Stress and Emotional Eating

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Stress and Emotional Eating
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Diets dont work

• Diets are almost always a temporary solution to a
  chronic problem. Research shows youll put back
  on 80 of that weight within a year.

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Diets dont work

• And trying not to eat is like trying not to
  breathe. You just cant do it. Its stressful.
• Emotional eating

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Diets dont work.

• There will be no restrictions on what you can
  eat, and no foods will be considered off
  limits. As research shows, these approaches only
  make you want the restricted food even more and
  of course, ultimately fail.

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Websters definition of diet

• 1. a) what a person usually eats or drinks daily
  fare. 2. a regimen of special or limited food
  chosen or prescribed to gain or lose weight.

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Eating well and living well.

• It will thoroughly explore the relationship
  between exercise, weight management and stress
  management.

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Body image

• America wasnt always so obsessed with being
  thin. A 1908 article in Harpers Magazine advised
  readers How to get plump and suggested that
  fashion models should be far from thin.

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Where appetite and stress start
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Acute stress vs. chronic stress

• In order to survive a famine or chronic stress
  - the body goes into fat storage mode.
• During acute stress, the bodys appetite shuts
  down who needs to be thinking about lunch when
  you are about to become lunch and stored energy
  is mobilized for fighting or fleeing.

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Exercise fight or flight

• Exercise is like triggering your fight or flight
  response. It revs up your metabolism and dulls
  your appetite.

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Dont skip meals

• Any time the body goes more than 12 hours without
  a meal (including hours spent asleep) it slips
  into chronic stress mode, reducing metabolism by
  as much as 40!

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Dont skip breakfast

• If you normally skip breakfast in the morning,
  dont. But you dont have to stuff yourself,
  either. Just have a handful of nuts or a
  soft-boiled egg.

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Emotional eating

• When ever were stressed, we seek out comfort
  foods that remind us of the foods our parents
  gave us when we did something especially good or
  when we skinned our knees or came home crying.

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Emotional eating

• Most of us dont realize how often we reward,
  console and cajole ourselves with food. One way
  to increase your awareness of this is by keeping
  a mood/food journal.

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Keep a mood food journal

• Whenever you eat an un-planned snack or a meal
  make a note of when you ate, what you ate, where
  you ate, who you ate with, and how you were
  feeling at the time you ate.

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Emotional eating quiz

• Do I eat when I come home from work?
• Do I eat when I get into an argument with a
  specific person?
• Do I eat at certain times of the day, or when I
  feel rushed?
• Do I eat standing up and/or right out of the
  package?
• I like to eat
• when Im anxious, upset, lonely, or
  depressed.

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Emotional eating alternatives

• For example, if you know you like to eat after a
  tough day, make a point of going out for a walk
  before heading to the kitchen.
• If there are specific people who drive you to eat
  emotionally, Call someone on the phone
• If you eat standing up or right out of the
  package, stop.

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Self-medicating with food

• Research that indicates we reach for crunchy
  foods when were angry, sugary food when were
  depressed, soft, sweet foods when were anxious
  and salty foods when were stressed.

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Self-medicating with carbs

• Sugary foods and simple carbs, like cakes, white
  bread and pasta are the most common foods used
  for self-medicating. These foods give us an
  instant lift which is why we crave them when
  were stressed

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Hypo-glycemia

• When the brain realizes that there is too much
  glucose in the bloodstream, (commonly referred to
  as a sugar-high) it releases insulin into the
  bloodstream which neutralizes the excess glucose.
  This reaction causes us to crave even more sugar
  and more carbs thus setting us up for another
  cycle of high and low.

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Insulin resistance

• Eventually the bodys ability to break down the
  glucose becomes impaired. This is known as
  insulin resistance. And its a precursor to
  diabetes.

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Emotional eating

• So when you find yourself craving sugary foods,
  or high carb foods like bagels and chips, its
  usually just an attempt to nurture yourself and
  to manage your stress.

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Other ways to nurture yourself

• Go for a short walk.
• Listen to your favorite song.
• Read for 15 minutes.
• Take a shower.
• Play a video game.
• Garden.
• Talk to a friend on the phone

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Healthy snacks

• Carrot Sticks, celery sticks, grapes, apple
  slices, a handful of nuts, or a bowl of vegetable
  soup. Or try drinking an eight ounce glass of
  water before you eat anything.

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Rewards other than food

• Try taking yourself out to the movies, or buying
  a good book, or subscribing to your favorite
  magazine. Some people put money in a jar as a
  reward for good behavior, and then buy themselves
  something good when the jar is full.

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Stomach vs. mouth hunger

• Emotional eating is driven by mouth hunger. Spend
  a non-working day where you eat as often as you
  like, but only in response to stomach hunger.
  Wait till you are sure you are experiencing
  stomach hunger and then eat a light meal within
  fifteen minutes.

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Part IIPermanent lifestyle change

• Choose from a variety of lifestyle changes that
  include raising your metabolism, counting
  calories, avoiding liquid calories, eating whole
  foods, getting enough sleep, drinking plenty of
  water, and of course practicing some form of
  stress management on a daily basis

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Raising metabolism

• Every pound of muscle burns between 35 to 50
  calories a day where as every pound of fat burns
  only 2 calories a day.

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Counting calories

• The key to maintaining a healthy weight is to
  balance the calories you consume with the
  calories you burn. Multiply your current weight
  times 10 if youre a woman and 11 if youre a man
  to get an approximate idea of the number of
  calories you burn in a day.

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Eat whole foods

• Whole foods are foods still in their original
  state or close to it. The way they grow on the
  farm. Fruits, vegetables and whole grains that
  you can actually see in the breads, cereals and
  baked goods you eat.

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Reducing liquid calories

• Studies show, that in the average American
  diet, 22 of total calories come from the sodas,
  juices, and alcoholic beverages you consume.
  Since you can always opt to drink water, which
  has 0 calories, this is a huge opportunity for
  savings

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Drink plenty of water

• Drinking water is good for you and when you drink
  eight glasses a day, you will be much less likely
  to eat emotionally, because the water gives you a
  sense of fullness.

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Sleep 7-8 hours per night

• Anything less than seven hours a night is going
  to make you vulnerable to problems with anxiety,
  depression, fatigue, stress and will raise the
  likelihood of emotional eating.

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5 methods for reducing stress

• Exercise
• Deep breathing
• Progressive muscle relaxation
• Yoga
• Meditation

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Exercise

• Regular exercise helps lower stress, burn
  calories, decrease the chances of heart attack,
  diabetes, stroke and certain cancers. If all the
  benefits of exercise were available in pill-form,
  everyone would take it.

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Deep breathing

• Deep breathing slows the heart rate, increases
  oxygen consumption and lowers stress.

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Progressive muscle relaxation

• Progressive muscle relaxation involves tensing
  muscles and then relaxing them, one muscle group
  at a time. Start at the top of your body and move
  down.

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Yoga

• Yoga means union of mind and body. Yoga combines
  meditation, breathing and stretching all into one
  practice. You can get a simple idea of how yoga
  works right in your chair.

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Meditation

• Meditation requires attention, patience and
  practice. The goal in mediation is to calm the
  body by focusing the mind on a single word or
  phrase you repeat silently to yourself. Usually
  people meditate with their eyes closed and allow
  15-20 minutes for doing so.

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Give yourself a break

• Behavioral change is a gradual process of two
  steps forward and one step back. If you fall off
  the wagon of behavioral change, brush yourself
  off, FORGIVE YOURSELF, and get right back on that
  wagon, no matter how badly you may have been
  bruised by the fall.