‘Cause I Was Bored/Sad/Happy/Lonely/Excited/Scared

So… I’m reading this article called “Eating Habits in the Obese May Echo Drug Addicts’ Patterns,” and I’m thinking the details and the results of the study are pretty interesting.

When researchers gave similarly “sinful” snacks to obese and non-obese women, the healthy-weight women wanted less of the treat over time, but obese women kept wanting more….

“You can’t take what you see in non-obese women and think it will automatically have the same effect in obese women,” added Temple, an assistant professor in exercise and nutrition science at the University at Buffalo, in New York.

Such information could one day be useful in tailoring dieting strategies for different people.

Right on! Some people have trouble with the advice “just eat healthy” and not everyone responds well to the same kind of program or motivation.

I read a few more paragraphs, and I’m rightthere with them. Good stuff! I like this:

“I stop short of calling overeating an addiction,” she added. “I don’t think it has all of the same properties, but I think we can learn something about overeating behavior from the drug world. We’re applying the same experimental paradigms to food and trying to see if obese people might be more susceptible to having an increased response to repeated food administration.”

That sounds good. Compassionate, productive.

Then: CLUNK!

A quote from Marianne Grant, a registered dietitian and health educator with the Texas A&M Health Science Center’s Coastal Bend Health Education Center in Corpus Christi.

“This suggests to me that people who were obese were not eating out of hunger,” Grant said. “There was some other need that eating was filling for them.” … That issue needs to be addressed.”

Wow, really Marianne?! Please tell me this is not the first time you had an inkling that people eat for all kinds of reasons that have NOTHING to do with hunger.

I mean… seriously?

How ’bout… I was sad. I was lonely. I was bored. I was happy! I was excited! It was fun! I hate my life. I love my life! I like french fries! I lost my job. I got dumped. I’m in love. I got a new job! I had to work late. I got off work early! I wrecked my car. My dog died. I got a new cat!

The list is endless, right? And I can tell you, I’ve over-eaten for every one of the reasons listed above, and more.

So now I’m all kinds of worked up.

Some days are just like that. [pouting]

I do, however, recommend you check out the article for yourself because the methodology was pretty cool and the results hint at ways weight-loss programs might learn from other behavior modification approaches.