One of the biggest things women struggle with is stress eating. When we are faced with difficulty, stress, or just plain boredom, we eat and sometimes we eat a lot! We have some of your strongest cravings for food when we are at our weakest emotional points.
Have you ever dove into a chocolate Sunday when you have a long stressful day at work or when you and your hubby have had an argument? What about when you have finally made your mind up to lose weight, and after one week, you just feel as if it is hopeless and you dive into a bag of Nachos? If I haven’t gotten you yet what about one of these…a major expense comes up like your car needing repairs and you just don’t have the money, you find out your mom has cancer, or you didn’t get the promotion at work? All of these situations bring stress to our lives and because of a lack of self-awareness and an understanding of what is going on physically, we reach for chocolate, cookies, and ice cream.
Learning to deal with eating because of stress is vital to your mental and physical health. Also, if you want to get in those skinny jeans and feel sexy again, you’ve got to conquer binge and impulse eating. Also, learning not to turn to food when you are stressed, will give you a sense of empowerment and confidence, because you will learn how to deal with your emotions internally and control your responses to hiccups in your life…and if you didn’t know ladies…confidence is SEXY and it is admired by others.
So how do can you deal with eating because of stress? I am glad you asked. Here are a few ways to deal with stress eating and counter act the urges to eat when you are stressed.
Breathing and Meditation: Meditation is a method that forces you to stop and think. It removes you from your frantic moment. So in your stressful moments…STOP… close your eyes and take 10 deep breaths. Focus on your chest moving up and down and the air entering your body. See it in your mind. Bring yourself to center. Begin talking to yourself and telling yourself that you are not hungry, you are stressed and will not make bad food choices to bring on guilt later. Stopping to meditate and gather your thoughts will help you make better food choices.
Get on an Eating Schedule: I know our days are hectic and we, as women (and men too) are very busy. However, for many of us, our daily activities are pretty consistent. Because of this consistency, you can plan your meal times. So if you plan to eat breakfast at 7:00 AM, a small snack at 10:00 AM, lunch at 12:30, another small snack at 3:00 PM and dinner at 6:30, when you have a “texting war” with your husband at 4:30 and you reach for bag of chips, you will be much more aware that what you are eating is not on your schedule and the desire to eat was brought on by stress.
Eat: Okay, so this may sound funny, but when you are stressed you can eat. The key is WHAT you eat. There are certain foods with chemicals that help calm stress. Here are a few foods I recommend to eat when you are stressed:
Milk: Milk is a classic remedy for insomnia and tension. The reason for this is that milk has an amino acid that is converted into serotonin. Serotonin improves the mood and helps to keep you calm. That is why we sit in front of the television crying and eating ice cream…it makes us feel better. So instead of having that rocky road ice cream, have a glass of warm milk girl. Warming the milk will increase milk’s impact because if offers a soothing component to make you feel even better. In addition to that, you can only drink so much milk because it tends to make you feel full. This is great way to avoid filling your belly with salty, fatty foods.
Almonds: When people are driving you nuts….go have some! Have some almonds girl. Almonds are rich in vitamin B2 and E, both of which help to bolster the immune system during times of stress. If you have chronic stress problems, you should add almonds to your daily diet. Try adding about a quarter of a cup. Be advised that almonds are calorically dense (have many calories), so don’t eat too many. However, if you want to eat a few more when you are stressed, go right ahead. Again, eating almonds is better than a bag of chips or chocolate chip cookies. Hey, you can combine the effect of almonds and milk by drinking almond milk for stress. Try it…it works.
Oatmeal: Oatmeal is another food that elevates the serotonin calm-inducing hormone. Get some of the old-fashioned oats that must be cooked instead of the instant oatmeal. The reason for this is because the old fashioned oats are more coarse and higher in fiber and they take longer to digest which makes their calming effect last longer. However, if you are at work or away from home and can’t cook oatmeal on the stove, instant oats will work just fine.
EXERCISE: You know I had to throw this one in there. When are stressed get moving…go exercise. Exercise releases endorphins which triggers a positive feeling in your body. For me, I have found that vigorous exercise helps me to reduce stress…like weight lifting or running sprints. However, any exercise, whether high or low intensity, will cause a release of endorphins helping to ease your stress. Here are a few ways to get moving to break the hold of stress.
Walking/Jogging
Yoga
Jumping Rope
Squats (drop it low and fast to get your heart pumping and blood flowing)
Jumping Jacks
Lifting Weights
Dancing!!! (yes…turn on some music to get you pumped, feel the music, and just move)
Sex (oh yeah, this can be a form of exercise, if you actively participate and don’t just lay there)
Okay, so if you don’t take my advice and you do end up binging on some ice cream or Doritos you need to:
- Forgive yourself. You ate it, get over. If you remain depressed about the food you ate because of stress, guess what, you have further increased your stress and this will probably lead to more eating. You will enter a vicious… stress-eat-stress-eat cycle. STOP THE CYCLE
- Learn from it. If you plan your meals as I suggested, and you see a break in the schedule, take note of it. Become aware of the situations and circumstances causing you to constantly deviate from your set eating schedule. Being aware will help you to retain self-control when you are faced with these situation.
- Pump up the intensity of your next workout. Assuming you do exercise on the regular, if you happen to binge on some crap because you feel bad, “reward” yourself with some extra exercise. At the end of your workout session, add 5 minutes of an exercise you absolutely hate because it pushes you to the limit. I don’t care who you are, if you exercise, there are exercises you do because you know they are effective, but you absolutely hate them. I kinda hate squats because they hurt…I have bad knees from playing basketball… but I love what they do for my butt and thighs. So, in my case, after I have finished my workout, I would throw in 75 air squats (squats with no weight) to “reward” myself for stress eating. But, because I exercise on the regular and eat clean, I really don’t “stress eat.” You can get there too if you stick with me!
So there you have it ladies, my thoughts on how to deal with and conquer stress eating. Honestly, the very best way to deal with stress eating is to have a regular healthy diet, eat on an approximate schedule, and exercise at least three times per week. Also, learning how to emotionally detach from situations and realizing the situations that push you to eat to find comfort will help you to address eating because of stress as well. Consistency and structure are the key. When there is structure and consistency, you will be more even keel and able to emotionally and mentally handle hiccups.
If you like this post, let me know. If you have questions, let me know. Email me if you want to converse…Melinda@libifit.com
Till next time,
Melinda
