You Are Not What You Eat: The Psychology of Food and Weight Loss

When food becomes a coping mechanism for childhood trauma, it can lead to obesity.

Research conducted by Wiis and colleagues in 2020 suggests that one of the most prominent predictors of obesity is early life adversity or childhood trauma. Similar to addiction, traumatic experiences in childhood can change the brain, making that individual more likely to seek food to escape or self-soothe. Food is often our first and most accessible drug, and eating becomes a coping mechanism rather than a means for survival.

The primitive brain's survival instincts can trigger overeating when certain foods are restricted.

Eating comes from a very primitive part of the brain that all species have to access food for survival. This primitive part doesn't distinguish between good and bad food. When we restrict certain foods, the primitive brain thinks it's in danger and begins to shut down higher-order functions like impulse control. The next time we have access to that food, we are going to overindulge as a self-preservation mechanism.

Thoughts about food can have a significant impact on the body's physiological response.

The body is governed by an elaborate nervous system where there are signals going from the brain to the body and back up to the brain. Your thoughts about what you're eating are more important than the food itself. There's an incredible study done by Crum and her colleagues in 2011 called Mind Over Milkshake. They took two identical milkshakes and labeled one highly caloric and the other low caloric. They then measured the biometrics of individuals who consumed them. When the group consumed what they thought was the highly caloric milkshake, their bodies released a high level of hormones related to hunger as if they were drinking something highly caloric. When the group consumed what they thought was the low-calorie milkshake, their body released a much lower level of hormones related to hunger as if they were drinking something that was low caloric. But the milkshakes were identical. This research study proves that your thoughts about what you're eating can literally change the physiological and biochemical response your body has, despite what you're actually consuming.

Restrictive dieting and meal plans often fail because they do not address the underlying psychological issues that lead to unhealthy eating habits.

For over a decade working as a nutritionist, I handed out dozens of meal plans. Nobody got any better, and I continued to struggle with my weight and my relationship with food. It wasn't until I went back to school to study human behavior and psychology that I began putting these pieces together. I began to understand how my own psychology and feelings of inadequacy as a child led to unhealthy coping mechanisms with eating. Because no matter how much weight I lost, I still never liked myself. When I recovered my relationship with food, I began to see a life beyond calorie counting and meal plans. I was able to address my low self-worth, stop trying to control my diet, and develop a healthy narrative around what I was eating. And a funny thing happened: the excess weight stabilized and came off all on its own.

Intuitive eating, listening to your body's hunger and fullness cues, is crucial for a healthy relationship with food.

When you normalize your relationship with food, eating is easy. You eat when you're hungry, you stop when you're full, you can trust yourself around all foods, and your body knows how to digest and metabolize with ease. This is the psychology of food.

Breaking up with restrictive eating habits and practicing self-compassion can help improve your relationship with food.

The first thing you need to do is be able to distinguish between true hunger and a craving. A sure way to tell is to ask yourself this one question: would I eat raw broccoli right now? If the answer is no, you're probably not hungry. The second thing is to break up with restriction. Restricting foods, tracking calories, counting carbs, following somebody else's meal plan doesn't work. The third is to meet yourself with compassion. You can't hate your way to a body that you love. Speaking negatively about yourself or your body only increases the desire to self-soothe.

Using positive self-talk and focusing on the benefits of healthy eating can help you achieve your weight loss goals.

The body follows the mind. Your thoughts are powerful, and they direct the body how to behave. So choose them wisely. Because the truth is, we all have to eat, so food might be one of the most significant relationships you'll ever have. Everywhere we look, there is so much chatter about health and nutrition, and yet the conversation nobody wants to have is the most important one. I don't believe anybody wakes up and says I want to be overweight. It's simply not a choice. Rather than blaming ourselves for a lack of discipline, let's optimize our brains and change our mindset around food. By doing this, you will free your mind from a lifetime of restriction and food obsession, and you'll teach the body how to release the excess weight. It's time to take your power back so your relationship with food can thrive rather than survive. Because after all, we are not what we eat, but we are instead what we think about what we eat.