Two Forms of Eating that Feel Out-of-Control
There are two forms of eating that can feel out-of-control:
deprivation-driven eating
emotional eating
Most people think that out-of-control eating is emotional, or caused by some food or foods they’ve been eating. Actually, it is far more likely that ‘over’ eating is deprivation-driven.
When I first started doing intuitive eating work, I thought 90% of my clients were overeating due to emotions. Or some other external cause. But, over time I realized that they were NOT eating emotionally or due to some external cause. Instead, truly 90% of my clients were struggling with deprivation-driven eating.
Most people don’t want to hear that. I don’t think I’ve ever had a client believe they were in a state of deprivation. But once they begin to understand the two types of deprivation-driven eating, and once we started taking a closer look at their food intake, they realized that the ‘fix’ they needed was quite different from what they thought.
If you have a history of restricting food intake, of trying to lose weight, of trying to eat "healthy" (with a focus on low calorie foods), etc., there is a good chance you are experiencing deprivation-driven eating.
The two types of deprivation-driven eating are:
psychological - I call this the “I can’t, I won’t, I shouldn’t, I will today, but not tomorrow” mentality
physical - arises from under-fueling, which can occur if you under eat by as little as 100 or 200 calories, or if you did not eat enough at lunch or last Tuesday
The deprivation-driven eater’s drive to eat stems from having been restricted or limited from food, in other words, when a person has a history of physical or psychological restriction from food.
Psychological Deprivation-Driven Eating
Psychological deprivation-driven eating comes from the belief system that reinforces diet mentality. If you find yourself overeating and you also have thoughts such as: “I won’t eat that again,” “It’s bad, I shouldn’t eating that,” “That is poison, how can anyone eat that,” “I need to lose weight, I’ll skip ______,” “I’ll eat now and cut back later,” or “That’s unhealthy, I won’t eat it. I need to eat healthy”, there is a good chance that overeating is psychological deprivation-driven eating.
It can arise when someone admonishes you to eat right, eat less, eat only good foods, etc. It can be caused by not having freedom to eat the way you want, or being criticized or judged for eating what you want, or from having been deprived of satisfaction from food.
Again, if you are thinking “I can’t, I won’t, I shouldn’t, I will today, but not tomorrow,” then when you eat the thing you weren’t going to eat, this is probably psychological deprivation-driven eating.
Most calorie recommendations from programs such as MyFitnessPal, are so inaccurate, horribly underestimating a person’s needs. Please do not use them as a guideline.
Physical Deprivation-Driven Eating
From the physical perspective, deprivation-driven eating results from having been deprived of enough fuel (calories), whether it was self-imposed, or caused by someone else.
Physical hunger occurs your body is running low on fuel.
Your amazing body attempts to remedy this situation by sending signals loud and clear. If diet mentality does not interfere, you will feel driven to “Eat!” and you will still have enough where-with-all to be discriminative, “Hmmm, I’m hungry. What do I want to eat? Oh, that dessert looks good. Hmmm, let me have dinner first, and if I’m still a bit hungry, maybe I’ll have some dessert..”
However, if the “Eat!” message is ignored or numbed out (due to diet mentality or other reasons), the body will ramp up its efforts, “Eat something! Anything! Preferably something high is sugar and fat. I need energy NOW!” It is as this point that the out-of-control eating starts. Often, it is not emotions at all, but because we are actually hungry!
Again, if you have a history of manipulating food, your body and mind will be much more sensitive to under fueling - under eating by even 100 calories can trigger this louder EAT SOMETHING, PLEASE message. It feels like a craving, or like emotions are driving it, but it is actually deprivation.
It is critical to know if your overeating is caused by this slight under eating, or you will be wasting much time on fixing the wrong thing. (We can show you how this works based on your own food intake and get you on the right path in as little as one session.)
Seeking More Nutrition Information
Deprivation-driven eaters will eagerly soak up nutrition advice in the hope to avoid overeating, seeking nutrition guidelines that will get them back on track. Perhaps they eliminate carbs, or once again try to follow a “reasonable, healthy diet…nothing drastic.”
But, sooner or later, they feel compelled to eat those “bad” foods — foods not allowed, or allowed only with discretion. They do so with abandon, and then feel like a failure. Guilt seeps in.
The advice is to get back with the program. You think, “Well, I’ve done it before, I can do it again.” However, until the deprivation-driven eating is healed, no amount of nutritional cheerleading will result in an end to overeating, or an end to struggling to manage your food.
If you don't realize your eating is actually deprivation driven, you will blame yourself or your food and will miss the opportunity to gain control over your food intake and heal this overeating.
But Isn’t This Emotional Eating?
This surely sounds like emotional eating! But it isn't. Deprivation-driven eating stems from past physical or psychological deprivation around food. It is not triggered by emotions. Sure, emotions will arise when you overeat, but these are the result of the eating, not the cause.
And, yes, emotions can drive the urge to overeat. But until you deal with the deprivation-driven eating, you will not be able to honestly discern if you are eating due to emotions, or due to deprivation.
As you become familiar with true physiological hunger, and learn to work with it, rather than trying to control and manage it, deprivation-driven eating can be healed.
And then, if indeed there is an emotional component to eating, you have a fighting chance to heal that as well.
About Eating Wisdom and Drs Karin and Hannah
We are two PhD level Registered and Licensed Nutritionists whose passion is to help others escape diet culture and to learn to use their natural, innate Eating Wisdom to, finally, find peace with food, eating and weight.
Check out our course, Intuitive Eating: How to Escape Diet Culture and Become an Empowered Eater,. plus we have lots of info and handouts (including the original Hunger Fullness Scale) at our website, www.EatingWisdom.com. We also offer 1:1 nutrition therapy. Take advantage of our combined 40+ years of experience and reach out today!
© 2018 Karin Kratina, PhD, RD, LDN. Adapted from the work of Amy Tuttle RD, LCSW and Karin Kratina.
