“There is more than just wishful thinking about food that can make you fat”
Foodies are a category of people who dream of a gastronomic extravaganza as food is their passion. They eat out of love for food, a hobby sorts rather than out of hunger pangs. However, is it that all who love food end up being obese and fat? In today’s era, the world is filled with gourmet foodies who combine healthy eating with tastes and appearances to match their passion, making it a complete win- win situation for the mind and body. Obesity has a lot of contributing factors, but for the lay person, eating-in-excess becomes the only apparent to becoming fat. Not completely wrong….But what if you are the “just-eat-to-survive” kind and still obese? Family history or being a Sloth or now in this category is also Overthinking.
Thinking is a brain-centric process involving reasoning as well as drawing rationales. It is the hotbed for driving each being towards their goal and is a value adding quality. But the lack of sensibilities to differentiate between good, bad and wishful thinking is what leads to overthinking….stress….and obesity. Overthinking is the biggest precursor to stress which has emerged as the largest lifestyle contributor for obesity. Tasks involving the brain like thinking is generally not labor intensive, meaning lacks physical effort and hence is a trigger for obesity. Studies have identified intellectual tasks to lead to glucose combustion and in a bid for calorie-compensation, leads to extra intake of the clichéd comfort food or even overeating of the normal food.
Overthinking is being increasingly studied in relation to many cardio-metabolic disorders today, as it involves more than just the mind and affects more than just your body. There is another side to this overthinking phenomenon involving the extremely fussy diet-conscious types. Being too strict and self- demanding with respect to nutrition also has been shown to lead to stress affecting health. In such scenarios, any unforeseen failure derails the entire diet process leading to overeating. Obesity or becoming overweight though is popularly tied to the calorie intake chart, is not a very simple life task. It involves not making your mind your enemy.
The digital world has made eating a tub of ice cream after a heartbreak a very popular sight, and the entire fundamental of comfort food heart-warming. When you treat yourself leniently, the competition is lost and being highly demanding of self can consume your almighty brain. Success in today’s world demands thinking and reasoning, and being realistic in drawing a balance between IQ and EQ-based decisions can efficiently convert the process of overthinking healthy.
Find your balance, for if you trip repeatedly, you may just become a statistical addition in the world epidemic of obesity. It is not easy to control the mind in this comparative world, but if you become your own competitor, you move not only but towards making a better version of yourself.