How to Avoid Stress Eating

 Research suggests that when people are in a crisis and stressful situation, one of the first things that will change is their eating habits. Let’s explore how to avoid stress eating with some simple strategies and a plan.

There are physiological reasons for turning to food when you feel stressed. The body tends to crave high-calorie and high-sugar foods during stressful times. Stress leads to elevated cortisol levels, which can increase appetite. And sugary foods generate dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with motivation and reward.

This is a normal stress response, and not inherently bad. But for the longer term, it’s useful to develop some alternative strategies for managing our emotions. Here are some tips for reducing how much you might emotionally eat and to make nutritious choices when you are actually hungry.

Know and Manage Stress Triggers

To avoid stress eating, it helps to first be aware of what causes you stress in the first place. For many people, it isn’t just a general feeling of stress, but specific things that can trigger it. This might be seeing the same sad reports on the news, going on social media, talking to certain people, or even something like not getting enough sunshine or having a different routine. Start making note of how you feel, what worsens your stress or anxiety, and when you tend to emotionally eat.

One tool is an exercise to find alternatives to emotional eating. This involves, for example, writing down five people you can call, five ways you can relax, five places you can go to calm down, five positive things you can say about yourself, and/or five activities you can use for a distraction.

Get into a Mindful State

Being more mindful is a wonderful way to start reducing how often you turn to food because of stress, and not physical hunger. When you start to feel stressed, take a moment to just take some deep breaths, relax, and sit with your feelings for a few minutes. This doesn’t mean you are going to deprive yourself and not eat, but first understand if you are hungry, or your brain is just reacting to the stress.

People tend to stress eat because it feels like a temporary fix, a way to have some control over how you feel. But if you can just sit with those feelings and slow down a bit, you might find you don’t need the food until you are actually physically hungry.

Don’t Let Yourself Get Too Hungry

If you are going without meals or snacks for several hours at a time, you are naturally going to turn to food first to deal with stress, anxiety, or other uncomfortable emotions. You have gotten yourself so hungry that you are now ravenous. Not only will you be more likely to turn to food to deal with stress, but likely not the healthiest option. At this point, your body wants the quickest and most convenient option, so maybe you choose a bag of chips and a cookie instead of cooking something more nutritious.

Add Plant-based Alternatives

Plant-based diets offer a promising solution to counter the effects associated with stress eating. When anxiety takes its toll, many individuals turn to unhealthy comfort foods, leading to weight gain and further exacerbating their emotional well-being. However, adopting a plant-based diet can help break this cycle. Plant-based meals are rich in nutrient-dense fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, and provide essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that support overall mental and physical health. These nutrient-packed foods help regulate stress hormones, promote stable blood sugar levels, and enhance mood. Moreover, the high fiber content in plant-based diets promotes a feeling of fullness and satisfaction, reducing the urge to indulge in unhealthy snacks. By choosing plant-based options, individuals can nourish their bodies while managing stress effectively. Visit Plantomeal’s blog post to learn more about plant based diet benefits and challenges,. Embrace the power of plant-based eating and experience the positive impact it can have on your overall well-being.

Emotional Versus Physical Hunger

Learn the difference between emotional and physical hunger. This will help tremendously to figure out if you’re actually hungry or if your brain just wants food. Here are a few ways to tell the difference:

• Is your hunger coming on slowly or suddenly? Physical hunger tends to come on gradually, while emotional hunger will be urgent and sudden. One minute you’re fine, the next you feel like you’re starving.
• Do you feel satisfied? If after a meal or snack, you feel full or satisfied, it was physical hunger. If you still feel “starving”, it was probably emotional hunger.
• Can you eat anything? If you feel fine eating anything, it is more like physical hunger. But if you only want specific things, it might just be emotional hunger.

Swap Comfort Food Ingredients with Healthier Options

Once you determine that you are actually hungry, you might want to indulge in your favorite comfort foods while self-isolating. But there are some ways to make comfort foods a bit healthier, such as adding in more fruits and veggies, enjoying whole grains instead of processed, cooking more from scratch, or specific options such as low-carb ingredients.

• Make a list of your favorite foods. Maybe it’s meatloaf, grilled cheese and tomato soup, brownies, or biscuits and gravy. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it brings you joy and comfort.
• Once you have your list, you can look for simple ingredient “swaps” to make it a little healthier. For example, you might add veggies inside your grilled cheese to increase the nutritional content or make your favorite brownies with gluten-free flour and walnuts inside instead of just plain chocolate. You might try a healthier pizza crust by using whole grain flour or use ground turkey for your meatloaf.
• Instead of taking things away from your comfort dishes, focus instead on what you can add in. You don’t have to take the shredded cheese and sour cream out of your tacos, but what if you added shredded lettuce to them, and then have a side salad or other vegetable side dish? You are still enjoying your favorite tacos, but also having a lot more nutrition in your meal.
• An easy way to increase the health of your meals and snacks is to cook more from scratch. It is so easy to make mashed potatoes from actual potatoes – you don’t need the frozen or boxed variety! They will be healthier and taste so much better.

As self-isolation may lead us to be less active, it is important to pay attention to our stress, triggers, and food to keep our energy and moods balanced as much as possible.