Tag Archive for: Stress Eating At Night

Tips to Stress Eating

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Stress is one of the most common causes of overeating and weight gain. Can you relate? Your day gets busy, life feels overwhelming, and you find yourself (without much thought) inhaling a sugary fatty “treat” because you think it’s going to make you feel better – and it does for about a minute. Maybe you turn to junk food to “boost energy” or to help you deal with your feelings of anxiety, frustration, anger, or sadness. All the while you’re gaining weight and feeling worse instead of better.

As much as you want to stop stress eating, it’s hard to control because (ironically) it happens when you’re stressed. It’s not enough to just tell yourself not to do it. In fact, trying NOT to stress eat can actually intensify stress and make you want to eat more. It is possible however, to break the cycle of stress – stress eating – more stress with the right plan.

Wonderfully Fit PT

A plan to successfully control stress eating is not just about food. In fact, it doesn’t start with food at all. A few non-food strategies and a bit of practice can make a huge difference. It takes persistence and creative ways to calm and successfully soothe yourself. The goal is to rewire your brain to identify certain non-eating behaviors as comforting, and to use those behaviors when things start to feel stressful. These three stress busting strategies can help you to calm down and take control.

STRESS BUSTING TIP 1: Be Aware and Take Care

Much of stress eating is so unconscious that it happens automatically and you may not even realize it. Before you can make changes in your behavior, you need to be aware of what you are doing. Keeping a journal can help. Write down where and when you stress eat. Was it during work or late at night when you are alone? Do you notice any patterns? Try to determine whether or not you were physically hungry. At first you may be journaling after the fact, but eventually you’re awareness will increase and you will catch yourself before you stress eat. This is the goal; and then you can decide to NOT stress eat and do something else to cope.

STRESS BUSTING TIP 2: Stop – N – Swap

If you remove stress eating from your life, you have to replace it with something. Write down a concrete list of all the healthy, non-food related activities that give you a quick pick-me-up on a tough day. Here a few simple examples.

STRESS BUSTING TIP 3: Practice Yourself Calm

In addition to the techniques mentioned above there are many other ways to calm yourself without eating, such as journaling, meditation, connecting with others, distraction, guided imagery, aroma therapy and other ways to pamper your senses. Try out these techniques when you aren’t craving food so you know exactly what to do before you really need them.

Now, let’s talk about a few stress-busting foods. There are certain foods that have calming properties based on how their specific nutrients are used by the body. Here are a few you can try:

Tea. Green, black, and white teas are packed with flavonoids; natural antioxidants that may help blood vessels relax and lower blood pressure. If you are sensitive to caffeine, go for decaffeinated varieties. And be sure not to add sugar or an artificial sweetener to your tea. Dark chocolate, red peppers, citrus fruits and berries are other flavonoid-rich foods.

Dark green vegetables. Veggies such as broccoli, spinach, kale and other greens are high in B vitamins, which can help fight anxiety. Research suggests people with low levels of these vitamins are more likely to have depression than those with normal levels.

Nuts. Almonds and cashews are rich sources of magnesium, a mineral involved in production of serotonin – a chemical produced by the body to help it relax. Like dark green veggies, nuts are high in B vitamins. They are also packed with healthy fat and some protein to reduce cravings and keep hunger at bay.

How to Stop Stress Eating

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When stressed out do you engage in healthy ways to cope with stress or self-destructive ones as stress eating. However, many women I work with admit that during stressful times healthy lifestyle and healthy stress management habits go out of a window.

It is much easier to reach for food as a source of comfort and sooth yourself with food. Over time you may have developed this particular coping habit and when stress and uncertainty increase, you turn to what you know, especially if it has associations of a simpler and safer time in your lives.

stress eating

In a crisis, we call friends and family members. Just the sound of a loved one’s voice can be soothing. In the everyday crises of our lives, it’s easy to come home after a long day and turn to something we know – food.

This is known as emotional eating, or “stress eating,” or other terms that all refer to the consumption of food for reasons other than physical hunger and need for energy. Unfortunately, the ultimate comfort eating foods are often loaded with carbohydrates and fat — and come with strings attached — stress fat.

And if you continue to use stress eating to comfort, the kilos keep adding on and then you need more comforting because now you have additional stress – necessity to deal with an extra weight.

Most women would prefer to be managing stress in healthier ways, but when stress levels are high, many of us find it much more tempting to indulge in something delicious and easier than exercising or meditating.

Where to start to break that vicious comfort eating cycle?

Start by bringing more awareness to when and how you comfort yourself.

Have a range of soothing activities available to you, so that you feel like you have a choice. You may be in the habit of grabbing food on the way or as soon as you walk in the door.

Try to break that self-destructive habit by developing a new healthy habit.

When ever you feel an urge to eat, and you are not psychically hungry do something totally different to redirect your attention – it doesn’t matter what it is (drink a glass of water, walk a dog, paint, or knit, do a puzzle or crosswords ) as long as it is completely different from your usual routine. Eating in response to your triggers is a habit; choosing to do something else breaks the cycle.

Make a list of activities that soothe you before you need them and start doing them on a regular basis. You can overcome emotional eating through dozens of mindful activities that are healthy for both body and mind.

Write down both simple and more complicated ideas; be sure to include a few that don’t require any preparation or equipment. You may have different ideas for home, work, and other settings. Add new activities to your list as you think of them.

Having a variety of ideas ensures that you’ll come up with something that fits your mood or situation. That will help you build a new healthy habit of using other ways to soothe yourself besides eating.

Reach for your list instead of the refrigerator next time you feel the urge to snack. And remember, you’re redirecting your attention away from food because you don’t need it yet, not because you’re depriving yourself. Remind yourself that you’ll eat when you’re hungry.

Start small. Call a friend. Take a few deep breaths.Try mindfulness activity called blank mind exercise.

Small things can make a big difference.

Identify those times of the day that are most difficult for you and have your list handy.

For most women transition times from and to work and mid-afternoons are particularly hard. These are times of the day when your stress hormone cortisol level drops and your energy needs a boost and all women are in danger to fall into stress-induced eating trap.

Our lives are busy, often difficult and out of balance. In order to stay slim, calm and balanced you need to be proactive and find the ways to sooth yourself without food in a healthy way.