Emotions are closely linked to eating. They take part in the decisions we make in what and whenever to eat. Alternatively, eating is intricately intertwined with the emotions we have following a meal. Eating specific types of foods can produce temporary happiness, guilt as well as euphoria. The connection between food and emotion was contemplated for years and years. For instance, Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, postulates that there are six different tastes, ranging from sweet to pungent. Each one of these tastes can have some other effect not merely on our physical bodies, and on our mental state. Sweet brings calmness and induces love and tenderness. Pungent taste, conversely, promotes actions and makes the mind alert. By the way, having an excessive amount of any particular taste would cause serious negative effects, so please don’t imagine that eating plenty of chilli can help you stay focused on that report.

What does the Western science say about the relationship between emotions as well as the food we eat? Perhaps there is indeed a connection between the world of physical nutrients and the realm of fleeting experiences we call emotions?

Food cravings and emotional eating

The recent technology (fMRI) has allowed scientists to take a good look at inner workings with the brain under the conditions of intense food cravings. It’s been found that brain areas responsible for emotions are actively participating in the mediation of signals related to food craving. Specifically, negative emotions that stimulate impulsive being hungry are:

* fear (insecurity, general anxiety, panic disorders)
* anger
* tension (stress, frustration, impatience)
* and shame (low self-esteem, guilt).

Some pun apparently intended, these four are sometimes called “FATS” thoughts (an acronym produced from the categories above). Nevertheless, other feeling might also influence eating behaviour, which doesn’t concern negative emotions exclusively. Quite to the contrary, positive emotions also have an effect on food consumption and food cravings. These effects are (a bit of an easy guess this time) of positive nature in respect to our food behaviours.

Medical investigation indicates that emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, and joy have substantial effects on eating patterns during the actual whole procedure for ingestion. The influence includes the original motivation to eat, as well as the emotional response to the foods consumed, selecting specific foods (e.g. full of carbs, salts or protein), and things like the way of chewing and eating speed. Finally, significant effects have been exhibited in relation to the share of nutrients ingested (!), as well as overall metabolic process and digestion. The relationship between emotions as well as the digestive process goes also for other feelings, which are thought of as being less intensive and much more long-term, such since the previously mentioned low self-esteem.

Research on human subjects has demonstrated that bad and the good feelings may be profoundly different in their effects on food-intake. Negative emotions (the FATS family) tend to increase impulsive food consumption, expressed as non-discriminated eating in irregular patterns. They are acknowledged to correlate with eating as mechanism to handle with negative emotional states. Additionally, negative emotions are responsible for the increased consumption of unhealthy food. Interestingly, negative emotions will also be associated with decreased gratification derived from eating. Conversely, joy, cheerfulness as well as other positive emotions have a tendency to enhance the overall pleasantness of food. Most of all, positive states of mind automatically promote better eating behaviours, including the choice of healthier foods.

Different intensity provokes different effects

Besides the “valence” of emotions (positive vs. negative), the intensity of the emotional state is also crucial in determining the result on eating, including food cravings. For example, high arousal emotions, for example fear or anger, suppress eating, which is often explained by incompatible emotional responses please do not consider this as your diet option, though).

If we consider emotions which have low intensity, for example boredom or sadness, their effect usually involves increased eating, even though exact mechanism of causality of this effect differs along with the motivation to consume. For example, in the example of individuals who diet (restrained eaters) the increase in food consumption is associated with weakening from the cognitive charge of behaviour due to negative emotions.

It seems that the ancient yogis were right regarding the emotional results of food, despite the fact that they appear to have neglected to prove their theory statistically. Food-related motions are strong determinants which foods we are choosing to eat. Consequently, try to think about something positive the very next time you have a meal. In the end, it’s not necessarily all inside the mind.

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