The Question Weighing on Everyone’s Mind: Why Do People Overeat?

Why do YOU overeat?
Believe it or not there is no one thing that triggers overeating.  Overeating comes from the different factors that can affect our lives.  So if you want to successfully reduce your intake of food you have to look at your life and pinpoint what makes you overeat - then address those situations. Only then will you find the answer to why you can eat an entire package of Oreos in one sitting (that’s not just me, right?).

Ho-Hum
Have you ever had one of those days where you had nothing to do to the point that you honestly didn’t know what to do?  To pass the time you may have sat down in front of the TV with a bag of chips or half gallon of ice cream (yes, half gallon – not pint) and before you knew it you had eaten the entire thing.  Boredom can trigger overeating just by needing something to do.  And, with food in such abundance and so easily accessible, an increasing number of people find themselves in situations where they overeat and sometimes don’t even realize it (uh, Hometown Buffet anyone?).

Stress-Buster
Overeating is not exempt from the workplace, either. Have you ever been at work trying to get a project done that should have been completed hours ago?  You may have reached for the nearest candy bar (or candy bowl at your co-worker’s desk) and munched on it while you tried to concentrate on your project. Stress can lead you to overeat as a way to relieve the strain of the workplace and the pressure of deadlines. 

Emotional Escape
Emotions can trigger overeating.  The media constantly bombards us with what the ideal male or female should look like. But since that ideal image is often unattainable, you may simply give up and “drown your sorrows” in food as a result.  This also goes for people who may be going through a break-up in a relationship or feel unloved and want something of comfort.  Even just feeling upset or hurt can lead you to look to your favorite foods for “emotional support.”  Overeating driven by emotions can lead both women and men to overeat as a way to numb their pain. And, unfortunately, I don’t know of one person who thinks of carrots as comfort food. When I’m down in the dumps, it’s “pass the mac-n-cheese, please.”

Diet: Impossible
There are so many diets and diet pills out in the market today that promise to have you losing weight in no time. However, many of them are restrictive and cut out certain groups of foods leaving many dieters craving the foods they force themselves to not eat.  By depriving your body of foods you crave you tend to desire those foods even more. So, instead of having one serving of the food you crave as part of a normal, balanced diet, you cave and end up overeating.

Physical Flaws
There are those people that have a medical condition that can cause them to overeat. Sometimes the body is unable to tell them when they are full and allows them to consume way more food than is needed.  Other medical conditions, such as diabetes, can cause overeating when the insulin levels are elevated and act as a stimulant to increase appetite.

What’s the Solution?
So, the reasons for us to overeat are numerous, yes. But to successfully manage your intake in foods you must recognize what triggers you to overeat or eat in excess.  By identifying those triggers, managing your weight may become much easier in the long term.