Transcription:
How to Stop Stress Eating

Deborah:  Welcome to Stoughton Health Talk. I'm Deborah Howell, and I invite you to listen as we talk about stress eating and how we can avoid it. Joining me is Dana Janssen, a registered dietician nutritionist who works as a clinical dietician at Stoughton Health and St. Mary's Hospital. Dana, what a pleasure to have you on with us today.

Dana Janssen: Thank you so much for having me.

Deborah: Such an important topic too, especially during these days when so many of us are home in dangerously close range of the refrigerator, right?

Dana Janssen: Yes, definitely.

Deborah: So what is stress eating? Is there a real definition?

Dana Janssen: Yeah. So, I mean, I wouldn't say that there is an exact definition of stress eating just because stress is so subjective from person to person, I mean, other than the definition of consumption of food when an individual is experiencing stress. But again, yeah, that stress, it can be really subjective. So what's stressful for one person may not be super stressful for another person. Everyone responds to stress a little differently.

And I would say another term for stress eating that people might be familiar with is emotional eating. This sort of evokes a wider range of feelings, obviously. So although there are certain feelings that can be interpreted by the body as stress, I think the conventional image of stress eating is like that picture of someone who's just clearly distraught, having a bad day and like shoveling food into their mouths, when really it can be just much more complicated than that.

Deborah: I mean, I won a prize last week and I got so excited. I like ate the entire bag of Fritos.

Dana Janssen: Exactly. Yeah. It can be all different emotions.

Deborah: Are you seeing that a lot of your patients are gaining weight during this time at home?

Dana Janssen: Of course, there's kind of the talk of the quarantine-15. So yes, I have seen some weight gain in my patients. You know, as you mentioned, it's very easy to just walk over to the fridge or the pantry and so many of us now have access to that much more than we used to, rather than just having that salad that you brought to work and you're limited to. But what a lot of people don't realize is that, you know, those snacks that you might walk over and grab, they can add up to a lot of unnecessary calories. And when we're mindlessly eating, that's not always the best.

But I will say that I'm also seeing a lot of good habits coming out of this pandemic as well, like getting out and just taking a walk, which is so good for us, doing yoga meditation, at-home workouts. So, we certainly don't really have an excuse to not work out anymore. People have gotten really creative about it and so I'm really loving that aspect of it.

Deborah: I relate on both levels. You mentioned salads and I miss the salad bar at work so much. So on that score, I'm doing not so great as I was when I had to go into the office. But I am working out so much more and I know that I've gained muscle and all that good stuff, just because I have the time to do it now.

Dana Janssen: Right, exactly, yep. I'm definitely seeing more of that, which is amazing.

Deborah: So what are some triggers that can cause stress eating?

Dana Janssen: Yeah. So again, I mean, stress is so personal. So what triggers one person might not be a problem at all to the next person. I think that there are some pretty common causes of stress, of course, which includes like uncertainty as we've all been experiencing with this pandemic. There is of course finances and, you know, with so many losing their jobs, this can be a huge driver of stress.

A lack of exercise can drive up stress. So those of us who maybe, you know, are more sedentary, maybe you know, you're used to going to the gym and your gym was closed and you're kind of out of the habit, they might be feeling more stressed.

So, I mean, I just encourage people to really identify your specific triggers and just be aware of them. And so that way, you can have strategies in place in case you might be tempted to turn to stress eating.

Deborah: Good. Now, speaking of, let's get into those strategies we can use to avoid stress eating.

Dana Janssen: Yeah. Well, there are tons of alternatives to try to decrease the stress in our lives. Like I mentioned earlier, activity is a really great way to distract us and lower stress. And it has the added benefit of helping us stay healthy. And then, along with that, like meditation or yoga, those can be great practices for people who are trying to get into that or have been into it to continue to do that. Or really just any relaxing activity that you find enjoyable, listening to music, doing art, creative outlets, reading, anything that you truly enjoy.

And, in terms of what to do when we're actually eating, to perhaps break the cycle of stress eating, I recommend looking into mindful eating and intuitive eating practices. Both of those really focus on tuning into what our bodies are trying to tell us, and also just really enjoying and experiencing food and eating instead of mindlessly doing it or using it as a coping mechanism.

Deborah: Or doing it while you're standing up at the counter and you're not really thinking about it. So you're not realizing how many calories you're shoving down your mouth and things like that.

Dana Janssen: Yes. Yes, exactly. It's so easy, definitely.

Deborah: We've all done it. And it's hard to sit there with one bite of food and just concentrate on it. But when you do, you realize the kind of the miracle that went into creating that one bite of delicious food. You know, all the farmers who grew it, all the truckers who got it to the grocery store, to the farmer's market. I mean, what went into that one bite, it's pretty astounding.

Dana Janssen: It really is. So yeah, I mean, that's really what the mindful eating encompasses, is just paying attention to what you're eating and how it's making you feel. It's really quite nice actually.

Deborah: Exactly. What are some of the benefits, Dana, to stop stress eating?

Dana Janssen: So besides like the obvious decrease in calories and potential, if you're trying to lose weight, that can help. But I just always encourage people to really build healthy relationships with food. I think that a lot of people use food as a coping mechanism, of course. We all do it like we were saying to deal with our emotions or our stress.

And that can really sometimes cause a vicious cycle of stressing out, eating because you're stressed, maybe gaining weight or feeling more stressed about gaining weight or eating too much or eating the wrong thing and then just falling right back into the cycle. And it can also really lead to restrictive food behaviors sometimes, which often cause people to binge or go overboard later on and eat more than they would have if they hadn't restricted themselves in the first place. If you, you know, let yourself have that small bite of chocolate or something, instead of saying, "No, I can't, I'm not going to have any of that." And then later on, you're like, " Oh, now I ate the whole chocolate bar because I want it that badly," right? So, yeah, and then feeling guilty and just the cycle continues. So I really think that if we can break out of the stress eating cycles, that'll have huge mental and physical benefits to us.

Deborah: I was going to say the mental part for me is like if I've dropped a couple of pounds, I feel lighter. I feel like, "Oh, this is good. I can go run and not have all that extra baggage to carry along with me." It just feels good.

Dana Janssen: Right. Exactly. It's all connected.

Deborah: We are all connected. It is all connected. So how do you work with patients to incorporate some new, healthy behaviors into their daily lives?

Dana Janssen: That really all comes down to individual goals. So if someone comes to me and says that they want to stop stress eating, I talk about with them what the root of their stress is and what are alternatives that person has or can identify to deal with the stress.

So I might discuss mindful eating. I might discuss intuitive eating. I might discuss both or just take the small steps and meet that person where they are. It really just depends on what that individual is struggling with. And with all that being said, of course, nobody is perfect. And I think the biggest takeaway here is that we're all human and it's super important to forgive of ourselves if we slip up and might eat something unhealthy or eat a little bit more than we thought we should. It really usually all evens out and it doesn't really do any good to perseverate on negative thoughts. So, it's just important to give ourselves a break and speak kindly to ourselves the way that we'd want others to talk to us.

Deborah: No. I love that. Self-forgiveness is a good thing. And perseverate, is that a word that you used?

You get extra points for that.

Dana Janssen: Thank you. Yeah. Just focusing too much on negative thoughts, we don't want that.

Deborah: Very impressive. This has been such great information, Dana. Very useful. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Of course. Thank you so much for having me. It's been lovely

Deborah: Now for more information, just head on over to our website at StoughtonHealth.com to get connected with one of our providers. And that concludes this episode of Stoughton Health Talk. Please remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and all the other Stoughton Hospital podcasts. I'm Deborah Howell. Stay safe and be well.