What Nobody Tells You About Emotional Eating (The Science Behind It)
To overcome emotional eating, I think it’s really beneficial that you understand THE PROCESS behind it, and how + why it really works.
It was so fascinating to me when I learned about it!
So, you might have heard that emotional eating is a way of numbing yourself but why does it work?
Well, let me explain.
There are two types of energies in the body and they both take care of different things in the body.
This can be best explained by giving you this example:
You know that the car needs to have fuel for you to be able to drive it around. But that is not the only thing it needs, doesn’t it? It also needs the battery because without it, nothing will happen.
It needs both.
The human body works similarly. It needs fuel and battery. The fuel being food and the battery is our nerve energy.
These two types of energies are used for different things and processes.
THE BATTERY (aka nerve energy)
Our battery gives our body the energy needed to take care of all of the internal processes, such as healing, digesting food, thinking, feeling the feelings, etc.
Our battery (nerve energy) gets filled up with sleeping.
Imagine this one like the battery on your phone. In the morning it’s green and full and closer to the sleeping time we come, the redder it becomes.
THE FUEL (the energy from food)
Then, there is fuel energy (food). It gives us the possibility to move our bodies, nourish our cells, and feel energized physically.
We get it by eating.
To simplify it:
BATTERY (we get it by sleeping)
Takes care of: internal processes, healing, digestion, thinking, feeling the feelings, etc.
FUEL (we get it by eating)
Takes care of: physical energy to move the body, nourishing the cells, etc.
So you see, the battery (aka nerve energy) takes care of BOTH – the digestion and feeling the feelings.
On a normal eating day, the whole process of digestion takes a big chunk of that whole battery. The rest is left for other internal processes, such as healing the body, thinking and feeling the feelings.
But on a day when you overeat, something fascinating happens.
Your body needs to direct even more energy into digestion when you overburden it by eating too much.
Of course, not ALL of it will be able to go into digestion. A big chunk of it is reserved for important internal processes that keep you alive…
… and only what is left is available for thinking and feeling the feelings!
And if there is not a lot of battery left, not much will be left for thinking and feeling the feelings as your body will use it for the most important things.
That is why you feel a bit numb emotionally when you overeat. This can soothe us for that short period of time.
And there is a side effect as well.
If you have ever overeaten in the past, you know that it is usually accompanied by mental fog and drowsiness. This happens because of the same reason as to why you feel that food can numb you emotionally. Because your body is using a huge portion of the battery (nerve energy) to simply digest the food and deal with the excess of it.
This also explains when you’re tired in the evening, and you have a HUGE meal, this won’t actually give you energy, it will make you even sleepier! Why? Because the battery is needed to actually process the food. If the battery is in the red, you will need to replenish it by sleeping.
Hope this makes sense!!
As I said, it was a game-changer for me.
Let me know if it brought you any a-ha moments.
I love hearing from you, my friend.
Hugs!
Tiasha
P.S. If you are struggling with night-time cravings, you’re invited to my LIVE CLASS with COACHING – sign up HERE >> (It’s free!)