Peeke Blog

So many doctors and scientists have done studies on why people end up with extra weight and bad eating habits. Most of them relate this problem directly to the stress in our lives. We eat because were anxious. We plop down on the couch and worry, instead of getting up and walking around the block or exercising to clear our head. We eat to soothe the tensions that build up throughout the day--ever heard of comfort food?

So what we need to learn how to do is become stress resilient.

Let me show you how your brain works. As I explained in my book Fight Fat After Forty, some people have a hormonal imbalance that triggers you to eat more to attempt to soothe stress. Believe it or not, there are actually some people who have the opposite kind of hormonal imbalance, which sparks them to eat less when under stress!  

That initial spark from your Alarm Hormone that occurs when you are under stress isnt strong enough to initiate a healthy cascade of hormones into your blood. It undershoots the stress response. Through a complicated chain reaction, this leads to appetite stimulation.

This inspires Stress Over-Eaters to binge-eat to quench their need for reward and fulfillment. But of course they never feel adequately satisfied.

If you are a Stress Under-Eater, you were born with higher than normal levels of Alarm Hormone. Since this hormone is a powerful appetite suppressant, your internal instinct is to reject food.

So you see there are three stress-eating profiles: Stress Overeaters, Stress Undereaters, and Stress Resilient people (healthy eaters).  In the stress resilient folks, their hormones are correctly balanced, so when stress occurs, the alarm hormones keep their eating desires in balance.

With each stress-eating profile, stress triggers different adaptive responses based on genetics and environment.  It can seem difficult, but its our job to think through the situation when it happens.    

Eileen, one of my patients told me I dont see stress as all bad. Theres positive stress, which is very invigorating, such as when Im on deadline for some exciting projectThen theres negative stress, which usually has some emotional problem associated with it. Arguments with the kids, conflicts in general.  I remember one argument I had with my son when he was a teenager, I was so upset I had my hand in a cereal box shoveling out some icky sugar-coated flakes I didnt even like. She paused then continued, The difference is my perceived control of the stress. I used to turn to food as a comfort, even though I realized it was only a temporary reprieve from dealing with the problem. I have learned to deal with my problems in a non-self-destructive way. Its about finding constructive (rather than destructive) strategies for dealing with the big and little zingers that life throws your way.

Eileen shows us that resilience involves staying flexible so you can balance your life. She is also clear-headed. Stressful situations come up every day, and she shows that it just requires each of us to take a breath, look at the situation and then quickly figure out how to deal with it realistically.

We Americans have become world champions at taking a simple stressful situation and exaggerating it into a crisis. We need to deflate the stress to its true size, and then it is much easier for us to cope.

In Fight Fat After Forty, I pointed out that we all go through the same kinds of challenges: stress, exhaustion, food tempting us from inside the closed refrigerator  We have to set small goals so we can build our own stress resilience. Taking one baby step today leads to taking two baby steps tomorrow. By the end of the week, youre taking seven times as many steps as you will today. In a couple weeks, youll realize that you are building up resilience. If you keep it up, youll find that over time it becomes almost automatic,  because you will have taught your body how do deal with stress successfully!