What exactly is Stress Eating? Stress eating, also known as "head hunger", is when you consume when you're bored or when emotions are running really high. Unlike other forms of food craving, stress eating is often impulsive and usually happens at the subconscious level. You may begin to experience feelings of guilt, depression, anxiety, or sadness after experiencing a major event in your life such as the loss of a job, a marriage, the birth of a child, or being involved in a serious accident. It is a psychological coping mechanism.
There are many reasons that people may start to experience stress eating. A traumatic life event, extreme stress, depression, anxiety, sadness, or boredom can all cause a person to experience body hunger. When your body starts to crave unhealthy foods, these same emotions may be triggered as well. This can lead to overeating, rapid weight gain, or even obesity.
In this article I will explain what is stress eating and how it can be stopped. One of the most common signs that someone has an over-stimulated mind and body is that they eat more than usual. They will often eat three times as much as normal for no apparent reason. If you notice this happening to you, here is what you can do. First, if you cannot stop the eating, here are some things you can do.
- Take L-carnitine, a special kind of amino acid, that increases the levels of ghrelin and leptin in the body. The ghrelin hormone is responsible for coordinating hunger signals from the brain with increased cortisol levels. Your body wants to have enough energy and nutrients so it will send out hunger signals to the brain informing you to eat. If your brain receives increased ghrelin and leptin levels, it will override your hunger signals and eat more.
- If you are under stress, do something to decrease your emotional level and physical hunger. Take up calming activities like yoga, tai chi, or meditation. You might also try to learn relaxation techniques like deep breathing, yoga, or meditation. Also, practice regular exercise. If you are under constant emotional stress your body releases increased levels of cortisol, which causes increased physical hunger.
- There are certain foods that actually stimulate cortisol production and cause increased hunger. These are junk food, caffeine, alcohol, and sugar. All of these things stimulate cortisol production because your brain doesn't want to eat. However, your body also needs the carbs that these sources of food provide to maintain normal glucose levels in the blood. Therefore, if you are under stress eating junk food or any source of caffeine or alcohol will stimulate stress eating and cause you to binge.
- It's not what you eat, but how you eat. Stress is caused by many factors including the way you were raised, your experiences growing up, and even how you were treated as a child. So, the best way to battle stress eating is to take a good look at yourself and try to figure out which problems are bothering you. For example, did you ever know that children who are brought up in severe emotional stress are prone to developing chronic diseases such as anorexia and bulimia? Or that women who were married or in long-term relationships and/or working in the office more than 40 hours a week are at a greater risk for heart disease? In both cases, what really matters most is changing the way you feel and addressing the emotions that are causing you to eat.
So, does this mean you should completely give up all hope of stopping your stress eating habit? No, absolutely not! The key is knowing which problem or circumstances will make you feel better and which bad thing will make you feel worse. In most cases, it's not that big of a deal, and if you can change one thing, it will be getting rid of the bad thing.