Before I get too personal here, I want to talk about what I mean by Head Hunger. So let me start by explaining the difference between Stomach hunger and Head hunger. Stomach hunger is real physical hunger that increases gradually. Stomach hunger is not associated with any mental or emotional state and often has physical indicators such as stomach growling. Head hunger is emotional hunger and is associated with feelings of stress, frustration, pressures at work/home, or emotions such as loneliness, heartache, or depression. Head hunger occurs when a person relies on food to satisfy an unrelated need instead of confronting something that is uncomfortable. When we eat in response to head hunger, we’re feeding our body calories it does not need. Both types of hunger can feel exactly the same, and it is vital for bariatric patients to learn to tell them apart.
I have known for years that I was an emotional eater, and I was addicted to feeding my emotions through various avenues. If I’m going to be completely honest (which is the whole point of a blog, right?), it never mattered what the emotion was at the time because I had a drug of choice to feed all of them. Happiness led to celebratory comfort meals. Stress and anxiety led to grabbing a bite of anything quick to relieve the feelings in my chest. Boredom led to snacking just to stay busy. Anger led to sneaking cigarettes, and the need for “me time” led to overuse of alcohol. All these unhealthy coping mechanisms led me down a road to obesity and into a poor health situation where my body was fighting itself everyday.
Food was always an easy solution to my mental woes because there was no barrier to prevent me from enjoying all that food had to offer. Yes, I may have felt physical discomfort if I over-indulged, but I rarely ate enough to become physically ill during my bouts of eating my feelings. I would just eat until I started to gain control over whatever emotion I was trying to mask. Eventually, the negative feelings would pass and I would feel better emotionally.
One of the reasons I chose gastric bypass surgery versus another WLS option was strictly mechanical. My RNY procedure involved the creation of a small “pouch” out of my existing stomach and connecting the newly created pouch directly to my small intestine. This changed how my stomach and small intestine handle the food I eat. My stomach is now smaller, I am limited on how much I can eat or drink, and I feel full with less food. The food I eat no longer goes into some parts of my stomach and small intestine. Because of this, my body does not absorb all the calories from the food I eat. (Please do not misunderstand…there are some real possible downsides to WLS. Malnutrition, muscle wasting, and hair loss are just a few. I’m sure I will discuss all these in more detail as I travel this journey).
One other mechanical reason I chose gastric bypass was the possibility of “dumping syndrome.” Dumping syndrome is a side effect which is specific to gastric bypass and occurs when food gets “dumped” directly from the stomach pouch into the small intestine without being digested. Dumping is most often caused by eating certain foods containing high amounts of refined sugar, dairy products, or certain fats. Symptoms of dumping can last about an hour and may include abdominal pain/cramping, nausea or vomiting, severe diarrhea, sweating, light-headedness, and rapid heartbeat. Dumping is extremely unpleasant, but it is not life threatening. I can control my chances of experiencing dumping by making changes in what and how I eat. I know some may think I’m absolutely crazy for viewing dumping as a benefit of my WLS rather than a risk. However, the possibility of dumping has provided a very real physical barrier to my emotional eating.
Weight loss surgery alone does not fix head hunger or any other stress-related responses that I developed over the years. These behaviors connect to underlying emotions or addictive tendencies, and I have to take a serious look at how I dealt with my emotions in the past and how I will handle them going forward. Even with the help of my gastric bypass tool, I cannot develop a more healthy lifestyle without considering not only “what” or “how much” I eat, but also “why” I eat.
