After a hectic day, do you reward yourself with food? Most of the patients who come to the nutritionist and dietician’s office Sheila Didier Casillasthey have one goal: lose weight. Although the norm is that they go in search of achieving a physical goal, he assures that once they start, they end up learning that it is about much more than that, an internal change.
Therefore, one of the questions that it invites to ask is: Do you tend to eat according to your emotions? And, as he points out, our culture is well tied to this practice of eating to console ourselves or eating to reward ourselves, even as a demonstration of love.
“On many occasions we eat as a defense mechanism, to deal with life, to deal with stress, sadness, happiness and pain. Since we were little they get used to it, if we cry they put the bottle in us, for example. It is a very difficult habit to break because when we are adults, we can face the problem of obesity, being predisposed to solve everything with food.”highlighted the licensed nutritionist and dietician, in addition to being registered in the United States, who is the author of the book “In Shape Forever.”
Distinguish physiological hunger and emotional hunger
In a simple way, this nutritionist explains that physiological hunger is when normal, balanced food satisfies you. On the other hand, if it is emotional hunger, it is wanting a specific food, with which you eat and eat, and, no matter how much you eat, it does not satisfy you.
“I struggled with my weight all my life, because I ate for emotions, to satisfy an emptiness that I felt. When it is emotional hunger, you want something specific, that ‘comfort food’, or that food that will fill an emotional void or help you in moments of happiness, it is like a specific hunger. That type of hunger is dangerous because it is what you are looking for to remedy something, whether it is happiness or sadness. That’s where it becomes a problem because people start to fall into problems of overweight and obesity. “I was one of those who would binge eat at 3 in the morning when I was stressed about work, university or any problem,” she explained to The New Day.
To avoid falling into this practice, she recommends some self-analysis strategies that she herself put into practice and that worked for her, an acronym she called PRAP to distinguish if it is emotional hunger that is stalking you.
Q – Ask yourself, Is what I feel physiological or emotional hunger? What is happening to me at this moment in my life? Do I want to hide this emotion or this anxiety with food? Ask yourself questions about how you are feeling at that moment. Why am I feeling out of control? It is to investigate oneself in the moment: What brought me here? What has me feeling so anxious?
R- Recognize the emotion, if it is because you are bored, if you feel anger, happiness, sadness or fear, among others.
A- Actionthat leads you to work on that emotion that you managed to identify. How can I work on this emotion without using food? What do I really need? Do I have to cry? Do I have to laugh? Do I have to jump? Do I have to hug someone? Do I have to talk? So, it’s about taking an action that doesn’t have to do with food.
P- Forgive you – Forgive ourselves because in this process of asking ourselves and doing this self-analysis, we may fail again and binge. It’s about forgiving yourself and trying to resolve it in a different way next time. We have to know how to forgive ourselves and love ourselves in the process because we are in constant learning.
“When you start an eating plan, be it mine or anyone else’s, you cannot start with the mentality that you have a beginning and an end. No, that is something for life and it is something that you have to be able to sustain. If you started a plan and it is very difficult, very restrictive, leave it because it is better that you stop it at the beginning, than that you lose pounds badly and gain them back after months. Because then what you are doing is that every time you do crazy diets or poorly made diets, you are losing more muscle mass, instead of losing fat, and that muscle mass that you lose is very difficult to recover as we age,” said the nutritionist and diestist
Likewise, he shared another acronym that he usually shares with his patients, which he calls PECabout how you use food when you have an emotional hunger, whether as a pill, escape or punishment.
Q – Pill or medicine to relieve pain.
AND – Escape, to feel that you are far from the problem you have.
c – Punishment, because you have so many emotions that you want to satisfy them to the level of feeling bad about food.
“Food is not designed for any of that. It is designed to nourish us, so that our body functions properly,” said Didier Casillas.
Likewise, he emphasized the importance of learning to identify what your triggers are, such as: family problems, you don’t like your job, fatigue, relationship problems and health problems, among others.
“Being able to identify those triggers that cause you to want to eat emotionally is essential to be able to work on them to avoid continuing to struggle with them. In many cases the ideal is to seek therapeutic help to be able to manage it,” he added.
However, he indicates that if you have managed to identify a trigger for binge eating, he advises that you always have healthy snacks and make sure you have protein at breakfast, lunch and dinner, with at least between 30 to 50 grams of protein, since this will help you feel satisfied, be healthy and protect your muscle mass.
“You can make an omelette with half a cup of egg white, or include a high-fiber fruit such as apple, pear, blueberries or strawberries, before each of your meals, as it will make you feel full before eating”he advised.
“Another important thing is not to eliminate carbohydrates because many of those diet keys eliminate some food group. It’s like mentally you feel restricted. What they tell you that you can’t eat is what you are going to want to eat the most,” he mentioned.
For this reason, it is recommended to make sure you do not eliminate any food group, including carbohydrates, since they are very important for the functioning of our body. He points out that it is a matter of eating them at the right time and strategically.
“I never talk to my patients about calories because calories can be addictive. For me, nutrients are more important than calories. I like it better that they focus on eating protein, fiber and healthy fats, and not focus on the fact that this meal has to have 500 calories. Because 500 calories of chocolate and candy is not the same as 500 calories of protein, fruit or oatmeal, it is very different. It will depend on the source it comes from. You have to include all food groups if you want it to be sustainable,” said this health professional with more than 10 years of experience, helping thousands of people achieve health and a healthy weight.
Other tips
- Do not eat straight from the packaging. If you have the bag there in front of you, you will eat everything you want. Portion according to nutrition table.
- Avoid eating while you are distracted. Since when we are there, perhaps eating with our cell phone or watching television, we tend to eat excessively and it is also likely that you will still be hungry when you finish. So pay attention and enjoy the food, enjoying the privilege of being able to eat and nourish your body.
- Do strength exercises. They will help you feel less hungry and drain emotions.
- Cardiovascular exercise is a good way to distract our mind from that emotional hunger.
- Also include healthy fats in your diet, such as avocado, as they are very important for the creation of hormones and for them to work well. Hormones are made with fats. If we cut out all the fat, we’re going to have those scrambled emotions.
- Practice the “1, 2, 3 strategy” when you are anxious about eating. First, think of a person you can call, talk to, and vent to. Second, do two activities at that same moment to calm anxiety or some other emotion you are experiencing, such as going for a walk, singing a song, doing 10 squats, which will help distract your brain from wanting to eat when you know what to eat. there is no hunger. And third, use a mantra or some phrase that you have in your mind, that you can say to yourself repetitively. This will remind you that this is an emotional hunger and you can get out of it. You can use the acronym PEC: “pill, escape or punishment.”
Launch of his book
“In shape forever” is his first book, which he will be presenting this next Sunday, October 20 at 3:30 pm at Casa Norberto, Plaza las Américas.
In his book, Didier Casillas exposes a revolutionary and realistic system that allows people to adjust and make necessary changes to their lifestyle, for a total and permanent transformation.
“There is a universe of offers to lose weight, loaded with myths and errors, which only distract and frustrate those who try again and again. However, the key to success is to develop a healthy relationship with food, to stop being slaves to our emotions and the number on the scale. In these pages you will find the tools to change your lifestyle, finally achieve your emotional and physical freedom, and master your weight once and for all!” said the author, who emphasized that her system allows you to enjoy delicious foods, strategically combined to lose fat.
In the book the reader will find: strategies to overcome emotional hunger; the misconceptions you have believed that don’t work; the specific exercises you need to do; basic ingredients for easy and delicious recipes; effective advice; how to get out of a rut and 100 easy, delicious and quick recipes, plus success stories.