The holiday season is a time of joy, celebration, and delicious food and dining. But for many, it’s also an emotional and stressful time.
This stress manifests itself in our eating habits, resulting in so-called Emotional or stress eating.
There are certain foods we tend to eat more of when we’re stressed, and these can affect our health. Additionally, your food choices can affect your stress levels and worsen your mood. Here’s how:
Why you eat more when you’re stressed
of human stress response It is a complex signaling network that spans the body and brain. Our nervous system responds to physical and psychological events to maintain health. Our stress response – It can be subtle, or it can be a stress trigger. fight or flight response – It is essential and part of everyday life.
The stress response increases production of the hormones cortisol and insulin, which increases the release of glucose (blood sugar) and brain chemicals to meet demand. Eating when you’re stressed is a normal behavior to cope with a sudden increase in your energy needs.
However, sometimes our relationship with food is Become nervous in response to different types of stress. may be attached Shame or guilt? To overeating. Anxiety and anxiety can also cause some people to overeat during stressful times.
Over time, people begin to associate eating with negative emotions such as anger, sadness, fear, and worry. What you can do with this link is Create a behavioral cycle About emotional eating. Emotion eaters may have altered brain responses to emotions. sight and smell of food.
Effects of stress eating on the body
Stress eating includes overeating, grazing, eating late at night, eating too quickly, and eating beyond the point of satiety. It also includes craving or eating foods you wouldn’t normally choose.
For example, people who are feeling stressed often reach for things like: ultra-processed foods. Eating these foods isn’t necessarily a sign of stress, but eating them can be. Activate reward system To reduce stress and create patterns in our brains.
Short-term stress eating, such as during the holidays, can cause symptoms such as: acid reflux and lack of sleep – Especially when combined with: drinking.
In the long term, stress eating can lead to weight gain and obesity, which can increase your risk of cancer, heart disease, and other diseases. diabetes.
While stress eating may help reduce stress in the moment, long-term stress eating is associated with increased symptoms and symptoms of depression. poor mental health.
More or less what we eat can cause stress
The foods we choose can also affect our stress levels.
Meals high in refined carbohydrates and sugar (such as sugary drinks, sweets, crackers, cakes, and most chocolates) Blood sugar level spikes And then it crashes.
Diets high in unhealthy saturated and trans fats (processed foods, animal fats, and commercially fried foods) may increase. inflammatory response.
Rapid changes in blood sugar levels and inflammation increase anxiety, can change our mood.
On the other hand, certain foods may improve the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain that regulate stress and mood.
Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and flaxseed are Reduces inflammation and supports brain health. magnesiumfound in leafy vegetables and nuts, helps regulate cortisol levels and the body’s stress response.
B vitaminsFound in whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and animal foods (mainly B12), it maintains a healthy nervous system and energy metabolism, and improves mood and cognitive performance.
5 Tips for the Holidays and Beyond
Food is a big part of the Christmas season, and treating yourself to some delicious treats is part of the fun. Here are some tips for enjoying festive foods while avoiding stress eating.
1. Slow down: Get used to it considerate About eating speed. Chew your food slowly and thoroughly, putting down your utensils after each bite.
2. Look at the clock. Even if you are eating more food than usual. Same eating timing It helps maintain your body’s response to food. If you typically have an 8-hour eating window (the time between your first and last meal of the day), stick to this even if you eat more than that.
3. Continue other health behaviors. Even if you’re eating more or different foods during the Christmas season, try to maintain other healthy behaviors like sleep and exercise.
4. Stay hydrated: Make sure to drink plenty of fluids, especially water. This helps our body function and relieves hunger. When our brain receives a message that something (what we drank) has entered the stomach, this provides information such as: Temporarily reduces hunger
5. Do not limit the following: If you have a day where you eat a lot, you may want to restrict your meals for a few days before or after. However, it is never a good idea to restrict food intake excessively. can Overeating increases and stress worsens.
Added 3 tips for managing holiday stress
1. Change your mindset: try reconfigure Festival stress. Think of family gatherings, gift shopping, and other activities as a source of energy to achieve your goals, rather than a negative thing.
2. Be kind to yourself and others. Try practicing acts of kindness toward others or talking to yourself the way you would talk to a friend. These actions result in stimulate our brain and improve happiness
3. Do something fun: Indulging in fun activities like crafts, exercise, and breathing exercises can help our brains and bodies. return to a more relaxed stateI feel a stable connection.
saman khareshiSenior Lecturer and Disciplinary Chair in Nutrition, Faculty of Health and Medical Applied Sciences; CQ Australian University; charlotte guptaSenior Postdoctoral Fellow, Appleton Institute, HealthWise Research Group, CQ Australian Universityand Talitha BestProfessor of Psychology, Appleton Institute for NeuroHealth Research, CQ Australian University
This article is republished from conversation Under Creative Commons License. please read original article.
