Geneen Roth:
Compulsive eating is only the symptom.
The rest of her tweet is a little touchy-feely for my taste. But I like this first part. For me, compulsive eating is a learned coping mechanism. The urge to overeat means that something, whether it is nutrition, physical activity, sleep, and/or stress management, is off balance.
So I use the urge to overeat as my own personal barometer and adjust accordingly!
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Compulsive eating, for me, is a “symptom” of…HUNGER! Yeah, imagine that. My body gets hungry for food, REAL food. Fatty acids, protein…can’t go wrong eating to satiety. The physiology (mostly endocrine communication) that drives hunger usually works beautifully. Like you, I pay attention. I listen. But I can only do so much. This *crap* about compulsive eating as a psychological (emotional) crutch makes me rant. :) It’s physiological-genetic, epigenetic, and biopathological (dysregulated endocrine/nervous systems), not *emotional*-not simply a form of “learned coping.” For some of us, insulin resistance and glucose sensitivities (hard & soft *wired*) may have gotten the “coping” ball rolling…I never binged on steak as a teen…but glucose (eating sugars and starches) worked as a form of self-medication because my physiology was already compromised. *sigh* People like Geneen Roth, who feed off the misery, self-blame, doubt, and confusion of others, even if they do so inadvertently, are a huge part of the problem. We (formerly fat people) need research that will help folks with dysregulated endocrine systems AFTER they lose weight with proper insulin/glucose nutritional management. Unfortunately, that research won’t get funded as long as people keep believing that it’s EMOTIONAL eating driving weight (re)gain-as long as people keep blaming their issues are psychological and can be repaired with the *correct* attitudes or emotional reprogramming. There’s a phrase for that: MAGICAL THINKING. /rant over…
*red faced*…umm, sorry for the rant! You and I probably don’t even disagree on much of this when it comes right down to the nitty gritty (damn semantics), so I didn’t mean to come off as sounding angry with YOU! I AM FEELING VERY CRANKY today, and should probably just avoid blog commenting, because I’m FASTING for a diagnostic procedure tomorrow and I’m a teensy bit crazed with HUNGER! :) Again, my apologies for previous harshness of tone, etc. *slinks away*