Over time, your brain and body adapt to not being nourished and looked after in the way they should be.

The body also adapts to inadequate nutrition. When you haven’t eaten for a while, you can lose your appetite, have stomach pains, and feel sick and bloated which makes it even harder to eat. You might also feel very full after only eating a small amount of food.

Chemicals in the brain

When you are under-nourished, fewer brain chemicals are made so the receptors in your brain cells get super-sensitive to try and snap up every chemical that comes along (Jalan, 2018). It means emotions can be really strong and feel out of control. This does get better over time and stress levels decrease. The brain takes the longest to fully repair and recover of all the body’s organs.

Serotonin and emotions

When starving, there is little serotonin or other chemicals made by brain cells​. The neurons’ receptors become sensitive to grabbing any serotonin. People can feel agitated, upset and more stressed. It is incredibly difficult to keep up with regular eating when you are feeling so frustrated, upset, and worried.

Anxiety and the brain

The amygdala is a part of the brain known as the ‘smoke detector’ (Joos, et al., 2011). This is because it gives an immediate burst of fear​. The front part of the brain is called the pre-frontal cortex and it helps regulate the emotional parts of the brain. However, this works less well when you’re under nourished​ (Joos, et al., 2011). This is why when you are not eating an adequate amount of food, you might notice a lot more avoid, fight, flight or freeze responses.

Regular eating can help your stomach heal itself and get the muscles in your gut to slowly start working again (Georg, 2009) and over time will help these symptoms.