Calm Energy : How People Regulate Mood with Food and Exercise

Calm Energy analyzes the broad psychological and biological issues concerning eating and exercise by focusing on the crucial nexus of mood. Thayer discusses such topics as mood-controlled eating, the influence of mood on exercise, and the influence of exercise on mood, in addition to providing a clear explanation of basic physiological concepts and their relationship to mood. The book will prove useful to readers who want to recognize, anticipate, and counteract negative moods, as well as to those who want a practical guide to the ways in which eating and exercise patterns may be integrated with everyday life.

You are what you eat, but why are you eating so much? Your moods! Why can''t you stay with a reasonable exercise program, and why is obesity at epidemic proportions in our society today? Negative moods hold the explanations.Feeling down? Wish you had more energy and less stress? If this describes you some or most of the time, you are probably among the millions today who respond to increasing stress and low moods with food - a candy bar, or perhaps a cup of coffee and a sweet. Such "emotional eating" may temporarily boost your spirits, but this effect is a short-lived quick fix that perpetuates chronic overeating and obesity. Moreover, the same negative moods that have grown to substantial proportions in society today, sap your resolve to exercise.In this breakthrough book, an acclaimed mood researcher tackles the problem of overweight and inactivity from the perspective of mood. Thayer compellingly argues that it is our moods, beyond nutritional needs, that signal our bodies to desire food we really don''t need in order to replenish our energy and to lower stress levels. Consciously or unconsciously, we constantly seek "calm energy" to face the challenges of the day. Eating is often our first response to a bad mood, as opposed to other, less-fattening forms of self-medication, like listening to music or just slowing down. But, as Thayer explains with clarity and abundant scientific research, we would do much more to raise our spirits in the long run by something as simple as a ten minute walk. Various forms of exercise are proven mood regulators in ways this book describes in detail. Sound like common sense? Perhaps, but if the choice is exercise or a snack, the snack usually wins out unless we understand our moods. This understanding is the real key. We must see why we eat too much before we can control what and how much we eat. From this we learn the reasons for the inevitable failures at diet and exercise.This provocative new approach to understanding and fighting overeating offers practical advice and biological explanations for your cravings and moods, and it shows how both are indicators of energy and stress levels. Thayer describes how most people''s daily energy cycles function, and he explains how you can apply this in scientifically proven ways to fight the urge to eat when you are down and to achieve the optimum goal of "calm energy."