managing your relationship with food and your body.
But perhaps some of the most useful gifts provided in The 7 Keys of UltraWellness are a sense of empowerment, understanding, and belonging. In Functional Medicine we believe that health takes place when the systems in the body are communicating smoothly so that each function of the body completes its task efficiently.
When a patient can understand why they are sick it is easier for them to gain inspiration to heal the root cause of disease. By actually listening to patients speak about their quality of life, I find that interestingly it is usually those who wish they could increase their vitality and ability to live life more joyfully who struggle with food the most.
My goal when people leave my office is for them to feel heard and understood. I want them to know that their complaints are valid and symptoms are real and that they are not alone in whatever obstacle to their health they are facing.
Could there be a legitimate connection between our satisfaction with our life and how we approach food? This area of mind-body medicine has been gaining momentum over the last three decades and it turns out that, YES, there is a strong relationship between our inner and outer worlds. It might be that part of why we eat has nothing to do with the food itself, but more our relationship to ourselves and the quality of our lives.
There is no room for shame, guilt, or embarrassment in healing, especially when that healing has to do with our greatest key to lifelong health – food! We must modify the culture of embarrassment and secrecy around emotional eating so that people can feel comfortable enough to come out and share their stories and allow the healing to begin.
Willpower, Appetite, and Emotion
Are you, or someone you know, ashamed about being an emotional eater? Part of our birthright is to live life in color and with feeling. Feelings are natural and denying emotion is simply illogical. It’s like telling an infant to stop crying!
We are emotional beings and it is 100 percent normal to have a relationship with food that strikes an emotional chord within you. We are wired to love food and to be turned on by it. Denying this by trying to have the willpower of steel is like denying a part of your humanity which relies on pleasure and enjoyment from food for survival.
I encourage you to question your appetite for life and increase your curiosity about what you want to get out of it. In what ways do you substitute food for authentic fun, excitement, or satisfaction from living the good life? What really nourishes you and what first step is realistic for you to take to move toward that?
If you struggle with emotional eating I propose you accept yourself and all of your emotions first. Sounds easier said than done? By tending to your emotional wellness, perhaps with a trusted professional or friend, you enlighten a piece of yourself that’s been left in the dark.
By acknowledging your whole being and allowing these emotions to surface, you free yourself from a mental tangle harping on rigidity, judgment, and pain. You’ll no longer require food to keep difficult emotions or stress stuffed deep down inside.
This new space gives you more availability to live the life you actually want. It also fulfills a missing piece of you that perhaps blocked your success on a previous diet or attempt to overhaul your lifestyle. Ninety-five percent of people who currently go on a diet will fail or gain the weight back and then some.
When the emotional gap is filled, our mind and body soften and open up. This provides access to the missing piece of the health and wellness puzzle. For those of you who have been struggling to achieve your wellness goals on The Blood Sugar Solution, this approach can pave the way for real lasting success.
If you can remember that your struggle with food is trying to teach you something about yourself which you have not yet attended to, you can see that emotional eating is, in one way, a gift. It is a doorway into your inner world to tune in and let go.
Listen to what your body is trying to tell you. Just as with human conversation, our body often is talking to us yet we don’t hear the message or maybe we don’t want to because we are afraid of what it means or reveals about us. It is beautiful to see a mind-body in harmony. This is the ultimate UltraWellness.
Yet, it takes strength and deliberation to make the choices about our life and what we do or don’t do, eat or don’t eat, thoughts we welcome or let go of, which determine how well we are communicating with ourselves. Practice compassionate communication with your body and mind and watch with utter amazement at the healing occurring deep within. A life free from the fear of food and a resolution to trust the sacred relationship with your body is what I wish for you.
Is this easy? Not necessarily. Is it worth it? 100 percent! Begin slowly, go easy on yourself and yet challenge your deepest held beliefs. In this time of high-speed living, where we can easily become lost in the race to the finish line, ask yourself what is worth sacrificing your health for and what isn’t.
Find out what serves you and note what drains you. What would it look like if you could slow down and indulge yourself in the kind of life which nourishes and provides you with meaning and real happiness? By giving yourself permission to live the life you want, food loses it’s power over you.
Addictions such as alcohol or drug use can be cured by complete abstinence; but food will always be an essential part of life. Consciously connecting your deeper motivations for what, why, and how you eat allows you increased sanity, dignity, and pleasure around food.
While discovering how and why we eat is paramount to whole living, you can’t meditate your way out of certain conditions. To get the most out of this inner work our bodies have to be fed properly and sometimes medical intervention is necessary to bring the body back into balance in order to do this work.
If you are looking to end uncontrollable food cravings, lose that stubborn weight, and get your life into alignment with your deepest ideals, then apply the aforementioned to your journey on The Blood Sugar Solution or a lifestyle you are looking to attain. Together, these guidelines will work in unity to bring a sense of equilibrium to your mind, body, and soul.
For more information on steps you can take to end food cravings, please read this article.
To explore your relationship with food, nutrition status, body image, and quality of life, please visit my nutritionists online and begin the journey.
Now I’d like to hear from you…
What have you tried to break free from emotional eating and what works? What doesn’t?
Does the thought of accepting your emotional eating or cravings as a gift scare you or liberate you?
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
P.S. Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below – but remember, we can’t offer personal medical advice online, so be sure to limit your comments to those about taking back our health!
Dr. Hyman,
Once again, Kudos to you and many diverse individuals who continually work to shed light on the “other sides” of our most challenging health concerns that can’t always be found at the bottom of a pill bottle, and looking at the person as the whole he/she is, rather than the parts approach model that is in the process of being dismantled. Here’s another aspect of the emotional eating perspective: As an extremely energetic and empathic person, and who had issues with this in the past, I realized that being a “sponge” for absorbing chaotic energies is what fueled some of my eating issues. Once I became aware of the triggers (i.e. was it my emotions I was feeling or absorbing anothers?), and developed a more grounded exercise and meditation practice, it was no longer that overwhelming. Many people who are sensitive (though, perhaps, not all) often struggle with this. Energetic sensitivity is not hocus pocus. It is real and it is not a disease at all…though a little energy education might be in order. Thanks, Denise
Wow, Denise, thank you for pointing that out! I am also sensitive and think I may be very similar to you in absorbing other people’s energy and feelings, but I never thought of it that way before. Especially in my workplace, where I have very little control over the issues that walk into my office, I do often feel emotionally chaotic, stressed, and overwhelmed inside.
I am so glad you posted and shared this perspective! I am going to start paying more attention to see if that may be part of my compulsive eating issues too. Thank you for making that connection!
Denise also my thanks, I agree, but I have so much going on around me at present I find it very difficult to be in total control, I have lost 60 pounds and now have put back on 20 odd pounds, but so much is going on in my life with different family members etc., night time I get into what ever is around, basically if it doesn’t move I will eat it.
I am now going to try to analyise why I am eating next time.
I wish you all a very healthy New Year as it is New Years Eve where I live, and luckily not going to a party tonight.
I’ve struggled with compulsive eating for my whole life. I’m not overweight because I’m good at completely abstaining from the foods that trigger my compulsion. But until I discovered an undiagnosed fructose sensitivity I was fighting a loosing battle. Now I’m on a FODMAPS diet with extremely limited fruit and vegetable intake and healthier than I’ve ever been in my life. It was literally the “apple-a-day” that was hurting me. And since then my food cravings are almost non-existant and I find it easier to have a small amount of problem foods without a total binge.
It’s not true for everyone but its definitely true for me the food sensitivities are the key.
I know food sensitivities are a big issue and it makes me want to just not eat, which also isn’t good. How is it that everyone diagnosed me with all sorts of food challenges, but even not eating those foods the weight just stays? I did try the blood solution diet for 3 weeks and then stopped- I started to want sugar during the holidays and its been hard to stop that craving.
As a weight-loss counselor, social worker and former bulimic, I see the value in identifying lifestyle and environmental factors plus emotional turmoil that may be leading people to food in order to cope and provide psychological relief. Diet provides the foundation for good physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, therefore, it is essential we make choices that will fully equip us to endure stress and help us recover from it. I feel educating about calories and exercise is not enough to tackle obesity and obesity-related issues. I am thrilled to see you cover the emotional aspect of over-eating.
I have not read these books but would like to… I have alexithymia. Where should I start?
Hi Kristen,
How about UltraMind? http://store.drhyman.com/Store/Show/Books/769/The-UltraMindtrade-Solution-Book-Fix-Your-Broken-Brain-by-Healing-Your-Body-First-(Hard-Cover)
If you need assistance and guidance please work with online nutrition coaching at:http://store.drhyman.com/Store/List/Coaching-Programs
I often drink Bolthouse smoothies, the ones that will normally have high percentages of daily value you need for: Manganese, B6, B12, magnesium, zinc, and other vitamins and/or minerals.
Those things are only $3.25 at Wal-Mart. I think it’s more worth to get them because for that price, I am buying 3 apples, 2 whole mangos… and other stuff that may add up to $8, not knowing if it’s organic or tainted with pesticide (e.g. poison, even if in small amounts).
I really don’t know what I can do to remember things better. I read some people’s posts and they ARE REALLY trying to eat healthy better than me… I am just afraid to spend what little money I make.
I really want to help myself, but some of the things he mentions seem hard to buy like antibiotics… like: If I want to clean my gut… or BE SURE I Am, I buy antibiotics, then drink some probiotic juice? What if I don’t trust the antibiotic? Aren’t there herbs that work like antibiotics? Or a food? Or a vegetable-only diet?
My friends were confused and I AM supposed to be the one who has the answers. They kind of branched off and opportunity for me to speak about a vegan diet where one doesn’t eat meat or dairy. I couldn’t! Though I read from Mark Hyman frequently, I don’t enough!
All I could say was “who knows?” especially since my little brother is around, who seems picky about people who wish to be healthy. I mean…
REALLY, MARK: Please let me make this clear to you, as hopefully you will read this part of this message: Fasting, drinking distilled water, going on a vegetarian diet, AND/OR going on a vegan diet are ALL hardcore changes, but what REALLY IS the big difference? So… cilantro can ACTUALLY REMOVE mercury??? Then what does fasting while drinking distilled water really do for you? WHY DO PEOPLE FAST FOR A MONTH… or some do TWO MONTHS??? What EXACTLY does that DO and DOES NOT DO, compared to eating more foods high in cilantro, basil, dill, parsley, ginger, and cayenne… and definitely phytonutrients.
Mark, I honestly wish to make myself a superior brain. I somewhat feel that requires a “free lifestyle” where I am not exactly lazy, but I completely forget the “real world” in which people work hard for money.
Bonding with THAT above, I will combine ways of bettering the body with fruits, veggies, herbs… and fasting? A diet that will only do me better? I also wish to kind of “stir up” my system to aid EXTRA change to myself mentally. I have this idea to load my body full of certain veggies and seasonings like cilantro and cayenne, then moving on to other healthy foods and then kind of cycling through the same thing, but AS I GO “in the juggle”, I will MIX or move onto more extreme recipes that have the same ingredients as before but in less amount.
That’s just the idea, but it has no specific details besides that route. The goal is to change myself and figure out ways to prove people wrong about themselves that THEY CAN feel an UNIMAGINABLE BETTER! To be so smart that i can see through anybody and help ANYBODY… like a doctor. I would know shortcuts through anyone. Right now, I think “shortcuts” … depending on WHAT or HOW DEEP the shortcut is, it may involve the same lifestyle: Forgetting life right now… in order to gain a new one, then come back to the city and suburban land.
I am just having a sluggish time with this. MY house is also FULL OF DUST… LOTS AND LOTS OF DUST. You can go anywhere around the world and maybe a place’s air that will cleanse you, but wlak back in here and you will feel as though your brain is loaded with dust! If cilantro “carries mercury out of the body,” then what’s a PERFECT recipe or ingredient that will help my body cope with the downfall of this much dust, BESIDES vacuuming? I am trying to GET BY without vacuuming while my mom or family is around the house. I only like to clean when they are not around… Isn’t that kind of autistic?
It’s important to know that food should not be used as a reward, especially with children. http://life.familyeducation.com/foods/punishment/61940.html
About four years ago I had an appointment with Dr. Boham and somewhat followed the no gluten, no sugar, no dairy diet and lost about 20lbs which is good for me since I am not a big person. I have just recently been diagnosed with
aggressive transitional cell bladder cancer. On Monday my physicians at MSK will decide on the protocol. Most preferable would be three months of chemo and the removal of bladder or, if the cancer is outside the muscle wall, then
Surgery first followed by chemo. Would it help for me to return to the UWC to receive proper nutritional guidance through this difficult period of time? I am only a little overban hour away in Sharon, CT. My daughter, Mary Scanlan, is also a patient of Dr. Boham.
Hi Melva,
Thank you for sharing about your health. If you would like to work with Dr Boham again this might be a great part of your treatment. To make an appointment with at the UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA please go to: http://www.ultrawellnesscenter.com/becoming-a-patient/ When you are finished reading through the material you may call the office at After you have reviewed this, please contact our office to make an appointment. By phone, (413) 637-9991; by email, office@ultrawellnesscenter.com
Best wishes!
Oh my goodness, what you say about empowerment is so true. I struggle with feeling trapped where I live by the constant barrage of racism that comes the way of myself and my people, not because we have done something wrong but because people have been brainwashed (or should that be “brainpolluted”) to believe that we are bad people. We weren’t even born when the supposed injuries were committed. The problem is made much worse by the fact that we will not be heard or will be ridiculed or dismissed if we say anything about this state of affairs. The feeling of frustration is I’m sure part of my health problems. To complain to the anti-discrimination commission is a waste of time because they are all of the same view, sometimes suicide seems the only option and if I thought my death would solve the problem for my people (and the people who are the aggressors-because they are damaging themselves too, whether they know it or not) I would do it. How do other people in this situation cope? I think other people at least have a body that they can appeal to for help, unlike us.
I read most of your articles and. Especially liked this one. I have followed the adva ced food plan for three months and lost lots of weight. However I find that the emotions begin to enter and once I break down the food barriers I return to my emotional eating. When I feel put upon or not validated for something I have done for someone, I want to eat. Yesterday this happened to me in a big way and I ate and ate all the sweet foods I’d stayed away from. sugar, dairy and wheat in one big meal. Don’t want to go backwards!! Guess if I forgive myself I might be able to relax about it, as you stated and begin to question my deepest held. Beliefs. Thanks
Dr. Human, thanks for the emotional eating article as you can see from my above comments I need your help.
Dr. Hyman,
Your book and emails have helped me enormously to discipline and refocus my eating, exercise and other heath habits so much so that I feel it is quite possible for me to live to be 100 and in good health. Most of the things you mention in your book and emails work quite well. Thank you.
The tallest hurdle is between
accepting responsbility for self and delegating welfare to others. From infancy our first taste of food was handed to us by someone who loves us
and we trust, a parent. Spoonfeeding never stops as we
trust government, industry and markets to protect the welfare of our food supply. Responsibility for human welfare is based upon health of economics, not human health. Believing our body “talks” to us through aging, disease, and symptoms is the next tall hurdle. The majority of us do not know or understand scientific language so once again we are spoonfed information about our body we can only trust. In the case of women, the medical model projected upon us remains in the image of man. We can take responsibility for our body and remain completely out of control over choice of food, quality of food, and information to guide us back to health. The lessons our body teaches are free while every gram of food and information comes at a price. Emotional eating began with our first taste of food and ties to economics of food and medicine thereafter. The scary part is my health depends on more of what I cannot control than what I can control. The best part is my body is on my side.
I just want to say that I think Dr. Hyman’s articles, books, teaching etc… are clear, non-confusing, easy to digest and down to earth. What I mean to say is that what He teaches is not rocket science. (although great science is involved) For example, on my journey of healing- I was telling my family members that I had to eliminate certain foods from my diet like, soda pop, anything with corn syrup as well as gluten containing foods. My family looked at me like I had horns coming out of my head and my brother said he did not think gluten intolerance was real. I told him that thousands of people struggle with gluten intolerance and that it is very real and he said, “No its not, how do they know?” I looked at him and I said, “Its not rocket science. When you get a headache you take an advil and they pain goes away, how do you know advil worked? Your pain went away. It’s the same thing with gluten intolerance, you don’t eat it, you feel better.” Simple really. What drives me insane is that so many traditional doctors will not acknowledge these simple truths and so many americans have such blind trust in their doctors as THE AUTHORITY on their healing. I think the way Dr. Hyman has written about these issues will be a catalyst to help folks who have grown up under the traditional system to break thru to their healing. At least I hope it will. My own Father and Uncle have diabetes and both of them appear as ticking time bombs to me. I’m not ready to loose them yet! Dr. Hyman’s approach I believe is their only hope of not just surviving a miserably slow march to death with a high chance of it happening quickly, but of regaining true health and being able to finish strong! I hope that as they see me regaining my own health, they will see the light and help themselves. But – Dr. Hyman’s resources can help me help my own family and myself! Thank you for making it easy to understand and to use Dr. Hyman!
The most important message here is to stop feeling badly about eating, which only creates a vicious cycle of overeating. I appreciate how Dr. Hyman discusses our relationship with food, and the importance of accepting that food plays an important role in our emotional health. The challenge for many of us is really understanding what triggers us to eat too much of unhealthy foods. My personal journey has led me to believe that many people who are overweight need emotional healing in some way. After reading the ACE Study, it is clear that many people have had deficits or in some cases traumas in their childhood which results in a need to self-medicate. For many, food is used for this purpose, which can be very calming. It is really difficult to break these patterns, but I believe many of Dr. Hyman’s theories can help to disrupt some of the cravings and help to elevate mood to minimize the need for food as a medication. I have been following Dr. Hyman’s recommendations for 4 months and have lost 30 pounds, but most of all, feel that my mood is elevated – friends have seen this too. It is so nice to find a medical professional who is interested in helping people find natural ways to improve our health and wellness.
With 35 years of a war with food under my belt (and I am only 41 years old), I can say Dr. Hyman is the ONLY physician ANYWHERE who has taken this stance. Thank you, Dr. Hyman, for bringing the idea of WHOLENESS to the subject.
I have finally come to a place where I do love and accept my body as it is (diabetes and all!) and my love for food (because we are blessed to have it in abundance, especially in the US), and my respect for all of creation drives the demons of binge eating away. It is absolutely natural for food to be pleasurable. Guilt has no part in eating!
It is completely possible to rid oneself of those “Little Debbie demons” (as I like to call them). Love yourself, accept yourself as perfect just the way you are, and eat with your heart. The rest of it–making healthy changes, making new choices about how you treat your body–they will come naturally.
All love to each of you on this journey. Thanks to Dr. Hyman.
I bid you peace.
Again, another wonderful article from Dr. Hyman, AN ANGEL…no doubt! We do have Angels around us! Thank you Dr. Hyman!!!!!! I have changed my diet, from SAD to as much vegan as I can. Takes time, but you just eliminate one bad food at a time, it worked for me. I’ve gone to the extreme, I grow my own wheatgrass and I juice that. It helps by giving you ultimate nutrition and works on removing toxins from your body all at the same time. It also fuels your brain with all the nutrients it needs. I never knew how much better my brain and body would work for me, while taking high nutritional things like wheatgrass! So glad I have done my research. We see many people,& family members, who keep eating the american diet, which is leading to diabesity etc and almost nothing we can do to help them, unless they want to help themselves. That’s the plain truth right there. I have tried to help many dying friends and or family, with educating them about superfoods that they could readily take, and they don’t want to listen, it’s sad, but they can’t give up their favorite thing or they are too lazy to try, or they want to just have someone else take care of them ie: pills, etc. If the person does not take their health into their own hands, no one else is going to. Life is for the living…
Thank you Dr Hyman for all the work you are doing to help educate the people who control and make decisions about the quality of our food. I have lost a great deal of trust in the powers that control my food and even the science behind many of the new ideas. It seems marketing is the game and whoever has the smoothest tongue can sell any idea, then 1 or 2 years later we find out that we just got a lot of nothing for all our belief and money. I often feel hopeless. My emotional eating has both physiological and emotional elements and possibly karmic and energy related roots. Regardless of cause, I believe community and support are key to the solution. When people refuse to acknowledge my need for sugar free and chemical free and say it is all in my mind, i can agree to some extent as i have created problems from past abuse of these foods. But the fact is that if i refrain from them I feel better. As we build more supportive communities, it is easier to feel that i am acceptable and that i can stop defending myself. Why is the medical system paying for people’s drugs and paraphenelia for diseases that are so easily manged by food choice (Type II diabetes). Why aren’t the individuals responsible for paying for this choice. I have to pay for all the group support and supplements that help me to keep my blood sugar balanced – no insurance pays for that. These are questions that need to be adressed before people will transition to taking more responsibility. If we get a free ride with our poor choices – where is the motivation for things to change?
I have studied and learned so much about what I need to do to adress my emotional eating issues and yet feel powerless to implement this into action. I do not have the financial resources to get some of the support that i need and get blindsided by my emotions when i do try to start things. It seems a vicious circle.
A great article. For me, the phrases that most touched me are, ‘ In what ways do you substitute food for authentic fun, excitement or satisfaction from living the good life?’ and ‘…it is most usually those who wish they could increase their vitality and ability to live more joyfully who struggle with food the most.’ I feel these words were written for me. Thank you for bringing this topic out into the open for discussion and increased understanding.
Joe Mendoza,
I think you might mean probiotics, which are kept in a refrigerator at your pharmacists, It is 12 months now for me and had a large brain tumour removed, I am great but the process of steroids used to help the reduction in swelling and anti seizure tablets and then I needed a very strong anti biotic for 5 weeks which really caused me some problems, and the answer was to take the probiotics but you have to be careful when you take them if your are on antibiotics as they can lessen the result, lunchtime fitted into my timeframe whilst on a lot of medication I am also type 2 diabetic of which I am no longer in that range so any time I am prescribed anti biotics I take the probitotics and it stops me getting thrush. We are in a place where some of our medical practicioners just prescribe too much. Good food will always be your best bet, good health to you Joe.
In my opinion, people who eat “emotionally” do so to fill a mainly unconscious emotional need. Certain foods are a substitute for what these people really need. What they need is unconditional love, the love they did not get as a child. When we do not get unconditional love, we experience panic and rage. We learn to suppress these natural reactions by tightening our diaphragm, holding various muscles tense, effectively shutting down our pain and rage so that we are not punished and so that we don’t feel our pain. This is the physical manifestation of repression. Psychologically, we learn to not feel, to deny our painful feelings. By the time we are only a couple of years old, or even earlier, the job is complete. As we grow older, we may seek to fill what we now experience as an inner emptiness, sometimes experienced as loneliness or even meaninglessness. This inner void becomes filled by a search for excitement, “meaningful work”, material or even spiritual things, or (you guessed it) food. We try to fill the void with food. Of course it does not work for long because the void is still there. It is not enough to say to become aware of one’s addiction and emotions toward food (or whatever escape one has chosen). We have to actually uncover that void, experience the profound lack of love, the pain and rage, and this requires courage and excellent therapy. The feelings have to be experienced to the end. Only then does one find that the pain and emptiness are transformed into a love that one finds in oneself. What one needed is there, just beyond the pain.
Dr. Hyman,
You are right on again. After all, our “head-bones” are very connected to our “body-bones”. It’s a shame that people don’t/can’t take the time to get well, and look for that instant cure.
There are no instant cures, only long term changes.
Thanks again for your work. I have benefitted tremendously.
I have never, and I mean never, heard anyone articulate the thots and info that you did in the first 8 paragraphs. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for legitimizing what I have thinking for years.
This is definitely food for thought. What an amzing article that deduces the core physical, mental, and emotional make-up of the human spirit. I felt heard and understood as if you were speaking directly to me. Your deep understanding of our foundaitonal make-up left me feeling validated and real and that I am not alone in whatever obstacle I am facing. To acnowledge and express this so compassionately I truly commend the work you do. I feel you have expressed the true root of dis-ease and it’s viscious cycle. Bravo!!!!!!!!
i had a severe reaction to the foods i ate and it seems to get worse yesturday i ate at subway and had a buffalo chicken sub with american cheese and ranch a toasted sub then for dinner i pork chops and salad with tomatoes and italian dressing on it then for dessert i had two oranges my result was manic behavoir and headache and stomach and i felt really hot and i was screaming and crying i have been struggling with this all my life i am 22 years old and want to retire from this constant reaction after eating everyday can you help me find a diet i seem to have a strong reaction towards dairy, wheats and sugars which i love the most but will cut it out if its whats causing all this.
HI Justine,
You are right- sometimes it is the food we love the most which we tolerate the least. If you would like to work with one of Dr Hyman’s nutritonist please visit nutrition coaching: http://www.bloodsugarsolution.com/nutrition-coaching/
I also was diagnosed as being a schizophrenic and have started reading your book. Dr. Hyman i know i can not be a schizophrenic i believe its a results of my diet i eat bad foods all the time sweets, and burger king alot and microwave foods. i feel i need a diet change.
AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina love you and your staffs work! The topics are amazing and we can tell time and thought are put into everything you and your team does! Thank you for helping this cause of overall health and wellness. We agree, food is most peoples safe place, its home. Our brain is hard wired over time and relates strongly to certain foods. This “hard wiring” can be reversed. I know you and your staff and the team here at AWAREmed can help. Don’t take this on alone people. Together we can do this!