Eating out of pleasure and frustration

Eating without fun is unhealthy and makes you fat! It’s even been scientifically proven. Nevertheless, many people believe that the sinful cream cake is always followed by God’s punishment in the form of a roll of bacon. Maybe we shouldn’t constantly think about how many calories we eat, but also how we eat it: A bar of milk chocolate always has 531 calories. Regardless of whether it is eaten with a good or bad conscience. So you better enjoy them – because that keeps you full for longer.

After all , eating has something to do with fun: “It is a multi-sensory event : all of the senses are involved to a great extent. No other event triggers all of these stimuli so intensively. We get into an optimal state of relaxation – a flow state, as we say,” explains the Hamburg psychologist Michael Thiel. No wonder, because eating is – like sleeping and sexuality – a basic need . This is how the psychologist Abraham Maslow presented it in his famous “Pyramid of Needs” in 1954.

“Eating and drinking form the basis for all other behaviors. Needs such as recognition, appreciation or morality are unimportant as long as we are not full,” says Thiel. Not only the texture, smell and appearance of a meal are important for the enjoyment of eating, but also the people taking part, according to Dr. Michael Macht in his own studies at the Institute for Psychology at the University of Würzburg.

But if you’re constantly starving after an unrealistic dream figure, you’ll run into problems: “If people take in fewer calories than they need in the short or long term, they become more susceptible to stress, they become depressed and their thoughts constantly revolve around food,” explains Michael Macht. A condition that applies to over 100,000 anorexics in Germany. For them, starvation is an addiction with which they want to solve problems – they have nothing to do with food.

Tip: Flexible rules make it easier to watch weight. An example: Wrong strategy “I’ll never eat cake again and that’s why I don’t accept invitations for coffee anymore.” This resolution is made by the mother-in-law’s 60th birthday at the latest. After the first piece of cake you are disappointed in yourself. Now it doesn’t matter either and you grab it properly. Right strategy“I can eat two pieces of cake for my birthday. In return, I only eat a salad in the evening and go jogging the next day.” That way you aren’t a spoilsport and don’t have to throw your good intentions overboard because of your mother-in-law. You control what you eat and take pride in it. With this strategy, you take in fewer calories than in the above case—despite the pie allowance.

Eating is erotic

“The mouth is the first site of pleasure,” writes the French psychoanalyst Gisèle Harrus-Révidi in her book Die Lust am Essen. From the very first breastfeeding, we encounter the combination of closeness, security and nourishment. And even later, this coupling remains. It has not been scientifically proven whether certain foods such as oysters, vanilla, cocoa or chili have the ability to make people hungry for love. “For the erotic effect of the food, the proximity and the atmosphere are much more important than the assumed aphrodisiac effect of the oyster,” says Michael Thiel. Because eating together signals that you are turning to someone and letting them into their own privacy. Eating together is something very intimate: The Australian aborigines even use the same words for “eat” and “have sex”.

Do connoisseurs eat healthier?

In any case, they have a lower risk of developing an eating disorder. Because protection against anorexia or binge eating is considered to be a completely natural and pleasurable approach to food that is free of nutritional ideologies and strict prohibitions. “Anyone who doggedly checks every bite will not enjoy eating much,” says Michael Thiel. “The chance of reacting more to satiety signals is greater with fun eaters,” says the psychologist. Connoisseurs also shop healthier: they prefer fresh, higher-quality food because it tastes better.

The 5 senses

What we call “taste” is the interaction of five sense organs

• Seeing: The eyes also eat, as the saying goes. Luminous colors and fresh appearance signal: edible. And the eyes were “bigger than the belly” when the amount of food was misjudged.
• Smell: About 30 million olfactory cells in the upper nasal concha distinguish up to 10,000 scents. The brain compares them with the stored smells and distinguishes between “delicious” and “repulsive”.
• Taste: On the tongue and in the throat there are taste buds that distinguish the basic tastes of sweet, bitter, sour and salty. There is also umami, Japanese for “savory”, the flavor of the sodium glutamate flavor enhancer.
• Feeling: There are a particularly large number of nerves in the lips, tongue and throat. You can feel how hot the soup is and how creamy the chocolate is melting.
• Hearing: The ear sits very close to the mouth and hears the chips crack between the teeth. Without that sound, it would only be half the fun. And you can only hear whether a salad is really crunchy.

Control is good, flexible control is better
Professor Kelly D. Brownell, director of the Center for Eating and Weight Disorders at Yale, calls what we are currently experiencing a “toxic environment”: less and less exercise, but constantly tempting fast food, snacks and energy drinks. The result is increasing obesity worldwide. So it makes sense to control your calorie intake. But it depends on how you do it: the strict division into “forbidden” and “allowed” foods can be dangerous. Nutritional psychologists call this “rigid control.” It harbors the constant danger of failure: “Nobody can keep these strict rules in the long run,” says Michael Thiel. The constant tension that arises from the topic of eating becomes a mood killer and can mean the onset of an eating disorder. Anyone who allows themselves a small chocolate despite their good intentions even has a lower body weight. This was shown by a study of over 50,000 participants in a health insurance company’s weight loss program.

When food becomes a problem

Although we live in a world of plenty, many have lost the fun of eating: Half of Germans are overweight and constantly struggle with new diet strategies. And up to five percent of young women suffer from dangerous eating disorders.

anorexia

It begins between the ages of 11 and 15: anorexia nervosa. Triggered by unrealistic ideals of beauty or problems in the family . The very strong-willed girls ascetically starve themselves into a life-threatening condition. Thoughts are constantly revolving around food, food is divided into “good” and “bad” and there is a panic fear of gaining weight again from the smallest amounts. Anorexics avoid social eating and are often hyperactive. Anorexia nervosa is the leading cause of death in young women. It ends fatally in 10 percent of those affected.

bulimia

Chronic dieting is often at the beginning of binge eating. When they are afraid, sad or bored, those affected lose control over their eating habits. In regular binge eating, they secretly eat and drink up to 10,000 calories: e.g. E.g. whole family packs of ice cream, unbaked cake batter and sodas – everything that is prohibited. They then “cleanse” themselves through vomiting, laxatives, water tablets and excessive sport. Bulimia often goes undetected for years. The constant vomiting leads to serious health problems: the stomach acid destroys the teeth, potassium deficiency can cause heart problems.

Binge-Eating

It is believed that a third of those who are overweight also suffer from uncontrolled binge eating. They devour large amounts of food several times a week. Especially in the evening and when those affected are alone. Afterwards they feel “disgusting” and have a bad conscience. In contrast to the bulimics, they do not vomit and thus gain a lot of weight.

Orthorexia

“Sick healthy eating” is the technical term for this eating disorder. Those affected proselytize their environment with nutritional dogmas and only eat a few things that seem healthy enough to them. As a result, the choice of food is becoming smaller and smaller and the danger of not getting enough nutrients is increasing.

Tip: What can I do if my daughter has an eating disorder?

• Don’t push the issue of food and weight
• Strengthen your daughter’s self-confidence and independence
• Observe the environment: girls often go hungry in a group
• Endure the confrontations
• Contact an advice center

Info:

First aid: Advice hotline of the Federal Center for Health Education: Monday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday to Sunday and public holidays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tel. 0221/89 20 31

Addresses of advice centers throughout Germany: www.bzga-essstoerungen.de .