interesting from the grads board

http://cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2008/jan/07_0046.htm This is a very interesting article and below is a section from it which explains why it is harder to eat right when we are tired / stressed etc. Characterizing eating as an automatic behavior does not mean that human beings cannot bring eating under volitional control. People certainly can refuse dessert or resist the temptation of the chocolates in the jar on the desk. All automatic behaviors can be controlled temporarily. Human beings can consciously prevent themselves from smiling when amused, frowning when annoyed, or tensing their muscles when threatened. It just takes effort. But the amount of effort required to refrain from eating when food is present is substantial, and it is nearly impossible to sustain over the long term. For example, in a study on self-control, Baumeister and colleagues allowed members of one study group to eat freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies while members of a second group given access to the cookies were told to refuse them and were allowed to eat only radishes; members of a third control group had no food to eat or to refuse (38). Afterward, the researchers asked the members of the three groups to work on an unsolvable puzzle. Members of the control group given no food worked on the puzzle for 21 minutes before quitting, and members of the group that were allowed to eat the cookies worked for 19 minutes. In sharp contrast, members of the group that had to refuse the cookies quit after only 8 minutes, and they reported more fatigue than members of the other groups. The work of refusing tempting food required mental effort -- enough to deplete participants' ability to perform other higher-level processes. In general, human self-control over automatic behaviors is limited. Self-control tires like a muscle and taxes our ability to perform other tasks (39). And just as refusing food depletes a person's mental reserves, tasks requiring mental effort can reduce the ability to resist the temptation of food. In one study, people trying to maintain a diet who were deliberately frustrated with an unsolvable problem increased their food intake compared with people who were not trying to control their eating (40). The high mental demands of dieting may partially explain the commonly observed pattern of dieters initially losing weight and then gaining it back (41).

well isn't that depressing? What i'd really like to know is why in some people if they feel stress they couldn't eat their stomach knots up and some of us eat enough when stressed to support a third world country....which category do you fall into? ANDI

I always used to be a stress eater - whatever was going on in my life I would respond with food! Now it varies - if I'm tired I eat, occassionally if I'm stressed it knots up my stomach so I can't eat. I would much prefer that to eating. It usually has to do with how much 'space' I have in my brain / emotions. If I am 'full up' with other stuff then the eating goes out the window and I eat without realising it, because there is no room in my brain to realise I am eating. Does that make sense? Yes I too wish I was someone who 'forgot' to eat when other stuff is going on, or can't eat. Now I tend to be a bordom eater.

I am a stress eater..... always have been.... I am better at fighting it now then before....

Hmmm.. makes a bit of sense. I can resist something all day long, but then later in the day, just crumble and I am all over it like white on rice!! Diane