Emotional eating happens behind closed doors, hidden away out of shame. It only becomes visible when serious health problems arise. However, (preventive) care for emotional eaters is difficult, as care is lacking precisely at the time of binge eating. This could be better, thought researcher Aranka Dol. She recently obtained her PhD with research into a smart aid for emotional eating: a virtual coach.
‘Last night was one of those nights where everything seemed to go wrong. After a grueling day at the office, I was craving some comfort food. I came home and should have started cooking dinner. I felt thoroughly miserable, so instead I sat on the couch with a bag of chips. When it was empty, it was the turn of the snacks and half a roll of cookies that were already a bit soft.’ – An emotional eater
In an ideal world, an emotional eater receives help from a specialized dietitian, whether or not in combination with behavioral therapies from a psychologist. This could help an emotional eater to recognize and understand his/her emotions. And thus gain insight into the why behind emotional eating during stress or negative emotions.
Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world, and the current healthcare offering does not properly meet the needs of emotional eaters. This is due to shortages in healthcare, the focus on weight loss instead of the underlying causes, and the care-avoiding behavior of emotional eaters themselves, who often only seek help for medical problems such as painful knees due to weight gain.
Emotional eating happens at home
About 40% of people with obesity indicate that they suffer from emotional eating behavior. Obesity tops the statistics worldwide as the cause of major health problems. Tackling emotional eating is therefore essential, both for the emotional eater themselves and for the pressure on healthcare.
When consulting with a psychologist or dietician, the emotional eater will of course not suffer from cravings or binge behavior. Emotional eating happens at home and usually outside office hours, and this creates the following dilemma: healthcare cannot provide care when the emotional eater needs it most. Intervention is needed at home.
In short: time for a different approach. Creative and smart support at home, without requiring additional manpower. Maybe a virtual coach?
Different approach to emotional eating
Earlier this year, Aranka Dol obtained her PhD on this topic with her dissertation on the use of a virtual coach for emotional eaters, Virtual Coaching for Emotional Eaters – Food for Thought. There was no app yet, so she tested the use of such a coach through a website with a participant group of emotional eaters aged between 18-70 years old.
With the input from this research, she plans to develop an app that meets the needs of emotional eaters. “He will still have to run 100,000 pilots,” she jokes. “So it will take a while before he gets there.” But she has figured out how the virtual coach should support people.
Virtual coach in action
Aranka: “The user downloads the app on his/her phone and can then chat with a virtual coach in the app. It is trained by AI to conduct therapeutic conversations. In order to properly support someone, the tool must first learn a lot about the emotional eater. Such as lifestyle and eating rhythm. But also whether there is a stressful home situation or work environment.”
The app must therefore get to know the user so well that it can predict a binge. Data from a sports watch or earphones that measure the user’s heart rate could also help with this, Dol thinks out loud. “When the user is in a risk zone and experiences a lot of stress, the app must send a signal. Maybe with a question: ‘Hey, how are you doing now?’ Or: you are at risk of binge eating, what do you need now?’”
Dol is well aware that this places great demands on the app’s privacy-resilience. “Users must be able to trust that their data remains secure. We are going to work on this.”
Practical plan for binge eating
How does the app meet the needs of emotional eaters? Dol: “The participants in my research indicated that they needed a combination of comforting words for strong emotions and a practical plan of action when an eating binge occurs or has occurred.”
When emotions take over, it hinders clear thinking, says Dol. An effective tool for binge eating is distraction, until the feeling of craving ‘passes’ because, for example, space has been given to the emotions. Call a friend, exercise or do a mindfulness exercise. “It’s nice if someone takes you by the hand at such a moment and gives you a clear step-by-step plan: you are now going to cook this and then go for a walk.”
Empathy
Of course, not every binge will suddenly be magically prevented. But the virtual coach can also help after a binge. “Emotional eaters are very hard on themselves. Especially after a binge. Then they are extremely angry with themselves, they feel disgusted and ashamed. That goes very deep,” says Dol. “If they let the virtual coach know that there has been a binge, he or she will respond comfortingly and empathetically. ‘I’m sorry you had a binge, you must feel really bad. It’s great that you are now seeking help via the app.’ Because emotional eaters are often stuck in a negative spiral and then suddenly get an empathetic response, they don’t expect this.”
What surprised Dol most in her research was the willingness of the participant group to work with a virtual coach. “I had thought that they would need face-to-face contact with a therapist, where they could tell their story and who would give back wise words. That turned out not to be the case. The group found the idea of a virtual coach very acceptable. After all: now they can determine the time and moment in which they call for help.”
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Extensive programs already exist to help people with obesity. Such as the GLI, the Combined Lifestyle Intervention. Is the app really necessary? Dol is critical of the GLI approach. “In essence, this approach is about exercising more, eating less. We now know that dieting alone is not effective. And in the Netherlands we are only getting overweight people. In my opinion, it is not the way for obese people who eat emotionally, or at least not the only way.”
Dol notices that emotional eaters often know very well what is healthy and what is not. “These are people who know about calories and macros in food. It is not the lack of knowledge of good nutrition, but the lack of good handling of emotions that we need to help with. Emotional eating is a coping strategy for bad feelings.”
Still a way to go
With a combination of artificial intelligence, attention to emotions and a personalized approach, the virtual coach can be a promising addition to the existing healthcare offering. If the app is able to meet the needs of emotional eaters at crucial moments, it could represent a positive shift in tackling this complex health problem.
Although there is still a way to go, as the app has yet to be created, the promise of a virtual coach sheds light on a potentially innovative approach to emotional eating.
Read Aranka Dol’s dissertation here Virtual Coaching for Emotional Eaters – Food For Thought.
2023-12-20 13:15:32
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