4 Myths About Eating Behavior

Food is, due to its nature as a key aspect for survival, one of the aspects of life that we take the least time to assume as something natural, part of the normality of everyday life. Since we were little, we get used to carrying out a series of routines related to the act of eating, actions that are part of our schedule organization and how we relate to others.

However, as often happens with things we take for granted, behind this idea of ​​“what is natural” and “what is normal” often hide many unfounded presuppositions that, in some cases, give rise to erroneous ways of interpreting our beliefs. actions and those of others.

Eating behavior is a more complex phenomenon than most people believe, and psychosocial processes of all kinds play an important role in it: emotions, expectations of beauty, ability (or lack thereof) when identifying sensations. , etc. Therefore, in this article we will review several of the most widespread myths about eating behavior

Very common myths about eating behavior

These are several of the most common erroneous beliefs regarding eating behavior.

1. We eat as a result of an organic imbalance in our body

On many occasions, the act of eating is not motivated by real hunger, even in people who have not been diagnosed with an Eating Disorder (ED). Emotional hunger, which is a phenomenon in which the person mistakes for hunger a type of discomfort that really has to do with emotions, is something quite common, and gives rise to many problems of overweight and malnutrition because it favors the consumption of food. very caloric, capable of “distracting” the mind for a few minutes through its flavor.

2. Genes only influence nutrition, not diet

Many people believe that beyond the genetic factors associated with the way in which our body assimilates the nutrients and vitamins from what we eat, everyone has complete freedom to adapt their behavior when eating, to avoid having a distant image. of beauty standards and suffer health problems.

But the truth is that the influence of genetic inheritance is also present, even if only in part, in our predisposition to relate in one way or another with food

This does not mean that our genome has total control over our actions, of course, but it cannot be said that it has no influence at all. This distinction between the organic and the psychological is, ultimately, a fiction: the mind and the body are not two separate realities, and therefore practically any pattern of behavior is linked to greater or lesser genetic predispositions.

So, for example, some people are more likely to feel full sooner from food, while others experience this feeling delayed, after having eaten more than their body really needs.

3. If we eat too much it is because we stop worrying about our image and health

This is another of the most widespread myths about eating behavior, and also one of the most stigmatizing against those who suffer health problems due to being overweight. It has a lot to do with the idea that those who have more accumulated fat have given in to the sin of gluttony and/or do not have the ability to control their impulses in general, showing it as a product of vice or irresponsibility.

But in reality, although it may seem contradictory, many people eat a lot precisely because they become obsessed with their health and weight, and this discomfort makes their mind tend to focus a lot on food. This type of tension can cause them to either expose themselves more to binge eating to deal with the stress generated by self-esteem problems, or suffer the “rebound effect” of having spent several days or weeks following a very restrictive diet ( and ineffective).

Furthermore, as we have seen so far, it is extremely simplistic to assume that the way we eat depends solely on something we can call “will” or “discipline”: there are many variables at play and some of them even complicate the task. to detect our harmful behavioral dynamics. It is false that just because we are ourselves, we are good at recognizing and identifying the actions we carry out that are causing us problems; Sometimes just the opposite happens, and that is why those who suffer from an eating disorder need mental health professionals to get out of that loop of distorted perception of what is happening to them.

4. Eating Disorders consist of wanting to lose weight at all costs

This is one of the most widespread misunderstandings about eating disorders, and it has to do, among other things, with the prominence that for several decades has been given to two specific pathologies: anorexia and bulimia.

But the truth is that The concept of Eating Disorder is much broader than that and encompasses other types of problematic behavioral dynamics For example, in binge eating disorder, the person does not take any extreme measures to try not to eat or to prevent what they have eaten from being absorbed by their body, and those who suffer from it tend to have problems with being overweight because they usually eat without being hungry. , even stopping only when they feel physically ill.

Beyond the body and food

To learn more about the nature of eating behavior and eating disorders, we invite you to read the book “Eating behavior. Beyond the body and food ”. Written by the psychologist Marc Ruiz de Minteguía, member of the Miguel Ángel Psychology and Psychotherapy center, this work shows that behind our way of relating to food there is much more than physiological processes and functioning organs, but we also find dynamics of management of the emotions, discomfort management strategies, expectations of social desirability, and many other relevant psychological elements.

It is also the 28th installment of the “Psychology Library” collection, made up of 60 books of rigorous scientific dissemination and whose editorial directors are Pablo Fernández-Berrocal, professor of Psychology at the University of Málaga, and José Ramón Alonso, professor of Cellular Biology at the Institute of Neurosciences of Castilla y León. It is for sale at paper press outlets in Spain, and can also be ordered online through the El País website.