When I am a little stressed I want to eat – usually carbs – but if I am very stressed I lose my appetite. Peggy
I never lose my appetite because I’m an emotional eater – eat when I’m stressed, happy, bored . . . From now on I’m calling it “Comfort Eating” – it sounds less . . . emotional . . . and is a new area of research. Judy
For the second year in a row, just over a third of American adults reported eating “too much” or “unhealthy” food because of stress, according to an APA survey. Approximately 40 percent of people increase their eating when they’re stressed, 40 percent decrease their eating, and 20 percent stay the same.
Dr. Janet Tomiyama has been trying to figure out if eating because of stress works for us. Here is a summary of her findings:
- Rats were given access to comfort food — usually Crisco mixed with sugar!
- Researchers then stressed them out
- Over time, the comfort food actually dampened their stress hormones
- Dampened down their brain’s responsivity to stress
- Dampened down the signaling between the brain and the rest of the body, so they didn’t secrete as many stress hormones.”
CRISCO & sugar! At least they could have the decency to give us the cake under the frosting . . .
We tend to be critical of people who eat because of stress BUT “Not just psychologically, but also biologically — people who do a lot of comfort eating tend to show a reduced level of stress hormones and stress.”
What’s happening, according to Tomiyama:
- “When you do anything that’s rewarding to you the reward parts of your brain light up — those parts of the brain can dampen down areas of your brain that are freaking out with negative emotion. And that’s why comfort foods tend to be foods that are high in sugar and fat. They’re really rewarding; they really do light up the reward centers of our brains.
- There’s also some work showing that when you do comfort eating, it builds up fat in your belly region and that fat pad sends a signal to your brain to decrease the amount of stress hormones that you’re producing.
- Then there’s conditioning. If throughout your whole life, you’ve paired stress relief with comfort foods over and over again, then soon enough, your body is going to automatically respond to eating these comfort foods with relaxation.
Many people have had the experience of being given comfort food to cheer us up as kids. Part of the comfort t then came from bing cared for but that became associated with the food, which now gives us comfort on its own.
“in addition to rodents, we also see comfort eating working in some non-human primate species as well. So my main take home from this is self-compassion: You’re not doing the comfort eating because you’re some sort of weak-willed human being; you’re biologically driven to do this. ” says Tomiyama.
What Tomiyama is trying to do now, is to see if healthy foods can also be comforting. Even in rat studies only unhealthy foods were used. Therein some data from surveys that say there are people who do use healthy foods for stress.
“Nobody stress-eats strawberries, do they?”
Actually, strawberries might work she reports. Anything sweet can dampen stress.
We’ll eat to that!
A. Janet Tomiyama, an associate professor of psychology and director of the Dieting, Stress, and Health Lab at UCLA
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/11/9/18072318/does-stress-eating-work-psychology
This is “comforting”. Thanks so much for sharing.
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Carol,
We are all looking for a tiny bit of comfort in these unsettling (to put it mildly) times. We’re glad to know the small bit we can share is helpful.
judy & Peggy
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It really is helpful. Takes away the guilt a little bit. haha
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Carol,
I have STRICT criteria for people to feel guilty: It must be immoral, illegal or unethical – otherwise pick another emotion! . . . maybe feeling comfortable? . . .
judy
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LOL sounds reasonable to me Judy
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P.S. Carol, Peggy and I keep wondering . . . there is no place to comment on your blog? Is that deliberate or . . .
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I get comments all the time, hmmm that’s weird
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Maybe it’s when I access the URL instead of individual posts???? because the comments don’t show either.
I’ll double check.
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Perhaps, please let me know
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Carol,
We will.
Peggy and Judy
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Thanks so much
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Reblogged this on chopkins2x3 and commented:
Interesting study, check it out, and stop feeling guilty!
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Oh my gosh Carol THANK YOU. Your help sharing our information can be contagious in the BEST way.
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I like to share things I find helpful and/or inspiring and/or interesting. I don’t feel any big need to increase my own readership. I write because it is therapeutic for me, and if it resonates with anybody reading it, that’s great. I hope this particular contagion spreads. We need to share anything that is life-giving and good. God bless. Wishing you continued success with your blog.
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Carol,
Thank you for your good wishes. Happy you know how writing is theraputic- we will be re-posting something we did about that soon. I agree we need to share the good, especially now.
Peggy
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Absolutely, Peggy, managing mental health is crucial during these trying times.
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