Joys of Food and Intolerance of Hunger
By Andrew Walen, LCSW-C
“I don’t like food; I love food. If I don’t love it, I don’t swallow!” These are the immortal words of Anton Ego, the funerary food critic in the animated film Ratatouille. How many of us really ever experience food this way?
In a Medscape.com journal article titled “Family Medicine Practice Diary: Full-bodied People,” Dr. Sandy Brown answered this question with regard to those who are obese. “Food [is] the most abused substance in this country, and … obese people really don’t get into the taste, texture, and sensations when eating food. Furthermore, they don’t even like the foods that they overeat, and they don’t pay attention to and are not conscious of what they are eating most of the time.”
These are provocative words. But it has a ring of truth in it. Let’s break down the various assumptions Dr. Brown has made.
Assumption: Food is the most abused substance in this country.
Fact: According to the American Public Health Association, alcohol is the most abused substance in
Assumption: Obese people don’t get into the taste, texture, and sensations when eating food.
Fact: This is true much of the time, though we must change the word “obese” to “binge eaters” as not all obese people are binge eaters and not all binge eaters are obese. For those who binge, the release of dopamine eliminates all inhibitions and clouds judgment. Without judgment, how can we decide if something is good, bad or indifferent? Just like people who abuse drugs and alcohol, they are no longer enjoying or are aware of the moment. For the binge eater, the texture, taste, smell and physical beauty of the food is diminished if not lost.
Assumption: They don’t even like the foods that they overeat.
Fact: This is partially true. When we prepare to eat, the anticipation has already sent our brain a message to release more dopamine. Depending on how much we concentrate on the sensations of eating, you may really enjoy the food, especially if you recognize it as something you really crave. However, there are plenty of times that we simply “see food – eat food,” regardless of how appetizing it is. There are chemical reasons of course, such as carbohydrate foods with a high glycemic index (e.g. rice, pasta, donuts) or refined sugars which can cause a spike in insulin levels and lead to an increased drive to eat. But there are emotional drives as well. Famously, Oprah Winfrey talked about getting her first big television contract and wanting to celebrate but nothing was open and nobody was around. She had little more than some bread and syrup in her home. She toasted the bread, poured on the syrup and binged on that. She didn’t want this food, but she felt compelled to eat something and a lot of it.
Assumption: They don’t pay attention to and are not conscious of what they are eating most of the time.
Fact: This goes hand in hand with the previous assumption. Eating is a behavior that has simply become rote. Like an alcoholic, there is little to no sense of how the drink tastes: just get some alcohol and start imbibing. In this sense, we can say eating becomes an addictive behavior.
But there is something else that seems to fuel the drive to eat according to Dr. Brown. She talks about the fear of hunger for people who are obese. Again, let’s change the subject to binge eaters as some people may simply be genetically built to be obese even when following their body’s internal hunger cues. While those diagnosed with anorexia thrive on the feeling of hunger, binge eaters are biologically wired to want to escape this feeling as quickly as possible. For binge eaters, hunger seems intolerable. Why? There is a deeply ingrained belief that “I can’t stand it.” Hunger creates a feeling of panic and people either overeat to guard against hunger pangs coming before the next planned meal or they graze through the day to avoid having any sensation of hunger and then eat regular meals as well. Intolerance for this feeling is based on an irrational belief that can be challenged and proven wrong. Try a behavioral experiment. When you’re hungry get out a watch with a second hand and actually time the length of a hunger pang. It may last 20 seconds or even up to a minute. What can’t you stand for that short period of time? Hunger, like all pain, comes and goes and nobody dies from it. People die of malnutrition, which most here in the
So once you have learned to tolerate hunger, it’s time to increase your understanding of other feelings in your body. In her book The Rules of Normal Eating, Karen Koenig writes passionately about her own recovery from binge eating and food addiction. She describes that a “normal” eater and a binge eater have the same physical and emotional reactions to food, but that a “normal” eater actually listens to his or her body’s internal cues of hunger, craving and satiety. This “intuitive” eating is incredibly difficult for a binge eater, or restrictive eater for that matter, because it’s such an ingrained behavior and tied into so many other emotional reactions – such as anxiety, depression or stress. Food bingeing can help medicate those other “intolerable” feelings, so much so that it’s nearly impossible to be in the moment and experience food with our most basic senses. Dealing with underlying emotional stress is the key to being able to hear your body’s other signals.
Perhaps then, when we eat for joy and not out of a panicked response to ameliorate mood or physical discomfort, we can truly join Anton Ego and experience “something new, an extraordinary meal … [that] rocked me to my core.”
