Breaking the Cycle: Managing Stress-Eating to Improve Your Health

This article explores how stress can impact our food choices and eating behaviours and provides some tips on how to avoid stress-eating.

Stress is an emotion everybody experiences. When you are feeling stressed, hormones are released, and your fight-or-flight response is activated. This leads to an increased heart rate, faster breathing and tension in your muscles. Not surprisingly, we look for ways to reduce our stress because it makes us feel uncomfortable. Sometimes these uncomfortable feelings are so strong that we feel a sense of urgency to get rid of them as fast as possible.

It is not uncommon for people to use food as a method to manage stress. While you may have not noticed yourself doing this, you might recognise yourself as a ‘comfort eater’ or be able to name a food that you tend to gravitate towards when you’re feeling down, tired or worried.

Stress can impact our eating in two ways

1. Short-term stress can cause your appetite to ‘shut down’. This is due to higher amounts of adrenaline being released in the body. Adrenaline is released during the fight-or-flight response. When this is active, your brain tells the body that there are greater needs in your environment to deal with other than food. This often means you do not feel hungry.​​​
2. Long-term (or chronic stress) causes different changes in the body. Chronic stress leads to higher amounts of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Cortisol increases the amount of ghrelin in the body which is a hunger hormone. When ghrelin levels are high, we become motivated to find food and eat.

Studies have also found that chronic stress leads to a preference for high-fat or high-sugar foods. This is because eating these foods sends a message to the brain which dampens stress signals and produces feelings of reward or pleasure. This makes high-energy foods very effective as ‘comfort foods.’

When we begin to realise that food is effective in making us feel better, it is not surprising that we start using food as a stress-management tool. This can be become problematic, if food becomes our main (or only) method for managing stress. Regular consumption of high-energy foods over long periods of times can lead to weight gain, increased insulin resistance and higher risk of some chronic illnesses such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

What can you do about stress eating?

The first step to managing stress eating is to become aware of it. This involves checking-in with yourself when you are in the process of seeking-out food. First ask yourself:

‘Am I looking for food now because I am hungry?’

If you notice you are often eating when you are not hungry, next ask yourself:

‘Why am I looking for food at this time?’

If you are eating because you need to get away from work, feel lonely, upset, or feel like the food will make you feel better – you may be eating to manage stress.

Note: stress-eating is different from boredom eating, which can be another reason to eat which may not necessarily be tied to emotion or stress.

Practical tips for managing stress eating

• Record a food and mood diary for five days to learn why you are eating
• Do not keep high-fat or high-sugar foods in the house
• Do not act on eating-impulses immediately - give yourself five minutes to let the urge pass
• Find a different strategy to reduce stress, such as:

  • Having a long, hot shower

  • Listening to a podcast or audiobook

  • Having some alone-time

  • Calling a friend or relative on the phone

  • Watching a comedy show

  • Being outside

  • Exercising

• Have a hot cup of tea or coffee before reaching for food (you may prefer herbal tea or decaf coffee if caffeine contributes to your stress)

If you have tried the above suggestions in the past and still feel this is an unresolved issue for you, don’t be afraid to seek help. There is the option to work with a psychologist who can help you manage chronic stress or eating behaviours through cognitive-behaviour therapy and mindfulness. Dietitians also regularly support people who want to change their habits and eating behaviours.

You can make an appointment to see a dietitian, psychologist or diabetes educator through our Clinic. You can also find a psychologist on the Australian Psychological Society website and a dietitian through Dietitians Australia.

The bottom line

Stress is a part of life that we all experience and something we need to learn how to manage. It is okay to occasionally turn to your favourite foods as a pick-me-up. However, stress-eating becomes problematic for your health if it happens too often, is your only coping tool or disrupts your efforts to be healthier.

If you think stress-eating may be something you need to work on, start by being more aware of when and why you are eating. If you notice you are eating due to stress or emotion, start experimenting with a different strategy to add more tools to your stress-management toolkit.

Remember that you don’t need to do it on your own, psychologists and dietitians regularly provide support to people experiencing these issues.

You can find more information about diabetes and emotional health on our NDSS website.