The Truth About Pigging Out When You’re Tense
The Real Reason You Still Crave Junk Food…
It’s been a long day. I deserve a cookie.
If you’ve ever thought that, you’re not alone. Even if you do your best to make healthy food choices most of the time… Everyone slips up.
But don’t blame yourself for not having enough self-control just yet… New research shows strong willpower may not be enough to stop your cravings for unhealthy snacks when you’re stressed.
Researchers in Switzerland gathered 51 people who were interested in living a healthy lifestyle…but who sometimes ate bad foods.
To create a stressful situation, researchers had 29 participants dunk their hands in ice-cold water while being videotaped. The remaining 22 people made up the control group. Then they showed them pictures of healthy and unhealthy foods. They each picked out which ones they wanted the most.
The people who underwent an ice-water bath chose the unhealthy foods more often than the healthy foods. Brain scans revealed just thinking about the unhealthy foods was enough to cause an increase in reward signaling in their brains. It also led to a decrease in the regions that reward long-term goals… Like healthy eating.
This is because stress causes a flood of cortisol in your body. It’s the stress hormone. Cortisol causes blood sugar to rise… Then you crash right afterward. It makes you crave foods high in calories. These tend to be the ones highest in sugars and fats…and not much else.
Keep in mind, these effects were seen after just mild stress exposure… So think about how much greater your risk of stress-eating would be if you had moderate or even high stress levels.
Even worse, high cortisol levels make it easier to pack on fat…and harder to build muscle. Cortisol also makes it hard to sleep at night… This leads to even more stress.
But there are natural ways to avoid derailing your diet. Even in times of stress.
- Remove temptations. You can’t eat what isn’t available. So if potato chips are your weakness… Don’t buy them in the first place.
- Take a breather. Breathe in through your nose to a count of five. Hold it for two seconds. Then exhale through your mouth to a count of seven. Repeat for five breaths and you’ll feel much calmer afterward. That’s because it reduces your body’s production of stress hormones.
- Plan your indulgences. Georgia Kostas, a registered dietitian, recommends allowing yourself to indulge about 10% of the time. If you plan to indulge sometimes, you won’t feel like you’re missing out. You’ll also feel less guilty about having a cookie every now and then. Less guilt—another source of stress—means being less likely to devour the whole cookie jar.
Most important of all, get some physical activity each day. Something as simple as a 10-minute stroll around the block can be enough to clear your mind and relax your body.
In Good Health,
Angela Salerno
Publisher, INH Health Watch
See this report from Havard:
Why stress causes people to overeat
There is much truth behind the phrase “stress eating.” Stress, the hormones it unleashes, and the effects of high-fat, sugary “comfort foods” push people toward overeating. Researchers have linked weight gain to stress, and according to an American Psychological Association survey, about one-fourth of Americans rate their stress level as 8 or more on a 10-point scale.
In the short term, stress can shut down appetite. A structure in the brain called the hypothalamus produces corticotropin-releasing hormone, which suppresses appetite. The brain also sends messages to the adrenal glands atop the kidneys to pump out the hormone epinephrine (also known as adrenaline). Epinephrine helps trigger the body’s fight-or-flight response, a revved-up physiological state that temporarily puts eating on hold.
But if stress persists, it’s a different story. The adrenal glands release another hormone called cortisol, and cortisol increases appetite and may also ramp up motivation in general, including the motivation to eat. Once a stressful episode is over, cortisol levels should fall, but if the stress doesn’t go away — or if a person’s stress response gets stuck in the “on” position — cortisol may stay elevated.
Fat and sugar cravings
Stress also seems to affect food preferences. Numerous studies — granted, many of them in animals — have shown that physical or emotional distress increases the intake of food high in fat, sugar, or both. High cortisol levels, in combination with high insulin levels, may be responsible. Other research suggests that ghrelin, a “hunger hormone,” may have a role.
Once ingested, fat- and sugar-filled foods seem to have a feedback effect that inhibits activity in the parts of the brain that produce and process stress and related emotions. These foods really are “comfort” foods in that they seem to counteract stress — and this may contribute to people’s stress-induced craving for those foods.
Of course, overeating isn’t the only stress-related behavior that can add pounds. Stressed people also lose sleep, exercise less, and drink more alcohol, all of which can contribute to excess weight.
Gender differences
Some research suggests a gender difference in stress-coping behavior, with women being more likely to turn to food and men to alcohol or smoking. And a Finnish study that included over 5,000 men and women showed that obesity was associated with stress-related eating in women but not in men.
Harvard researchers have reported that stress from work and other sorts of problems correlates with weight gain, but only in those who were overweight at the beginning of the study period. One theory is that overweight people have elevated insulin levels, and stress-related weight gain is more likely to occur in the presence of high insulin.
How much cortisol people produce in response to stress may also factor into the stress–weight gain equation. In 2007, British researchers designed an ingenious study that showed that people who responded to stress with high cortisol levels in an experimental setting were more likely to snack in response to daily hassles in their regular lives than low-cortisol responders.
Steps to counter stress snacking
When stress affects someone’s appetite and waistline, the individual can forestall further weight gain by ridding the refrigerator and cupboards of high-fat, sugary foods. Keeping those “comfort foods” handy is just inviting trouble.
Here are some other suggestions for countering stress:
Meditation. Countless studies show that meditation reduces stress, although much of the research has focused on high blood pressure and heart disease. Meditation may also help people become more mindful of food choices. With practice, a person may be able to pay better attention to the impulse to grab a fat- and sugar-loaded comfort food and inhibit the impulse.
Exercise. Intense exercise increases cortisol levels temporarily, but low-intensity exercise seems to reduce them. University of California researchers reported that exercise — and this was vigorous exercise — may blunt some of the negative effects of stress. Some activities, such as yoga and tai chi, have elements of both exercise and meditation.
Social support. Friends, family, and other sources of social support seem to have a buffering effect on the stress that people experience. For example, research suggests that people working in stressful situations, like hospital emergency departments, have better mental health if they have adequate social support. But even people who live and work in situations where the stakes aren’t as high need help from time to time from friends and family.
Adams CE, et al. “Lifestyle Factors and Ghrelin: Critical Review and Implications for Weight Loss Maintenance,” Obesity Review (May 2011): Vol. 12, No. 5, electronic publication.
Manzoni GM, et al. “Can Relaxation Training Reduce Emotional Eating in Women with Obesity?” Journal of the American Dietetic Association (Aug. 2009): Vol. 109, No. 8, pp. 1427–32.
Mathes WF, et al. “The Biology of Binge Eating,” Appetite (June 2009): Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 545–53.
Spencer SJ, et al. “The Glucocorticoid Contribution to Obesity,” Stress (Feb. 6, 2011): Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 233–46.
Vicennati V, et al. “Stress-Related Development of Obesity and Cortisol in Women,” Obesity (Sept. 2009): Vol. 17, No. 9, pp. 1678–83.