Stop Stress Before It Leads to Weight Gain

Winning After Losing: Keep Off the Weight You've Lost - Forever
by Stacey Halprin

(Page 5 of 7)

An important part of getting to know the new you is learning how to check in with yourself so you are always in touch with how you're feeling. The old you may have reached for food when you were stressed, without even realizing you were anxious or overwhelmed, not hungry. For your choices to support your new goal to have a healthier lifestyle, you'll need to do everything you can to avoid slipping into "automatic pilot." In other words, make sure you keep your hands on the steering wheel and your eyes on the road so that you are present with each situation. When you notice that your stress level is starting to affect your decisions, be proactive and reduce your stress before it leads to overeating or poor food choices.

When you're under a lot of stress, you are not only more likely to overeat, but you are also more likely to eat foods that are high in sugar and fat. That's just one reason that so many people gain after losing, instead of winning! But you can stop that from happening, especially if you understand why it happens and how to combat the stress in healthy ways. Knowledge is power! Dr. Hoffman says, "Researchers at the University of California-San Francisco have shown a link between chronic stress and obesity. People who have a high stress level produce higher levels of the hormone called cortisol, which often leads to increased eating of high-caloric foods and sweets. When you have high levels of cortisol circulating in your bloodstream this will increase the mobilization of protein breakdown from muscle. Also, if the raised blood sugar is not used immediately for energy use, it will be stored as abdominal fat. This is why chronic sustained stress leads to muscle loss as well as fat deposition. Loss of muscle mass is a serious problem, as muscle is metabolically very active and thus helps to increase metabolism, essential for weight loss. As cortisol is increased it continues to raise blood sugar and lead to the increase of its opposing hormone-insulin. Insulin is meant to lower the glucose whenever it is too high. If insulin production remains increased for sustained periods this can lead to a condition known as metabolic syndrome, a prediabetic condition."

HOT TIP

Don't Look at the Menu!

When you go out to eat, resist the temptation to look at the menu. Menus are like foreplay. They tease you and make you want more. The pictures are as enticing as the sexiest centerfold could ever be, and once you see them, it's almost impossible to pass them up. Decide what you will eat before you get to the restaurant. Some restaurants have their menus online, so one option is to check it out during the day when you're not hungry and make a decision then.

Even if you don't know exactly what a restaurant offers, you've probably eaten out enough in your life to have a pretty good idea what types of food different types of restaurants serve. For instance, if I'm at a diner, I know I can order an egg-white omelet. If I'm at a steak house, I'll ask the server if they have a veggie burger or a steak salad. When you're with other people, order first so you're not tempted to get what someone else is having. Be the leader. Remind yourself that nothing tastes as good as looking great and feeling on top of the world.

He said, "An article in New Scientist reported that Kent Berridge of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor showed that stress might trigger binge eating by changing how you value a reward. The study showed that stress might increase your desire for a pleasurable experience while not actually increasing your sense of enjoyment. In a series of experiments, they showed that stress magnified rats' desire to eat sugar, especially when the rats had a cue or tone to advertise the reward. It is a bit like seeing an advertisement for ice cream, which makes you desire it, he says. If you are not stressed, you can resist, but together the stress and the ad make it irresistible. Cortisol also interferes with a protein known as tyrosine, which is essential for thyroid hormone production. Excess cortisol leads to decreased thyroid function and a lowered metabolic rate, another problem in weight gain. On an average day, most people experience eight to ten major triggers to their stress response. Each time your stress response is activated and your cortisol level goes up you can experience an urge to eat something soothing or stimulating. Your stress response, also known as the fight-or-flight response, can be triggered by many everyday occurrences such as an upsetting conversation or interaction, being cut off in traffic, realizing that you left an important document at home, or not being able to find your keys.

"Not only can stress make unhealthy foods more tempting, but it can also impair your body's process of absorbing nutrients and digesting your food. Basically, the best time to eat is when you are feeling safe and relaxed because that's when your body can process and digest food the most efficiently and enhance your metabolism, which leads to fat loss."

Action Plan for Stress-Free Eating

Do:

• Eat while sitting down in a relaxed atmosphere.

• Eat at a comfortable pace; stay conscious of the process.

• Chew every bite many times before swallowing.

• Set your fork or spoon down on your plate between bites.

• Take a moment to feel grateful for the food and the person or people who prepared it for you.

• Pay attention to the internal signals that tell you when you are full.

• Eat in silence for one meal each week, savoring the flavor of each mouthful of food.

• Remember that food should be valued for its nutritional traits. Continuing to eat after the point of satiety overloads the digestive system, resulting in a buildup of toxicity in your physiology. (It takes twenty minutes for your brain to know that your body is full, so wait at least that long before indulging in a second helping.)

• Learn to eat food from all six available taste groups-sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent. Each different taste has a distinct yet subtle effect on your physiology.

• Eat a few pieces of freshly sliced ginger sprinkled with lemon juice fifteen minutes before a meal to kindle your taste for healthy food.

• Eat freshly prepared foods. Lightly cooked foods are preferable to overcooked foods.

• Sit quietly for a few minutes after finishing your meal. Focus your attention on the sensations in your body.

Don't:

• Watch TV, drive, or have upsetting conversations while eating.

• Eat out of boxes or bags. Put your food on a plate or in a bowl.

• Don't eat while highly emotional.

• Don't eat unless you feel hungry. Think of your capacity for food as an "appetite gauge"-where number 1 on the gauge means you are famished and 10 means you are completely full. Eat when your gauge is around number 2 or 3.

• Stop eating when you're satisfied, or when your gauge is around number 6 or 7.

• Reduce your consumption of ice-cold foods and beverages, because these can significantly reduce absorption of specific foods by diluting the acid produced by your stomach, essential for protein breakdown.

• Do not eat erratically due to high levels of stress and a busy life. This will lead to inefficient energy production, weight gain, and obesity.

About the Author

Stacey Halprin lives in New York City.