"I ate stress too much" – what compulsive overeating is and how to overcome it

Chocolate after a hard day, nightly raids on the fridge, uncontrolled eating – sound familiar? Sometimes we don't even notice how we reach for food in response to fatigue, stress, or emotional stress. But when it becomes a regular habit, we may already be talking about compulsive eating. It's not just about a "love of sweets," but a psychological and physiological mechanism that has deeper causes. This is what happened to the heroine of this story, Maria Glushakova.

LIGA.Life together with a nutritionist and a psychologist finds out what compulsive eating is, how it differs from the usual craving for snacks, how stress affects our eating patterns, and how to spot warning signs in time.

The Story of Maria Glushakova

- How and when did you first notice your tendency to compulsive overeating? Was it a specific period?

- Yes, it was the beginning of a full-scale invasion. I met him in Kyiv with shelling, explosions, and nights in the basement. As it turned out, it was a huge stress for my body.

And when I got to a safer place three or four days later (I went to my aunt's house in Khmelnytskyi region), I was very stressed. At that time, my parents and close relatives were still under occupation, because I am from the Kherson region, and my city of Tavriysk is still occupied. I was worried about them, worried. At that time, events were still happening in Bucha, in Irpin.