Name the first thing you go for when you’re going through it. Chocolate? Chips? Ice cream? Cake? Hennessey? (Let me not- that’s another article, right there) It’s natural to want to consume something, anything sugary and salty when we’re feeling stressed. When we’re under long periods of stress, the stress hormones in our bodies tell our brains to ramp up the desire for foods high in fat, sugar, and salt. That is not your fault, it’s a biological response. But we don’t have to let these cravings send us spiraling down an unhealthy path. There are things that we can do to understand our personal stress eating responses and adapt new behaviors.

Here are some tips for eating to manage your stress:

-       Keep a food journal. Make notes of the specific foods you eat and how they make you feel. Doing this will help you recognize when you stress-eat and keep you accountable for your food choices.

-       Keep healthy foods in easy access places. Keep healthier food options in easy to access places so they can be the first choices. If you have cookies, chips, and other junk food in the house- make it harder to get so you’ll grab the healthier options instead.

-       Try to keep things clean, simple, and fun. Healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive, restrictive, or time-consuming. Fixing yourself a delicious smoothie bowl, an avocado and egg brown rice or buddha bowl, or classic chicken salad for breakfast could satisfy your cravings.

-       Measure perceived value vs. actual value. Most of the time, we dig hungrily into our food as soon as it lands on the table without taking some time to ask ourselves if the food is as good for our body as it looks.

-       Replace your unhealthy guilty pleasure snacks with healthier ones. Swap ice cream for a few scoops of frozen greek yogurt, or try this 4-ingredient mint chocolate chip nice cream recipe from Caramel and Cashews. Throw out your bag of chips and get some homemade kale, sweet potato, or zucchini chips instead. Resist your favorite restaurant burgers and try some homemade tasty burger recipes.

There are so many other healthy food swaps you can consider. You should also consider making some healthy snacks and storing them in reusable snack bags or containers in the fridge for when you are stressed, irritable, hit with craving pangs, and more prone to resort to emotional eating.

Meditation- Meditation can help reduce the urges to act on impulse. It increases mindfulness so we’re not just mechanically throwing back the chips until the next thing we know, the bag is empty and we’re feeling like -ish. The thing about meditation is it nurtures intention which makes us more mindful. It makes us more mindful about what we’re feeling, what we’re thinking and what we’re doing.

Click if you’re a newbie to meditation and want to learn more

Click here for guided meditations that can help through your stressful moments.

Prayer- Connecting to God through prayer can help ease the impact of anxiety on your mind and body while lifting your spirit. When you’re seriously yearning to snack on something, skip the cabinet and go into your spiritual closet to spend some alone time with the one who knows exactly what you’re going through and can give you peace.

If you’re at a loss for words, here are prayers that can stand in the gap

Exercise- Physical exercise for at least 20 minutes can help take the edge off the stress that we’re feeling therefore reducing the urge to want to snack on that/those (insert salty, sugary, fatty or combination stress snack of choice). Getting the body moving with aerobic exercise helps reduce the stress hormone levels so you can feel calmer and more focused.

Social Support- Stay off of social media and call a friend, family, member or therapist who you can share your feelings with, can make you laugh, or can provide sound advice to help find solutions to issues that may help lighten your burden and source of stress.