weight loss and work stress

First, in answer to your inquiry Gaye, the serotonin supplement is compatible with Weight Watchers or any other type of dietary plan.

Yesterday I had a medical patient describe an incredible amount of stress at work. The person is overqualified for the position and many co-workers are jealous and antagonistic. Moreover, she maintains an excellent physical condition and there most likely is a great amount of jealousy from a number of her female co-workers. Due to the stress of this situation, she has been skipping meals, not taking enough calories in and her medical presentation was because of weakness and headaches.

A few people respond to stress by NOT eating. Most people, including your good doctor, often start reaching for food sources when we had a stressful day at work. For many, coming home from a stressful day results in the immediate reach for several alcohol drinks to relax.

Try as best as pssoible to NOT "medicate" stress with alcohol or high-caloric food sources. When you rationally think about it, if you start gaining weight because of this impulse/stress eating, you will only feel more stressed because of the weight situation.

Perhaps a workout and burning off calories, pumping weights or other physical activities can dissipate stress in a more healthy weight. Alcohol and food sources only temporarily ease stress, but the long term effects will only stress you out further.

Stress and Eating

I want to wish each and everyone of you a very happy and healthy holiday. I hope Santa brought you a wonderful gift that warms your heart and does NOT contain any calories. Enjoy your friends and families and as you are feeling the warmth of the gatherings,, this will help you remember all the reasons why it is si important to you to stay as healthy as possible in order to be at many more of these loving events.

Yesterday's entry about serotonin and stress eating prompted several comments of interest. One of the issues brought up was about the chronic nature of the business stress environment. There are clearly some jobs (NOT dermatology...laughing) where the stress levels will be always very high because of the nature of that position. On the physician side a surgeon who specializes in high-risk cases will feel more stress than the radiologist. Perhaps on the legal side, an attorney who practices family law involving tough issues like child custody may feel more stress than the government attorney who reviews contracts. An educator teaching in a very difficult school may feel stressed than a music teacher at a ritzy private school.

In any event, the more stress the more propensity to turning for immediate gratification sources such as food and alcohol. These of course will lead to weight problems.

Certianly, if you struggle from weight issues and have the chance to chnage stress environments, this is a great solution. However, for many people under stress, they cannot. These people then have to learn how to approach stress in ways other than derailing eating and drinking behaviors.

Exercise is a stress reliever for many including me. NOt only does exercise prevent stress eating, it also burns off calories. Meditation, yoga, self hypnosis and other methods may be employed.

Find ways of not turning your stress into a feeding frenzy. Eating the food sources helps nothing long term other than making you unhealthy and unhappy.

Eating and Mood

You may notice that your tendency to reach for high-caloric foods is dependent on your mood. Some people tend to overeat when very happy, others when very sad and certainly, many when they feel stressed. Why is food used as a "treatment" or reaction to mood issues?

Some of this is chemical, meaning that under certain conditions, neurochemicals such as serotonin become unbalanced and this results in cravings and the complusion to eat.

A part of this is a learned response as well...lets go back to infancy when the baby starts to cry...the first thing the parent does is put the bottle in the mouth.

Food is an immediate gratification and there is noi denying that it may produce an immediate mollification of the emotional issue/change. However, the weight gain or the derailing of the weight loss effort that occurs results in self-loathing. Try your best to not give in to the compulsion to eat the harmful food sources when your mood turns or stress hits hard.

weight control and tax week

April 15 is almost here and perhaps this produces a certain anxiety/stress for a number of people who have to come up with some additional bucks to pay into the government. During particularly stressful weeks, I would strongly recommend that everyone that is in a weight losing mode take a step back and think through the concepts of eating and stress. Eating high-caloric food sources may give an immediate "feel-good" sensation, but that is followed by guilt and self-flagellation for "spoiling" your weight loss efforts. Ingesting some high-caloric food source of drinking alcohol will not change your 1040 tax form nor lessen the amount of money you may owe the government. And if you do owe the government money, remember that to replenish your savings, you will need to remain healthy in order to be able to go to work. Losing weight will allow you to be healthier and give you a much better chance of being more work-productive for longer periods of time. Consider weight lifting as an outlet for dissipating negative stress. Even at work, some type of hand squeezing device will allow you to tighten and relax your muscles. Going to that machine at work and getting some high-caloric source will not reduce your stress..it will only add to it.