Stress eating can happen to any of us during any stressful situation. Stressful eating happens when we are emotionally eating during stressful situations and turn to food for comfort.
This is not a healthy way to deal with stress and will cause weight gain, depression, and low self-esteem. Here are 5 tips to end stressful eating so you can deal with stress in a healthier way to decrease your stress levels.
# Food Choices
The first tip to stop stressful eating is to eat healthy, during stressful times we turn to junk food for comfort such as chips, chocolate, candy and anything sweet. You can create a food diary to track your progress of what you eat, when you eat, and what times you are hungriest and to figure out what is your trigger food.
You don’t want to eliminate all of your favorite foods because this will only tempt you more. But what you do want to do is to make healthier food choices, by swapping your junk food for healthy food you will feel better and eating healthy helps decrease your appetite and improve your overall health.
# Exercise
The second tip is to exercise, on average when people are stressed, they feel depressed and overwhelmed, exercising will help manage stress and keep you healthy. You don’t need to run to the gym or a treadmill, you can simply work out at home, go jogging, running, play a sport, or walking to help overcome this.
This will help your overall health and exercising has been reported from studies to help have stress-busting benefits according to Mayo Clinic, it pumps your endorphins. The more physical activity you have the more production of your brain receives feel-good neurotransmitters called endorphins.
# Meditation
The third tip to end stressful eating is to meditate, meditation is a powerful tool used for stress, anxiety, and depression. Meditation will help lower your stress levels and bring you into a relaxed and soothing mood even if you only meditate for 5 minutes, you will feel a difference. It is best to meditate every day to help cope with stress.
You can download the app Calm which has been recommended by many therapists to help with stress. This is a healthy and very effective way of dealing with stressful eating because you will have a new outlet to turn to instead of eating.
# Prevent Boredom
The fourth way to end stressful eating is to prevent boredom, aside from stressful situations many people turn to food and are unconsciously eating because they’re bored. To prevent boredom, do activities throughout your day. You can buy some art supplies from your local art store and you can paint, draw, try out pottery, knitting, or even sewing.
There are so many things you can do to fill up your day no matter where you live. You can go out to the city, visit an art gallery, learn a new language, read a book, visit family or friends to help prevent boredom. It is important to prevent boredom because when your mind is preoccupied with something, your mind will not focus on eating unless necessary.
# Support
We all need some support to get through stressful times, calling a friend or family member for support is a great option to help overcome stressful eating. In fact, some other options such as joining a support group or signing up for therapy will help you even more!
Speaking to a professional you will be able to identify your stressors and food triggers, and you will create a plan that works best for you. Joining a support group is great because you will be surrounded by other people who are trying to overcome the same thing as you and you will have a team of supportive people on the same mission as you which will feel inspiring and uplifting.
If you would like some support around stress eating – or anything else you are struggling with, book a free 30 session with me here.