The Connection Between Emotions and Eating Habits: Neuroscience Unveils

Ever find yourself mindlessly reaching for chips after a stressful day? Or seeking solace in a tub of ice cream when feeling down? You're not alone. Emotional eating, that tendency to turn to food for comfort or to cope with difficult emotions, is incredibly common. But what's really going on in our brains during these moments of indulgence? 

In this episode of me&my health up, host Anthony Hartcher dives deep into the fascinating world of neuroscience to shed light on the complex relationship between our emotions and our eating habits.

This episode is not just about understanding the 'why' behind emotional eating; it's a journey into the very core of our brain's wiring. Anthony expertly guides us through the limbic system's role, explaining how areas like the hippocampus, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens play pivotal roles in our food choices during emotional highs and lows.  

The discussion sheds light on how neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin impact our desire for food and how we can find balance and control over these impulses. 

If you're seeking to break the cycle of emotional eating and gain control over your dietary habits, this episode is a must-listen. Anthony's expertise in the field of clinical nutrition and lifestyle medicine, combined with his deep understanding of human behaviour, makes this an engaging and educational listen. 

Don't miss out on these invaluable insights. Tune in to discover how you can transform your relationship with food and emotions, leading to a healthier, more balanced life. 

About me&my health up & Anthony Hartcher

me&my health up seeks to enhance and enlighten the well-being of others. Host Anthony Hartcher is the CEO of me&my health up which provides holistic health solutions using food as medicine, combined with a holistic, balanced, lifestyle approach. Anthony holds three bachelor's degrees in Complementary Medicine; Nutrition and Dietetic Medicine; and Chemical Engineering.

Podcast Disclaimer
Any information, advice, opinions or statements within it do not constitute medical, health care or other professional advice, and are provided for general information purposes only. All care is taken in the preparation of the information in this Podcast. [Connected Wellness Pty Ltd] operating under the brand of “me&my health up”..click here for more

Transcript

Anthony Hartcher: 0:08

Are you an emotional eater at times? I know I am. I'm Anthony Hartcher. I'm a clinical nutritionist and lifestyle medicine specialist. Did you know the boredom and negative thinking are the friends have emotional eating? Yes, they feed emotional eating. And that's what we're going to be talking about today. In today's episode, we're going to be discussing the neuroscience of emotional eating a little bit about what's behind it, the why or what's driving it. And then we're going to discuss strategies on how you can overcome it. And essentially, stop emotional eating or be in control of your emotions, so you don't emotionally eat. So that's what we're going to cover in today's episode. And let's get into it, let's discuss about how is boredom related to emotional eating. So when we're bored, we have a sense of unfulfillment. And were fulfilment, seeking human beings, we are seeking meaning and purpose. That's what we do as human beings. And you can probably relate the everyone that's listening wants a purposeful life, and we're generally searching for our purpose or searching for the meaning of life. And so we have this natural seeking of the meaning of life or some purpose. And so when we're bored, we essentially are feeling unfulfilled in that moment. And we're thinking, well, what's the point, you know, life's now it's not bringing what it should to me, and I'm not feeling fulfilled. And so what happens in terms of the neuro chemistry, our blood glucose and oxygen, go to the midbrain, it goes to the mammalian part of the brain, the mammalian part of the brain is also known as the desire center. So it's where we seek things and where we avoid things. It's also known as the impulse and instinct, area of the brain, commonly also referred to as the emotional center. And within this limbic system, or the midbrain, we have now several aspects of it that constitute or make up, make it up. There's the memory bank of the hippocampus, there's the amygdala, which is the fear center, that there's a nucleus accumbens, which is also part of the what is referred to that leads to addiction. So that's, in a sense, part of the desire, it leads to seeking some sort of fulfillment, seeking that wanting to fulfill what's empty, or what's missing, or the void. And so these areas of the brain get switched on, when we're bored. Yeah. So when we're bored, this parts of the brain gets fed with blood glucose and oxygen, and it comes alive, it lights up. And it's thinking, Well, you know, I need some fulfillment, give me some fulfillment. And where's an avenue of fulfillment that's external to us, if we're not looking within for fulfillment, we generally take a easy approach and look outside. So we either browse on the internet and we buy stuff or has so we have that consumerism, we look for something to give us that temporary fulfillment, and it is temporary, or we look for something like alcohol or food. So food also brings that external, you know, brings some sort of fulfillment, but it's Externally we rely on some external source to fulfill us as opposed to looking within so what's happening in terms of the brain neuro chemistry? Well, when we're bored, we dopamine how our reward and recognition is down our neurotransmitter is downregulated. It's saying, well, there's no reward coming, there's no recognition coming. Hence, we'll turn on the nucleus accumbens and we will seek something we will find something and in this case, we're looking externally, we're not looking within and I'm going to get back to looking within and how you can find it within and not need to look without or not look outside and not look externally. So not looking at your partner for that fulfillment or not looking for a friend for that fulfillment or relying on an external source for fulfillment. You can find that within so we're going to get to that but let me get around to, you know, finishing off on the neuro transmitters in terms of Yes, dopamine is low serotonin, you don't feel content. So serotonin is a mood stabiliser and in that moment of feeling bored, you're not very content, you're feeling unsettled, right. And that and so serotonin is dropping, dopamine is dropping. And so what does the body want to do and wants to get back into homeostasis? It wants to lift it up. And so what we do if we're not looking with him, we look outside of us and we go to the food And yes, guess what's, you know, in terms of when we eat, we get a dopamine here? Absolutely the body says, Yeah, that's good for me that that's going to keep me alive because we have activated our survival center, the limbic center, the emotional center is activated, and that keeps us alive, it keeps us seeking food, which is prey, and avoiding predator. And that's, you know, it's a survival mechanism of the brain. And that's switched on. And it's let's live in a wire and fired up. And so it's, it's putting you into hyperdrive. So the thinking don't really want to have the ice cream because I don't really needed so I've started doesn't align with my goals. But in that moment of unfulfillment, and looking to balance that serotonin or dopamine, it becomes more and more tempting. And you think about it more. And the more you think about it, essentially, the brain is taking you in that direction to then act on what you're thinking in terms of Yes, I know, it's going to lift my serotonin, dopamine, I'm going to feel better afterwards. And I'll feel content in the moment of eating it. And it's going to give me a bit of a hit. Yes. So it's very exciting and tempting. And so we go to the cupboard, we get our chocolate bar, and we eat it and we eat it and we eat it and we eat it and continue to eat it while we're bored. And just you know, watching a program that we're not really interested in, okay, and so we just continue to eat, continue to consume mindlessly. And we eventually sort of get some lift, yes, the food does give us some lift. But again, afterwards, we're thinking, we then go into this negative cycle of shouldn't really done that I doesn't serve me it wasn't aligned to what I'm ultimately want to achieve. I want to achieve better health outcomes. I know everyone listening is seeking better health outcomes, it's not aligned to that, ah, frustrating and so they have dropped the ball. Now we're gonna get the other packet, okay, we're gonna go to get the other packet of chocolates, the other packet of biscuits, another packet of lollies, and just go into that spiral, okay? Because it's, it's self reinforcing. It's because you're thinking more and more negative and you you're thinking, you're stuffed, and Anthony, hopeless, you've done it again, just keep on feeding me. And it's just this positive feedback loop, essentially. That's reinforcing it and reinforcing it saying, Yeah, keep doing it, keep doing it, till you get the dopamine and serotonin balanced and start feeling a bit more fulfilled and content. And so this results in this binge eating, yes, it's all driven by the emotions and the emotions are there to drive us into action. And they're surrounded, or they, they're certainly very much initiated from this area of the brain survival, ever the brain to get us into action to get us to catch that prey, to get us to that chocolate bar to get us away from the threat. So that's what it does, it puts energy into motion and drives us and it's determining your behavioral outcomes. So this is what was found in the frontier of behavioral science. It's a research article that was published in that in 2020. And it found negative ETL negative thinking is associated with emotional eating. Yes, so those that emotionally ate a lot of the time we're, you know, had negative thoughts in the lead up to that, and this is what I'm sharing with you is that boredom, and then you know, going to get some sort of fulfillment feeling more content, you go to something that you know, that's going to bring that hit of serotonin, dopamine, that's typically high in fat and sugar. And, and then you feel the thinking that I'm sabotaging myself, I'm getting away from my goal. And then you think, you know, you start thinking negatively about yourself and thinking, I'm fat, and I'm hopeless and putting yourself down. And so what do you do to lift yourself back up, go back to the cupboard. So this is that positive feedback loop that's kicking in, that's really taking you away from your ultimate goal, to be a healthier version of yourself. And so when our emotional center is running us, we going to seek some quick short term, immediate gratification outcome. And that often is sought externally because it's quick, it's a quick fix, appeal, some chocolate, some alcohol, some shopping, addiction, whatever it might be, whatever addiction it is, we get it instantaneously. We can go online, we can buy something, and we think looking forward to this come and that the dopamine increases in the lead up for that gift arriving or that present or whatever you brought in the lead up to you actually getting that into your hands, the dopamine is rising, you're getting excited about it. It's like a little kid looking forward to Christmas. There's a build up of dopamine and you've got an element of surprise what it's going to be like in terms of putting it on or wearing it or playing with it. There's an element of surprise and so yes, it it drives up Have a bit of dopamine dries up feeling yes, there's some purpose in life if I'm going to to fulfill be fulfilled in that moment that I receive it. And then once you receive it, you think, okay, yeah, it's, it's good. But you know, it's nothing special, as they say nothing special, it can then result in still feeling a bit unfulfilled, and then this self, you know more and more negative thinking and then you go back into this cycle again. So this cycle can lead to addictions over time, if you don't do something about it. And that this is what I want to share with you today in terms of what you can do about it, how can you stop being bored? And get fulfilled internally? And how can you get on top of your negative thinking? Okay, so negative thinking does service? So it's not all bad? It is there for a reason. It's telling us that there's something not quite right. Okay, you're not fulfilled and look internally, not externally. But let's get to the boredom first. Okay, so what can you do about the boredom? So what I suggest to my clients is, after dinner, do something that's very fulfilling, don't just, you know, waste your time flicking through social media, it might give some, so with social media can give some sort of dopamine hits, you can get some laughs or you know, feeling a bit content, because there's a bit of entertainment, but then you can come across material that makes you compare yourself to someone else on social media. And that creates a void, because you're comparing yourself to someone else, and you see what you are missing, or you perceive what you're missing. There's nothing missing, but you're perceiving something missing, because you're comparing yourself to someone else, and you're not them. Okay? So, yes, so that social media scrolling can provide some temporary relief. And but it can also reveal that there's that you perceive something missing, and therefore you're looking for some fulfillment to fill that void. And we generally go to something immediate, gratifying, something instantaneous, and that's something that we can grab from the cupboard that can fulfill us. So in terms of arming you up with tools, so that you can actually get it from within seek fulfillment from within, the first thing you want to do is do something that's important to you, after you eat a meal, it's fulfilling, so that you're not looking for further food to provide that fulfillment. If after the meal you could have, potentially you've probably had enough, right enough to be satisfied. But if you're then thinking, not, you know, it's boring, I don't know what I'm going to do now, then there's a void isn't there. So because we, as I said, at the end of the day, humans are driven to a meaning they're looking for a meaning or purpose to life. And so in that moment, you're thinking, I'm bored? I've got nothing to do, then yes, you're creating a void within. So what I want you to do from this podcast, or even now, whilst you're listening, is write down a list of things that are highly interesting to you. What is it that you like? What are the what are the things that you like doing? What are the things you like learning about? So start there? So how about you start about thinking about the things you love learning about that you love reading about you love watching documentaries, on educating yourself I'm so do that after dinner, go to that education, that gives you fulfillment, because it's educating you in an area that you're interested in. And then from that, constantly doing that, you becoming a master of that subject, which in turn, can create income, because you're a master, people are gonna seek your expertise in that area. It's just like I've done in health, in neuroscience, in food and lifestyle medicine. I'm constantly learning in these spaces. And I'm teaching you so when I have a moment, such as soon as I wake up, I'm learning about neuroscience. I'm learning about food, I'm learning about human behavior. I'm learning about exercise and learning about sleep, I'm learning about stress. And these are the things I share with you on the podcast. I'm learning, I'm writing, summarising, getting an understanding so that then I can articulate it on the podcast. So what inspires you in terms of what material do you like learning about? What do you want to dig deeper into what's of interest to you? Please share it with me. I'd love to hear you can share it with me and then I can hold you accountable. So yeah, write it down, write it down and then do this after dinner. Or are you seeking like, Do you love and you get energised so what what energises you what do you do? And when you feel like what is it that you do that you get energised from so I get energised from doing these podcasts? So I'm always doing these podcasts. I jump on the podcasts whenever I can. I got a spare moment between clients, between doing webinars, corporate seminars, all that sort of stuff. If I not doing that, I want the podcast okay. And so it brings me energy. So what brings you energy? What are you doing? that you feel energised. What is it you love talking about with others? So I love, obviously talking about health with you. So that's what energises me. What do you love talking about. So I know my mother loves talking about dogs, it energises her. And so whenever I'm around my mother, she'll be talking about dogs, because she loves dogs. And she loves walking with a dog and then talking to other dog owners that share that interest. And they have great chats, they have something in common. They connect over the dog and their dog stories. And it's bonding, you might love your children, you might, you know, you might get inspired by your children. So what can you do with your children after dinner? You know, do you want to sit down and read with them? Do you want to sit down and play with them? Do you want to play board games with them, you can do things with your children, if it brings you energy, what brings you fulfillment? It's different for everyone. So think about these things that bring you energy things you like learning about the way in which you like spending your time. So think about those things. It's really important. What are you like spending your money on other than the basic necessities of life? Look at those areas, where are you spending your money beyond the basic necessities, that's an area of interest is that you like looking beautiful. And so maybe after dinner, you do things that help your skin, you do things that help your looks. So you know, for me, like in the evening, I'm stretching my body, I want to have nice, limited body before I go to sleep, I want to feel, you know, my body is relaxed, my mind is relaxed, I'm ready to sleep. So I do I do a whole lot of rolling and stretching before bed. So what is it that going to bring you fulfillment rather than emotional eating, so it's going to stop you from getting bored, it might be catching up with a friend, you love socialising. So maybe you every time after dinner, you set up a social call with your friends, maybe it's a regular thing you catch up regular check in how you doing how was your day, or maybe you're in a family member do the same thing. So a way in which you can not be bored after eating, and particularly after dinner, that's when I noticed most of my clients trip up is after dinner, they just can't stop eating, they get a bit bored. The other thing is negative thinking, as I said that started the study the frontier of behavioral science in 2020 revealed that negative thinking is happens before motional eating. So maybe the thinking is correlated to emotional eating. So what can you do about negative thoughts? When you're thinking negative thoughts? You want to think about what is it that you are thinking negatively about? And then look at what is positive about it, look for the positive balance the equation, balance your perspective, and your calm the emotions. So you can do that internally. So if something's really annoying, you ask yourself, ask yourself, how's it serving you? How is it benefiting you? How is it benefiting you in terms of what's important to you? Ask yourself these questions, and you'll find the answer. Your brain will look for the answer it will seek the answer and then you'll think ah, that's how it's helping me. Oh, that's a benefit. Oh, what else? How else is that benefiting you? And okay, that benefit? How is that a benefit A further benefit. And so think about weighing up the benefits. So it neutralises the negatives that you are thinking about that particular event, that particular person, it could be a person or a place, place people things, whatever it is, think about what is positive? And how is it serving you. And what's important to you really important to balance those perceptions. So that you neutralise the emotions and the emotions running you towards the cupboard, they are putting you into motion, so that you go and grab that packet of cookies. Okay, so really important to get on top of that by balancing the equation in your head, just ask yourself the question. How is this serving me? How is this thought pattern serving me? What's the benefit in terms of if it's a past experience that's popped into your head because you've been triggered by watching a TV show or talking to a person or something that's happened that day. So it could be your reflection on the day and you're thinking negative about what's happened during the day. Ask yourself, how has it served you what is the benefit? So the other day, I got some feedback that it was good for me. But you know, I could have taken it is just all bad. And I was thinking, Okay, how is this serving me? How is this feedback serving me? How is this person that's put aside the time to give me the feedback? How does it serve me? And what's important to me, and I'm thinking, this is how it serves me. It makes me wanting to further finesse my craft, the way in which I ticular messages, the way in which I share things or maybe it's better understanding the needs first, and then I can meet the expectations. And that's what I realised there was a gap between their expectations and what I delivered. And so I didn't make the expectations. So, next time, I'm going to spend more time understanding the expectations so that I can deliver what is expected and beyond. Okay, so I could have just taken that as, you know, negative feedback. It's all bad. And I'm hopeless and no good at this. And I feel bad. But I was thinking the houses served me, well, I want to get better at my craft. And they've actually highlighted something that was a gap. And that was that I didn't really have a clear expectation of their needs. Now I do. And hence, I can narrow that gap. And now how to exceed it next time. Okay, so I've learned from what that feedback was. And so I have an appreciation for that feedback now, as opposed to thinking, Oh, it's negative feedback. Okay. So if you get negative feedback, ask yourself, how's it serving you? What is it, like have that self reflection? And look objectively at it? And ask yourself, How can I improve? How can I better this? How can I get better? How can I make How can I leverage this feedback, and actually turn it into something that's serving me. So that's what I did. And I've neutralised the emotion around that feedback, it's no longer perceived as negative, okay, it is just feedback. And I've seen the positive of it. And I've seen the drawback of it. I've seen both sides. I've seen it objectively. And so I can see it for what it is, as opposed to judging it as negative feedback. So if you're judging something, you're taking a one sided perspective of it, you're only seeing one side, you either, you know, in this case, I was I had a confirmation bias to the negative. And I had a dis confirmation bias to the positive, had an unconscious awareness or unconsciousness, I was unconscious to the positive and I had a conscious awareness to the negative, but then I looked for the answers and brought what was unconscious, initially to my conscious awareness and balanced it, it was always there, the other side was always there, I just had a one sided perspective initially, okay, and it resulted in emotion. And it resulted in negative emotion. So if you're feeling, you know, creating negative emotions that are associated with emotional eating, then ask yourself, How is it serving you, okay? And you can catch yourself in the moment you're about to eat the biscuit, and you're thinking, or you've just eaten a couple of biscuits, and you catch yourself in the moment. And you're thinking, Okay, remember what Anthony said, I can't I need to calm my emotions down. So then ask yourself, How is what I'm perceiving? How is it serving me, okay? And then keep asking yourself that question until the emotion calms down. And then you no longer have that desire center activated, and you're actually activating your prefrontal cortex, which is your executive function. And that's where you can have a vision, that's where you have a strong vision of who you want to be, and who you're going to be if you keep following the path of that vision. And so that can only be accessed when we see the meaning. And that's balancing the perceptions. Finding the mean between both sides, okay, is when we balanced it, we neutralise it, we find the middle line, the middle road, okay? And that leads to meaningful being, meaning that events had a meaning behind it. So and you keep catching yourself in this moment, and then keep balancing it what will happen, eventually, you will start this exercise before you have the packet of cookies in your hands, you will start thinking, Okay, I'm feeling to negative emotions, or I'm feeling a bit bored. What did Anthony say? He said, Do something fulfilling? So go and do something fulfilling if you're bored? Or if you're starting to think negative thoughts? How is this serving me? What's the benefit behind it? What's the benefit behind what this person said to me did to me, what's the benefit behind that event that day in terms of the negative feedback that I shared? What's the benefit to me? How's it served me? And I keep asking myself that question until I feel the emotion calm down. Once the emotion calms down, I no longer have the desire center activated, okay. And so then you're in control, you are in governance, you're in control of your emotions, and you're the master of your destiny. So therefore, you can then take the next the action you're going to take is an action towards where you want to go. And that's the vision of yourself where you want to be and you're going to take another step towards that in that moment, once you've come the emotion and think, Okay, I'm gonna get back on track, I'm gonna get back on track and if you keep training yourself to then look to balance your perceptions when you're feeling these negative emotions, then eventually it will become second nature. It'll become a habit of yours. Once you feel the negative emotion you're going to have Ask yourself the question, How is this serving me, and then you'll calm the emotion. And then you'll get back on track. Okay, you won't detour off and go for the packet of chocolate biscuits. And this because this will give you a governance over your emotions. When you do have something that you like, you'll be mindful, you won't have this sense of unfulfillment, you won't do it mindlessly, you'll do it with complete conscious that, yes, knowing that everything I know, in this moment, I want to have this I you know, I choose to have this but because you're mindful of having it, you won't need as much as when your mind less, when your mind less you keep having it. And until you're feeling some satisfaction, and that's generally at a point where you become mindful. But so without eating the whole packet of biscuits, you can enjoy one biscuit by just eating it with full conscious awareness. Okay, as opposed to being on autopilot, and just driven towards this action of seeking fulfillment externally, there's something that you perceive as a void within, but there's no void there. You just have an ask yourself, What's the balance? You know, to what I'm seeing? What's the balancing question? So you might be elated with something I think you do. You have the licensing effect. So when we're over elated, we're over exuberant, about something, we're thinking, Oh, I deserve it now. So therefore, I'm going to indulge, okay. And so when you're over positive, you've got this strong emotion towards something as well, because you give yourself the licensing, yes, I deserve this. And I'm going to have this and you've got in your emotional, right. You're very elated. And because you're elated, you're going to over consume it. Whereas if you calm down that emotion and go, Okay, what is it that I'm not seeing? What are the drawbacks to what's just happened, and then you balance your perception, then you get back into your area of governance, your executive function. And that's when you can make a strategic decision about it thinking, Yeah, I'm going to enjoy one, I'm going to have a celebration over one. But that's all I need. Because I'm mindful, I'm completely aware of what I'm doing. I'm not being run by my emotions. So I'm sure you get me now I'm sure this is quite clear as to how I'm helping and serving you today in terms of understanding the neuroscience behind the emotional eating, and what you can do in that moment to get in control of your emotions. So your emotions aren't running you and controlling you. Okay, so I've shared those tips today. And I hope that's been insightful for you. And certainly shed some feedback if you found this episode insightful, because I'd love to obviously share more insights around human behavior and the psychology and neuroscience to help you make decisions that are taking you in the direction that you want to go, as opposed to feel like you're being dragged in this direction opposing the way you want to go. So, in order to do that, in order to have that governance, we need to have governance over our emotions. So we need to be aware of our emotions, and then understand, what am I perceiving? What am I missing? And then ask yourself the opposing question to balance the equation to neutralise the emotion and to transcend your thinking so that you're back in control, you're the governor of your emotions, and you are the master your destiny. So I'll leave it there today. Thank you for your ears. And please join the me&my health up club, I share further insights on the me&my health up club, we dig deeper into these topics. So if you're keen, and wanting to join a like minded community of also keen people that love taking their health to the next level, then jump in and join the me&my health up club for a small monthly fee. And I'm giving huge amounts of further insights. And I'm sharing ebooks and further discounts of products and services that can really serve you and your journey to becoming a healthier version of us. So join the me&my health up club. You'll find the link at the bottom of the show notes where it says Click here to support the show and join a like minded community of like minded people that love helping up thank you.

Podcast Disclaimer: 29:21

This podcast and any information advice opinions or statements within it do not constitute medical healthcare or professional advice and are provided for general information purposes only. All care is taken in the preparation of the information in this podcast, connected wellness Proprietary Limited operating under the brand is me&my health up does not make any representations or give any warranties about his accuracy, reliability, completeness or suitability for any particular purpose. This podcast and any information, advice or opinions or statements within it are not to be used as a substitute for professional medical, psychological psychiatry or any other mental health care or health care in general. me&my health up recommends you seek the advice of a doctor or qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Inform your doctor of any changes that you make to your lifestyle and discuss these with your doctor. Do not disregard medical advice or delay visiting a medical professional because of something you hear in this podcast. This podcast has been carefully prepared on the basis of current information. changes in circumstances after publication may affect the accuracy of this information to the maximum extent permitted by the law, me&my health up disclaims any such representations or warranties to the completeness, accuracy merchantability or fitness for purpose of this podcast and will not be liable for any expenses losses damages incurred indirect or consequential damages or costs that may be incurred as a result of the information being inaccurate or incomplete in any way. And for any reason. No part of these podcasts can be reproduced or redistributed, published, copied or duplicated in a form without prior permission of me&my health up.