Stress Eaters

anyasants

Anyone else do this much?? I'm a sophomore in college and every time I have midterms or a bunch of homework, I just give up. I let my health take a back seat. I keep telling myself that if I need a bag of chips to stay up and stay focused for an extra half hour to get my work done...... its ok. Education first. But is that enough? Am I making excuses? Does anyone else do this too??

ChitownFoodie

I'm the polar opposite. When I am stressed I don't touch food at all.

4thehardman

I guess is you account for it and you try to make healthier choices along the way then as long as you keep moving forward with the new healthier you, you shouldn't beat yourself up. Try 'lite' chips of keep almonds ect near you. Cucumber is a good go to staple too. Cut it up keep it in the fridge and use it as your go to food.
I think many of us have days where are choices are not the best ones for us (heck I just had a week of them) but stick to it if its what you want and focus on how fantastic you will lokk at graduation if you keep up the good work!

supaflyjoy

When you get stressed out, your body releases stress hormones that actually trigger your brain to crave and want eat awful, sugary, fatty foods because your body thinks it needs to "store up for survival"! 1400 chemical changes occur as stress hormones sap the body of important nutrients, such as those B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin A and the mineral magnesium. This can also happen due to poor nutrition and lack of sleep (which also is apart of the college life). It happens to me ALL the time. I make sure I take a vitamin B complex every day and eat foods high in those others so that the cravings go down. Good luck this school year!

MusicKeepsMeSane

I eat when I get stressed all the time. Instead of eating unhealthy stuff though I'll eat something healthy so I can eat more of it without feeling bad for eating a lot of sugary, fatty foods, etc.

ariel3561

This is one of my biggest problems in trying to lose weight. I have a busy stressful day and I eat enough food for 3 days. The best outlet I've found is finding something else productive to do to take my mind off the stress. Like going to the gym or even just folding laundry or finishing an assignment to "complete a task" make me feel better.

mangorabbit

I have found that being aware of stress as a trigger to mindless consumption is huge for me. Knowing I do it, I can try to keep an eye out and find something else to do when I get to that point. Yoga sometimes helps de-stress, because I also know that when I do the stress eating, I end up being really pissed at myself for doing it. This can become a vicious and unhelpful cycle.

Be aware, find other things to do, and ultimately, don't let the *kitten* get you down!