Happiness and Eating

“The happiness of pursuit” by Jeffrey Kluger (TIME MAGAZINE, 7/8-15/13) is not about eating per se, but started me musing about food and our often driven pursuit of it. The article describes how Americans tap into the “happiness industry.” Two relevant ways are “‘pills’ (the TIME poll found that 25% of American women and 5% of men say they are taking antidepressants) and ‘food’(48% of women and 44% of men admit to eating to improve their mood).” Almost half the country engages in emotional eating!  Most of you know that neurotransmitters manage our moods. Kluger tells us, “Serotonin and dopamine are often, simplistically, thought of as feel-good neurotransmitters.” He goes on to explain that, for certain people (in the article, he’s talking about the behavior of immigrants), “the power of the chemicals is that they regulate what researchers straightforwardly call search activity—forward-looking behavior that often occurs in pursuit of a specific goal. Search activity simply feels good—a fact that helps explain why shopping for something is often more fun than buying it...” So, when you’re mulling over what you’re going to buy for that big binge, scouting out special foods in the supermarket aisles, speeding home and imagining tearing open your grocery bag and chowing down your goodies, you’re not crazy. This is an important concept to recognize: the euphoria of being desperately driven toward food has roots ...
Source: Normal Eating - Category: Eating Disorders Authors: Source Type: blogs