Food is a necessity in our lives.  Without food we would not be able to perform our daily activities. Our muscles would wither, our nervous system would fail. We would die of starvation without it. We all need food.  But what is your relationship with food? Are you eating for the right reasons?

WHAT IS EMOTIONAL EATING?

Are you  eating whenever you are lonely or sad? Does it satisfy and calm an emotional event? Seeing food as more than just a source of energy and enjoying it simply for the satisfaction it gives is not wrong. In fact science shows that food can promote good feelings by chemical reactions caused in our brains. What IS a problem is when an individual cannot experience pain, anxiety, joy or even boredom without turning to food as means of dealing with those feelings, or they are obsessed with food, weight and dieting.

Emotional eaters turn to food as a source of distraction from dealing with feelings. However, eating these foods leads to feelings of guilt which can only be soothed with more eating, restrictive dieting, excessive exercise or purging.

Emotional eaters tend to value themselves based on their weight and how closely they’ve stuck to their ‘ideal’ diet. Because of this distorted relationship with food, foods are labeled “GOOD” and “BAD”. Emotional eating can lead to serious eating disorders and depression.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M AN EMOTIONAL EATER?

Do you turn to food for reasons other than hunger? Are you obsessed with thoughts of food – whether you plan to eat it or are concentrating on restricting yourself from eating it?

Do you regularly try diets and fail – leading to guilt and further over eating? Do you think about or attempt to purge excess food by throwing up or using laxatives? Do you exercise compulsively when you think you’ve eaten too much?

HOW DO I OVERCOME EMOTIONAL EATING?

Since emotional eating is caused by looking to food as a coping strategy for emotional distress dieting can actually create more problems. When the emotional eater fails to stick to a diet they suffer feelings of guilt that can only be soothed with more food and in turn, more guilt or punishment.

Instead of trying to focus on what they are eating, the emotional eater needs to learn new skills for coping with stressful emotions. Often this requires the help of a Personal Coach or Psychotherapist who deals with emotional eating. It is only by finding replacements for the comfort food provided that the individual can put food into its rightful place and learn healthy eating habits that last a lifetime.

You’ve probably heard a lot about the dire consequences of being overweight, which 60 percent of Americans are, and now recent research from Harvard suggests that those extra pounds may be bad for your eyes.

Researchers think some nutrients needed in the retina in the eye may not get there because people are either not eating enough foods that contain these nutrients or, when these nutrients are consumed, they stay stored in body fat. Two such nutrients in particular are lutein and zeaxanthin (pronounced loo-teen and zee-ah-zan-thin), which are believed to help protect against age-related macular degeneration or AMD. These nutrients are part of a group of eye-protecting antioxidants-vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene and zinc.

AMD is the leading cause of blindness in older adults today, accounting for 54 percent of all blindness in white Americans and 45 percent of visual disability in the general population. AMD whittles away at central vision, so people affected with it see large blotches of gray to black when they look straight at something. Ironically, they can still see somewhat with peripheral vision.

Lutein and zeaxanthin are concentrated in the retina at the back of the eye. The amount in the retina is measured as “macular pigment density.” The higher the macular pigment density, the better. However, higher body mass has been correlated with lower macular pigment in a number of studies. Studies suggest people carrying extra pounds, especially in the abdominal area and around the waist, are at higher risk of developing AMD. Such people who already have early stage AMD are at higher risk of progressing to late stage AMD. There’s also some evidence that higher body fat may elevate risk for cataracts.

If you are overweight, losing weight may be one way to reduce your risk of age-related eye diseases as well as other chronic diseases. At the same time, for the sake of your eyes, try to get extra lutein and zeaxanthin in your diet by eating more spinach, corn, kale, orange peppers and other green and yellow vegetables. You can also get these nutrients in many multivitamin supplements or in supplements specially formulated to support eye health.

How much should I weigh? It’s a common question posed by people of all ages. Some experts say that you should stick to whatever weight is comfortable for you. Perhaps you’ve met people who are quite content at their current weight, even though they are thin or heavy.

There are slim people who feel uncomfortable when they develop the slightest belly. There are obese people who are quite content carrying around all that extra weight.

Perhaps a better question than ‘How much should I weigh’ would be ‘What is a healthy weight for me?’.

One quick way to find out is through weight charts. Your local community health center should be able to provide you with this chart. The basic chart goes by age, height and bone structure (also referred to as frame size). If you are small-boned (small frame) and 5′8″, your best weight would be considerably less than someone of the same height who is large-boned.

If you’re trying to lose or gain weight, it’s best to avoid weight fluctuations. You’re not alone if you’ve experienced the challenge of losing or gaining just the right amount of weight, and then staying there. Doctors say that it’s less healthy to be losing and gaining weight than it is to stay at a heavier weight.

‘How much should I weigh?’ is a great question for your doctor because he is in a much better position to advise you than by just checking a chart. There are several things to consider, including whether you are healthy at your current weight and if it can cause you problems in the future.

Another method is to check your Body Mass Index (BMI), which compares your height to your weight. The resulting equation will tell you how much you should weigh. Chances are, you can be perfectly safe at 10-20 pounds or more over your suggested weight.

This is especially true if you are developing muscle, because by volume, muscle weighs more than fat. Plus, people with good muscle development are generally healthier than people who are carrying around excess fat.

Next time you ask, ‘how much should I weigh?’, look at all the variables including body frame, BMI, and muscle structure.

The biggest concern is not about weight. It’s more directly related to excess fat in the body, which is one of the major risk factors for disease. Your local fitness center or health clinic can check your body fat with a pair of skin-fold callipers or other devices. These painless measurements are taken at different locations on your body.

Think carefully about who you rely on to determine how much you should weigh because what’s good for one person is not necessarily suitable for another. As discussed, there are certain differences to take into account.

If you’re 150 lbs., 5′8″, medium framed and muscular, in all likelihood you will be much healthier than your friend who is the same weight, height and bone size, but carrying excess fat.

Talk to your doctor to most accurately determine how much you should weigh.

Proper weight management is about much more than simply focusing on a single number, your weight. There are other, very important, objective measurements to add to your intellectual toolkit – BMI, waist circumference, body fat percentage, muscle-to-fat ratio and others – in order to achieve a physical result.

That physical result, too, should be more than just reducing a number. Your fundamental goals are to look attractive and optimize your health. Everything else is a means to those ends.

The first step to achieving those interlocking twin goals is to recognize that there are no short cuts, no easy and safe ‘miracle cures’. There are aids that modern nutritional and exercise science can supply. By all means, take advantage of them.

But along with proper nutritional supplements, appetite suppressants and the like, it’s still essential to have a proper diet and adequate daily exercise. Some appetite suppressants, when used under a reputable doctor’s guidance, can be a helpful short-term addition to the overall program.

But when you stop taking them, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the weight will quickly return unless they are only part of an overall strategy. That strategy has to include good nutrition and proper exercise.

There are hundreds of fad diets around. The ‘low carb, high protein’ diet is one of the latest. People following them often experience rapid weight loss, initially. But the long term benefits are few and the costs are high.

Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy for the body. When the body has a shortage of available carbohydrates (chiefly glucose) to use to produce energy, it turns to other sources. One result of that, though, is often muscle loss and not just fat consumption.

Low carbohydrate diets reduce the amount of glucose available in the muscles and liver. That leads to muscle fatigue and less tone. At the same time, that fatigue also makes exercise more difficult and less pleasant. It also leads to a lower basal metabolic rate, which means fewer calories will be consumed per hour than would otherwise be the case.

That’s an unhealthy trade off for a rapid, short-term weight loss.

What’s needed instead is a disciplined, long-term commitment to lifestyle change. That, admittedly, is much more difficult than simply changing a few things on the menu. It requires learning more about nutrition, and more care in the selection of things to eat. It may mean substituting whole grain brown rice for potatoes. It means substituting fruits for ice cream and candy as dessert.

At the same time a person is struggling to change eating habits, something very difficult to do when the body is urging a return to the old items, another hurdle needs to be overcome: beginning a regular exercise program. Regular exercise is the second factor essential to proper weight management.

It isn’t necessary to become a fitness fanatic, but a regular series of vigorous running or weight lifting or other form of age-appropriate exercise is critical. That requires great willpower, to be sure. Most people give up too soon, because they try too hard at first. That results in injury and abandoning the program.

Think long term, make changes slowly but permanently, and you’ll find that weight is the last thing you have to think about. Your general appearance and health will improve. Those are the ends to keep in mind.