Mood Food Guide

How do you ID overeaters?
8216;8216;They usually use food to cope with or block out feelings and emotions they don8217;t want to feel. Food becomes a way to become numb, to deal with daily stresses, to comfort themselves or fill a void within,8217;8217; says Dr Jitendra Nagpal, senior consultant at VIMHANS, New Delhi. They could be suffering from binge-eating disorder, night-eating syndrome or nocturnal sleep-related disorder.
8226; Binge-eating disorder: It is a recognised psychological condition common among the obese, who usually binge-eat in the early evening or night. The condition is accompanied by violent mood swings, and the patient reports more severe psychological problems than obese people who do not binge
8226; Night-eating syndrome: If you account for at least 25 per cent8212;and up to 50 per cent8212;of your total energy intake after the evening meal, you could be suffering from this syndrome. It is more common among the morbidly obese and has strong associations with sleep apnea
8226; Nocturnal sleep-related disorder: This is a newly delineated night-eating pattern characterised by eating on arousal from sleep. It may be a variant of binge-eating disorder but its relationship with night-eating syndrome is unclear

What are the common signs of overeating?
Apart from weight gain and weight fluctuations, patients may feel themselves to be losing control of their lives or suffer from low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, loss of sexual desire, and feelings of guilt or shame. They may also hide food.

Undereating couldn8217;t possibly be as bad.
Oh yes, it could. 8216;8216;In our culture, food is often a medium for expressions of affection, concern and hospitality. Without us intending it, it often becomes a central issue in a child8217;s life,8217;8217; says Nagpal.

Eating difficulties in infancy and childhood may take the form of fussy eating or eating too little in early adolescence. As the child grows up, this could develop into anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

Familiar terms. But what do they mean?
All teenagers are concerned with their appearances. But when obsession with the 8216;perfect8217; body leads to weight that is 85 per cent or less than the ideal body weight, and a simultaneous fear of gaining weight, the condition is called anorexia nervosa.

Watch out for these signs: Noticeable weight loss; excessive exercising; fatigue; always feeling cold; muscle weakness; obsession with food, calories, recipes; mealtime excuses; and unusual eating habits, such as cutting food into tiny pieces.

And what about bulimia?
Concern about gaining weight leads a person to eat humungous amounts of food and then either use a laxative or induce vomiting in an effort to maintain normal body weight. A patient could also switch from binge-eating to fasting and exercise.

An affected person usually suffers strongly from remorse and a sense of failure. Watch out for these symptoms: Secretive eating; bathroom visits after a meal; vomiting; laxative, diet pill or diuretic abuse; weight fluctuations usually within 10-15 pounds; mood swings; depression; and severe self-criticism.

And how does one deal with it all?
Professional treatment is called for in all eating disorders. The doctor will recommend substituting a pattern of regular eating in place of bingeing and laxatives. He or she will help identify thoughts, beliefs and values that perpetuate the eating problem.

In case of undereating, the treatment first tries to save the patient from starving to death and then tries to reverse the process. In either case, psychotherapy is used to encourage positive thinking.