Stress Eating Part Deux

Okay, before I begin my second day thoughts on stress eating, let's discuss sequels of movies that were pretty good. Sorry for the flight of ideas, but I am hoping that today's discussion of stress eating will be on par with yesterdays...kind of a sequel thing. Now of course, if you thought yesterday's blog was boring and not worthwhile then I guess I don't need to worry about Part 2.

Most often, when a blockbuster movie comes out the sequel usually is horrible...some examples of the horrible ones: The Exorcist Part 2, The Omen Part 2, Major League 2, Analyze That, Basic Instinct 2. Good ones: City Slickers Part 2, The Godfather Part 2, Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. Feel free to post your thoughts.

Okay, back to stress eating: Almost instinctually, when we get under stress, we feel compelled to reach for high caloric food sources as a way of somehow mitigating the stress. Such foods tend to be repetitive sources, such as popcorn, chips, nuts etc. Chemically, it may be the case that under stressful periods, we deplete some neurochemicals, including serotonin, and our brain is making us seek the food sources that contain the building blocks of some of the neurotransmitters. In the case of serotonin, the amino acid tryptophan, which is present in high amounts in sweets and carbs, is the building block.

The recognition of stress eating is not enough to block the almost reflex-like response of reaching for high caloric food sources. A few hints: 1- ensure that around your office or home there are NOT these food sources that you would tend to reach for when you feel stressed. 2-Try to convert "negative" stress to "positive" stress. What I mean by this is that there are certain "stresses" that are positive, such as lifting weights, which "stress" the muscles but yet do not stress our psyches. During times of mental stress, it would be beneficial to try to convert this to perhaps a physical activity that allows you to dissipate the stress. In this scenario, not only are you not consuming the calories from the "comfort food" source, but you are also burning up calories with your activity of choice.

This is not easy because the compunction to eat under periods of stress is often very strong. Try to figure out how you can place some type of "delay" mechanism into this behavior pattern, because when you can put off the immediate eating activity, your brain will have more time to think it out and realize that eating in response to stress only INCREASES your overall stress levels because now you will have to deal with the weight gain sequelae.