
Overeating is a problem for more and more people in today’s world.
There are a lot of causes, including lack of sleep, sugar addiction, and eating processed foods that addict you and cause you to crave more.
Eating nutrient-deprived processed foods also fails to provide your body with the nutrients it needs to perform basic functions, so it sends you hunger signals trying to get more nutrients.
Insulin resistance, another culprit, causes your cells not to absorb nutrients, so you never feel satisfied. Hormone imbalances can have a similar effect.
Plus there are emotional reasons people overeat, such as to numb feelings you don’t wanna feel, or because “it’s the holidays.”
Whatever the reasons for overeating, what you’ve gotta understand is that it does a lot more than cause you to gain weight.
- Overeating overloads your fat cells, and when they hit capacity, the extra fat spills into your liver and surrounds your internal organs. That fat is called visceral fat, and it’s gross and dangerous.
- Overeating leads to a racing pulse followed by extreme fatigue, because it takes your body SO much energy to digest alllllll that extra food.
- Your stomach can hold up to 1 liter of food without stretching, but when it’s stretched from overeating, it can hold up to 3 liters. If you try and eat more than that, your stomach will make you throw up so it doesn’t burst. If you feel sick after overeating, that could be why.
- The extra gastric acid it takes to digest all that extra food rises up into your esophagus, causing heartburn (and burning your esophagus, which isn’t equipped to handle the level of acidity gastric acid has to have in order to break down your food).
- Overeating suppresses an enzyme that fights viruses, slows your metabolism, and interferes with sleep.
- All that food in your stomach also causes your stomach to press against the other organs in your abdominal area, packing them in like sardines in a can.
- A stomach engorged from overeating even presses against your diaphragm, which presses on your lungs and results in shallow breathing.
Overeating is really hard on your body, so if you’re still doing it but you aren’t sure why, start with your food.
Are you eating real, whole foods? Or are you eating a lot of processed foods (that come in packages, boxes and cans)?
Are you getting enough healthy fats in your diet, or are you trying to eat low-fat AND low-calorie, which is a recipe for feeling hungry all the time.
If you’d like to learn how to eat for weight loss in a way that leaves you feeling satisfied instead of ravenous, click here to check out the Code Red Cookbook, which includes over 240 delicious, simple recipes to get you started with Code Red eating.
When it comes to OVEReating, the bottom line is that it’s hard on your body. If you overeat on a regular basis, start by addressing your diet and see if that helps. If it doesn’t, it may be one of the other reasons, like lack of sleep (which causes hunger and sugar cravings even if you eat a healthy diet).