Often I recall these resonating words recited to me by Coach Whaley, one of my high school history teachers: “Baker, you need to eat more Honey Buns—they’re brain food.” I chuckle about these words because, even to this day before I take a test, I hear his voice saying, “Baker, you need to eat more Honey Buns—they’re brain food.” I wonder if Coach Whaley understood that our brains are glucose “hogs” and eating a lot of sugar increases glucose levels in the blood stream, which will increase brain stimulation. Years later in nursing school, Coach Whaley’s theory that eating Honey Buns would increase test scores was validated for me. I cannot remember ever taking a test without having some sort of high sugar content candy, such as Skittles or Hot Tamales.
Because of early life experiences, it becomes easy to see the role that mood and food play in our capacity to lose weight. Stress and emotional eating can sabotage our health and weight loss goals, especially when we turn to our favorite comfort foods that are often sugary, fatty, and high in calories. Emotional eating as defined by the Mayo Clinic is “eating as a way to suppress or sooth negative emotions, such as stress, anger, fear, boredom, sadness, and loneliness.” Stress comes in many different shapes and sizes; the way each of us deals with life’s challenges is individualized. An inconvenience to you or me may be a complete life altering event for someone else—either way, life’s challenges may lead to emotional eating.
Today’s ever changing environment of unemployment, stressful working conditions, health problems, bad weather, world disasters, and politics are often compounded by financial challenges and fatigue. Is it any wonder why we as a nation are becoming more obese? Some people eat less when faced with stress and emotions, but many turn to impulsive or binge eating, which usually means comfort foods rather than healthy foods.
My comfort foods are “brain food” laden with sugar, butter, and spice. It is important not to let food become a distraction from conflict and to deal with stress head on. Regardless of what drives us to overeating, the result is usually reflected on the scale and felt in our waistlines. The comfort food roller coaster may become a pattern of strong feelings, emotional eating, and derailed goals with a destination of guilt.
To help stop emotional eating, I suggest these tips:
Tame your stress: Try a stress management technique such as meditation or yoga.
Hunger reality check: Is your hunger physical or emotional?
Food diary: Knowing when, what, and how much food you eat as well as your hunger level may reveal a connection between mood and food.
Support: A good network of friends and family will help protect you against giving in to emotional eating. Consider joining a support group.
Boredom: Take a walk, call a friend, play with a pet, or read instead of eating when bored.
Remove temptation: As my friend Terri says, “Don’t take little snack cakes home—it may be too hard to resist the temptation.” Postpone trips to the grocery store when you’re angry, sad, or hungry.
Healthy snacks: If you have to snack, choose a healthy snack such as fruits, vegetables, or low-fat, lower calorie versions of your favorite foods.
Get enough sleep: Getting enough sleep will not only help you burn calories but can give you more energy.
If you find yourself slipping away from your weight loss goals and healthy eating habits, please don’t beat yourself up with guilt. Recognize the reasons and learn from the experience; focus on the positive things you have learned and make a fresh start tomorrow. As always, it is important to discuss diet and exercise changes as well as your emotional health with your healthcare provider.
Howard Baker, RN BSN
For questions, comments, or suggestions on topics you want to read about please email me at: howard@howardsbaker.com
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
