According to recent research, it may be something as innocuous as boredom and having nothing better to do that makes many women overeat, which makes to go into the “Auto-eating” mode.
It is a telling revelation that a study found that as much as a quarter of the food that is eaten each day is eaten in spite of not even being hungry. It was found that women may be overeating by as many as 520 calories a day (think one Big Mac). All this extra eating could mean that a woman can put on as many as 7 pounds in as many weeks.
Nutritionist Mary Strugar coined the term auto-eating, which presumably means eating without the feeling of actual hunger and perhaps even without being fully aware of consuming the calories.
According to Strugar, “Controlling what you eat is not simply a matter of willpower; it is about being aware of the desire to eat and understanding your relationship with food.”
Many women do indeed have a complex relationship with food, beyond that of nourishment or satiation of a physical need. Food can mean comfort, it can just mean something to do; it is best that women figure out this relationship. It is in the interests of our own health and well being.