How mood affects appetite – how to help control it

Our appetites all suffer at some point throughout our week depending on our moods. This can be good, or it can be bad. Take a second and think about the amount of different moods your body goes through every day, you could be stressed at work, you could be exhausted from a long work out at the gym, if you’re a woman it could be that time of the month or it could be a Saturday morning and you are hung over from the night before.
Do any of these sound familiar?

You’re body goes through countless amounts of different moods every day of the week and unfortunately sometimes our diets and appetites take a hit because of them. Some people may find when they are “happy” or are keeping busy then they do not have much of anappetite at all, however when they are “sad” some find themselves comfort eating to try and cheer themselves up, whereas again some of us have no appetite at all! As you can see everyone is different (that’s what makes us unique) but because we are all different there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to our eating habits and cravings.

Unfortunately our moods and the food we eat both play into each other’s hands; our mood is affected by the food we eat and what we eat depends on what we are in the mood for. For example some people may comfort eat when they feel low and depressed but the reason they feel like this could be because of the wrong toxins or inflammatory conditions that have entered our brains because of the foods we have eaten.

It is also important to note that when we are bored we like to eat, and as we touched on above when we are stressed we also like to eat. You may not even notice you are stressed or feeling sad. A common assumption to us eating when we are bored is because when we are bored, this is the time we are forced to think about our life’s and what is missing and we quite often drown out those negative thoughts with food. Our brains get cured from hunger when our tummies our full and vice versa. To prevent yourself over eating, take time to eat your food and think to yourself if you really need to eat at that moment or not.

So the question is, when we’re not feeling our best, how do we prevent ourselves over indulging and eating food which we later regret?

If you want to eat but don’t really feel hungry, why not try exercising instead? This is something else for your brain to focus on and as a result will help you burn off calories opposed to consuming them! Thinking about food will increase your hunger so if you are focusing on something different you can prevent this.

If you do chose to eat, think about your food choice carefully. Try and snack on fruit or “healthy snacks” and eat them slowly. By eating slowly your brain will tell you when you are full quicker and will prevent you over eating. Also try having a glass of water as sometimes when you think you are hungry it is just your body telling you youare dehydrated, a glass of water could be the answer your brain was looking for.

Another method to controlling your appetite and your mood swings is to take a daily supplement that helps to keep your mind thinking positively and helps keep you focused with your weight loss goals. By taking a supplement containing 5-HTP you may find that not only your sleep and anxiety are improved but your mood, appetite and carbohydrate intake is also more under control. A product that is currently available that combines ALL of these features is Capsiplex plus.