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Evidence-informed writing on nutrition, eating behavior,
psychological health, and wellbeing.
Sometimes, when we are sad or experience strong negative emotions, eating something will make us feel better. Some foods are so tasty that eating them feels like a rewarding experience. People also associate some foods with positive memories, so eating them will improve their emotional state by invoking those memories. But what happens when negative emotions are persistent? For example, when we generally feel lonely?
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Most people understand that eating lots of high-calorie food will make us gain weight. That is rather straightforward. However, human bodies have an intricate food intake regulation mechanism that tells us when to eat and when we have had enough. That mechanism is crucial for our survival. Without it, we could starve to death without ever feeling a desire to eat. Or we could eat so much that we die from overeating without ever noticing that we have eaten too much. Luckily, this never happens as our food intake mechanism works and works well. So, if we have this mechanism that regulates our food intake, how does obesity develop?
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“You are what you eat,” the old saying goes. It means one must eat good food to stay healthy and fit. This link between eating well and staying healthy is obvious – our body needs specific nutrients to function. If we do not obtain them through food, serious health consequences will follow.
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We have all experienced situations when we have trouble getting good sleep. This can happen when we are excited, when something troubles us, when our sleeping arrangements are uncomfortable, and under many other circumstances. However, some people have constant difficulties with getting good sleep. This is called chronic insomnia.
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Not only is nature enjoyable, but studies show that time spent in nature or living near areas of natural vegetation, such as parks, gardens, or forests (particularly urban forests within cities), i.e., so-called green spaces, is associated with better health. It is even associated with a lower risk of dying, particularly of cardiovascular diseases (Gascon et al., 2016). Children living near green spaces tend to have better cognitive development. Studies indicate that the overall well-being of individuals living near green spaces or experiencing them often is better (Dadvand et al., 2015; Ma et al., 2019; van den Berg et al., 2015)
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Why do people engage in hedonic overconsumption? Hedonic overconsumption is often ascribed to one’s lack of self-control. This lack of self-control can happen for a variety of reasons. A tempting environment, a strong short-term desire, a lack of motivation and effort investment, a lack of control capacity or situational constraints on action, or ill-chosen strategies are just a few of the reasons mentioned in the literature (Murphy et al., 2024).
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Depression and anxiety affect millions of people worldwide. Despite this, treatments for these disorders are often not very effective. Estimates state that at least 30% of individuals suffering from depression do not experience symptom withdrawal even after multiple treatment procedures. The situation is similar to anxiety – only about 60% of patients respond to treatments to any significant degree.
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The link between food and health is very straightforward – if we do not eat, we will eventually die. Our body needs lots of different substances to continue functioning. We need some of them, such as proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, in large quantities. These substances are called macronutrients. Our bodies need many other types of substances in much smaller quantities. These micronutrients include vitamins, minerals, specific essential fatty acids, and many other substances.
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We all know that eating certain foods can temporarily make us feel bad and unwell. However, more and more studies indicate that following certain dietary patterns might have longer-lasting adverse effects (Hedrih, 2024; Zhang et al., 2024). One such pattern attracting more and more research attention is the so-called Western diet.
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We have all experienced situations where we really, really want to eat something we shouldn’t. This experience is probably best known to individuals trying to lose weight by simply eating less. This struggle with the desire to eat might be completely invisible to outside observers. It only happens in our minds. But does that psychological struggle to avoid eating require extra energy? Most importantly, is this energy expenditure greater when the struggle is harder? A group of researchers conducted a study back in 2020 to find out.
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