Self-Defeating Eating: Unhealthy Eating Behaviors

How a person eats is equally important to a healthy lifestyle as what a person eats.  Food and eating are integral parts of our lives; our food choices may reflect our cultural or ethnic backgrounds, our individual personalities, and even our religions or value systems.  Social activities and holidays often have a special meal as their central point, and sharing a meal with others can develop community. Having a pleasurable response to food – especially high-calorie foods – has been programmed into our physiological make up; when we eat something we love, dopamine (the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure) is released in the brain, reinforcing our decision to have that scoop of chocolate ice cream. With as wonderful as food can be for our bodies, minds, and social lives, unhealthy eating behaviors can have consequences as detrimental as frequently eating foods with little nutritional value.

Eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder) represent extremely severe compulsive eating behaviors that are treated as a mental health problem as much as physical problem.  But unhealthy eating behaviors fall on a spectrum; overeating as a response to stress is a common, even biologically understandable response yet can lead to weight gain or a nutrient imbalance if used as a person’s exclusive coping mechanism.  People can find themselves in any number of bad eating habits that can be hard to break – from skipping meals to frequenting fast food restaurants when on the go.  Sometimes eating healthy requires a fundamental attitude and behavior shift in addition to swapping one menu for another.