The Connection Between Food and Mood

Food is a way for people to connect to each other and themselves. Food is an integral part of living. People need food to survive. However, food can also become a huge problem for some as it turns from something that nourishes the body, to something that destroys the soul. Binge eating is a problem afflicting more and more people across the world. A reported 2-5% of the general population suffers from binge eating disorder (Safer, Telch & Chen, 2009, p. 6).

BED involves eating large amounts of food within a short period of time consistently for a period of 6 months or more. Those that suffer from BED have an unhealthy and often hard to let go of connection to food. They use food as a coping mechanism instead of dealing with any anxiety or negative emotions they feel. While BED is manageable, the eating disorder has to be understood from a multitude of perspectives.

In a study related to food, mood, and obesity, the connection between food is made from a conscious and unconscious direction. "Distinctions are made between conscious and unconscious emotions and their relative importance in food-related behavior is discussed" (Koster & Mojet, 2015, p. 180). Some people binge for example, due to having nutrient deficiencies. These urges come from an unconscious source because the body is telling someone to eat more in order to fix the deficiency.

It gets converted to hunger signals and the person feels the urge to eat a large amount of food. Many times women who've binged reported starving themselves or going on low-calorie diets for a prolonged period of time and then beginning binging after. This is because the body is attempting to correct the deficiency brought on by the deprivation. Hormones in the body like leptin and ghrelin signal the brain to eat more or stop eating (Dovey, 2010, p. 138).

When someone has a binge eating disorder or some other eating disorder, these kinds of hormones become unbalanced, leading to issues with appetite control and over or undereating. Other things may be at play as well in terms of conscious emotions fueling hunger. People sometimes binge eat in order to gain a positive feeling or calming effect that helps deal temporarily, with any emotional pain or anxiety the person feels. "Food is a potent natural reward and food intake is a complex process.

Reward and gratification associated with food consumption leads to dopamine (DA) production, which in turn activates reward and pleasure centers in the brain." (Singh, 2014, p. 1). While a person may have a physical hunger in the case of malnutrition or an emotional hunger, in the case of an eating disorder, or both, it becomes a large obstacle to overcome for those that have such distorted eating habits.

Once an eating habit is performed for a prolonged period of time, like binge eating, it becomes very hard to control, especially when every other area in life suffers as a consequence of negative eating habits. People who binge eat for example, may experience weight gain, weight fluctuations, nutrient deficiencies, mental health problems like depression, anxiety, and OCD. Though consistent diet and exercise may quell binge eating and emotional eating, it may not go away, even with psychiatric intervention like CBT or psych medications.

In order to treat such a disorder, it must be combated from various angles. From the nutritional angle to address any malnutrition, from the emotional angle, to address any negative emotions, and from the.