Master Your Cravings
Posted on Apr 30th 2009 2:00PM by Mary KearlFiled Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements
Pavel Somov, author of "Eating the Moment"
That's Fit: In your book, you point out that even problem solving can lead us to eat when we may not be hungry. Can you explain why?
Somov: Work-related thinking and problem solving are potentially stressful activities; stress can trigger emotional eating; in other words, when we have to solve a problem or figure something out we might comfort ourselves with food. For example, on the way to work you might think: "I have a difficult meeting this morning. Why don't I pick up some Starbucks and grab some donuts?"
Work-related thinking and problem solving can be also a conditioned trigger for eating when you are not hungry even if a given work or problem-solving project is not stressful in and of itself. When we regularly comfort ourselves with food whenever we have something difficult to do or something challenging to think through, we develop a habit of coping with work-related stress by eating. Over time, work-related cues (e.g. brain-storming sessions) become cues for eating when you are not hungry.
Somov: Work-related thinking and problem solving are potentially stressful activities; stress can trigger emotional eating; in other words, when we have to solve a problem or figure something out we might comfort ourselves with food. For example, on the way to work you might think: "I have a difficult meeting this morning. Why don't I pick up some Starbucks and grab some donuts?"
Work-related thinking and problem solving can be also a conditioned trigger for eating when you are not hungry even if a given work or problem-solving project is not stressful in and of itself. When we regularly comfort ourselves with food whenever we have something difficult to do or something challenging to think through, we develop a habit of coping with work-related stress by eating. Over time, work-related cues (e.g. brain-storming sessions) become cues for eating when you are not hungry.
That's Fit: How can people determine what kind of "craver" they are, and how will that help them limit cravings in the future?
Somov: As explained in the book, "'Auditory' cravers are really just visual cravers in disguise. When they hear a description of a food, they first visualize it and then crave this imaginary picture of it. Then, there are 'tactile' cravers who crave the touch, the mouth-feel, the texture of food. Since it's hard to crave pure texture ... the craving for texture is secondary to visual or olfactory cravings ... To 'test' what kind of craver you, are get a handful of menus and a highlighter: After looking at the pictures in a given menu, highlight the words that have particular trigger power for you; move on to the next menu. When done, analyze the results. If looking at the pictures in the menus and reading the descriptions of dishes didn't trigger any cravings, then you might be an 'olfactory' craver, i.e. you might have to actually smell the food to get triggered. Similarly, if you tend to lose your appetite when you have a cold and your nose is stopped up, the chances are you are an 'olfactory' craving."
How is this useful to know? Depending on your craving sensory modality, your trigger avoidance strategy might be either "out of sight, out of mind, out of mouth," or "out of nose, out of mind, out of mouth," or "out of earshot, out of mind, out of mouth."
That's Fit: What are some of the worst triggers of overeating?
Somov: Watching TV, social eating and reading. All three are omnipresent. "Vegging" in front of TV and social eating are culturally-sanctioned pastimes on the order of a national sport. TV seems problematic for several reasons. It's a conditioned cue (the more you eat in front of TV, the more you want to eat in front of TV; watching TV and eating become cross-conditioned: When you eat, you turn the TV on, and when you turn the TV on you end up thinking of snacking). TV commercials are designed to provoke consumption, and food-related programming and eating scenes trigger thoughts about eating and serve as conditioned cues. Some viewers might intuitively regulate their emotions by eating whenever they are watching stimulating programming (e.g. horror movies), with food here serving as a kind of "oral" coping/self-pacifying behavior (emotional eating in response to stimulating or over-stimulating entertainment).
