Obesity factor: anxiety
Likewise, one of the best ways to combat anxiety is to go to psychotherapy and exercise. Remember that you are not alone.
Someone has to talk about this. We have a problem, we are all aware of it. Mexico ranks second in obesity and overweight in the world. This means that 71% of women and 66% of men over 20 years of age suffer from obesity and overweight (ENSANUT 2012). But what’s behind this… “We have experienced an epidemiological transition in the last 30 years. We had not yet defeated malnutrition, when obesity began to multiply, which is already considered a chronic, systemic and inflammatory disease…” reported nutritionist Cecilia García Schinkel. “On the one hand it has to do with the individual, his genetics, tastes and customs; it also has to do with the organization of the family and the city in which he lives; with the availability of food, the price and the ease of preparing it; with public safety and the possibility of exercising in open spaces, and also with public policies and regulations towards companies. All of this took decades to be configured,” says the executive director of the ILSI in Mexico. So we agree that there are multiple factors that cause obesity in people, but there is something more than that. Josefina is a 38-year-old woman who in less than 3 years gained 20 kilos “I eat and eat all day without stopping. I consider myself a person addicted to food. It means being at home still and I lose control over myself. I want to stop eating but I can’t. Then I feel guilty, but the next day I do the same thing again…” Josefina commented. One study showed that 55% of obese patients had mild anxiety; 40%, moderate to severe, and 5% did not present anxiety. (Researchers from the Department of Family Medicine of the IMSS) Doctors even identified other symptoms of anxiety related to obesity such as: • Anxious mood • Tension • Gastrointestinal and central nervous system disorders • Alterations in mood, thinking, behavior and physiological activities. But BE CAREFUL, we must not be confused; Obesity is not a mental disorder, but some of its characteristics can help us better understand eating disorders, in this case, their relationships with anxiety and depression. **How do we know if we suffer from anxiety? ** When we talk about anxiety it is easy to also talk about addiction. For example, many people feel a need to eat something sweet every day; this addiction evolves in a vicious circle that ends with the appearance of overweight. How do we know if we are eating due to anxiety? The clearest symptom is the feeling of anguish or anxiety before eating something (whether sweet or not) and the subsequent feeling of relief and comfort. Another symptom to know if we are “addicts” is to constantly think about that pastry product that I would eat, or about the chocolate that we keep in a drawer or the cake that is in the kitchen. Tips for treating anxiety and addiction • Eat foods rich in fiber. Foods that contain high levels of fiber are satiating and therefore reduce your appetite. Fiber not only gives you a feeling of satiety but also reduces the absorption of sugars. Thus, foods such as whole grains, brown rice, legumes, nuts, and some fruits (strawberry, lemon, orange, etc.) are recommended to try to reduce the feeling of anxiety about food. • Reduce calories from sweets. We know going from 100 to 0 is complicated. But given the inability to eliminate sweets from your diet, you can choose to reduce the calories of these foods. Change the chocolate bar for some cereal bars with some chocolate, for example. It’s a matter of finding a substitute for those high-calorie foods that have caused you anxiety. Along these lines, several foods have been shown to influence mood. The reason is the amino acid tryptophan, present in many foods, such as chocolate. But it is not incompatible to consume foods with the amino acid tryptophan within a healthy and balanced diet: fruits such as bananas or kiwi will increase your mood, as will nuts, which have also recently been shown to be good for preventing obesity. Another food, considered healthy and that will affect your mood, is mushrooms. Likewise, one of the best ways to combat anxiety is to go to psychotherapy and exercise. Remember that you are not alone.
