Day 19 – 30 Day 30 Chew Challenge

Overeating – why does overeating happen?

Overeating occurs when the intake of food surpasses the need. It can happen when hungry and even when hunger is not felt. Some factors that can be considered are:

Addictive concerns: Any addictive behaviour(s) carry a degree of self-harm. Shame, fear, anger, and boredom amongst many other feelings and circumstances can bring about a binge of eating. Addiction swings between extremes of control and lack of self-control. Dealing with addictive overeating often requires the help and long-term support of others who understand the difficulties that arise from overeating, especially since food is not something that can be wholly removed as can other substances that fuel addictive behaviours and patterns.

Physiological lack of feeling full: Leptin receptivity on a cellular level may be reduced -this is a common situation when obesity is present. Leptin-resistance may increase over time due to chronic or acute inflammation, a biochemical lapse in which fatty acids are not properly used in the body, potentially due to an imbalance of vitamin co-factors needed for fatty acid metabolization, and flooding of leptin that desensitizes leptin receptivity.

Emotional cover-ups: Life can be painful. Terribly painful at times and it can seem like a normal response to seek to self-medicate away from feeling too much. The problem arrives when the emotions do not go away, giving rise to a cycle of seeking to numb out. This can be related to addictive patterns and also to singular periods of time. It’s important to note that even ‘positive’ feelings such as joy, success, and eagerness can lead to the same results if emotions are not thoroughly developed and worked through.

Eating too fast: A lot can be said on this topic, and more surely will, at a later day, but for now, let it suffice to say that it is a social construct that is accepted to eat fast. The consequences of eating too fast are stomach pains, increased risk of food sensitivities from undigested foods, decreased quality of sleep, increased gas and bloating, brain fatigue, and more.

Chewing cannot address each and every one of those factors, but it can serve as a tool to help in the healing for any and all reasons anyone suffers from overeating. Over time, chewing may help to prevent overeating, calling in the full resources of self-help principles, and engaging in mindfulness. Another benefit of chewing food well is the amount of time. Time is a critical element in any enzymatic process – allowing for your body to adjust to the food it took in and to work its endogenous magic laboratory-style takes time. Chewing food will create time and increase the rate by increasing the surface area readily available for all the gastric juices to do their job and signal their progress to the brain.

Click here to learn more about OA.

 

Nicole Reilkoff ND

Nicole Reilkoff ND

Nicole Reilkoff certified Naturopath and reflexologist, offers her professional bilingual, services from the Queen Elizabeth Health Complex situated in Montréal.

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