Too Much Eating: The Consequences And Some Keys To Avoiding Excess

Too much eating has harmful physical and psychological consequences for health. Fortunately, there are several strategies to avoid overeating. We explain everything to you here.

You probably eat too much at times. Either because it’s your favorite food that’s on the table, or for some other reason altogether. Either way, overeating every now and then does not lead to any health problems. On the other hand, overeating regularly does lead to negative health consequences and complications.

Gaining weight isn’t the only negative health consequence of regular excess, there are plenty more. Bad mood is one of them. How to avoid excess? We will give you some keys in the rest of this article.

Too much eating, is it a problem?

In general, overeating on an ad hoc basis is not harmful to health. However, if the urge to eat is recurrent and uncontrollable, it is likely that this urge leads to several harmful physical and mental consequences.

The person with a disproportionate appetite will not only gain weight, they will also begin to have negative thoughts, which will prevent them from going about their daily lives well.

Possible causes

There are many factors associated with the desire to overeat. Permanent stress, anxiety or restrictive diets are some of these factors.

Overeating: the consequences

Too much eating can lead to physical consequences, such as overweight or obesity. But these are not the only consequences: in many cases, the consequences also concern the psychological level, both in overweight people and in those whose weight is considered healthy.

According to information published on  The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders , the main psychological consequences are as follows:

Some keys to avoid overeating

To avoid overeating, there are several strategies you can apply on a daily basis. However, you should keep in mind that these strategies are only complementary aids and therefore do not replace the treatment that a healthcare professional may prescribe. If your desire to eat is excessive, it is best to see a healthcare professional.

Identify your emotions

Identifying the emotions running through you will help put your mind in order. Writing is a good way to identify your emotions: you can write down whatever you feel. This activity will distract you from your urge to eat, and you might even learn some interesting facts about yourself.

Avoid food obsessions

If you notice you’ve eaten too much, don’t punish yourself. If you start to exclude foods that you enjoy, chances are you will feel more inclined to eat those foods than you are forbidding yourself.

And if you consume these foods that you forbid yourself, then you will not have achieved your goal, which will generate frustration in you. You will therefore enter a vicious circle from which it will be difficult to escape. It is always better to eat healthy than to follow an extreme diet.

Exercise to feel good and not to compensate for excess

Several studies show that some people engage in physical activity only to compensate for overeating. This means that regular physical activity is a kind of punishment for overeating and is only intended to prevent weight gain.

It is essential to keep in mind that physical exercise is an activity whose goal goes beyond just keeping the figure: it is about enjoying a better general well-being. The ideal is to practice regularly a physical activity adapted to its capacities. If you are not used to exercising, take it gradually, between twenty and thirty minutes a day.

Call in a professional

Those affected do not usually consult a health professional, but this action is important, especially when this eating behavior is associated with emotional factors.

As this study, published in the medical journal Current Psychiatry Reports , explains , psychological therapy is useful in recognizing and correcting behaviors that promote excess. Therapy can also improve a person’s overall well-being.

In short… What should be kept in mind?

Overeating for an extended period of time can promote weight gain, but weight gain is not the only negative health consequence of regular overeating, there are many more. It is therefore fundamental to identify what are the factors that lead to excess in order to follow an adequate treatment and prevent this situation from affecting the quality of life.