The psychology of nutrition - In all scientific teachings, the body is divided into three: the…

In all scientific teachings, the body is divided into three: the psychological, physical, and chemical body.

In the quantum approach from which complementary medicine originates, the body has five dimensions. Nutrition, being both metabolic and vital, has a psychology just like all our other behaviors. We call this "the psychology of nutrition."

All basic needs have a pleasurable quality, and hormones are involved in every event that brings pleasure. The integrity of the body's nervous, lymphatic, and vascular systems works together with the immune and hormonal systems. The center that controls our emotions (the limbic system) sits at the top of this whole, at the control level. Eating is not simply filling the stomach to obtain energy; it is a multifactorial, interactive act shaped by teaching, tradition, regional custom, habits, hormones, and the influence of the limbic system.

If we think about it, one of the first changes observed in depressed patients is decreased appetite. A baby who is angry at its mother or wants to punish its parents refuses to eat its food. A man or woman who has been abandoned relieves their sorrow through food. Food eaten during happy times tastes different. Couples in love prepare meals together. Unhappy people constantly eat in front of the television at night without noticing what they are eating. A girl whose mother is overweight may, once grown, make herself vomit to avoid gaining weight. Some avoid pregnancy in order not to gain weight. It is possible to multiply these examples. With just these few examples, we can see how powerful the bond is between human psychology and nutrition.

The fact that body beauty and the topic of being overweight or underweight is constantly in the news, with its popularity rising wave after wave, has made it more necessary today to also consider the psychology of nutrition. If psychology is involved, this should naturally be the domain of psychologists experienced in the subject and physicians trained in nutritional psychology. Because a disordered eating behavior is not itself an illness but a state of dysregulation. This is the job of physicians practicing regulation therapy working together with psychologists.

So, in which situations should a person's relationship with food be evaluated and addressed from a psychological perspective?

• If the person habitually eats constantly without being hungry
• If their food shopping is done in an exaggerated manner
• If they read the label of every product they buy as if preparing a thesis
• If they can never step on a scale, avoiding finding out their weight
• If they go from one dietitian to another
• If they continue eating in an uncontrolled way despite being full
• If they eat unknowingly or without being able to stop themselves during emotional fluctuations (when unhappy, angry, unable to speak up, or depressed...)
• If they hide themselves under their clothes
• If they exaggeratedly declare that they are happy with their excess weight
• If, despite all warnings, they eat with fervor, carelessly and unappealingly
• If they do not eat themselves but constantly feed others
• If they are excessively detail-oriented about healthy eating, causing reactions from those around them
• If every meal becomes an operation in the name of eating healthy
• If they constantly go around hungry in order not to gain weight
• If their life has passed by trying to lose weight
• If they constantly count calories
• If they have a constant fear of gaining weight
• If they eat only one type of food
• If they cannot eat in front of others and only eat when alone
• If they feel anxious that they will immediately gain weight from the food they eat
• If they feel guilty after eating
• If they hate eating
• If they lose weight despite eating enough and having no underlying illness or disorder
• If they cannot take pleasure in eating, or, conversely, become exaggeratedly happy while eating
• If they vomit after eating

If a person cannot reach their ideal weight despite adequate exercise, water intake, and healthy eating, a psychological cause may be considered behind this and many similar eating behavior disorders — but before saying so, it is essential to first rule out any organic disorder or interference field that could be causing it in the person.

To understand what is disordered, one must know what is healthy. The basic characteristics of healthy eating are:

• It is varied and rotational eating.
• Taking care to consume a different basic food group each day of the week, but without being rigid or obsessive about even this.
• Being able to stop eating once full, even if the plate is still half full.
• Eating at mealtimes — that is, at the hours when we are hungry according to our biological rhythm.
• Adopting a diet that avoids refined (processed) foods.
• Not snacking on the go, and eating our food by chewing and savoring its taste.
• Staying away from processed foods and consuming natural foods.
• Making healthy eating a way of life rather than something done only during certain periods.
• Being aware that eating is a basic need that should be carried out with happiness.

Eating is not simply pouring something into the stomach — it is a ceremony carried out by savoring the taste. Beyond this, one should investigate the psychology of nutrition behind eating patterns that are persistently carried out in a way that leads to disorders in a person's gastrointestinal system and results in weight gain or weight loss.

Dr. Hüseyin NAZLIKUL,  M.D.,  PhD.
IFMANT = President of the International Federation of Neural Therapy
President of the Scientific Neural Therapy Regulation Association