Stress Eating

As you may notice, the time on this blog entry is kind of early...why is the good Doctor not sleeping you may ask? Answer: two issues: one reason I will not provide until the end of this entry. Here is the second reason: We are writing a book now about weight loss, and there will be a substantial amount of attention to the concept of "stress eating". When you hear the word "Stress" immediately a negative image appears of feeling ovewhelmed, anxious, heart pounding, gut-wrenching, panic-type of senastions. Stress is usually brought on by external forces...being given too much work with a deadline, having a family member go through a difficult time medically or physically, financial pressures, etc. The usual response of a person to stress is negative both from a physical and psycholgical standpoint. One of the most prominent responses to stress is reaching for "comfort foods", which almost always are high-caloric leading to weight gain. The subsequent weight gain produces its own stress and the vicious cycle is set in motion.

Why i am awake thinking about this is because over the weekend , I saw some incredible performances of star athletes: Venus Williams and Rafael Najar in the Wimbleton finals. Under the stress of being physically pushed to the limit and having millions of people worldwide watching them, these people THRIVED under the stress and rose their levels to an incredible height. They didn't reach for donuts (well, after the match they may have had a snickers bar, I just don't know that) but they did reach inside themselves to bring out their very best.

How can we as normal human beings, not being paid millions of dollars to perform, react to stress in a way that allows us to gather our positive forces and translate the stress to a positive outcome? This is what I am awake thinking about because if we can somehow learn /train ourselves to react to stress in a positive manner, or convert negative stress to positive stress, then our weight will not suffer. More about this tomorrow!

Oh, the second reason Dr. Bob is not sleeping...The New York Mets were winning 10-1 over the Phillies (sorry Philadelphia fans, you truly are much more barbaric than New York fans, and least you doubt that, remember booing Santa Claus at an Eagles football game one December?) and wound up almost blowing the lead and winning by the narrowest of margins, 10-9. Why can't I become a Nationals fan?

By the way, somehow I think the comments to this blog entry will be more about my diss of Philadelphia fans than the medical issue of stress eating!