When Stress Leads To Eating More

We all have struggled with stress or emotional eating. It comes with living and making choices.  

Unwanted stress eating can become a confusing, frustrating cycle when it’s caused by things like:

▶ work pressures, 

▶ difficult life situations, 

▶ recurring situations (like travel) or 

▶ other emotional triggers (happy, anger, sad). 

In reality, the path from “stress” to “eating food” has several individual steps, as the graphic below shows.

We can go from step #1 to step #5 so quickly that we’re not aware of all the steps in between. 

To uncover the real triggers that lead to stress eating, pay close attention to what’s happening.

Try this strategy.

Some of these tips might seem strange but they help build your awareness.

Here’s how to do it.

✅ The next time you feel driven to stress eat, give yourself permission to overeat . 

(BTW: When it’s no longer forbidden, the intense craving for a whole box of cookies sometimes turns into a more manageable desire for just a few).

✅ See it as a learning experience, one that allows you to observe your thoughts and behavior in real time, like:

♥️ What am I feeling?  Am I physically hungry?

⏰ What time is it?

👯‍♂️ Who am I with?

🗺 Where am I?

🤔 What thoughts am I having?

Write it down, look for patterns and learn from the experience. 

Doing this process helps you build your “personal diet” with healthy foods you love.  And, those are the foods you will eat most of the time, no matter what’s going on.

A few eating triggers here and there won’t really matter.

Keep eating better and moving more!

Mark Dilworth, PN1-NC, CDS, NMH, LWM

Certified Nutrition Coach, Dietary Strategies Specialist, Specialist In Nutrition For Metabolic Health and Lifestyle Weight Management Specialist

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