4 Strategies To Diminish Stress Eating

Last week we explored how lack of sleep can affect our relationship with food. This week we will be exploring stress.

When stress increases, do you want to ignore, run away, or numb out to the feelings showing up?

Is your first go-to action to reach for some sugary, crunchy, salty, sweet treat?

Our stress levels can affect our food choices, our sense of hunger, and our appetite. Skipping meals because you're too busy and have too much work often increases stress, throws blood sugar levels off, and feeling starving by the end of the day can set you up for a glorious binge on all the foods that probably don't resonate with your body.

It can create a cycle where we eat too much in the evening, we don't feel hungry for breakfast the next morning, we wait too long the next day to eat something as we dive into our work and to-do lists, only to find ourselves voracious and reach for anything within site. This can lead to overeating as it can be harder to hear fullness cues when we are that hungry starting the cycle all over again. I know this cycle well as I did it almost every day in high school.

In one study, half of participants were asked to dip their hands in icy water to spark stress in their bodies. The other half did not have to do this. Then both groups were asked to make choices about their food while their brains were scanned. Those who had increased stress levels from dipping their hands in icy water were more likely to choose a tasty treat over a health food.

Other studies have found that when we are hungry, we are more likely to overreact, feel annoyed, and have a more difficult time navigating anything that does not go smoothly in our day to day life. So not only does feeling more stressed affect our food choices, feeling too hungry increases our stress levels affecting our ability to react in a way that supports us in feeling relaxed to make food decisions that support our body optimally.

So what can we do when we are stressed and hungry?

First, acknowledge that you feel stressed. The strategies of trying to work through stress, ignore it, stuff it down are not supporting us in feeling more grounded and connected to ourselves. Avoiding stress can actually feel more intense than experiencing the stress itself. Describe how you feel in your body to yourself so that feeling stress no longer feels like something you need to avoid but it is simply how your body is processing that moment.

The brain in our gut and the brain in our head communicate with each other through the vagus nerve. Stimulating this nerve can support us in feeling calm. When you're hungry and stressed, take a moment to activate a relaxation response in your body before making any food decisions. We can stimulate our vagus nerve through humming, singing, horse lips, gargling, deep belly breathing, or washing your face with cold water. Whatever is doable and available to you, engage in one of these acts to switch your body into rest and digest mode so that you can make food decisions with more ease.

Always have satiating and nourishing snacks with you. To stop the cycle of increasing stress from lack of eating and overeating from high stress, we need to create a new routine in our day where we are constantly supporting our body in feeling grounded. Carrying around snacks can support with satisfying hunger if a meal is not possible in the moment and will support with stabilizing our blood sugar levels so that we feel calmer in our body to make the best meal decisions when we can sit down and eat.

The kind of snacks that will feel most grounding to your body will be unique to you. You can experiment this week and carry a different snack around with you each day and notice how you feel after that snack and if it supported you in feeling energized, grounded, and clear. You can play around with making your own trail mix, a piece of fruit with some nut butter, making a smoothie, some protein powder to mix into water, a vegetable like carrots or red pepper or cucumber slices and an avocado, you could even go as far as putting a cooler in your car and carrying around some hummus or guacamole or turkey slices. You will often find some kind of food in my jacket pocket. I never go anywhere without some backup, just in case food on me. You never know what unexpected events can happen in a day and having a snack on you can ensure that you will be supporting your body in navigating your day as smoothly as possible.

The last piece I'll leave you with is that we need to befriend our stress. Stress is not bad. It is our interpretation of and reaction to stress that can be harmful to our health and well being. Give your stress a name so that when it shows up you can say, "O hi Stressful Sally. How can I support you?" You get to have a dialogue with your stress to explore what it needs to hear and perhaps even invite in some laughter around what you're stressing about. The more connected we feel during a stressful experience, the less likely we are to reach for food to self soothe.

I would love to hear from you! Email me at support@stephaniemara.com and let me know what response to stress is no longer working for you and what new tool you feel most excited to experiment with.