Stress eating - What to do

Some people can’t bear the thought of eating when they are stressed. However, for others, stress can stimulate appetite and cause strong cravings. When we experience stress, our adrenal glands release the hormone cortisol and this can cause cravings for fatty, sugary or salty food. Recognizing our tendency for stress eating can help us put strategies in place.

Practice stress management

Studies show that high cortisol (caused by high levels of chronic stress) can influence stress eating. Furthermore, excess cortisol can increase fat deposition and lower metabolism. Psychological stress also increases ghrelin levels, the hormone that causes you to feel hungry.

Practicing stress management can help to keep cortisol levels from becoming elevated.  Ensuring adequate sleep can also help manage stress and help to regulate ghrelin levels.

Keep a food diary

Keeping a food diary enables you to see your food habits over time. You can identify correlations between your mood, the types of foods that you are choosing to eat and the quantities.

Food diaries allow you to see trends in order to put strategies in place. For example, if you often stress-eat after a difficult conversation with a colleague or family member you can develop alternative coping mechanisms. Make an arrangement with a trusted friend that you can call afterwards, or plan on going on a walk after uncomfortable talks, rather than reaching for the snack drawer.

Fill your cupboard with healthy foods

For most people, stress eating involves the consumption of high-calorie, high-sugar, high-fat foods. It’s very rare that somebody will stress eat with a big bowl of vegetables!

If you want to tackle stress eating, keep hard-to-resist foods out of your cupboards and instead, fill them with healthy snacks. Keep your fridge stocked up with lots of vegetables and low-calorie foods so that if you do feel a strong urge to eat when you’re stressed, you have healthy options to choose from.