SheSue Experience

If that’s not bad enough, even if you eat healthy and exercise, stress can still add on the weight. Every time you experience stress, your brain reacts as though you’re in danger and you get a burst of adrenaline in order to fight or flee which taps your stored energy. At the same time, your body gets a surge of cortisol which tells your brain to get that energy back. All this makes you ravenously hungry.

Instead of reaching for a carrot stick, you reach for that donut. Because high fat foods release pleasure chemicals in the brain, the habit becomes addicting. All that cortisol that your body is producing tells your body to store all that fat you are consuming.

Getting rid of all the stress in your life is pretty much impossible, but you can do some things to help ward off stress.

1. Move your muscles. This fools your body into thinking that you are escaping the source of your stress. If you can’t do some push-ups or jumping jacks, just flexing your muscles or walking on your lunch hour will help.

2. Don’t scarf. Eating quickly tends to make you eat more. Instead pay attention to what you eat. Enjoy every bite. When you feel full, stop.

3. Forget the strict diet. This tends to make you want to binge. Between the binging and no eating, your blood sugar will spin out of control. This makes you grumpy and starving. Instead, eat 3 healthy meals and 2 snacks.

4. It’s okay to cheat. If you are absolutely craving a donut, go for it. But go for a small donut, or one cookie then stop.

5. Cut out the caffeine. Caffeine and stress makes more stress. The caffeine actually boosts the cortisol even more. Try decaf or just stay away all together.

6. Breakfast is important. Lacking important vitamins are stressful to your body. Breakfast is the perfect time to add these vitamins through the foods you eat. Orange juice, grapefruit, strawberries plus yogurt, and whole grains can decrease the production of stress hormones.

7. Get your sleep. Lack of sleep is a major stressor. It can increase cortisol, appetite and weight gain. It also increases the hormone ghrelin, which encourages hunger.