Whether it’s a deadline at work, a full schedule of after school activities, or simply not having enough time in the day, we all experience stress. We know stress is bad for our health – it can negatively impact our mood, increase anxiety and even increase our blood pressure. However, did you know stress can also cause us to make poor food choices, most of the time without even realizing it?
Stress is the most common reason people abandon plans to change behavior, such as eating healthier. In fact, stress depletes self-control, lowers feelings of self-efficacy and decreases energy and motivation.
In the short term, stress can actually suppress our appetite. However, if stress persists your body releases a different hormone called cortisol, which increases our appetite. When our stress level remains elevated, so does our level of cortisol production and in turn, our desire to eat.
This increase in cortisol production also results in increased blood sugar, cravings, increases in abdominal fat (the most detrimental to our health) and can cause hormonal imbalances. The elevated levels of cortisol reduce our ability to burn fat and increases the rate at which we store fat.
Stress also influences our food preferences. Studies show how physical or emotional distress increases the intake of foods high in fat, sugar or both due to the combination of high cortisol and insulin levels. Once consumed, foods high in fat and sugar impact the part of the brain that processes stress-related hormones, thus seeming to counteract stress. Now you can easily see why these foods have been termed “comfort” foods!
We can’t completely remove stress from our lives, but we can learn to manage it. Below are some tips for ways to manage stress and make better food choices.
This one is so important! When we are stressed, the last thing we want to do is spend a lot of time chopping, prepping and cooking. A good idea is to prepare healthy meals and snacks in advance. Some ideas include:
Following a healthy, balanced diet can help you better manage stressful situations. Visit a credible website like Choose My Plate to learn more about how much you should be consuming of each food group. Try incorporating these five foods into your diet, proven to help manage stress:
Eating at regular intervals throughout the day will help keep your blood sugar stable and keep your mind strong, allowing you to be healthy and alert all day and avoid the “afternoon slump.” It can also provide increased stamina, focus and self-esteem. Eating healthy, regular meals will allow you to be better equipped to handle stress in a more productive way.
Mindful eating consists of allowing yourself to be aware of your food, using all your senses in choosing to eat food both satisfying and nourishing to your body and acknowledging responses to food, including likes and dislikes, without judgment. Also, by getting rid of distractions you become aware of physical hunger and satiety cues will help to guide your decisions to begin and end eating, because you are directing your attention to eating on a moment-by-moment basis.
The bottom line is the more stress we experience, the more often we make poor food choices, which over time will lead to weight gain. The next time you feel stressed, try going for a walk or calling up a friend or family member instead of reaching for the first unhealthy thing you see in your kitchen. Being aware of how stress influences the food choices we make can help us to create habits that support, not hurt, our overall health and well being!
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Sources:
Lifestyle Modification and Behavioral Change.” ACE Health Coach Manual: The Ultimate Guide to Wellness, Fitness, and Lifestyle Change, by Cedric X. Bryant et al., American Council on Exercise, 2013, pp. 393
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-marshall/healthy-eating-is-an-effe_b_9913246.html
https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/blog/6582/stress-busting-foods
https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/why-stress-causes-people-to-overeat