Zip-Lock Your Stress Eating

Stress can make you tired. Stress can make you sick. Stress also can cause you to dive into a potato chip bag or fill up on fried chicken and other comfort foods that may soothe your soul, but torture your waistline.

When we get stressed out, different stress hormones come to the rescue to help our bodies respond. One of these, cortisol, creates intense food cravings. Cortisol makes fat cells release fuel that help energize us for a fight-or-flight reaction to a stressful event, even though we just may be sitting there feeling generally frazzled and anxious.

Several studies have shown that constant stress constantly elevates our cortisol level, causing us to crave those fuels for the stress response - fats and carbohydrates. In other words, we crave foods such as potato chips and fried chicken.

The ugly thing about stress eating is that after a minute on our lips, these fats go straight not to our hips but to our bellies - deep inside the abdomen, to be specific.

A survey commissioned by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) has found that after Sept. 11, 2001, when America came under terrorist attacks, many of us were doing a lot of stress eating. The survey found that about 20 percent of people surveyed said they found themselves eating more comfort foods such as mashed potatoes and gravy, fried chicken, and macaroni and cheese. Sugar cravings also rose, with 19 percent saying they were eating more sweet, sugary foods such as cookies and ice cream.

"It appears that one-fifth of us got an early start on holiday eating last year," says Melanie Polk, R.D., consultant at AICR. The holidays are traditionally a time of indulgence and, for many, modest weight gain. Consume those holiday "goodies" along with your favorite stress foods, and the fat calories click higher and higher.

Not only are these foods high in fat and high in calories, but they are low in much-needed nutrients, Polk explains. These meals also lack the protective potential of phytochemicals, which are natural substances found in plant foods that may fight cancer and other diseases.

"There are a lot of things in the world we can't do much about, but we certainly can make a difference in our disease risk," Polk adds.

Until researchers find a way to make "crunchy air" (in sweet, salty and sour, of course), there are things you can do to curtail your stress-eating tendencies. Polk offers these tips:

• Take small portions of your favorites.

• Eat slowly and savor the taste. "Experience the food; don't just go for the quantity," Polk says.

• If you're headed for the buffet table, go to the table once and then stay away.

• At buffets, survey the entire spread before making your selection. Discriminate. If you have chip and dips all the time at home, pass it up and go for the more interesting salmon roll.

• If you drink, limit alcoholic beverages, which are high in calories. The guidelines are no more than one drink a day for women, two drinks a day for men. Have something nonalcoholic first, so you don't reach for an alcoholic beverage when you're thirsty. Or, try a refreshing alternative to alcohol, such as club soda with lime or cranberry juice with seltzer.

  "There are lots of different options out there, where you don't have to have lots of calories and the alcohol," Polk says.

• Don't arrive at parties hungry, and don't skip meals before parties.

• If you are the host or hostess of a party, provide foods that are healthy, not just fat-laden, to-die-for dishes.

• Step up your exercise to burn off some calories.

Related Articles No More Big Macs on New American Plate Controlling Your Weight

External Sources The National Institute of Mental Health The American Institute for Cancer Research The American Heart Association

This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.

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