Despite unparalleled levels of material wealth, or maybe because of it, we do not live a healthy lifestyle. Fatty, as well as sugary foods, are difficult to resist. The prevalence of obesity, diabetes in addition to other health problems is proof of this.
The field of nutritional psychology is a sub-section of the field of health psychology. Nutritional psychology is a fairly new area of practice in the realm of the similarly relatively youthful area of health psychology. Health psychology only surfaced in the middle of the 20th century and has since grown quickly in popularity. Heightened interest in the prevention of illness in addition to the role that diet plays in the advancement of illness have also fueled the growth of nutritional psychology as well.
What is health psychology?
Health psychology is a speciality area of psychology that focuses on how biology, psychology, behaviour in addition to social factors are responsible for influencing health as well as illness. Other terms for health psychology include medical psychology in addition to behavioural medicine. These are sometimes made use of to denote health psychology.
Health, as well as illness, are influenced by a broad variety of factors. While contagious in addition to hereditary illness are common, there are many behavioural and psychological factors that can impact overall physical well-being of people as well as various medical conditions.
Here’s what a health psychologist does:
- The field of health psychology focuses on promoting health in addition to preventing and treating of disease and illness.
- Health psychologists also concentrate on understanding the manner in which people react, cope as well as recover from illness.
- A few health psychologists work to enhance the health-care system and the government’s approach to health-care policy.
What is a nutritional psychologist?
Nutritional psychologists are mainly concerned with the manner in which one’s diet impacts mood as well as behavior. Many nutritional psychologists examine how the diagnosis, as well as treatment of mental illness, is influenced by diet, specifically, misdiagnoses which might occur as a result of current dietary habits. In addition, nutritional psychologists are part of a larger and rapidly growing movement that focuses on integrating mental and physical health care.
What does a nutritional psychologist do?
Nutritional psychologists focus on bridging the gap between physical health as well as mental health. Nutritional psychologists may focus on issues that are related to weight, body image in addition to how the foods that we eat contribute to factors in those areas.
There is also an important effort to put in place a better understanding of the link between mind as well as body. Owing to this fact, some nutritional psychologists explore the manner in which stress negatively impacts the immune system which makes physical illnesses more likely.
Other nutritional psychologists look at the physical manifestations of mental illness, such as the aches as well as pains which are often associated with depression. Once these mind-body linkages are understood better, nutritional psychologists go about developing appropriate strategies to improve the diet of individuals suffering from mental illness. With an improved diet, individuals have enhanced decision-making concerning food in addition to improved digestion and metabolic processes. This, in turn, has an overall positive impact on physical and mental health.
What we eat is responsible for making us feel a certain way. Food should make us feel great. It tastes great in addition to nourishing our bodies. If you consume too little or eat too much, though, your health, as well as the quality of life, could be impacted. This can cause negative feelings toward food.
By learning how to make healthier as well as more mindful choices, it will be possible for you to control compulsive eating, binging in addition to weight gain. By taking control of your appetite, you may also get a feeling of calm, high energy levels as well as alertness from the foods you eat.
