Stress-Proof Your Eating Skip to content Home & News WebMD Home WebMD News Home Free Health Newsletters WebMD Community & Experts See All Expert Blogs WebMD the Magazine Digital Health A-Z ADD/ADHD Allergies Allergy TV Alzheimer's Anxiety Disorders Arthritis Asthma Back Pain Bipolar Disorder Bipolar TV Breast Cancer Cancer Cancer Communities Cholesterol Cold & Flu Colorectal Cancer COPD Depression Depression TV Diabetes Erectile Dysfunction Eye Health Fibromyalgia Heart Disease Heartburn/GERD Herpes Hypertension IBS Incontinence/OAB Inflammatory Bowel Menopause Mental Health Migraines Multiple Sclerosis Osteoporosis Pain Management Parkinson's Disease Rheumatoid Arthritis Sexual Conditions Shingles Skin Problems Sleep Disorders Stroke See All Topics Videos A-Z Community & Experts Experts A-Z First Aid A-Z Games A-Z Tests & Tools A-Z Slideshows A-Z Drugs & Medications Center Find or Review a Drug Pill Identifier Drug News Mobile Drug Information Find a Vitamin or Supplement First Aid & Emergencies WebMD Community & Experts WebMD Ask the Pharmacist Healthy Living Women's Health Men's Health Pet Health Oral Health Emotional Health Mental Health Communities Find a Therapist Green Living 50+: Live Better, Longer Sex & Relationships Skin & Beauty Healthy Skin TV Sexual Health Communities See All Topics Women's Health Communities Skin & Beauty Community Men's Health Communities Healthy Eating & Diet Healthy Eating & Diet Food & Cooking Food-o-Meter Fit-o-Meter Fitness & Exercise Food & Fitness Planner Portion Size Helper Personal Diet Evaluator BMI Plus Calculator Eating & Diet Communities Digestive Disorders Communities Parenting & Pregnancy Parenting Pregnancy Children's Health Children's Vaccines Newborn & Baby New! Raising Fit Kids New! WebMD for Kids Parenting Communities Pregnancy Communities Trying to Conceive Communities Teen Health Teen Girls Teen Boys coming soon! New! WebMD FIT Teen Food Move Recharge Mood Pet Health Healthy Dogs Healthy Cats Healthy Pets Community

?Enter Search Keywords:Other search tools:Symptoms|Doctors|Medical Dictionary /* Basic styles to avoid the jumping when things load. */.bottom_header #reglinks { float:right; position:relative; margin:0px; padding:0px; height:22px; width: 330px; z-index:96; }.bottom_header #reglinks .login_rdr { display:none; width: 330px; }#reglinks .login_rdr ul#registration_hdr { float: right; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0; padding: 5px 0 3px 0; }#reglinks .login_rdr ul#registration_hdr li { background:none; display: inline-block; float: left; padding: 0; }Find us on: WebMD Home

Health & Parenting Center

Fun and Fit Family Guide Email a FriendPrint Article Fun and Fit Family Guide This content is selected and controlled by WebMD's editorial staff and is brought to you by Subway. Next Article Skip to Article Content 5 Ways to Win Kids to Healthy Food Help your child say "no" to junk food and choose healthy foods instead. Healthy Eating in Stressful Times It's common to eat when you're stressed. Tips to help you de-stress your eating. Eat Healthy with the Internet Eating on-the-go? The Internet can help you with simple healthy eating tools. Healthy Guide to Dining Out Do you know how much food is on your plate? How to avoid restaurant pitfalls. False Eating Healthfully During Stressful Times WebMD Feature By Robin Warshaw Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
You just found out that your glowing engine light means another repair bill. That will strain your checking account, which you’ve already been juggling like a circus performer.
The repair shop vending machine stands nearby, offering sweet, fatty, crunchy and salty snacks. You make your choice, hoping to banish worry with high-calorie help, even though you’re not really hungry. ?
Yet a candy bar or bag of chips gives only a momentary boost to sagging spirits. Refined sugars and starches in most packaged snack foods “make you feel better for a minute, then worse,” says Bethany Thayer, MS, RD, director of wellness programs and strategies at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit and a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
Emotional Eating and Stress Eating
When you feel tense, stress eating or emotional eating seem to be triggered like an automatic response. That’s especially so if your body reacts strongly to stress-released hormones. A 2010 study from the University of Michigan showed that when levels of the stress hormone cortisol, were boosted in healthy, non-stressed adults, they ate more snack foods.? ?
Indeed, stress may increase your desire for doughnuts, ice cream, and other high-fat or sugary foods. You also are likely to eat fewer regular meals and fewer vegetables. That may be why you grab a handful of cookies during stressful moments instead of healthy snacks such as baby carrots or a few almonds. Not surprising, then, that stress eaters gain weight more often than those who aren’t stress eaters.
Find New Outlets for Stress
"Emotional or stress eating soon becomes a habit that changes how you eat regularly," Thayer says. Healthy eating and good nutrition disappear as your daily meal plan starts looking like the menu for a Cub Scout sleepover. ?
“The food drives your behavior and your behavior drives your food choice,” says Susan Kleiner, PhD, RD, a specialist in nutrition and human performance and author of The Good Mood Diet. “You are stuck until you put your foot down.” ?
You can break the stress eating cycle and enjoy a healthful diet, even if difficult times continue, with these effective ideas:
Build a good nutritional foundation. Prepare your brain and body in advance and you’ll be better able to handle stress when it happens. To keep your emotions in balance, eat regularly during the day, every four or five hours.
Enjoy complex carbohydrates. Have oatmeal, raisin bran and other whole-grain cereals and breads, as well as brown rice, whole-grain pasta, vegetables, beans, fruits, and nonfat milk. These complex carbohydrates help your brain make the feel-good chemical serotonin, which counteracts stress, says Thayer. Moderate amounts of healthy fats from olives, avocadoes, nuts, seeds, fatty fish, nut butters and olive oil also help, adds Kleiner.
Recognize what’s happening. When stressful events or thoughts trigger the urge to eat, stop and evaluate first. Are you hungry or not? Rate your hunger on a scale from 1 to 10. Ask yourself when was the last time you ate, to see if your body needs food right now. “Often, negative emotions trigger what feels like hunger but is really just a habitual response to eat to get rid of negative feelings,” says Elissa S. Epel, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and a researcher on stress and eating.
Try a little mindfulness. Derail your automatic trip to the cookie jar by becoming more aware of your eating patterns. Mindful eating encourages you to use your senses to choose foods that please you and are nourishing to your body. Pay attention to the physical cues of fullness or hunger that your body sends. Use these to make decisions about when to begin eating and when to stop.
Have a Plan B ... and C. The stress-eating urge usually hits suddenly, so keep healthy snacks with you wherever you go. Try small packets of nuts or trail mix (without added sweets or salt), apples, or bananas. Those better options will help you bypass high-calorie comfort. When possible, Kleiner advises eating protein and complex carbohydrates together, such as cheese with a slice of whole-grain bread. ? Another great option: a small piece of dark chocolate (72% cocoa is good). “You don’t need to eat a ton of it,” Kleiner says. ?
Fool yourself. In difficult moments, do you crave crunchy snacks like chips or pretzels? Keep cut-up carrots and celery ready in the refrigerator. Soy chips are also a healthier choice than most fried or baked crunchy snacks.
Have a sweet tooth? Fruit provides natural sweetness that can reduce your urge for high sugar items.
Out of sight really does help. If you must keep stress eating temptations like cookies or chips at home for others, store those foods behind larger packages or stacks of dishes. In the freezer, use bags of frozen vegetables to block your view of the ice cream container. When you’re commuting to work or running errands, avoid driving past the bakery or fast-food restaurants.
Call on a substitute. To make stress eating less automatic, you need to find better ways to deal with everyday hassles and ongoing tensions. Choose a healthy stress-busting alternative such as going for a walk or run, listening to music, calling a friend for a chat, brushing your cat or dog, or just sitting quietly.
Instead of eating, try one of the solutions mentioned above. Add it to your action choices if it works or try a different one next time. By finding healthier alternatives, you’ll feel more in control. Then you’ll be more prepared for the next step: “You have to figure out what’s causing the stress and work to alleviate that,” Thayer says.
View Article Source
SOURCES:
Rutters, F. Obesity, January 2009; vol 17: pp 72-77.
Adam ,T. Physiology & Behavior, July 2007; vol 91: pp 449-458.
George, S. Psychoneuroendocrinology, May 2010; vol 35: pp 607-612.
Torres, S. Nutrition, November-December 2007; vol 23: pp 887-894.
O’Connor, D. Health Psychology, January 2008; vol 27: pp S20-S31.
Epel, E. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, December 2004; vol 1032: pp 208-210.
Kristeller, J. Eating Disorders, January 2011; vol 19: pp 49-61.
The Center for Mindful Eating web site: “The Principles of Mindful Eating.”
Bethany Thayer, MS, RD, director of wellness programs and strategies, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit; spokesman, American Dietetic Association.
Elissa S. Epel, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco; co-director, UCSF Center for Obesity Assessment, Study & Treatment.
Susan Kleiner, PhD, RD, author, The Good Mood Diet.
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD on June 27, 2011 c 2011 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved. #url_reference {display: none};#url_reference { display: block; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 10px; }#logo_rdr img { visibility: visible; }.titleBar_rdr .titleBarMiddle_fmt { padding-top: 1.5em;} Fit & Fun Families Kid-Friendly Foods Stress-Proof Eating Healthy Eating Apps Smart Dining Out Slideshow: Pool & Beach Safety Hot Topics: Family Diet & Fitness Video: Active Kids Top 10 Brought to you by

Swimming Pool & Beach Safety How to be safe when you and your family enjoy a day on the water.

Find us on: URAC: Accredited Health Web SiteReviewed by Trust-E site privacy statementHonCode: Health on the Net Foundation About WebMD|Terms of Use|Privacy Policy|Sponsor Policy|Site Map|Link to Us|Careers| Contact Us Advertise With Us|WebMD Corporate|eMedicine|eMedicineHealth|RxList|Medscape|MedicineNet First Aid|WebMD the Magazine|WebMD Health Record|WebMD Mobile|Newsletters
c2005-2011 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.
WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information.
View the original article here