Overeating explained HOW TO TAKE BACK CONTROL
If you find yourself frequently thinking about what foods you should and shouldn’t be eating, chances are you’re not satisfying your appetite. Overly controlled eating is not only time-consuming and tiring, it may actually do more harm than good, with studies linking conscious restriction of food intake to obesity. An American study found restricting for weight loss depletes the body’s supply of glucose, triggering sugar cravings and making it even more difficult to establish a healthy diet with a good nutrient balance.
While all of us have a different eating style — based on childhood experiences and individual food preferences — there are some common types of ‘disordered eating’. Unlike an eating disorder, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia, disordered eating is not a clinical condition so is much more easily managed. Here are the top six types of disordered eating, plus easy, expert-based strategies to change your thinking around food.
RESTRICTIVE EATING
➜ If you base your food choices on what you you should belike eating, then you could be classified as a ‘restrictive eater’. This is usually characterised by having very strict food rules, such as, “I never eat carbs at night”, or overeating when a situation causes the self-imposed food rules to be broken. Restrictive eaters are often on a diet, may avoid social situations that involve food, or spend far too much time mentally calculating the fat and kilojoule content of their meals.
