Transcript Lean for Life Class 8: Managing Stress Eating

Lean for Life
CLASS 8
Managing Stress Eating
CHRIS ESSEX, Life Coach
JENNIFER REILLY, Dietitian
Today’s Class
 Brainstorm: What stresses us?
 Stress and Cortisol
 Acute Stress versus Chronic Stress
 Real Hunger vs. Phantom Hunger
 Managing Emotions
 Food and Mood Connection
 Strategies for Managing Stress Eating
Brainstorm
 What stresses us?
Stress and Cortisol
 Stressor
 Example: Car on beltway cuts you off
 Stress response
 Brain signals body to turnout a hormone called Cortisol.
 Cortisol relays the message throughout the body to mobilize your life-
saving response.
 Your heart races
 You become highly alert, even vigilant.
 Blood vessels constrict and divert the flow of blood from leisurely processes such as
digestion and fast-acting muscles.
 Metabolism shifts, too, and energy is made rapidly available to your muscles,
readying them for action.
Acute Stress and Cortisol
 Such emergencies do not last forever.
 Your stress response system has built into it the capacity to turn
itself off.
 The stress hormone cortisol acts as its own shut-off signal.
 When it reaches the brain it commands the brain to cease the
body’s production of the hormone.
Chronic Stress and Cortisol
 UC/SF researches – Chronic stress research.
 Chronic stress – the system does not turn off.
 As the situation that gives rise to stress endure, they keep ramping up the
production of cortisol.
 You go into an inner “Code Red” marked by anxiety, vigilance, and hyper-
alertness.
 Depression is one consequence of chronic stress.
 At the same time, other “nodes” of the long-term stress circuit are activated.
 One of them directs you to search for extremely pleasurable food, notably high-energy bundles
of fat and sugar like cream puffs and chocolate bars.

Your body is attempting to build long-term energy reserves.
Self-Assessment – Are you an
Emotional Eater?
 Shrink Yourself, Roger Gould, MD
Real Hunger versus Phantom Hunger
 Real Hunger
 The hunger in your belly signals you when your
system has a biological requirement for food.
 Phantom Hunger
 Sends out a signal demanding food when unruly
emotions and unresolved personal agendas start
pushing themselves into awareness and you feel
compelled to eat, or more accurately to stuff yourself
and shut the feelings up.
 Phantom hunger has such power that it drives you to
almost any length to satisfy it.
Hunger: Which Kind?
 Real Hunger
 Develops slowly
 Results from a physiological
need
 Begins with a tummy rumble,
becomes stronger grumble, &
finally evolves into hunger
pangs
 Will wait for food
 Make a deliberate choice about
what you consume
 You notice how much you put
in your mouth & stop when
you are full
 Phantom Hunger
 Develops rapidly
 Results from an emotional
trigger
 Demands food immediately
 You rarely notice what is
being eaten
 Even if you are full, you
want more food
 May demand particular
foods to be fulfilled
 Results in guilt or promises
to do better
Managing Emotions
Excerpts from THE SOLUTION – Laurel Mellin; Regan Books – 1997
 Questions to Ask to Manage Your Emotions
 How do I feel?
 What do I need?
 What do I expect?
 Is that reasonable?
 What is reasonable?
 Are my thoughts powerful and positive?
 What could I say to myself that would be?
 What feeling does that bring up in me?
 Can you allow yourself just to feel the feelings of sadness and fear; knowing
that within a few moments they would fade?
Food and Mood: Stress Foods
 Stress-Inducing Foods
 Simple sugars/ processed carbohydrates (sugar, white flour,
pastries, cakes, soda, white pasta)
 Blood sugar spike & insulin overproduction =>
blood sugars plummet => stress on body => cortisol released
 Stress-Reducing Plan
 Eating balanced mini-meals 5-6 times a day
 Each mini-meal needs:
 Lean protein
 Complex carbohydrates
 Essential fats
 Fruits and veggies
Food and Mood: Extras
 For Energy
 Protein-rich foods
 Boron: almonds, walnuts, avocados, broccoli,
potatoes, pears, prunes, honey, oranges, onions, chick
peas, carrots, beans, bananas, red grapes, red apples,
raisins
 For Memory




Thiamin
Riboflavin
Carotene
Zinc
Food and Mood: Extras
 For Fighting Depression
 Complex carbohydrates (whole grains, beans, veg, fruit)
 Folic acid-containing foods (think “foliage”)
 Selenium (Brazil nuts, garlic, sunflower seeds, chili peppers)
 Mild caffeine
 Choline (eggs)
 For Relieving Anxiety
 Complex carbs
 Avoid caffeine
 Avoid alcohol
Food and Mood: Extras
 Foods that are memory-dulling
 Saturated fats (found in animal products: butter, meat,
etc.)
 Alcohol
 Five Example Foods for a Better Mood





Oatmeal: soluble fiber stabilizes blood sugars
Walnuts: essential fatty acids
Tea: mild caffeine
Salmon: vitamin D
Lentils: folate
Strategies for Managing Stress Eating
 Sleep
 Learn to relax
 Relaxation techniques:
 Hot bath
 Meditation
 Relaxation breathing
 Taking breaks,
 Yoga
 Exercise,
 Sex
 Manage your self-talk.
Strategies for Managing Stress Eating
 Make yourself goodie bags
 Healthy food options
 A hard-boiled egg, red-pepper strips and 4-6 whole-grain crackers.
 A smear of peanut butter and an apple.
 Use E-mail
 E-mail yourself each time you eat.
 Include the circumstances
 Observe patterns and plan accordingly.
 Instead of turning to food, e-mail a buddy and tell him/her how you are
feeling.
 Wait for a response before eating.
 Use your Smart Phone
 Food diary apps
Strategies for Managing Stress Eating
 Try to wait.
 Tell yourself to wait 15 to 30 minutes to eat.
 The craving to eat may pass or you may become distracted and forget about
food.
 Keep track of what you eat.
 If you have a pattern of snacking at a certain time of day, change your routine to
keep yourself occupied during that period.
 Make it a habit to eat only when seated and when not otherwise occupied by a
task.
 Eat consciously.
Strategies for Managing Stress Eating
 Eat regularly.
 Post-it – Are you really hungry?
 “Think about why you are eating.”
 Know thyself.
 What are you weakest times and places?
 Remove trouble.
 Remove tempting foods from your home or desk.
 Never grocery shop when hungry.
Strategies for Managing Stress Eating
 Make time for physical activity.
 Exercise is a natural stress reducer.
 Sip green or black tea before you reach for a snack.
 The drink contains theanine, an amino acid that increases the
relaxing chemicals in the brain.
 Join an Internet community for support such as the Emotional
Eating Forum or prevention.com/foodtriggers.
Summary
 What is one concept, strategy, thought, idea or practice your are
leaving with?
 Of what will you be more mindful?
All Notes and Powerpoints Here:
BitchinDietitian.com/Lean-for-Life-Class