Posts tagged Comfort

Almost everyone engages in the act of comfort eating from time to time. It is common to reach for food when we are unhappy in life, feeling stressed, depressed, bored, or disempowered.

Stress has more of a role in what we eat than many realize and a great deal of overeating can be attributed to stress. One common substance that we ingest which can be related to our stress levels is caffeine.

But when we look at people who suffer from stress, depression or anxiety, this statement has no foundation whatsoever. The reason is simple. Foods, no matter what they are, cannot make you stressed.

Stress is the cause of many of today’s health related problems. In today’s hectic world, with the hurried lifestyles that most of us lead, there are several situations which cause us to experience stress.

Stress–we recognize it when we become overwhelmed and when it causes problems. On other days, we tolerate it, resigned to living in a world where new stressors emerge whenever a familiar stressor wanes. We usually locate our stress outside ourselves.

While certainly there are times when we all need to be able to respond to stress, most of us need to learn how to shut this system off or at least try to lessen the intensity. Triggers for this type of response are things like deadlines, bills you can’t pay.

With every negative emotion and thought, comes a level of stress. The more we pile on the negativity as we fear food, hate our body and struggle with life the more our stress levels increase. And what happens when we are stressed.

Your body may tell you it is under too much stress through insomnia, desire for binge eating, fatigue, and foggy thinking with trouble remembering and focusing. I add binge eating, because many head straight to comfort food when stress compounds.

Comfort eating essentially involves eating in response to emotional needs as opposed to nutritional or physiological needs. Comfort eaters frequently overeat and when someone overeats on a regular basis obesity and associated health problems such as high blood pressure.

However, you should also remember that certain people experience weight gain simply because they are feeling better and have regained their appetite, not because of the medication. So be sure to pin-point exactly what is affecting your weight gain. Once you have figured out what your weight is driven by, there are several options to help you deal with the problem.

Play with a dog or cat. Experts say pet owners have longer lives and fewer stress symptoms that non-pet owners. Playing with your pet provide good vibrations – for you and for the pet! It’s a form of social interaction with no pressure to meet anyone’s expectations!

Stress and weight control are so closely tied together. Stress can lead to over eating whether it is a temporary relief from the stress, to fulfill some other emotional need or because a stressful life does not allow you the time to eat healthy meals.

Favorite home-made foods in the us include meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes (or twice-baked potato), applesauce, fried chicken, chicken noodle soup, pizza, peanut butter, ice cream, and bacon, eggs, and hash browns for breakfast.