Sunday, May 17, 2009
I was reading Lifestyle, which is Straits Times' Life! on Sundays la..and I came across this article by Sumiko Tan.
Cookies to the rescue
"...If this devotion of column inches to cookies has got you puzzled, you must be blessed with a health relationship with food - that is, you regard food for what it is, a source of nourishment and sometimes enjoyment, which you partake of three times a day.
I, on the other hand, fall into the category of people - mostly women - who has a more complex relationship with food. Food isn't just food but both a friend and a foe. I love it, I hate it, I need it, I don't want it, it is both a comfort and a crutch.
I suffer from what is known as emotional hunger.
Emotional hunger, researchers say, is different from physical hunger in several ways.
Emotional hunger is triggered by something that upsets you - you feel stressed out, angry or unhappy - whereas physical hunger is part of a day's living cycle..."
Damnit. I have emotional hunger not only when I have a negative emotion. I eat when I'm bored, sad, happy, studying, watching tv, over chats with friends, while walking home from interchange.....
"...Emotional hunger hits you suddenly whereas physical hunger comes on slowly.
In emotional hunger, your brain becomes obsessed with a particular food. Images of it keep playing in your head and you feel compelled to satisfy the craving at once. In physical hunger, you're not that picky about what you're going to eat and the meal can wait a bit too.
Once an emotional eater gets to his food obsesseion and has eatn his fill, he is overcome with guilt. Physical hunger, on the other hand, leaves one pleasantly full.
Why are some people more prone to emotional eating than others? Scientists say the human body has an automatic mechanism that alerts us when we are full and should stop eating.
But emotional eaters have learnt to ignore the stop-eating signals. They continue to eat to lessen the negative feelings they are feeling. Ironically, the binge leaves them reeling with guilt, regret and revulsion..."
Does the "ignore the stop-eating signals" remind you of buffet or after meal's desserts, and then you go "walao damn full leh, look at my tummy" and "ok tmr i'm going to eat lesser"?
"...The problem with emotional overeating is the sort of comfort food people turn to. If we hankered for healthy stuff such as broccoli and spinach and fruit, nobody would be complaining.
But we always crave for food that is highly processed and deliciously rich in fat, sugar and salt, and which leaves one overweight and unhealthy. There's s scientific reason for this too. Neuroscientists say that food heavy in fat and sugar has been found to light up the brain's dopamine pathway. This is our pleasure-sensing spot and the same area that gets all tingly when people consume alcohol or drugs.
Because bad food brings pleasure, we learn to want it. The obsession isn't helped by how cheap and easily available fatty, sugary food is.
Studies have found that more women than men turn to food for comfort, and that women have a hiugher tendency to overeat when presented with palatable food or when under emotional distress.
Women also prefer snack-type comfort food such as candy and chocolate while men seek meal-type food such as pizza and steak. But no matter what they eat, women are likely to feel more guilty than men..."
Die loh. I have cravings for both snack-type and meal-type food.
I think I'm she-male.
NO LA. siao.
To all girls reading this..
Guilty right?? HAHAHAHA. Damnit.
And I was happily eating Pocky which dear bought and we couldn't eat anymore of it during the flea last Saturday.
Guilty like shit.