The Hidden Hunger
food craving
Reasons behind craving
The Hidden Hunger
The answer to why women crave for food…
Food may be used to feeling filled when we are empty, fortified when we feel weak physically or psychologically, rewarded when we feel unappreciated, energized when we feel tired, cared for when we feel homesick, and childlike when we feel old. In order to stay independent, we become food dependent. It is our best remedy when life is worse.
If you would like to understand your eating pattern ask yourself these questions:
1. Do you reach for home-style food when you miss being a kid?
2. Do you eat chocolate when your emotional and badly need a boost?
3. Do you prefer crunchy food when you want to chew someone out?
4. Do you get for elaborate snack combos when bored?
5. Do you crave for soft, mushy pastries when you like to baby yourself?
6. Do you reach for exotic delight when you’d really like to get out from your daily routine and want to go on vacation?
7. Do you reach for big sandwiches when you have a hefty project?
8. Do you reach for the cake recipe and ingredients when you’d rather not reach for overdue paper work?
9. Do you reach for foods you were not allowed to have as a child when you’re feeling defiant?
10. Do you reach for anything to eat, just to have an excuse to stop and sit for a moment?
The real answers may not be the food you want to gobble but on answers you’re hiding for yourself. This kind of behavior is called displacement. You’re redirecting impulses that may upset you or other people. Displacement may save your happy home or job but it does not change the situation. Soon the problem that has been one fold will manifest in three fold.
What should be the best way for you to do?
Before reaching for food, do ask yourself first whether the food is for distraction, an avoidance, trick, or a substitution.
If you found out that these are the reasons why you reach for food, concentrate fully on the thought and feeling. Then ask yourself if eating is the best solution. Food will not help solve the problem, just think of a constructive ability in order to solve your dilemmas.
But if these do not answer the questions for eating, then go ahead and enjoy the food… Happy eating…
Food for the Soul
Comments
I think we could safely say, I just plain like food, and then there is chocolate, a whole food group of its own. I am a stress eater. Food has always been my downfall.
- Author
homestead...aren't we all? and yes, almost all women tend to eat when stressed...i remember a colleague of mine who would invite us for halo halo /crushed ice topped with ice cream and selected fruits when she's unhappy or didn't have money...i do too would love to go to my favorite fastfood chain when i'm stressed...thanks for the confession...i'm now sharing someone who's a kindred spirit...:-)
Ummm...I starve myself when I'm stress. I'm like a total opposite from my sister because my sister eat when she's stress. She tell me that when she's stress or unhappy everything she eats, she doesn't feel full at all. For me, when I'm unhappy food wasn't something I crave for, I crave for silence. I locked myself in my room and my tears became my food.
- Author
different people react differently on stress...what i do is play games or read books...that is what doctor Witkin referred to in her book...Quick Fix...Small Comfort...i hope you feel alright after you've poured your heart out...
Very interesting article. I'm like chanroth, I just can't bear to eat when I'm down. If there's anything I crave when I'm depressed it is to frantically clean the house. I sometimes wonder if our coping mechanisms are somehow instilled by parents, as it does seem my Mom -who never wanted to shed a tear- could be quite obsessive about cleaning.
- Author
yes, that's part of the small fixes we do when life doesn't turn out the way we expect them to be...and our parents contribute much to our growth...we follow the pattern they've set for us...as the saying goes an apple tree doesn't bear a lemon...our parents are our benchmark in our emotional and mental growth...
thank you beth for sharing your insight...
Another great hub,and also very useful as well as interesting!!
Your words are oh so true and thank you for sharing this hub that will benefit so many.
I vote up up and away here.
Take care and have a great day.
Eiddwen.
- Author
oh, thank you Eiddwen that you find it useful...yes i do believe that this would be helpful to women like us who are always part of the domestic life...
you take care too and God bless!!!
I eat when I am hungry, but I also eat when I need comfort. Some of my comfort foods include chocolate, soup and tea. I am someone who will try anything at least once. I do love food :).
- Author
and i do too love to eat, kinda reward myself for jobs too tasking but done...thank you for sharing your insights rlaha...
:) You're welcome!
Chocolates are my only guilty pleasures... I sometimes eats too much of it and then go without food as if it helps...I really need to get out that need for a high, especially when I am totally engrossed in work... I don't even know how many bars I eat. Now you made me confess. Have a blessed day! Peace.
- Author
I'm glad that you have opened up...if it is not life threatening then there's nothing wrong with indulging the self sometimes...thank you for sharing yourself...Have a blessed day too! Peace...
I had issues with food after becoming diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I became obsessed over carb counting, nutrition, etc. Thankfully overtime I eased up some. Thanks for the interesting hub! Voted up, useful, and shared! Kelley
- Author
hello Kelley...i'm glad to be of help...i do too have weight problem, i was borderline to become obese, by eliminating my starch content, i lost 20 lbs...thanks for visiting...
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