Why eating bad food makes you feel good, and how to break the cycle

You’ve had a long, hard stressful day, and tomorrow promises to be more of the same. You reach for big bag of chips and try to forget about it all.

Or, without even knowing why, you suddenly just HAVE to eat some chocolate. NOW.

Almost all of us are familiar with this experience.

It’s known as stress eating.

No surprise, right? You’re stressed, and that ice cream is just so comforting, and you deserve those guilty pleasures, right? But you don’t deserve the detrimental effects of stress eating…

In an American Psychological Association survey, almost 40 percent of adults reported overeating or eating junk food in response to stress. And of those people, about half said it’s a weekly ritual.

It may seem like no big deal…

But obesity kills. There’s just no way to soften that blow. Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and cancer, as well as arthritis, gout, breathing and sleeping problems, and asthma.

With this in mind, isn’t it worth trying to get a handle on the knee-jerk reaction of stress eating?

Why we “stress eat”

Stress eating, also called emotional eating, is eating when you’re not hungry. Instead, you’re letting your emotions dictate your eating patterns, rather than your body.

But why are we so prone to this?

Turns out that stress, the hormones it produces, and the effects of high-fat, sugary “comfort foods” all conspire to make this an easy pattern to fall into.

While short-term stress can actually dampen the appetite, persistent stress can have the opposite effect.

Cortisol is the hormone produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress. Normally, once a high-stress situation is over, cortisol levels drop to a normal level.

But when stress is continuous, cortisol levels remain high, and one thing they do is increase appetite.

But why do we eat food that’s bad for us when we’re stressed? Let’s face it, you’d never binge eat on broccoli, would you?

Research tells us that, when we’re stressed, sugar truly is comfort food.

A 2005 Princeton University study showed that sugar-filled foods release dopamine, the “feel-good” neurotransmitter, and that in fact, the neurochemical responses of people who binge on sugary foods are similar to those of people who are addicted to opioids.

How to know if we’re doing it

So, how do you know if you’re in a pattern of stress eating, or just enjoy some sweets once in a while?

Here are some questions to ask yourself. If the answer is ‘yes’ to any of these, you’re probably an ‘emotional eater’:

• Do you ever eat without even realizing you’re doing it?
• Do you often feel guilty or ashamed after eating?
• After an unpleasant experience, do you eat even if you aren’t feeling hungry?
• Do you crave specific foods when you’re upset, such as always wanting chocolate after an argument?
• Does eating make you feel better when you’re down or less focused on problems when you’re worried about something?

Get control over emotional eating

In the short-term, finding other distractions when you’re in the midst of a stressful situation is a way to begin getting some control over emotional eating.

Meditation, talking to a friend, or taking a walk are all good choices. Also, drinking water will help. Often, we think we feel hungry when all we are is really thirsty.

But stopping yourself from impulsive snacking on a daily basis will get tiresome.

There are a few things to do that will help you gain control over this habit for the long haul:

1. First, pay attention to the things that trigger your emotional eating, and second, find healthy habits that can become part of a long-term strategy.
2. Keep a journal. It’s probably the best way to identify your eating triggers. It doesn’t need to be a novel. Just make note of what was happening right before you started to eat that chocolate bar.
3. Name the feeling. Were you anxious? Angry? Worried? This journal can gradually become a reference to look back on and identify patterns that you can change.
4. Then, make it a point to have non-food stress relievers at-the-ready.
5. Meditate. Choose something peaceful and calming to focus on. This could be as simple as a candle and a picture of something that calms you. Looking at this and taking deep breaths can soon become a stress-relieving habit.

The bottom line: You can learn to recognize your reactions to stress, and make healthier choices that will also better your health in the long run.

Editor’s note: Eating right is not as complicated as you might think. In Dr. Cutler’s free report, you can read about 10 easy steps to a natural total health makeover based on just 7 basic fundamentals that cover ALL the bases… My favorite is #7: Indulge occasionally! For the rest, click here!

Sources:

1. Here’s Why You Stress Eat — And How to Stop Doing It — Time
2. How to Overcome Stress Eating — Verywell Fit
3. Why stress causes people to overeat — Harvard Health
4. Stress and Eating — American Psychological Association
5. Daily bingeing on sugar repeatedly releases dopamine in the accumbens shell — Neuroscience