Happiness Can Cause Weight Gain!

Sounds silly, doesn’t it? But in fact, many people who binge-eat do so because they are uncomfortable with the feeling of happiness. In the past, feeling happy may have been closely followed by disappointment or sadness. We may not realize it, but a history of repeated disappointments could have set us up to avoid happiness anytime it surfaced. Binge-eating is one common way to distract ourselves from any feelings that we have subconsciously learned to avoid. For some, the feeling of conflict may be the trigger; for others, it could be anger.

The next time you find yourself eating when you are not hungry, think about the event that happened or the feeling that surfaced right before the binging. Oh, and I define bingeing as eating more than your body needs to maintain your ideal weight (based on the Center for Disease Control’s body mass index) or eating when you are not hungry.

What feeling might you be trying to avoid?