Ditch Stress

Have you ever had one of those days where stress leaves you craving pizza or ice cream the moment you get home? Or perhaps you’ve felt so overwhelmed that even the thought of food makes your stomach turn? You’re not alone! Stress has a profound impact on our eating habits and food choices.

Today, we’re exploring the connection between stress and eating. We’ll look at how stress affects your appetite, digestion, and hunger cues—and why emotional eating often becomes a go-to coping mechanism.

We’ll also break down emotional eating to show how they tie into stress. By the end, you’ll have practical tips and strategies to build healthier eating habits, even when stress tries to take over. Let’s get started!

How Stress Impacts Appetite

Stress and appetite are undeniably connected, but this connection varies from person to person. Some people overeat when they feel stressed, and other people lose track of their appetite almost entirely.

Researchers have actually found that during periods of high stress and anxiety about 40% of people report a decreased appetite and about 40% of people report an increased appetite. So it’s actually quite common to go one way or the other!

For some, stress makes it hard to hear or tune into their hunger cues, and they refrain from eating for long stretches. Their emotions become so intense that they overshadow or suppress feelings of hunger. 

For other people, the pendulum swings in the other direction and stress turns them into emotional eaters who may be attempting to distract themselves with food. This can happen for a variety of reasons, often because stress affects our hormones.

The Science Behind Stress, Hormones, and Hunger

Stress impacts appetite in different ways. Initially, it can suppress hunger as cortisol, a protective hormone, surges during stressful events. However, prolonged stress keeps cortisol levels elevated, leading to increased cravings, fat storage, and potential weight gain.

Chronic stress alters the brain’s dopamine reward system, making it harder to feel pleasure. This can drive cravings for sugary, fatty, or salty foods, offering temporary comfort but often creating a reliance on food for emotional relief.

Situational factors like disrupted routines, isolation, or boredom can further fuel emotional eating, turning stress into a cycle of overeating and weight gain.

Understanding Emotional Eating and Stress

When you’re stressed for a long time, as with chronic stress, your body releases a lot of certain hormones, like glucocorticoids. This can cause your body to make too much leptin from fat cells and insulin from the pancreas. As a result, your brain becomes less sensitive to leptin and insulin, which can make you resistant to their effects and less able to control your appetite.

Leptin resistance is when your body stops responding well to leptin, a hormone that tells your brain you’re full and helps regulate your weight. Even if you have plenty of leptin, your brain doesn’t get the message to stop eating, so you keep feeling hungry and might overeat. This resistance can contribute to weight gain and difficulties in losing weight.

Ghrelin, a hormone produced in the stomach, influences how we respond to stress. When we’re stressed, our bodies often produce more ghrelin, which can make us feel hungrier and more inclined to eat. Additionally, ghrelin can affect the production and release of stress hormones, influencing our overall stress response. This interaction between ghrelin and stress hormones may contribute to conditions like stress-induced obesity.

Stress and Digestion: The Gut-Brain Connection

Frequent activation of the stress response can disrupt digestion, leading to issues like upset stomach, irritable bowel syndrome, or ulcers. Stress often manifests physically in the gut.

The autonomic nervous system, which controls vital functions like breathing and heart rate, includes the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. Both interact with the enteric nervous system (ENS), a “second brain” in your gut that regulates digestion and communicates with the brain through chemicals like serotonin.

The ENS consists of over 100 million nerve cells covering the digestive tract and uses more than 30 neurotransmitters, including 95% of the body’s serotonin, found in the bowels.

The “brain-gut axis” highlights the link between stress and digestive health. Stress triggering the fight-or-flight response can slow or stop digestion as the body redirects energy to handle perceived threats. Even mild stress, like public speaking, can briefly disrupt digestion, causing symptoms like abdominal pain. Chronic digestive issues, in turn, can heighten anxiety and stress.

Stress and Metabolism

Stress doesn’t only influence your eating habits. Studies show it can affect your metabolism, too. Stress hormones slow down physiological processes that aren’t crucial to surviving an immediate threat — like your metabolism — and speed up the ones you need to survive in the moment.

In a recent study, individuals who faced stressors in the past day—like arguments, conflicts with friends or family, or work pressures—burned 104 fewer calories after consuming a high-fat meal than those who were not stressed. Research suggests that even just one stressful event before eating a fatty meal can significantly slow down metabolism, potentially leading to an 11-pound weight gain over a year.

Why Chronic Stress Changes Your Eating Habits

Stress often triggers emotional eating, where food is used to cope with strong feelings. Think of the phrase “eat your feelings.” While food may temporarily ease stress, the relief is short-lived, and the link between stress and weight gain is well-established.

This behavior is driven by hormones like cortisol, which raises blood pressure and insulin levels while lowering blood sugar, leading to cravings for fatty, sugary foods. Emotional eating can also become a habitual response to stress, creating a cycle of overeating, guilt, and more stress. Addressing emotional triggers and finding alternative coping strategies can help break this cycle.

Research also links high cortisol levels to an increase in visceral fat, the more harmful type of body fat. Elevated cortisol may even enhance the satisfaction we feel from eating comfort foods, reinforcing this pattern.

Bingeing and Stress

Bingeing, or binge-eating, is when someone eats a large amount of food in a short period and feels a lack of control over their eating during that time. This behavior is often accompanied by feelings of guilt, shame, or distress afterward. 

Binge-eating episodes are typically characterized by eating much more food than most people would in a similar situation and can occur regularly or occasionally. Binge-eating is different from occasional overeating, as it involves a sense of loss of control and can be a sign of an underlying eating disorder, such as binge-eating disorder.

Stress can trigger binge-eating episodes for several reasons. When stressed, some people may turn to food as a way to cope with their emotions or find comfort. Additionally, stress can affect hormones like ghrelin, which regulate appetite and may increase cravings for high-calorie foods. Moreover, stress can weaken self-control and decision-making abilities, making it harder to resist overeating. 

Overall, the connection between stress and binge-eating involves both emotional and physiological factors, often resulting in episodes of excessive eating during stressful periods.

Hot Tips – Let’s Get Practical: Breaking the Cycle of Stress and Overeating

Now that we know stress can lead to overeating or undereating, let’s explore practical tips to manage both.

Tips to Manage Emotional Eating During Stress

Managing emotional eating can be challenging, but there are strategies that can help. Here’s a list of tips to manage emotional eating:

1. Identify Triggers: Recognize the emotions or situations that trigger your urge to eat.

2. Keep a Food Journal: This can help you identify patterns and triggers for emotional eating.

3. Practice Mindful Eating: Pay attention to what you’re eating and why you’re eating it. 

4. Find Other Coping Mechanisms: Instead of food, find other ways to move through your emotions.

5. Create a Support System: Surround yourself with supportive friends and family

6. Plan Healthy Meals and Snacks: Plan ahead and have healthy food readily available.

7. Limit Trigger Foods: Limit your exposure to them or keep them out of the house altogether.

8. Practice Stress Management: Find healthy ways to manage stress, like exercise or time in nature.

9. Get Enough Sleep: Lack of sleep can disrupt hormones that regulate hunger and appetite.

10. Practice Self-Compassion: Be kind to yourself and recognize that managing emotional eating is a process.

11. Celebrate Non-Food Victories: Find ways to reward yourself that don’t involve food.

12. Keep Blood Sugar Stable: This helps to improve overall well being and emotional balance.

Remember, managing emotional eating takes time and practice, but with persistence and the right strategies, it is possible to develop a healthier relationship with food.

How to Regain Your Appetite When Stress Takes Over

Regaining your appetite when it’s lost due to stress can be challenging, but there are strategies that can help:

1. Practice Stress Reduction Techniques: Engage in activities that help reduce stress, such as deep breathing exercises.

2. Establish a Routine: Try to maintain a regular eating schedule, even if you’re not feeling hungry. 

3. Create a Relaxing Eating Environment: Eat in a calm, comfortable environment free from distractions. 

4. Choose Nutrient-Dense Foods: Opt for foods that are rich in nutrients and energy, even if you’re not eating large amounts. Here are some stress reducing options! 

5. Stay Hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids throughout the day, as dehydration can further suppress your appetite.

6. Start with Small Portions: If the thought of eating a full meal is overwhelming, start with small portions and gradually increase the size of your meals.

7. Include Foods You Enjoy: Incorporate foods that you find appealing and enjoyable.

8. Exercise Regularly: Physical activity can help reduce stress and increase your appetite.

9. Seek Support: Talk to friends, family members, or a therapist about your stress and its impact on your appetite.

Remember that it’s normal for appetite to fluctuate, especially during times of stress. Be patient with yourself and focus on taking small steps to support your overall health and well-being.

Important Note

If stress-related under or overeating is affecting your well-being, seeking professional support could make a big difference. If stress is significantly impacting your appetite and overall well-being, consider seeking support from a healthcare professional. They can provide guidance and support tailored to your specific needs.

Conclusion

Reducing stress levels plays a significant role in curbing emotional eating. Things like exercise, mindfulness, relaxation and rest, are key to stopping the stress before it turns into pizza-a-thon.

You probably can’t resolve a chronic stressor in a single day, so don’t expect overnight solutions. Instead, focus on identifying one or two achievable steps you can take today to move closer to resolving the issue. Focus on what you’re doing right! Be kind to yourself. You’ve got this!

What’s your favourite way to relieve stress? Share your tips or stories in the comments—I’d love to hear from you!

If you liked this post, you might like: Break the Cycle: Ditch Unhealthy Coping Habits for Good!