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Life can get stressful, and everyone has their own ways of dealing with stress. Unfortunately, many people who are feeling stressed will turn to food to help manage their emotions, which is referred to as "stress eating." While it may be a natural impulse, using food to control or suppress your feelings can harm your body and mind if done too frequently and can be habit forming, begging the question, how do you stop stress eating? This article will unpack what stress eating is, how to stop stress eating and alternative solutions for managing stress in your life.
Stress is the body's natural reaction to change and a way to alert
someone to anything that requires attention or action.1
The desire to stress eat comes from brain signals when it believes the individual
is preparing for a harmful situation.
Stress can trigger emotional eating, and more often than not, it results in binging on comfort food and junk food. The Within program can help you learn mindful eating habits to reduce stress eating.
When you're feeling stressed, your body releases a hormone called cortisol which can trigger hunger. As you relax and stress subsides, cortisol levels return to normal, and hunger dissipates.2
Nearly everyone experiences stress eating at some point throughout their life. Wanting to eat is a natural stress response, and it's okay to indulge in hunger cues once in a while. However, if you're experiencing chronic stress or negative emotions and turning to food as your only outlet, it can impact your physical and mental health.
Binge eating disorder
Chronic stress eating may lead to a binge eating disorder where a person eats a large amount of food in one sitting, often eating past the point of feeling full. Binge eating can lead to serious health concerns like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and depression.3
Night eating syndrome
If a person primarily experiences high stress at night, it could trigger night-eating syndrome (NES). NES is a condition where a person binge eats at night. Those with NES may experience guilt or shame while eating and feel a lack of control, often causing them to continue eating even if they feel full. If left untreated, NES can lead to health concerns like high blood pressure and diabetes.4
How to stop stress eating
If stress eating is frequent and leads to an eating disorder, there are strategies you can implement to stop emotional eating or stress eating.5
Understand your hunger cues: The next time you're craving something, check in with your body to see what's triggering it. Are you experiencing physical signs of hunger, like a rumbling stomach or trouble focusing? Or are you noticing signs of stress?
Surround yourself with supportive individuals: If you're around people who chronically eat when stressed, it will be more challenging to change your eating habits. Talk to your loved ones about your stress eating and work together to find different ways to manage stress.
Reach out to professionals to help with stress and eating behaviors: You don't need to heal alone. Talk to a trained mental health professional to learn different ways to manage your emotions and change your relationship with food.
Therapy can help you understand the difference between emotional and physical hunger.
Soothing stress without food
A big piece of how to stop stress eating is finding ways to manage your stress without involving food. You can try endless stress-release activities, but a few common ones include meditation, exercise, and talk therapy.
Meditation is a practice that uses various breathing and mindfulness techniques to help individuals reach a heightened state of awareness. Research finds that regular meditation practices can reduce stress and stress-induced conditions.6
Exercise is a great way to reduce stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Nearly any type of physical activity, from running to yoga, can provide benefits.7
Talk therapy is a standard treatment for stress and eating disorders and is a great way to help you manage your emotions and change your relationship with food.
Managing your emotions and changing your relationship with food takes time, and it may not be a journey for you to handle alone.
Learn how to deal with stress eating
If you need support for an eating disorder or feel stress is out of control, Within Health can help. Contact the Within admissions team to start the healing journey.
Disclaimer about "overeating": Within Health hesitatingly uses the word "overeating" because it is the term currently associated with this condition in society, however, we believe it inherently overlooks the various psychological aspects of this condition which are often interconnected with internalized diet culture, and a restrictive mindset about food. For the remainder of this piece, we will therefore be putting "overeating" in quotations to recognize that the diagnosis itself pathologizes behavior that is potentially hardwired and adaptive to a restrictive mindset.
Disclaimer about weight loss drugs: Within does not endorse the use of any weight loss drug or behavior and seeks to provide education on the insidious nature of diet culture. We understand the complex nature of disordered eating and eating disorders and strongly encourage anyone engaging in these behaviors to reach out for help as soon as possible. No statement should be taken as healthcare advice. All healthcare decisions should be made with your individual healthcare provider.
Resources
World Health Organization. (2021, October 12). Stress. World Health Organization.
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