Your Mindset Matters When It Comes to Food. Here’s Why.
We discount the role of psychology and the mind-body connection when it comes to eating. Food is food. Calories in, calories out.
But that's not how it works. Your mindset matters when it comes to food!
Photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels
There is SO much research to support this.
For example, as I mentioned first on Instagram, "There is...research suggesting that guilt messes with your metabolism and weight-regulation system, but enjoyment doesn't; women who felt guilty eating chocolate cake gained weight, while women who viewed it as celebration were more likely to stay weight stable over time" (Bacon & Aphramor, Body Respect p. 115).
“Women who felt guilty eating chocolate cake gained weight, while women who viewed it as celebration were more likely to stay weight stable over time.”
Another example: In a distracted eating study, "when compared to the non-distracted group, the distracted people: ...ate more snacks [and] reported feeling significantly less full" (Oldham-Cooper et al. 2011 via Tribole & Resch, Intuitive Eating p. 146).
Yet another example: In another distracted eating study, in the group who ate while watching a movie, "activity in their digestive tract was reduced and their digestion was less effectively overall. ...if you're not paying attention to the food itself, ...you don't metabolize your food nearly as effectively and your body doesn't get all the nutrients it needs, nor does it get the full range of chemical messages it needs to trigger stop-eating cues. You're still getting the calories, however" (Giduck et al. 1987 via Bacon, Health at Every Size p. 196).
And another example: Study participants who ate under stressful conditions (being talked at by one person in each ear) absorbed 0% of the nutrients they'd previously absorbed 100% of under relaxing conditions. “The simple act of inattention dramatically altered their ability to assimilate those nutrients” (Barclay 1987 via Bacon, Health at Every Size p. 196).
“The simple act of inattention dramatically altered their ability to assimilate those nutrients.”
Again: your mindset matters. Guilt. Distraction. Mood. These affect weight gain, digestion, satiety, and nutrient absorption.
I teach women how to change their mindsets in order to heal their relationship to food and their bodies. Watch my free Video Training Series to learn the only way to eat that doesn’t result in guilt, then schedule a time time to consult with me, one-on-one, so we can help you get over your food and body image issues for good.
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About Holland Hettinger
Hi, I’m Holland Hettinger, and I help women stop binge-eating. I believe your life doesn’t have to revolve around food. Your mind can think about something other than what you eat. You don’t have to shrink yourself and hide your body. There is an alternative to food guilt and body shame. And none of it includes dieting, meal prepping, weighing yourself, or forcing yourself not to binge-eat for just one—more—day. (Insert sigh of relief here.) Through training videos, coaching emails, and one-on-one work, I teach women to stop binge-eating for good.
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