The Role of Psychology in Eating Behaviors
The role that psychology plays in our beliefs about and behaviors regarding food and eating cannot be understated. I don’t think we give enough credit, or sometimes even acknowledge, the foundations that are established, often subconsciously, around food. Diet culture / the dieting industry works hard to convince us that our unhealthy habits are due to a fundamental flaw within ourselves - a lack of willpower, worth, or unseen trait we just can’t seem to get a grip on.
This is intentional - the dieting industry is a multi-BILLION dollar industry whose goal is to keep you coming back to purchase weight-loss plans, recipe books, workout programs, and the like. Most of the time, they have no intention of actually establishing long-lasting change, because that would mean a future decrease in sales.
The truth is, our failures to adhere to diets is caused by a variety of factors, most of which skate by undetectable to the untrained eye. The factors are so deeply engrained in our culture that it’s going to take a lot more than sheer force of willpower to overcome it. Most of these factors are psychological - which is what we’ll be focusing on today. There is a TON of research being conducted on the link between our psychology and eating behavior - this research continues to give us valuable insight into the role our subconscious plays in our eating habits, and how we can use it to establish better ones.
Below is just some of the ways our psyche is involved in the establishment of our core beliefs and behaviors around eating.
1. Advertisements and Marketing
Our psychological connection to food is fascinating - just thinking about food can stimulate appetite and get the digestive juices flowin’. With the introduction of advertisement and marketing, for the first time in history we are constantly exposed to food - highly palatable, calorically-dense food to be exact. Billboards, commercials, magazine ads, internet ads, and even ads on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest leave us consistently stimulated and thinking about food. It’s no wonder we have such a difficult time switching to a healthier lifestyle with this one factor alone.
Another way of targeting us psychologically is the marketing tactics companies use to grab consumers’ attention and increase the chance of purchase. Health claims such as “high fiber", “high protein,” “heart healthy,” and “rich in essential vitamins and minerals” are often used to convince the consumer that they are making healthy choices, even if the reality of the product is that it’s highly processed and practically void of nutrients. This also goes for kids, too. Marketing ploys attempt to grab kids’ attention with colorful packaging, popular figures or movie characters, and incentives such as toys. There’s nothing exciting or multicolored about an apple, and we certainly don’t see Shaquille O’Neal’s face next to the bar code sticker.
The Remedy: Shop the periphery of the store and avoid the center when possible. The periphery is where you’ll usually find produce, meat, and dairy (fresh foods) and the center is where the packaged / processed foods are. If you do venture into the center (we all will have to at some point), keep your mission in mind and ignore everything else. If you do find your eye catching on a product, don’t just read the front cover, look over the nutrition breakdown and the ingredients list as well!
2. Man-Made Food
Food is formulated for excessive consumption. People in labs work to maximize the taste, texture, and “cravability” of their product. Thousands of dollars (or more) went into designing that cheeto - making sure it melted in your mouth a specific way, had a certain level of cheese dust, a distinct crunch, and so on. It is not just you and your lack of willpower; it is your biological hardwiring to crave and overeat these foods because that is how they were designed - to keep you coming back for more.
The Remedy: High fat + carb combinations are the most common when it comes to overeating due to high palatability. Make sure that you get an adequate amount of protein with each meal to aid in satiety and replace some of those carbs and fats. Stabilizing blood sugar is also important in terms of satiation and balancing hormones - this means refraining from eating super sugary or highly processed carbohydrates in favor of more protein- or fat-dense foods and whole grains.
The more you fill your diet with whole, plant-based foods, the more you’ll begin to “crowd out” the lab foods. Over time, you will crave these foods less and less as your body begins to understand and crave the nutrient density of whole foods.
3. Culture
Another massive piece of eating psychology is the individual’s culture. Certain cultures glorify food and eating - food is often the center of gatherings for these cultures - and it is considered rude not to partake in the meal. You may often eat wayyy past fullness due to pressure from family members to keep eating, or simply because everyone else is. In our younger years, a lot of us even get into trouble for not eating all of our food, and so we are taught to ignore our hunger and fullness signals in the name of “not wasting food.”
Culture also establishes food traditions and norms. In America, pizza and cheeseburgers are quite normal, whereas in Japan you will find white rice and fish, and in Italy, a plethora of pasta and cheese. Aside from what foods is also the establishment of how much food is normal. Here is the U.S., portion sizes have grown astronomically in the past century, and that is a major key player in our obesity epidemic. If you were berated as a kid when you didn’t finish every morsel of food on your plate, you’ve got yourself a double whammy; because now as an adult, you may still carry that habit from childhood.
Childhood Conditioning + Giant Portion Sizes = Increased Likelihood of Obesity
The Remedy: While you can’t completely change the culture or even your entire family’s beliefs and traditions around food, you can work to become more mindful around eating. Essentially this means taking the time to slow down when you eat, focusing on the meal without distractions. Maybe even stop to ask yourself WHY you’re eating and WHAT you’re eating, particularly when you find yourself mindlessly snacking or reaching for food in times of stress or when you’re with a certain group of people. All of this will help to bring awareness to your eating habits, improve digestion, and open up space for fullness cues.
We have the power to change our eating habits; we do not have to adopt the beliefs and habits of those around us.
4. Emotional Ties and Hedonic Eating
Have you ever heard of the term “Hedonic Eating?” This is essentially when one eats to experience feelings of joy and contentment, usually because they are lacking those experiences in their everyday life. This often unconscious behavior can easily turn into a compulsive, addictive behavior in times of stress. When we feel upset or anxious, we may attempt to offset the hormones that come with those emotional states by producing more feel-good ones through eating highly palatable foods. Just think of the stereotypical ~ girl eats a pint of Ben & Jerry’s after a rough breakup ~ example. Even if for a short period of time, eating does make us feel better. The important thing to note here is that we need to become aware of these instances so that they don’t become deeply engrained habits.
We will all experience feelings of sadness, grief, and fear, and because of our accessibility to food, it is easy and common to turn to food as a coping mechanism. Often, this habit is accompanied by feelings of shame after the dopamine hit wears off, which puts you back into a cycle of negative emotions. Even more, you are often eating in a hurried, high emotional state (especially if you are stressed) which leads to overeating due to lack of fullness cues and often times digestive discomfort as well. Again - more added stress - a perpetual cycle.
The Remedy: We cannot use food to cope with every bit of stress we are challenged with in life. We have to learn other various coping mechanisms for dealing with grief, anxiety, sadness, and so on. A few of these are journaling, meditation, and physical activity such as yoga, dance, or running/walking. Aside from this, try and find activities outside of food that bring you joy -drawing, gardening, playing an instrument, roller skating, or whatever hobby that makes you happy!
Another great way is to connect with people. Call a friend, go on a walk, go out for coffee… whatever helps you connect to others will help increase those “feel-good” hormones. We are wired for human connection, and often we turn to eating to fill that void.
5. Cognitive Dissonance
There is a constant push and pull of messaging from our parents, friends, relatives and society, and the wisdom of our own bodies and its innate desire to achieve homeostasis. Those around us say one thing, our intuition, our bodies, tell us another. What results is cognitive dissonance - the existence of two opposing and conflicting beliefs held simultaneously in one’s mind. It is an inconsistency in our thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes. This inconsistency creates a lot of distress in the mind, as we are wasting energy bouncing between the two forces. This mental and emotional distress eventually manifests itself in the body as dis-ease.
When one experiences cognitive dissonance, their actions often do not reflect their core beliefs, as their actions are representative of the values of society or their friends and family. This is another cause of distress as we are abandoning who we are in favor of what others want us to be. In regards to eating behaviors specifically, this can often look like binge eating, yo-yo dieting, and other disordered eating behaviors. This is mainly due to that push and pull of messaging: your environment is telling you to lose weight or eat less, so you restrict, while your body is telling you that you need nourishment, so you binge after you can’t handle the restriction any longer. Or, maybe your friend is telling you that she found out carbs are bad for you, and even though your body does just fine with healthy carbs, you cut them out because you have adopted her beliefs, consciously or unconsciously. If you’re a woman, this could easily throw your hormones out of wack, especially if done suddenly - causing fatigue, headaches, and mood swings, and subsequently causing you to binge on sugar to restore your energy.
The Remedy: Mindfulness, meditation, inner work… all things self-discovery. Start asking yourself WHY you’re making the choices that you’re making. Do they come from within or without? Are they in alignment with your own beliefs or someone else’s? Are you able to retract the decision after it doesn’t work out, or do you find yourself sticking to a diet plan that makes you feel worse? Question everything before blindly following others’ advice.
It is important to recognize the psychological factors at play when it comes to our eating behaviors as they play a MASSIVE role in our relationship with food. Thankfully, we have realized this vital connection and there are researchers devoted to this very topic. I hope you enjoyed this trip into the psyche and that the tools provided positively impact your eating behaviors (if you choose to use them :). Share this article with a friend you think would benefit! We’re making this world healthier, together, one small step at a time.
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