lin to remove the sugar. Once again, when blood sugar is stripped, the end result is a drop in blood sugar--which can induce cravings and overeating. Internal and external stress factors can produce low blood sugar.
3. Sleep Deprivation- We often turn to sugar to gain energy. Lack of sleep can cause an imbalance of hormones including insulin, cortisol, leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is the hormone responsible for letting your brain know you are full and have stored enough energy. Ghrelin is the hormone that tells your brain when you are hungry and need energy. Ghrelin levels decrease when you are sleeping, but insufficient sleep causes high levels of ghrelin. When we don't get enough sleep, leptin levels are low and ghrelin levels are high--your brain may mistake the lack of energy for hunger and a need for food, so it can lead to overeating.
4. Food sensitivities and allergies- When we ingest a food that evokes a reaction, this elicits the same corporal response as other internal and external stresses to the body. Cortisol is released along with endorphins and glucose. A subliminal association between euphoria and the hidden sensitivities is formed, over time more will be needed to evoke the same response. This can lead to cravings for and overeating of the very same foods we should be avoiding.
5. Feeling depressed or anxious-Sometimes we turn to food--especially sugar--to trigger a surge of our "feel good" chemicals. (dopamine, serotonin) or GABA (gamma aminbutyric acid), often referred to as the brain's Valium. Often, binge eaters turn to substances to calm themselves. When GABA is insufficient, we naturally look for other ways to perform this function. However, as we build up tolerance, it becomes harder to reach it. Eventually, we crave more sugar to feel normal and happy.
So what does nutrition have to do with all of this?
Nutrients are required to precipitate and complete chemical reactions in the body. When we look to resolve binge eating, we have to look at blood sugar and stress regulation, digestion, detoxification, support genetic mutations, and the body's ability to formulate neurotransmitters. These processes are all dependent upon nutrient availability. We must not only look at the nutrients we are taking in but our body's ability to absorb and utilize them and to excrete harmful substances that interfere with absorption. Absorption can be weakened by diets high in sugar and alcohol, digestive disturbances, genetic mutations, blood sugar instability, difficulty managing stress, and glitches in the detoxification process.
We also need to examine lifestyle and environmental factors that might be stripping your body of the nutrients necessary to suppress addictive tendencies.
I hope this helps you to understand the struggle your body is facing and the way binge eating becomes a part of its efforts to find balance and harmony.
This is the opposite of self-sabotage. It is a courageous act of self-defense.
Other Posts Yoga Off the Mat
Melissa Reagan Brunetti, C.N.C
Author, The Sweet Side of Balance
If you're struggling with an eating disorder, call the National Eating Disorder Association hotline at 1-800-931-2237.