How to combat stress eating

by Jen (February 9, 2008)

Stress eating is the term for that mindless face-stuffing you do when you’re frustrated, stressed or tired. Usually we reach for the nearest glob of densely-packed calories and wolf it down without really tasting it. We feel even worse afterwards, especially if we’re trying to eat right.

There are so many recommendations for avoiding stress eating. What works for one person may not work for you, and what works for you at home may not work at the office, and so on. Here are some tricks I’ve learned over the years:

• Don’t keep food at the place where you get stressed. If you get stressed while working at a desk, don’t keep food at the desk. If you at least have to get up and walk to another room to get your fix, that gives you a few more seconds to realize what you’re doing and make a better decision.
• Keep decent snacks at the place where you get stressed. Another option is to have celery sticks or something relatively good for you at the place where you most often want to grab something and munch thoughtlessly.
• When you catch yourself getting the urge, stop what you’re doing and count to ten. Ask yourself why you want to eat and what it’s going to help. Vividly remember the last time you pigged out and how you felt afterwards.

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