I eat when I'm anxious and stressed. I have read many things and heard many things about alternate ways to deal with stress but no one seems to offer anything that I can do consistently.
So how do you all deal with stress? If you have managed to do it without eating could you provide a fairly detailed explanation and examples?
Or if there's already a thread for this could someone point me to it?
I use two basic techniques (with many variations) if I want to eat in response to any emotion, including stress.
1) I remind myself that if I eat, I'll feel better for 30 seconds, and then I'll feel awful that I ate AND I'll still be stressed. Not worth it. I also try to remember a time where I successfully avoiding eating so I know I can do it.
2) I find something else to do. Exercise works great when I can do that, literally walk away from food. But pretty much anything will work as long as I don't watch TV. I keep a list of stuff to do, which includes reading weight management books, posting here, etc, so that I don't have to think much about a distraction activity when I need it NOW.
It works best if I do these two things together.
Anne
PS Also make a note, literally or mentally, about dealing with your stress successfully after you've done it, so next time not eating will be easier.
Last edited by AnneWonders; 02-17-2009 at 08:10 AM.
I exercise or do yoga. Exercise really helps - even if it is just having to jog in place at my desk to get out some frustration if I can't get outside.
Deep breathing at the moments of extreme stress help. I just close my eyes and really focus on the inhale and exhale. I can actually feel my blood pressure decrease, I swear! That can stop an immediate reaching for the chocolate.
I have been doing some gentle hatha yoga at nights, and this really seems to help relax me, although turning my mind off while doing it is the hardest part.
I'm big on dealing with stress through exercise. Even if you just have 4 minutes, you can do a Tabata...afterward, you'll be too tired to notice your stress too much. On Thursday, I had a ridiculously stressful work day, just a ton going on. I found myself in front of the pantry. I said to myself "no, the pantry is closed", then went and did my Tabata.
I also found it helpful to get out all of my snacks for the rest of the day and put them outside of the areas where the rest of the food is stored. If I am stressed and have to dig through a cabinet to get to my PB2, I'm more likely to grab something not on my plan.
Running helps me. If I can't run then I keep my hands busy like cleaning or folding laundry. I have been trying to go to a yoga class once a week and I try to sit and breathe for about 10 minutes before bedtime. It is a constant struggle to not binge eat during stressful times for me, but I eat when I am happy or bored or excited or whenever...
So for me it's totally about focusing. When I get stressed - which is usually at work - I find myself unable to focus on the task at hand and I sort of jump from thing to thing - and mostly things unrelated to what I should/need to be doing. I find that getting up and walking around, outside if I can, really helps with that kind of stress. In that situation, I don't usually look for food (and lately we've been down on sweets at work, and up on fruit and pretzels )
Emotional stress - usually at home, of course - is much more apt to make me want to eat. Exercise - if I can make myself do it - helps. Again, taking a walk may be enough. I have had some success with Anne's techniques, though writing down what to do instead of eating is a great idea, as is Amanda's of putting out the snacks (or at least having a list).
Though it's a bit OT, boredom is much more of a trigger for me, and I use many of the same techniques.
Like many of us I was brought up in a family that used food to celebrate, food as reward, food when "things" aren't going well...... It's hard to overcome that little voice that's been in your head for the last 60+ years.
I don't usually eat when I'm stressed. I eat when I'm bored. But both of these are usually forgotten after a few games of Spider Solitaire on the computer (Medium difficulty--easy is just too easy). Crossword puzzles also help me.
In terms of dealing with stress, I try to separate out what I can control from what I can't control. For the stuff that I can control, I take whatever action I can to resolve it. For the stuff that I can't control, I try to put into into perspective and let it go. One of my mottos is "Change the things you can and let the things you can't go." If I'm really stressed about something I can't change, I literally recite this to myself.
For example, right now I am having a philosophical difference with my boss about a work-related matter and it's been very stressful to me. There are two possible things I could change about the situation: 1) I could get a new job (and a new boss) or 2) I could convince my boss that I'm right (or at least try to). In looking at the big picture, I've decided that it isn't an important enough issue to quit my job over it, so I've decided against #1. That leaves #2, which I've been trying very hard to do. It is looking less and less like I'm going to succeed. In light of this, I have reminded myself that A) I can't win every argument, B) Although I disagree with my boss, this isn't a life or death matter. No one is going to die and the world isn't going to end if I don't get my way. Who knows, maybe I'll even be proven wrong. A + B = just letting it go.
I find that often just reminding myself that whatever I'm stressed about isn't a life or death matter often will provide a lot of relief for me.
A couple of other strategies that I use are to just walk away from whatever is stressing me and come back to it later. This argument with my boss has been ongoing for several days now, mostly via email. Sometimes, when I get an email from him on it, I just close it and focus on some other work-related task for a while before responding. I also made a point of just doing stuff that I enjoyed over the weekend and not thinking about work and the argument with my boss, so that I got at least a two-day break from it.
Finally, I remind myself that whatever I'm going through is just temporary. In another month or so, my boss and I will be onto other things and this argument will be completely forgotten about. Until then, all I really have to do is keep breathing. So long as I do that, eventually time will pass and this problem will get resolved.
I don't typically eat when I'm stressed, so that isn't a problem for me. I do eat when I'm bored--to the point where I can actually convince myself I'm hungry. In that situation, I try to take a step back and evaluate whether or not I'm really hungry or just trying to get out of doing whatever it is I'm doing. I also try to focus on something else that will get my mind off food.
Last edited by BlueToBlue; 02-18-2009 at 03:39 AM.
There are a number of things I've tried and some I haven't in your replies. I also eat when I'm bored (forgot about that one) and that was addressed as well.
Sometimes the things I stress about are life and death situations.
I've learned that a physiologic response to stress is to eat to save up calories for when a body needs it. I've learned to deep breathe, pray, communicate, relax body parts, etc. And you know what? Sometimes I still cope by eating.....it helps to keep an environment free from chocolate, but when it happens I just pick myself up, dust myself off, and move on. I've accepted that, for now, it's just gonna happen now and then.
I eat when I'm stressed, when I'm bored, when I'm nervous. Like others have said already, stopping for a second and doing some deep breathing helps sometimes. I also will sit still, breathe deeply, then starting at my toes tense and release my muscles, moving up the body until I get to my head. I learned that in a relaxation class where we did it lying down, but it works for me sitting in my chair, too. If I'm at home I try to exercise at those moments.
I also have a set of chime balls - two small chinese balls with some cloisenne art on them, dragons are on mine, and light chimes inside. I work those in my hand and that slows my mind down, often distracts me past food. I got them when I cut the tendon in my hand a few years ago and needed them for therapy, discovered that they are pretty relaxing. http://www.officeplayground.com/hballssunmoon.html
i really like this post. i eat most when I am fearful of something, not being in control. but i also eat out of bored, depression, angry, happy big emotional eater. I have used some of these in the past the teqhniques just need to get back to them.
I run daily and it definitely helps. When met with a crisis situation that makes me want to eat I try to do something else. I indulge in other guilty pleasures like making a long phone call, surfing way to long on the internet, shopping, making a hot bubble bath, etc. This is the first time in my life I have changed the way I am reacting to the stress and drama I have to deal with. I feel so good when I get through crisis without overeating. I feel better afterwards too.
I try to put things in perspective. Usually (not always, but usually), I'm feeling a lot of stress over something that doesn't matter as much as I think it does. It's taken me a long time to figure that out, and even still, it's hard to keep in mind at times. But I try, and it often helps.
I eat when I'm bored, tired, and/or procrastinating about something I don't really want to do. So I totally understand!
Several things come to mind that I am working on:
1. Regular exercise really helps keep the emotions in check
2. Face the issue head-on - identify WHY you want to eat, then tackle the problem if you can
3. Get out of the kitchen... Go somewhere in the house (or out of the house) where there isn't food.
4. Schedule an appointment for yourself as a reward for working through it & to relax - something like a massage, pedicure, manicure, shoe shopping, whatever makes you feel good & well-cared for.
5. Look at your food journal & review how you've eaten for the day. Do you have lots of room left in your food budget? What types of foods have you been eating? Are you getting some cravings because of too many carbs/sugars/salt/empty calories?
6. Walk away for 20 minutes. If it isn't gone by then, identify a HEALTHY option that will take awhile to prepare & to munch on (think raw veggies/dip, homemade baked potato fries, a healthy smoothie, etc.). Usually in the preparation time, I'm already re-thinking the food and if it is a good idea. It also allows me to journal it BEFORE I eat it, which holds me accountable for the calories.
(NOTE re #6: if you are going to eat something, make sure you sit down at the table & truly eat it. Mindfully, purposefully, and slowly. Eating standing up or while pacing, or while watching TV doesn't signal to your brain that you've actually eaten anything and the craving will go on long after your snack is over).
I hope some of these things help. My worst time is at night & lately, I'm prone to the afternoon sweet cravings, too. I'm a work in progress for sure, but some combination of the above seems to get me through 90% of the munchies.
Dealing with stress
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Thanks everyone!
