Emotional Stress Causes Emotional Overeating

New research on nutrition provides a constant flow of information available to us. On-line and magazine articles, talk shows, and new books come out every day, sharing the latest facts on nutrition. As constant as this information is, the supply of new best selling diet books, fad diets, dieting programs also bombard our newsstands, television shows and our book stores. Despite the available information and programs, many people continue to be overweight. Regardless if you missed the latest news article on nutrition and diet, more than likely, you already know what you should and should not be eating. Certainly having a basic understanding of good nutrition is important, but understanding good nutrition has little value when your over eating hunger is influenced by stress, which is linked to increased emotional eating.

There are many reasons why stress can bring on emotional eating.

Cortisol Cravings: Stress can increase your levels of cortisol, known as "the stress hormone." Cortisol has a beneficial function in your body, but excessive levels brought on by chronic stress can cause many problems in the body. High levels of cortisol can create cravings for salty and sweet foods.

Childhood Habits: Many of our comforting childhood memories were revolved around food. Back in the old days when I was a kid, a doctor's office visit, even dentist visit, was often followed by a trip to the treat jar, picking out a piece of your favorite candy as a reward for enduring the trauma. Whether your reward was based on trauma, or a success, often our rewards were celebrated with sweets, a favorite meal, or other special food treats. If you haven't developed some emotional attachments to food while growing up, you are probably in the minority. People eat to celebrate, to feel better, and yes people even eat to deal with their stress issues of being overweight. Because many people have not developed healthy effective strategies for coping with this type of emotional eating, the dieting roller coaster continues to be an endless cycle.

Hiding Emotions: Often people that are uncomfortable with confrontations, may deal with their frustrations through the comfort of food. Whether your emotion be fear, anger, resentment, anxiety, or perhaps your own lack of self worth, we often try to hide and bury these emotions. We would rather not feel them, than to deal with them.

Nervous Energy or Boredom: When stressed, anxious, or even bored many people become nervous. Some people bite their nails, chew gum, while others may reach for that bag of chips. My mother's favorite method to deal with nervous energy and boredom is to do chores and organize. My brother and I learned at an early age, not to complain of boredom!

Social Eating: As with childhood behaviors, we often celebrate social gatherings around food. At times we also seek social support while under stress. Seeking support may be a great way to relieve stress, however social gatherings focused around food, may be later regrets. I have a dear friend that I do not see often, but when we are in need of a friend fix to share our highs or our lows, we generally call the other to meet for dinner or maybe a hot fudge sundae. Maybe the friend fix and the food made you feel better at the time, but too much social emotional eating may cause added frustration when you get on the bathroom scale. There are many reasons for cause to emotionally eat, however emotional eating can often be our cause for obesity. It is important to be aware of the triggers that are causing your emotional eating. Try to develop some effective stress management techniques to cope with these stresses. Seek alternative healthier solutions that will help your body and mind be in control rather than out of control.

About the Author: Joie Lehman, Certified Christian Life Coach is the owner and moderator of "The Power House," offering free online weight loss coaching to those who are ready to make healthy changes. New membership applications are currently being accepted. Joie is also a distributor for GBG Health and Wellness Products, offering incredible products, Free Business Opportunities and a Free website! If you enjoyed this article, you may wish to subscriber to 'The Power House Newsletter' which is published monthly by Joie Lehman. If would like to contact Joie personally, her e-mail address is: ourpowerhouse@gmail.com.