Nowadays, many Americans are really feeling stressed. When we are emotionally overwhelmed, it may be natural to reach for a bag of fries. But how stress affects our eating habits, we may be wrong, said a psychologist.
What does this mean for our waistline?
Stressed diets have long been associated with overeating, but it is a basic misunderstanding, said Dr. Kristin Javaras, an associate psychologist at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts and Dr. Kristin Javaras, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. Maybe we don’t eat as much as we think.
Much of our knowledge of stress diets is based on cultural clichés like TV shows, movies, or social media. Research on behavior mainly comes from surveys that rely on what people eat during difficult times.
The problem with these surveys is that people often change their perceptions when stressed, so it’s hard for anyone to accurately describe how their dietary behaviors are affected.
"You don't actually eat more, but when you're stressed, you eat more when you're stressed," Javaras said.
In other words, people remember the moment they broke up and then had ice cream.
"However, you don't think of all the other times, you're actually working and eating less," she added.
In fact, many people eat less when they are stressed, especially as the severity of the situation increases, partly because they may not have much time to eat.
Past research shows that under stress, about 40% eat more, 40% eat less, and 20% don’t change their eating habits.
Dr. Christopher McGowan, a gastroenterologist and obesity expert, said that when the body is under chronic stress, cortisol levels not only stimulate appetite but also promote fat storage, especially in the abdominal area.
"This also ruins sleep, which further exacerbates desire and metabolic dysfunction," he said.
At that time, people often turned to comfort foods rich in fat and sugar, which triggered the pleasure center of our brain to release dopamine, which temporarily relieved, McGowan said. This relief is short-lived and often accompanied by innocence or regret.
Comfortable food may actually not be as comfortable as you think.
A previous study concluded that comfort foods did not relieve stress on average, and when healthy female participants replaced unhealthy comfort foods with fruits and vegetables, they found no difference.
“The more we respond to emotions, the stronger the connection between this emotion and craving foods – over time, our stress diet responses become more ingrained,” said Rachel Gargano, chief registered dietitian in a private practice.
"The desires usually last about 20 to 30 minutes, so if you can get through these initially intense, often overwhelming feelings, they usually start to fade and become more manageable," she said.
Gargano said everyone has specific triggers, such as a person at home, seeing or smelling favorite foods that may start binging.
She recommends keeping a diary for the beginning of a desire to record and then classifying it as physical or emotional hunger depending on the circumstances.
“If you’ve been over three or four hours on your last meal, your body may need quality, balanced snacks or meals,” she said.
If you realize that you are not hungry and are just “emotionally hungry,” it’s time to try to get distracted.
"Even a short physical exercise can replace stress eating, which can be a powerful shift to long-term well-being," McGowen added.
He added that exercise helps regulate the body's stress response, lowers baseline cortisol levels, improves mood, improves sleep quality and supports physical and metabolic health.
Alternative options for distracting yourself include reading a chapter of your favorite book, taking a quick walk, sitting outside or doing 15 minutes of yoga.
Gargano encourages the development of an "anti-capture tool suite" that may include:
"The more you desire not to surrender, the more you can retrain your brain, the less you need to be a Band-Aid food," Gargano said.
The investigation still helps researchers understand how increased stress in general promotes more challenges in diet, including whether they lead to an increase in eating disorders, said Joanna Steinglass, Ph.D., director of the research at the Center for Eating Disorders at Newyork-Presbyterian.
Finally, if you emphasize a meal in the blue moon, don't worry, Javaras said.
“I always tell people not to be because ‘Oh my goodness, I felt stressed one day and I ate a little further.”