Everyone already knows the pillars for a healthy life: a regulated diet and physical activity. However, despite sounding simple, these goals often encounter obstacles throughout everyday life, whether related to work routine or even psychosocial issues.
According to nutritionist Ana Rita Gaia Machado, the main barrier that people tend to encounter in order to not maintain a regular diet is the lack of time, resulting from a demanding and exhausting lifestyle. “This way, [as pessoas] end up eating ultra-processed and easy-to-prepare foods,” said the expert.
In this mission, the nutritionist highlights organization and focus as essential characteristics. “It is often necessary to prepare meals on the weekend, with ‘real’ food, organizing them into quick portions and freezing the food. Furthermore, it is recommended to choose foods that are easy to prepare, but healthy”, she reinforced.
If a person’s routine does not allow them to prepare their own lunch boxes, there are also other options, such as looking for restaurants that offer made-to-order meals. “These dishes cannot be missing fiber, vegetables, fruit and meat, real food. Currently, there are cakes and banana chips that are healthy and sold ready for immediate consumption”, added Ana Rita.
However, not all obstacles are related to routine life or lack of discipline. In some cases, they may also be linked to a condition of binge eating.
According to psychologist Julia Akel de Oliveira Feitosa, to identify possible symptoms of this disorder, it is important to observe whether, in short intervals – every 2 hours, for example -, the person is consuming a much larger amount of food than others. . Or if she feels like she can’t stop eating and control what she’s eating.
“It is also essential to observe whether, at these moments, the person is eating too quickly, if they feel uncomfortably full, if they are eating even without feeling hungry or, even, if they are isolating themselves because they feel ashamed of how much they are eating and if they feel any guilt or remorse soon afterwards”, added the psychologist.
The diagnosis of binge eating is defined based on these episodes, analyzing the frequency with which they occur and whether excessive food consumption is accompanied by a feeling of lack of control or marked suffering.
Júlia explains that treatment for the disorder generally involves the participation of a psychologist, nutritionist and medical monitoring. “Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps to identify and modify distorted thought patterns and behaviors that contribute to binge eating. Additionally, working with a nutritionist can help you develop healthier eating habits and establish a healthy relationship with food, such as learning to recognize signs of hunger and satiety, planning balanced meals, and finding healthy alternatives to deal with negative emotions,” he added.
In some cases, however, it may be necessary to use medications such as antidepressants, mood stabilizers or weight loss medications to help control the symptoms of binge eating. “Remember that these medications should always be used according to medical recommendations”, concluded the psychologist.
