Blues-Busting Foods: Rx for Emotional Eating?

BLUES-BUSTING FOODS: Rx FOR EMOTIONAL EATING?

For many, negative feelings lead to out-of-control eating…and ensuing weight gain. Might knowing which foods can bust the blues reduce the odds of emotional eating episodes? Meet the foods that may help…

 

– By Deborah Kesten and Larry Scherwitz –

 

Mac and cheese. Chocolate chip cookies. A pint of Ben and Jerry’s. Some call it “comfort food”; others say it’s “food as friend.” However you phrase it, turning to food to soothe unpleasant feelings—from depression and anxiety to anger, loneliness, even fatigue—is the key cause of emotional eating (see “Overcoming Emotional Eating”). But here’s a coda to this concept: Negative feelings are a key cause of emotional eating—even if you’re not aware you’re experiencing them.

 

Stressful Feelings and Food

Call it emotional eating, overeating, disordered eating, or a growing dependency on food, for decades, theories have abounded about the causes of out-of-control eating. Is it linked to brain chemistry? Or is it a behavioral addiction? Or both? Clinical psychologist Cassandra Vieten, PhD, President/CEO of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Co-director of the Mind-Body Medicine Research Group at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, believes “negative affect” may be a unifying cause of emotional eating.

“Negative affect is distress that can be conscious, physiological, emotional, psychological, and/or spiritual,” explains Dr. Vieten. “Distress is part of life, but for some, it increases because of all these factors; others experience stress as intolerable because they haven’t developed the capacity to endure negative feelings” [ital, ours]. Still others aren’t aware their negative feelings are causing cravings.

In other words, for some people—even though their feelings may be suppressed, unexpressed, undefined, unidentified, and elusive—they may still turn to food to manage negative feelings. Dr. Vieten explains it this way: “Some people can’t or won’t express themselves by saying they have a lot of fear or anger. Still others may feel nondescript distress at certain times, but they can’t say why, nor can they put a name on it.”^1,2 Still…they may turn to food to feel better. Why? Because food does, indeed, have the power to bust the blues!

 

Are You Self-Medicating with Food?

Soothing serotonin. Have you ever turned to carbohydrate-dense pasta, potato chips, corn chips, cake, or cookies—seemingly unable to stop until the whole bag (or bags) is gone? If so, it’s likely you’re self-medicating unpleasant feelings with food. How so? Certain hormones—naturally occurring “chemical messengers” released when you consume certain nutrients (such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, and so on) in food—have the power to “replace” negative emotions with feel-good feelings (see “Overcoming Emotional Eating” for more about this). Why? Because high-carb foods stimulate the production of serotonin, an emotion-friendly hormone that calms and soothes the psyche.

Choosing chocolate? The glycemic index (GI) of food, the degree to which certain foods increase blood sugar levels, also plays a role in the food-mood connection, because high GI foods (like corn and sugar) also increase serotonin levels. Certain alkaloids (naturally occurring compounds found in plant-based foods) in chocolate (made from the cocoa bean), too, may raise brain serotonin. Add “drug-like” constituents in chocolate like caffeine and phenylethylamine, and you may have a recipe for “chocoholism” (see “Chocolate: Elixir of Love…and Weight Loss?”)

A caveat: It’s possible to build up a tolerance, and to need more and more food to feel good again; in other words, you may need to consume more and more carbohydrate-dense food to release adequate levels of soothing serotonin. When this happens, you’re not eating to feel better; rather, you may be bingeing just to feel normal.

 

“Downer” Foods

If you’re an emotional eater—if you cope with unpleasant emotions by overeating and bingeing—there are many effective, proactive steps you can take to turn the tide (see “Special Weight Loss Edition”). For starters, when you’re feeling blue, consider consuming some blues-busting foods that bring the benefits of serotonin—without the downside of weight gain and the emotional “crash” that bingeing on “downer” food (products) can cause.

What do we mean by “downer” foods? In short, processed, fast, sugar- and fat-laden junk food—which aren’t really food; rather, they’re food products. From cookies, cake, and chips, to fries, ice cream, candy bars, and soda, comfort foods are often high in sugar, refined carbs (such as white flour), and mood- and health-harming fats. This means these often tasty, high-carb foods may provide some short-term comfort by releasing soothing serotonin, but you won’t get long-term relief; rather, sugar-laden, denatured comfort food could worsen negative feelings because its high-sugar content can send your blood-sugar levels plummeting, leaving you even more depressed and fatigued then prior to eating them.

 

Damage Control: Carbs Without the Crash

Is it possible to consume high-carb, blues-busting foods that can calm you—even diminish depression—minus the “downer” aftermath? Absolutely. We give you some specific suggestions, below, but first, the lighthouse to keep your eye on; the key concept to keep in mind to reap the rewards is that plant- and dairy-based foods contain carbs; animal foods don’t.

CARB-CONTAINING FOODS:
Plant-based food groups—plus dairy—contain varying amounts of calming carbohydrates. Carb-containing food groups include:

• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Grains (both whole and refined)
• Legumes (beans and peas)
• Nuts & Seeds
• Dairy (milk, yogurt, sour cream, soy milk, almond milk, and so on)

CARB-FREE FOODS
These animal-based food groups are virtually carb-free. They include:

• Fish
• Poultry (chicken, turkey, etc.)
• Meat (beef, pork, lamb, etc.)

Here’s the bottom line for getting the calming benefits of carbohydrate foods without the crash: When you have the urge to splurge on food that’s not really food, choose real food—not foodish food products—that have the power to calm you without the crash.

 

Quick-Fix Blues-Busters

Here are some quick and easy mood-friendly foods—actually, most can serve as small meals or snacks—that not only may bust the blues, they may curb your urge to splurge on “downer” foods and crush cravings. (For more dishes, recipes, and snacks, please visit the “Recipe” section in “The Program.”)

KEY CURB-THE-CRAVING CONCEPT
BE SURE TO WAIT AT LEAST 20 MINUTES AFTER YOU EAT TO GET THE CALMING AFFECTS OF SEROTONIN. THIS IS HOW LONG IT TAKES FOR YOUR BRAIN TO REGISTER THAT SEROTONIN IS WORKING ITS WONDERS.

Smoothie. Combine 2 cups chopped dark leafy greens, 1 cup blueberries, 3 walnut halves, 1 cup milk of choice (see “Dairy,” above, for suggestions), ½ cup juice of choice, 3 walnut halves, 1 teaspoon flax oil. Blend.

Tapas. Sautè minced garlic, chopped mushrooms, and chopped parsley, until soft. Spread some on toasted, crusty whole-grain bread.

Beans. Roast already-cooked garbanzo beans and enjoy them as a snack. Or add them to a fresh, green salad.

Bread. Toast a piece of multi-grain bread. Sprinkle it with organic flax oil.

Cereal. Enjoy a bowl of cracked oatmeal with a handful of blueberries, and milk of choice.

Popcorn. Pop some air-popped popcorn. Spritz lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with a dash of salt and pepper. Toss.

Nuts/Seeds. Try a ¼ cup of raw, unroasted nuts or seeds of choice. A sampling: walnuts, cashews, almonds, pumpkin or sunflower seeds.

Nut butter. In a small saucer, add a tablespoon of raw, unroasted peanut, sesame (tahini), cashew, almond, or any other nut butter of choice. Drizzle a teaspoon of honey over the nut butter. Savor the flavors and creaminess.

Veggies. Munch some carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes; crunch Romaine lettuce leaves. Optional: Use the nut butter blend, above, as a dip or spread for your veggies.

Fruit. Have an apple, orange, frozen grapes, banana, kiwi, cherries, pineapple pieces, tangerine, or any other fruit you like.

Chocolate. Savor a piece or two of dark chocolate with 70% or higher cocoa content. Or make hot chocolate with 100% cocoa powder and milk of choice.

Mood-friendly fish. Fish has no carbs. Still…there’s one kind of fat found in fish and some other foods that most Americans are deficient in: mood-friendly omega 3 fatty acids. Abundant in wild fish (meaning, it’s not farmed), a deficiency could cause or worsen depression.^3,4 To diminish doldrums (but not severe, major depression or bipolar disorder), get your omega 3s with daily supplements (make sure they’re purified and mercury-free), fresh fish such as salmon, flaxseed (ground, for better absorption), and some nuts (such as walnuts). Boosting your omega 3 levels may also help with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), another form of depression that may manifest during winter months.

Another food-mood benefit of high–protein, low-fat fish: It releases other naturally occurring substances (hormones) that let you think and react more quickly and feel more alert and energetic (remember the old adage, fish is brain food?)—without the stimulation of caffeine, found in coffee, tea, and many sodas.

Sushi. More and more sushi sections in some supermarkets—as well as some sushi restaurants—are offering brown rice options. Choose brown rice-based sushi made with delicate slivers of assorted vegetables and/or salmon.

Lox. Toast half of a multi-grain bagel (gluten-free if you prefer), spread some low-fat cream cheese on the slice, add a thin slice of smoked salmon (lox), and slivers of red onion. Optional: Sprinkle with a teaspoon of capers.

The bottom line: Optimizing your diet by consuming blues-busting foods as often as possible is a sound step toward defeating unpleasant emotions. In other words, if you consume fresh whole foods in their natural state, you’ll be turning to food that nourishes you with feel-good feelings more often than not.

 

Claim, Name, Move, Connect

Being able to claim, name, and express feelings can play a key role in regulating negative affect, and in turn, overeating, bingeing, and ensuing weight gain. When stress, distress, or sadness strike, Dr. Vieten suggests substituting the urge to splurge with taking a walk, calling a friend, perhaps praying. Advises Dr. Vieten: “Spirituality, connecting to something deeper than your individual craving or desire can be incredibly helpful. Not only can it empower you to ride the waves of craving, spiritual awareness can enable you to use intention and choice to decide how you want to live in the world.”

References:

1. Comments based on Deborah Kesten’s phone interview with Dr. Vietan.
2. Deborah Kesten, The Healing Secrets of Food: A Practical Guide for Nourishing Body, Mind, and Soul (Novato, CA: New World Library, 2001).
3. Hakkarainen MB: Is Low dietary Intake of Omega-3 Fatty Acids Associated With Depression? Am J Psychiatry 2004; 161:567-569.
4. Freeman MP: Omega-3 fatty acids in psychiatry: a review. Ann Clin Psychiatry 2000; 12:159–165

 

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Related:
“Overcoming Emotional Eating”
“Stress More, Eat More”
“Eat Fresh, Weigh Less”
“Chocolate: Elixir of Love…and Weight Loss?”

Next post:
Think outside the diet to make weight loss last with “A NEW RECIPE FOR WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS: MEET THE OVEREATING STYLES!” posted on our NewView blog.

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