According to research,
‘emotional eating’ may actually be
physiological
Do you feel like the more
stressed you are the more junk food you eat? It’s not just
in your mind—new research indicates those cravings are
physiological.
It’s been termed in the
past as ‘emotional eating,’ but now researchers are
discovering there’s a physiological reason why stress makes
us hungry.
“The findings suggest that
developing and gaining abdominal fat may be the body’s
coping mechanism for stress,” says Jane Sadler, M.D., family
practice physician on the medical staff at Baylor Medical
Center at Garland.
Here’s how it works—when
the body starts to feel stress, certain hormones like
cortisol are released. It’s those hormones that then make
comfort foods actually taste better, sparking cravings.
“It is the fatty foods and
the sugar-laden foods that tend to help lower those stress
hormones in those people, but it lowers their stress
hormones temporarily,” explains Dr. Sadler.
Researchers also found
that otherwise lean women with excess belly fat have an
exaggerated response to cortisol which may be why it’s
difficult for some to lose that weight in the midsection.
The findings are some of
the first to illustrate just exactly how stress affects not
only our daily food choices, but our overall health.
“And if they can realize
that, perhaps they’ll reach for a bottle of water instead of
the potato chips,” adds Dr. Sadler.
Most of us can’t avoid
stress so the key is learning to manage it better.
Researchers found exercise, meditation and massage can be
useful in a weight-loss strategy because they keep stress
levels from peaking which keeps people out of the junk food.
According to doctors,
there is also no proof that we can control stress hormones
with drugs so consult your doctor before taking diet pills
that claim to regulate cortisol levels.