Supporting the 'Emotional Brain' for Weight Loss
We have covered the ‘Hungry Gut’ and the ‘Hungry Brain’, now this article will address the ‘Emotional Brain’ phenotype outlined in some of the research on precision obesity treatment. It is important to recognize the triggers and behavior of emotional eating in order to disrupt our patterns, allowing us to break down barriers preventing our weight loss.
What is the 'Emotional Brain' Phenotype?
Eating to Self Soothe
Sometimes we eat to soothe an emotional wound. It can be triggered by a seemingly innocuous event or by a stressor. Other times, there is not even a conscious association between the trigger and the eating behavior. For example, I have a stressful overwhelming day at work. I get home and start noshing on nuts. They aren’t necessarily a bad thing to snack on, but when I do not portion them out and eat them right out of the bag, it is the signal that my workday is done, and I can relax. But was I hungry? Not really. I was just hungry for some rest and a distraction from my day. I now have the overwhelming day under my belt along with 300+ “thank god it is over” calories and I am no better for it.
Why do we do this? It likely is related to the neurotransmitter Dopamine. While the neurobiology of food intake is complex, it does seem that imbalances in dopaminergic pathways are involved. Dopamine is known as the reward chemical and that little burst makes you feel good. At the end of a hard day, that is what I was craving, a reward, which does not have to be food. It could be a walk outside or reading a book for pleasure or even a phone call chat with a friend. The point is, some of this is habitual and to change this, we need to recognize the trigger and the behavior to disrupt the emotional brain eating pattern.
Stress is a double whammy when it comes to weight
It turns out that stress not only drives us to eat emotionally but it also drives inflammation and blood sugar dysregulation in some people. Chronic stress often leads to weight gain of the worst kind – visceral fat or the fat that collects in our midsection creating the “apple body type”. In this way, it is a driver of blood sugar disruptions and risk for Type 2 Diabetes and even heart disease. Let’s face it- life is stressful, and learning to manage your stress better builds resilience. Shutting off the stress response by incorporating it into the daily activities that give you peace and joy can be helpful. Mindfulness meditation, discussed below, can help reduce the rumination that is often associated with the chronic stress response.
eating for pleasure
Foods taste good and eating for hedonic reasons is not necessarily a bad thing. There are celebrations and foods that are just part of the joy of life. When the pull is daily and again habitual, it takes on less meaning and becomes less of a special treat and more, just a treat that may not be serving us and our goals. When there is intention- for example, every Christmas eve we enjoy special fried dough balls dipped in honey. It is tradition and it is what our mother makes every year, making it part of the shared experience, it is love. That same food would feel very different in a less special circumstance and may not be worth the indulgence.
Being consciously aware of this difference sets the stage for eating for pleasure with intention. It is not wrong or bad to eat for pleasure but when we do so with intention it feels different, and we can own that and not feel bad about it. When we eat unconsciously, and mindlessly for pleasure it is often tinged with regret afterward.
Tools for the Emotional brain
If you identify that cravings and eating are emotionally triggered and that is a barrier toward your weight loss success, congratulations! Recognizing this is half the battle. The second part is doing something about it.
Mindfulness Meditation
We already discussed giving yourself a natural dopamine hit in some other way that does not involve food when you realize you are eating not necessarily for hunger. You also can consider working on mindful meditation. I think of mindfulness meditation as an exercise to elevate your level of awareness. The premise behind mindfulness is basically being in the moment and doing what you are doing when you are doing it. The more we work this muscle, the stronger it gets. This allows you to be in the present moment and recognize when these eating patterns are happening.
A 2014 study revealed that the practice of mindfulness meditation reduced binge eating behaviors, emotional eating, and eating in response to external cues. Mindfulness has been shown to improve weight loss and weight loss maintenance. This will allow you to be intentional about your choices in the moment. I often find guided meditations the most effective for beginners and there are easy-to-use applications to download to help you get started.
Get Curious - Ask the Questions
Another way to go about emotional and hedonic eating is along the same lines but requires less lotus position and time. I ask two questions when I am considering eating something that is not in alignment with my long-term meal plan:
Can I alter this food in some way so that it is less of an issue for my weight loss goals?
If the answer is “yes” and it still allows you to enjoy that food but in a way that does not sabotage your efforts, then do so. If the answer is “no” then move on to question number two.
Does this food elevate my experience of this event/moment in some way?
If the answer is “no” then the food/drink may not be worth consuming. If the answer is “yes” then maybe it is worth eating with enjoyment and intention.
Supplemental Support
adaptogen herbs
Functional medicine is all about working with the body’s biochemistry in a way that gets at the underlying cause. Sometimes chronic stressors are not an easy fix. We can’t always make our external environment less stressful. What else can be helpful when chronic stress is the issue driving our eating habits? We often use adaptogen herbs to help support stress hormone imbalances that occur because of chronic life stress as supplemental support. The selection of which ones is often personalized to the symptoms of stress hormone dysregulation that are being experienced.
Neurotransmitter Support
Since emotional eating is often associated with our brain neurochemicals, specifically dopamine and serotonin, we often support these pathways in the body when this is an issue. For example, we may utilize B vitamins in the methylated form along with Magnesium, Tyrosine, and Tryptophan to support this biochemistry.
Pharmaceutical Support
There are medications that are FDA approved for weight loss that can be helpful when emotional eating is the issue. These medications tend to be ones that act on neurotransmitters and the receptors in the brain that are part of the pleasure response to food. The one that I most utilize for this purpose is Contrave which is a combination of the medication Wellbutrin and Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). Sometimes Wellbutrin and LDN are used alone for weight loss support. Certainly, medications are not the answer for everyone but sometimes can be a helpful tool to gain some momentum and traction.
Other Phenotypes
References
Harding JL, Backholer K, Williams ED, Peeters A, Cameron AJ, Hare MJ, Shaw JE, Magliano DJ. Psychosocial stress is positively associated with body mass index gain over 5 years: evidence from the longitudinal AusDiab study. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2014 Jan;22(1):277-86.
Volkow ND. Reward, dopamine and the control of food intake: implications for obesity. Trends Cogn Sci. 2011 Jan;15(1):37-46.
Berthoud HR. Blaming the Brain for Obesity: Integration of Hedonic and Homeostatic Mechanisms. Gastroenterology. 2017 May;152(7):1728-1738.
Katterman. Mindfulness meditation as an intervention for binge eating, emotional eating, and weight loss: a systematic review. Eat Behav. 2014 Apr;15(2):197-204.
Kulak-Bejda A, Bejda G, Waszkiewicz N. Safety and efficacy of naltrexone for weight loss in adult patients – a systematic review. Arch Med Sci. 2020 Sep 10;17(4):940-953.