Recognizing the emotions that spur eating can help you control cravings and lose weight
Provided by San Jose Mercury News on 1/30/2005
by April Lynch
Want to make 2005 your year for a healthier weight and a smaller jeans size? Don't just mull over what you eat -- try thinking about why. l Women tired of counting calories and carbs are seeking out non-traditional ways to lose weight, such as hypnosis, acupressure and aromatherapy. And many are hearing a common prescription from their alternative health practitioners, one that focuses as much on feelings as food. l Traditional tricks for shedding pounds, many practitioners say, overlook the complex emotions many people tie to eating. Without understanding those connections, they say, it's hard to bring cravings or unhealthy food habits under control. l "A lot of these issues start with emotional issues," said Suzann Wang, founder of Natural Health California, an alternative health practice in Palo Alto and Sausalito. "The goal is trying to get to the underlying cause of what is going on." l The emotional factors in severe weight-related conditions such as anorexia are well-known. Many alternative medicine experts, who often try to look beyond a patient's symptoms to broader causes of illness, say such links also influence milder problems. l Do certain eating habits or cravings pop up at particular times? Are your afternoon chocolate scavengings tied to the most high-pressure part of the work day? Will bouts of sadness or worry send you straight to the refrigerator?
If so, tackling weight or eating issues may start with understanding just how food pushes your buttons. That often begins with paying attention to food, habits and feelings, natural medicine caregivers say.
If you find yourself making routine french fry stops before big meetings or a hectic afternoon with the kids' play group, for example, that may be a sign that your fry foraging is tied to stress.
New diet plans should take such patterns into consideration, alternative practitioners say. Just telling yourself "No more fries" may not work. Without adding in other stress reducers, the cravings may resurface, scuttling your efforts to eat more healthfully.
Some caregivers recommend stress-lowering alternatives such as meditation or yoga. Others, who follow alternative medicine's preference for milder natural remedies over prescription medicines, may suggest herbal or aromatherapy aids.
Wang often turns to acupressure to help patients with food and eating disorders. The technique, based on principles from traditional Chinese medicine, focuses on adjusting the body's internal energy flows. An initial 90-minute consultation, which includes discussing a patient's emotional state and feelings about food, costs $225.
"This has really helped me rethink what I'm doing, in a gentle, self-affirming way," said Marcia Ganeles, 53, of Palo Alto, who reduces stress and food cravings through acupressure and other remedies administered by Wang.
Ganeles, who'd had no luck with conventional dieting, said the more holistic approach has helped bring peace of mind and better health. She has lost about 15 pounds since starting the treatments and a broader exercise routine in late 2003. She hopes to lose another 15.
"This gives me a compassionate way to stop and make better choices," she said.
Some traditional doctors, while cautious about the safety or power of alternative remedies, agree that emotional links to food are a powerful force.
"To many people, food is their friend," said Dr. Stuart Markovitz, a Mountain View physician who has studied dieting trends. "They eat when they are lonely, when they are anxious, when they are unhappy. If those issues are there, it's definitely valid to take them into account."
Others say it's not everyday emotions that are the problem. The real damage comes from most people's fight to be thin. Stressing over your weight, they say, creates negative feelings about eating that spin into a vicious circle of guilt, stress and self-loathing.
"The reason food issues get so emotionally charged in the first place is because of our obsession over weight," said Los Altos therapist Deb Burgard, who focuses on women and body image. "The real problem is how we pathologize weight and larger bodies."
Ultimately, many caregivers agree that shedding pounds comes down to more healthful eating and exercise. Such changes, never easy, often bring self-reflection -- a chance to rethink the foods and forces that shape your life.
"So many people just want a quick fix. They say, `I'd like a pill to stop my chocolate cravings today,' " Wang said. "It's not that simple. It takes time, and becoming more aware of your body, how you eat, how you feel."
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