Emotional eating, the factors that affect food intake, and basic approaches to nursing care of patients with eating disorders

Özet

Emotional eating is defined as an eating behavior that is hypothesized to occur as a response to emotions, not because of a feeling of hunger, closeness to meal time, or social necessity. Eating behavior can be regulated using metabolic methods that cause homeostasis, neuropsychological agents such as hormones and neurotransmitters, and hedonic systems. There is an opinion among scholars that the people who have an addiction and/or tendency to overeat specific nutrients or substances may have a shortage of dopamine (DA). Emotional and uncontrolled eating behavior is an important risk factor for recurrent weight gain. Although, emotions are known to be an influential factor on eating functions, food selection, and amount of food consumption, a clear relationship about what affects eating behavior has to date not been proven. Therefore, in this study, emotional factors that affect emotional eating and food intake, other factors affecting nutrient intake (i.e., diseases, natural disasters, menstruation), various theories related to emotional eating, the scales which developed to detect emotional eating behavior, and the basic responsibilities of nurses in the treatment of eating disorders are discussed.