Why do People Eat Too Much?

Who hasn't overindulged now and again? When Christmas comes around you want to be able to enjoy yourself with friends and family, rather than constantly counting calories. So what if you go overboard and eat a few too many chocolates and sweets? After all, it's only one day of the year. However, for many people eating too much is a regular occurrence. When you work hard all day, you don't always feel like cooking, but you're still hungry, so what do you do? You perhaps stick something in the oven and nibble on biscuits whilst you wait for it to cook. Unfortunately, if you do this too regularly you could quite soon find yourself piling on the pounds.

Indeed, it is overeating which is fuelling the rising obesity levels in society. People are just consuming far more calories than they need. It doesn't help that so many individuals lead sedentary lifestyles, since this simply exacerbates the problem of weight gain. It seems that many people are not bothering to alter their calorie intake to reflect their actual calorie requirements. Clearly, if your job involves sitting at a desk all day and you make no effort to walk or do any other kind of exercise, you are going to need fewer calories than someone who is on their feet all day. Thus, you can quite easily eat too much, just because your calorie requirements aren't that high.

The trouble is that it seems people don't really bother to pay attention to calories unless they're actively trying to lose weight. Instead of keeping an eye on what they're eating and controlling their portion sizes, many simply eat whatever they want and gain weight as a result. Surely, it must be better to avoid weight gain in the first place than to pile on the pounds and then face the difficulty of having to lose the excess weight. Yet, so many people end up caught in a spiral of continually losing and gaining weight because they can only restrict their calorie intake for so long before they go back to eating too much.

It probably doesn't help that there is so much choice when it comes to food, and that the food which is high in calories and crammed full of fat and sugar also tends to be relatively cheap. Why would you bother to buy some apples when you can buy a multi-pack of chocolate bars for the same price or less and they taste better? Of course, some would say that they love the taste of apples, but when you're used to eating lots of chocolate and sweets, as many people are, these are going to be the types of snacks you reach for. Junk food is full of sugar that not only gives you energy levels a boost; it also makes you feel happier, so you're bound to want to re-live the experience.

Life can be stressful and when you're looking for a pick-me-up, what better way than to eat a pizza or tub of ice cream? It's a cheap and relatively harmless way of making yourself feel better. The only problem is that you can quite easily get into the habit of eating too much and this is when you gain weight. Although eating junk food may give you a temporary buzz, you're usually left feeling worse because you watch your weight creep up and your clothes no longer fit. Your self-esteem takes a dive and there is a chance you could find the determination to do something about it, or you may simply become despondent and use food to comfort yourself.

Everyone eats and drinks too much occasionally, so you shouldn't feel guilty or worry too much about it. As long as you generally make an effort to control your calorie intake and keep active so that you burn off calories, you should be able to control your weight. What you don't want to do is eat too much all the time, as otherwise it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a healthy weight and once you're overweight or obese, it can take quite a lot of time and hard work to shift the excess pounds. Thus, it is preferable to avoid this situation arising in the first place, even though this can difficult when temptation is all around you.

The Emotional Reasons Why People Eat

You have to eat to survive – it is as simple as that – and so when you find yourself needing to lose weight it can be a struggle to reduce the amount of food you eat. You can't simply cut food out of your life completely and forget all about it, and so you have to learn to control your eating habits. Unfortunately, people do not only eat for sustenance. If it was really that easy to eat only when you're hungry, obesity probably wouldn't be the problem it is. Many people find that their emotions interfere with their ability to make the right dietary choices.

If you're feeling depressed, you may be someone who eschews food, but for many people food is a source of comfort. You may be feeling down because of something specific going on in your life, such as a relationship breaking down, financial worries or health issues, or it may be a chemical imbalance or hormones that are leaving you in a negative state of mind. Whatever the cause of your depression, you may find that eating a bar of chocolate gives you a bit of a boost, since you get an endorphin rush. However, if weight is also something that is worrying you, you may well feel even worse after gorging on chocolate and other sweet treats, because of the guilt.

You may eat in secret, since if no one knows you're gorging on food, they can't think of you as a pig. Bingeing on food becomes a temporary way to distract yourself from your problems, even though it it doesn't actually resolve any of the issues driving your negative emotions. Indeed, if weight is one of your many worries, you could just end up exacerbating the problem. Even if weight isn't a problem for you, if you regularly turn to food you could find that it becomes one. It is very easy to turn to food when you're in need of a pick-me-up, because eating is more socially acceptable than smoking or drinking and doesn't carry as many harmful side effects.

It isn't only depression that can cause you to turn to food. It may be that you're lonely, anxious or bored and so find that food helps to preoccupy your mind. The trouble is you hardly ever gorge yourself on healthy foods; it is almost always the fattening, calorific treats that provide you with no nutritional benefit that you seek solace in. However, it is important to recognise that not everyone overindulges because they're unhappy. Some people eat because they're with family and friends, and feeling happy and carefree. They don't bother to think about the quantity of food they're eating, because they're having a good time.

Thus, some people tend to eat more when they're in a negative frame of mind, whilst for others it is being in an environment where they feel excited, happy or comfortable that leads them to overeat. Either way, emotional eating can be a problem if it gets out of control. Indeed, by its very nature emotional eating means that you're not in control, since your inclination to eat is being driven by your emotions. When this is the situation you find yourself, it can be tough to manage your weight and even tougher to lose weight, which is why you have to get a grip on your eating habits, so your weight doesn't become an issue that dominates your life.

Can Eating Regularly Help You Lose Weight?

To lose weight you have to reduce your calorie intake, which may lead you to think that skipping meals could help you to reach your weight-loss goal faster. In actual fact, you would probably be better off making an effort to eat regularly. Obviously, you have to watch what you eat and ensure that you keep portion sizes under control, as otherwise you are unlikely to build up the calorie deficit you require. Taking steps to control your calorie intake is better than simply skipping meals, as this can play havoc with your metabolism and make it difficult to make the right food choices.

By eating regularly you won't have an opportunity to become so hungry that you end up overindulging. Of course, it is still possible that you could binge on food, but when you eat regularly you won't feel hungry all the time and your energy levels will remain stable. Consequently, you will be less likely to crave high-calorie junk food and if you don't crave it, you won't have to worry as much about eating it when you know doing so could hamper your weight-loss efforts. Eating regularly will put in a good position to manage your dietary habits.

How frequently you eat may depend on the hours you work and how often you get a break. If you work long hours and don't have much time to prepare healthy food, you may not eat as frequently as you'd like so that you simply grab food on the go, instead. It is therefore worth planning your meals ahead of time so that you know when you intend to eat and what you are going to eat. If you rush your food, barely even chewing it, your brain doesn't recognise when you're full and you can quite easily consume more than you actually need, which is why you really should try to make time to eat.

It is evident that eating regularly won't guarantee weight loss, since it is probably eating slightly too regularly that caused you to gain weight in the first place. However, you shouldn't get carried away with the idea that skipping meals will help you lose weight any quicker than eating every few hours. By eating three main meals and a couple of snacks in between, you will have enough energy to get through the day and you won't be obsessing about food the whole time. Plus, if you have plenty of energy, you won't mind making the effort to exercise, which is particularly useful when you're trying to lose weight.

Overall, then, it is worth eating food regularly throughout the day when you're trying to lose weight. It is certainly better than skipping meals in an attempt to cut your calorie intake, only to binge later on in the day and consuming far more calories than you would have if you'd actually eaten at regular intervals during the day as a result.

Would a Fat Tax Encourage People to Eat Healthier?

The idea of a fat tax seems to have become popular amongst policy makers and politicians in recent years as a potential way to deal with the impending obesity crisis. More people are now classed as overweight and obese than ever before, which is putting greater strain on health services and undermining economic productivity. Taxing food that is high in fat is seen as a way of deterring people from eating as much fattening food, whilst also providing extra revenue for the health provision that obese individuals are more likely to need.

However, would a fat tax really encourage people to eat healthier and to make the right choices at meal times? Probably not, when even healthy food isn't particularly cheap. Instead of subsidising the cost of fresh food and vegetables to provide individuals with a positive incentive to eat better, governments throughout the developed world seem intent on punishing individuals for making what they see as the wrong choices. All kinds of food – whether deemed healthy or unhealthy – are going up in price, so that in most people's minds it doesn't really matter what kind of food they eat, since they are going to end up paying more for it, anyway.

Why would they want to change their habits when they are used to eating processed meals and snacking on junk food – food that is quick to prepare and tastes good? Many people do not even recognise what a healthy diet actually is, which slapping a tax on food high in fat isn't going to remedy. Fat isn't the cause of rising obesity levels and is an essential nutrient in a balanced diet, so what message is a fat tax sending out? It is basically suggesting that all fats are bad and that politicians know best. Both well-informed individuals and those lacking the necessary information about diet and exercise are punished for eating what someone else proclaims is unhealthy.

Surely, it is up to the individual how they spend their money and what they eat, rather than the role of the state. It is evident that the notion of a fat tax has become popular because politicians want to make it look as though they have the power to tackle the problem of obesity, whilst, in actual fact, they are more concerned with generating revenue – whether or not the money raised goes to educating people about healthy eating and providing health services for obese individuals.

The chances are a fat tax on its own will do very little to encourage people to eat healthier and to maintain a healthy weight when everyone has to eat and it is still possible to consume too many calories regardless of fat content. At the end of the day, it is people's excessive calorie consumption that is fuelling weight gain, an issue which a fat tax fails to address. Despite this, it seems that more and more governments throughout the world are giving serious consideration to the role a fat tax could play in tackling obesity.

Eat Regularly For Weight Loss

When you're desperate to lose weight it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that skipping meals will help you to lose weight. You know that you have to reduce your calorie intake and so it seems to make perfect sense that cutting meals out will help you to consume fewer calories. Yet, even when you take this step you generally find that you don't lose as much weight as you'd planned to or that although you lose weight, you can't seem to keep it off. Clearly, then, skipping meals is not the way to go if you want to lose weight successfully.

Indeed, instead of skipping meals you would be better off eating regularly, as this will keep your energy levels up and your metabolism ticking over as well as ensuring you don't become so hungry that you're prepared to eat the first thing you see. Eating regularly can help you stick to a calorie-controlled diet because you have to plan in advance what you're going to eat and when, so that you actually have to give greater consideration to what you eat. If you intend to eat between three and six meals a day, you obviously have to adjust your portion sizes accordingly.

Some people find that dividing their daily calorie allowance into six meals a day helps them to stay on track, because they don't have an opportunity to obsess about food when every few hours they are able to eat. Other people prefer to have a few main meals and a couple of snacks in between, so that they have something to look forward to in between meals. Eating regularly also helps keep hunger at bay, something which can be a real problem when you're trying to lose weight. It is usually when you're hungry that you give into the temptation of something you shouldn't be having.

It is therefore worth making the effort to eat regularly if it helps you to stay in control of your calorie intake. It should, since you will be better prepared when it comes to meal times and you won't be hungry all the time. However, you do have to be careful not to use your regular mealtimes as an excuse to load up your plate with food each time. Eating regularly throughout the day means you have to be particularly careful not to go overboard with portion sizes, as otherwise you may find that not only do you fail to lose weight; you may actually gain some! All-in-all, though, eating regularly can help you to achieve your weight loss aims and hopefully keep the weight off, as well.