Part of what makes loneliness unbearable is the aspect of mystery in it. When you are alone, you may not know how and where you can find human connection, and feel your self-esteem quickly wither before the enigma. When you feel like you are unloved or alone, there is a kind of gaping hole within your core. It can be tempting to try to fill a gnawing hole of loneliness or depression with food.

At first glance, food seems a perfect antidote. The comfort and richness it offers seems to restore a sense of well-being. Food appears to nourish your need for love, and oppose the dryness of loneliness. Unfortunately, eating when lonely can be habit forming because food only temporarily calms these feelings of despair. When the food is gone, the loneliness and sadness remain. Food is not the warmth of physical touch, however it nurtures you in other ways.

Society tends to view pain, even when it's emotional, as something to get rid of or diminish. Doctors will even prescribe "pain-killers" and anti-depressants which suppress discomfort without addressing the cause of the pain. Once the effect has worn off, the discomfort returns. The same holds true with emotions like depression and loneliness; eating may relieve your discomfort, but loneliness persists after the food sedation has worn off.

Learning to love your emotions is nature's best painkiller. To love is to pay attention and to listen with tenderness, without attempting to avoid or hide from your feelings. Love isn't afraid to feel uncomfortable emotions like loneliness or depression, but rather listens openly and is willing to experience raw discomfort fully. Developing this kind of care for your own brokenness is, of course, easier said than done. It may take years for you to develop the strength to bear suffering and emotional struggle without overeating, especially if you have spent much of your life in opposition to discomfort.

Just like feelings of sadness, anger, joy, or adoration, loneliness is not forever. The sensation comes and goes. It is only when you ignore your loneliness or stuff it away with food that it persists and does not complete its cycle of coming and going. An act of hope, even in the face of loneliness and other difficult emotions, can be a more authentic source of strength than food in times of despair. Hope, like love, is a verb. It's not just a feeling, but something you do actively. Once you are solidly rooted in a practice of hope and unshakeable faith, you will find the strength to face loneliness, and fully experience its temporary nature.

Loneliness isn't always psychological. Sometimes, you will feel extra lonely and isolated when certain organs are stressed out. For example, wheat may create congestion in the chest area that masks as loneliness. Sugar can aggravate yeast and other fungal infections, that distort your emotions and thinking process. Depression may come from a slow metabolism or sluggish digestion.

Sometimes, you can literally feel where the loneliness is lodged in your body. Try to notice these physical symptoms in the face of your emotions. Is there a heaviness in the chest? Are your prone to sighing? Are your energy levels low or are you experiencing uncomfortable symptoms of indigestion? Try an invigorating practice like pranayama (breathing exercises), or revitalizing your blood with a diet high in fresh, bitter greens.

Learning to discern the difference between true hunger and emotional hunger is also essential to healing this kind of relationship with food. Ayurveda suggests to eat only when you are truly hungry, and to minimize emotional eating. There are many ways to nurture yourself without food. Going for a walk, helping a friend, and even making a small donation to charity can bring the richness, warmth and affection you are seeking back into your life.

Augment your diet with these specially chosen ingredients below which may be useful for 'Eat when lonely / depressed'. Individual results vary depending the cause of your imbalance and by constitution. Please research the ingredients below to find which are most helpful for you, and check with your doctor before making any changes to your health and wellness routine. Please check with your medical doctor before making any changes to your health & wellness routine, and for the proper use of these products.

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DISCLAIMER: The pathogenesis of each person's condition is unique, and so the diet must be fit to the individual and the unique root causes of the condition in your body. The information on this page is for educational purposes only and should not be used to treat a medical condition. It is not a substitute for medical care. Please check with your doctor before making any changes to your health and wellness routine.

Everything you eat has an effect on your body, which Ayurveda categorizes in a simple and easy way, using biocharacteristics (gunas). Biocharacteristics are qualities (like cold and hot) that describe the effect a food or herb has on your body. Cooling foods like cucumber, decrease metabolism. Heating foods like chili pepper, stimulate your body and increase metabolism. For 'Eat when lonely / depressed', you should select foods with the following biocharacteristics. Individual results will vary, based on your body type and the root cause of your imbalance.

Digestion:

Appetite Suppressant

APPETITE-SUPPRESSANT

Suppresses hunger without causing weight gain.

SEE ALL 'APPETITE-SUPPRESSANT' FOODS / HERBS

Mind, Stress & Sleep:

Nervine

NERVINE

Balances the nervous system. They can help with stress, memory, early alzheimer's, and even chronic pain. Often they are aromatic in nature.

SEE ALL 'NERVINE' FOODS / HERBS

Energy Vitality:

Prana

PRANA

Prana is the Sanskrit word for vital life energy (Qi in Chinese Medicine, pneuma in Greek). Many herbs stimulate your energy, or improve the flow of prana through your body. Generally, prana needs to be increased in spring after a sleepy winter.

SEE ALL 'PRANA' FOODS / HERBS

Weight Loss:

Hypolipidemic

HYPOLIPIDEMIC

Scrapes fats / cleanses blood vessels by 1) purging bile, 2) strengthening the liver's ability to metabolize fats, 3) by increasing uptake of cholesterol in the liver, and 4) by inhibiting fat cells.

SEE ALL 'HYPOLIPIDEMIC' FOODS / HERBS

,

Lowers Blood Sugar

LOWERS-BLOOD-SUGAR

An herb that lowers blood sugar.

SEE ALL 'LOWERS-BLOOD-SUGAR' FOODS / HERBS

Joyful Belly is a recognized college of biocharacteristics medicine.

AVOID ACCUMULATION IN STAGE OF DISEASE 0

EAT WHEN LONELY / DEPRESSED IS IN STAGE OF DISEASE 0 - POTENTIAL CAUSE

Potential causes increase and disturb your imbalanced doshas and biocharacteristics, causing them to accumulate and spiral out of control. For example, if you're overheated and eat a chili pepper, heat may become excessive and cause disease. As a dosha or biocharacteristic accumulates in your body according to your dietary and lifestyle habits, it is more and more likely to cause disease. You can reduce an imbalanced dosha or biocharacteristic in two ways, by removing, or lessening the frequency of aggravating causes from your diet and lifestyle, as well as by favoring balancing diet and lifestyle practices. For example, try eating something as cool as a cucumber when you're overheated, instead of a chili pepper. (See all disease stages on JB)

GET MY FREE AYURVEDA BODY MAP 'Eat when lonely / depressed' is likely to aggravate the following doshas and biocharacteristics. If you have a systemic imbalance of one of these doshas or biocharacteristics, Ayurveda would generally recommend removing, substitute or lessen the frequency of 'Eat when lonely / depressed'.

Are you prone to a problem with 'Eat when lonely / depressed'? Find your imbalances and create a diet for your Weight by taking the free weight loss quiz:

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The following symptoms & habits may be related to 'Eat when lonely / depressed'. See your quiz results for a computerized assessment of your body type. Please click on the symptoms below to learn more about them. On average the biocharacteristics of people reporting Eat when lonely / depressed were more aggravated than 51% of other symptoms. From the 9,688 people who reported Eat when lonely / depressed average deviation in biocharacteristic levels were the following:

Risk Factors of Eat when lonely / depressed

Complications of Those Reporting Eat when lonely / depressed

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