Stress is probably one of the biggest reasons why people Comfort Eat.
It is also one of the most common reasons for taking time off work. And there are also many more who suffer from stress in the home.
Imagine: the kids are going wild and you've got all the ironing to do, you're just about to have a tea break at work and the boss comes in and gives you a pile of work to do or your partner has phoned to say that the house has been burgled. How do you react?
Is it a packet of cream biscuits, a bar of chocolate, a multi-pack of crisps or is the cake shop close by?
The Priory Clinic carried out a survey that suggests that over 40% of adults in the UK admit to Comfort Eating when they feel anxious, lonely, sad or stressed. Research has suggested that some foods and snacks, such as chocolate, encourage the production of serotonin, the "feel-good" hormone and that this helps to make us feel happy again. But dietician Helen Stracey feels that there are other reasons.
"We tend to choose foods such as chocolate and biscuits when we're feeling low because these are the sort of foods we were given as children as a reward for good behaviour or as a treat to cheer us up when we were feeling sad. So over time we learn to associate these foods with feelings of love, security and happiness."
Feeling empty inside is also an unhappy feeling and food can remove the emptiness and make you happy again so eating and happiness can go together. Foods with high sugar contents, such as chocolate and sweets, are very attractive as they produce temporary highs or sugar rushes which lift the spirits. And manufacturers of these foods know very well the effect that high sugar products can have on your moods.
Dr Lynn Dunwoody of Ulster University suggests that boredom can be a source of stress, particularly for people with too much time on their hands. This group of people includes parents left at home after the children have gone to school for the day.
"It's only when you go through what they eat item by item that it becomes clear that a lot of it is in-between meals," says Dr Dunwoody. "And it's not out of hunger, it's because they're bored or it's just a habit."
And a great deal of our lifestyle comes from our childhood experiences. Our parents would give us sweets (compare to today where sweets are available to children as well as adults nearly everywhere we go) and provide us with tempting puddings and desserts. Added to that the fact that celebrations tend to go on around food: birthdays with fattening cakes, ice cream and puddings; weddings with sumptuous feasts and nearly every other event that we attend to commemorate someone's special day. And then we only have to think of Christmas and the amount of food we stuff down our throats!! Christmas is hardly a healthy time of year!
Researchers in the US have discovered that stress hormones encourage fat cell formation so we gain weight. So if you comfort eat when you are stressed you are far more likely to put on weight.
As would be expected, the way that we react to stress depends on whether we are female or male. It has been discovered that women will go for cream cakes, chocolate, ice cream and foods that are high in sugar and fats, but men tend to go for more meat-rich foods such as bacon sandwiches, bacon, sausage, fried bread and eggs, burgers or meat feast style pizzas, all of which are high in fat and high in starch. The end result is the same: Comfort Eating and weight gain.
Comfort Eating and overeating as a result of stress can have serious health implications. For example, diabetes, because of sustained higher blood sugar levels and cardiovascular diseases because of the amount of extra fat consumed. Comfort Eating and overeating also bring on even more stress because sugar is released into the bloodstream too quickly and this causes blood sugar levels to fluctuate. The result can be tiredness and irritability, both of which can be pre-cursors to stress. So the stress cycle continues because of the Comfort Eating.
One of the ways that we can counteract stress is through physical activity. This causes the release of endorphins which produce a natural feel good effect, helping to neutralise stress.
So if you stop comfort eating and take more exercise you can virtually guarantee weight loss success.
If you would like to know more about how to break your comfort eating habit and lose weight - click here.
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STRESS & COMFORT EATING
If you are a Comfort Eater, research shows that, more than likely, you are suffering from one form of stress or another, or even from several forms.
Do you feel lacking in:
- Happiness
- Love
- Confidence
- Company
- Security?
Or do you feel any of the following:
- Anger
- Boredom
- Depression
- Guilt
- Irritability
- Loneliness
- Low self-esteem
- Sadness
- Stress
- Tiredness?
Any of the above can cause you to feel like Comfort Eating.
Do you snack on:
Chocolate Cake?
Or maybe:
Burger?
Or maybe:
Chocolate
Or maybe:
Sausage & Egg?
If you would like to know more about how you can stop comfort eating and lose weight click here.
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