Why do we seize stress and anxiety, how such overeating is harmful to the body and how to learn to control "nervous" hunger
How often, in tense moments, does your hand reach for a candy, a cutlet, a piece of sausage, or any other trifle that you can throw in your mouth? The food is excellent and, most importantly, it quickly helps to cope with negative emotions and experiences. Psychologists have proven that at the moment of chewing, impulses are sent to the brain that help a person to relax. But the joy from this will be short-lived. In response to psychologists, nutritionists say: everything that is eaten due to stress is deposited in the abdomen. This means that the habit of seizing anxiety takes you further and further from a good figure. In addition, after such snacks, a person very often "eats" himself even more because of feelings of guilt and lack of willpower.
Why do we seize stress and how it is harmful to the body
Start by stopping blaming yourself. In fact, seizing stress is not a weak will, but a completely normal biological reaction of the body. Any negative emotion or experience increases the production of glucocorticoid hormones (the most famous of which is the so-called stress hormone cortisol). These, in turn, send a signal to the brain to mobilize energy resources. Because of this, appetite increases. After all, the main source of energy for us is food.
Stress seizing is not a weakness, but a biological response of the body / istockphoto.com
From the point of view of psychology, everything is also explained simply. When we experience stress, we subconsciously look for opportunities to reward or comfort ourselves. Therefore, the advice "replace the snack with squats", despite the correct message, works very poorly. What a reward if you have to put some more effort into it. And by the way, it is in search of "consolation" that we most often choose an unhealthy apple. To feel better, the body asks for what is known to be harmful. Spicy, salty, fatty, sweet - any food with a pronounced taste is suitable. And the more harmful, the better. The mechanism of self-justification is triggered: “I’m not just like that, but because I feel bad”.
However, after a few hours, having subdued their glucocorticoids, a person begins to feel remorse. And there is a reason for this. After stress, insulin levels rise in our body. This means that the eaten "reward" settles on the stomach and turns into abdominal fat. The more such fat, the higher in the near future the risk of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. That is, despite all the biological and psychological justifications, the habit of stressing must be taken under control. There are some pretty simple but effective ways to help you calm your "nervous appetite" and get through the unpleasant moments of life without a roll or chocolate bar.
TOP 5 Ways to Reduce Appetite and Stop Stressing Stress
Break for 10 minutes.
Set aside a snack for 10-15 minutes to see exactly how much you need it / istockphoto.com
Simply denying yourself candy due to stress will add even more stress. First, you will be thinking about this ill-fated candy all the time. Secondly, the feeling that you are unhappy will be added to the nervous hunger. After all, you yourself have just deprived yourself of the comfort. Set aside a snack for 10 minutes. Then the body will think of it as a reward delayed in time. During this time, you will be able to decide whether you really want this award, and with what useful you can replace it.
Brain bait.
Thinking about a pizza or a burger, you stimulate your brain in such a way that it begins to "throw" you the taste, smell, shape and color of the desired dish. These images persistently pop up in the head, and it is very difficult to simply push them aside. Try to wedge it neatly new image. Some simple but intrusive activity will do. For example, play Tetris, snake, or short dynamic arcade games on your phone. Instead of playing, you can draw on paper or mold a devil from plasticine. The main thing is to create a new image that can interrupt fantasies about a harmful snack.
Healthy seizure.
Learn to seize stress the right way: fruits, vegetables and protein foods / istockphoto.com
The cravings for unhealthy foods during periods of stress are biologically and physiologically explicable. The body needs to mobilize energy, and this is most quickly done with the help of carbohydrates. Therefore, in anxiety, chips, chocolates, buns and burgers, pastries and cakes "go well". No matter how your brain screams that it does not want an apple, but wants an eclair with condensed milk, try to smoothly shift the habit towards more useful products. Eat stress with fruits and vegetables (they lift your mood and improve the intestinal microflora), protein food (it quickly saturates and leaves a feeling of fullness for a long time) or chew mint gum (the smell of mint reduces appetite, and chewing will make you feel like you had a snack).
Rule of the fifth part.
Do not give up junk food, just control the amount / istockphoto.com
Allow yourself junk food. A tough taboo on "snacks" will only spur the desire to relax in a stressful situation. Allow space in your diet for the wrong food, but that space will be limited to one-fifth of the total. Economics has the Pareto principle, or the 80/20 rule. Transferring it to food, allow yourself to receive 20% of the energy value from “shameful pleasures” like cinnabon, a glass of wine or a pack of crackers with beer. Then, in difficult periods of life, you will not be delirious with harmful products. And even more - you will have every right to eat them, but not more than you should.
The principle of preparation.
Cook every snack as if it's a dinner party due to stress / istockphoto.com
Most of all, we run the risk of overeating when we grab "just a little" from the refrigerator or buffet with sweets. For "consolation" you can go countless times, and then marvel at the total amount eaten. If you do decide to grab a snack in a stressful situation, prepare for that snack as a full meal. Serve the dish. Chop or cut it into small pieces. Arrange the pieces on a plate in a certain order - symmetrically, or by laying out a picture, or by building a turret. This ritual can even be done with two candies. But after such preparation, you definitely do not want a third.
You will also be interested in reading:
Foods not to eat during times of stress
8 tips to stop stress eating
6 nighttime snacks that won't add extra pounds
