Eating smart to beat stress

Learn how to give your body all the energy it needs to avoid mindless snacking and by eating smart to beat stress.

People often underestimate the amount of extra food, excess sugar, unhealthy fats and chemicals that sneaks into their diets as drinks and snacks. Our ancestors would have had the odd piece of fruit, some nuts and only water to drink. While the occasional ‘treat’ is fine, craving cycles and a need to turn constantly to snacks or sugary drinks is a sign that your main meals and lifestyle aren’t supporting your energy needs. This following will help you move away from consuming the mindless snacks and drinks that are often simply a distraction.

Less is more

De-Stress Eating favours more sustaining meals over the ‘little and often’ ethos that has become popular recently and never gives the body a chance to experience true hunger, as well as putting a strain on digestion. Less snacking means feeling liberated from a sense that food is controlling you, especially when a mindfulness practice allows you to feel hunger as a natural sensation and not a hole to be immediately filled.

An American study looking at food habits during the last 30 years found that the number of times people ate in a day rose from 3.8 to 4.9.

During that time obesity rates doubled for adults and tripled for children.1 The hormone ghrelin, which sets off hunger and a rumbling tummy, has been shown to be lower after meals containing fats and/or protein, while meals based on carbohydrates don’t satisfy hunger in the same way and cause ghrelin to rise again quickly afterwards.2 As high-carb, low-fat diets have been the mainstay of weight-loss recommendations for decades, this explains the continual need for snacking that has also become part of that picture.

Snacking between meals shouldn’t be necessary if healthy fats and proteins are included in main meals; we should be able to go three or four hours without putting something into our mouths! In an ideal world we would have the freedom to eat when we’re actually hungry, but work patterns often place restrictions on the timings of meals.

That time between lunch and dinner can be too long and for most of us, 4 p.m. usually signals a natural energy lull. This is the time when our metabolism is shifting from daytime activity gear to evening recovery mode, even though we’re still expected to keep up energy and output.

If you have tired adrenal glands, the blood-sugar low common at this time can have you reaching for the brownies when you know dinner is still hours away. However, the right snack can pre-empt this and tide you through the journey home from work, keeping energy stable so you make good choices at dinner. The same can be said of mid-morning if your breakfast and lunch times feel too far apart.

‘De-Stress’ snacking

De-Stress Eating guidelines will help you crave less. By supporting your biochemistry, changing habits won’t rely on willpower alone. It can be challenging as you move away from craving cycles (see chapter 7), but the following healthy snack guidelines can help you through the transition:

Identify the healthiest snacks that you like and have them on hand when you might need them.

Don’t be fooled by marketing ploys: 23 almonds (a designated portion!) contains a quarter-teaspoon of sugar compared with one low- fat ‘health’ bar based on a ‘slimming’ cereal, which has around two teaspoons and a whole host of additives.

Don’t keep problem snacks in the house. This includes diet sodas or whatever you’re drawn to for that hit, unless you’re one of those unusual types who can have a tub of ice cream in the freezer and forget that it’s there.

If you feel intense hunger between meals or need to leave longer than four to five hours before your next meal, have a savoury snack that contains protein, such as almonds, to sate the driving hunger signals but not fuel a sweet tooth.

This extract was taken from The De-Stress Effect by Charlotte Watts (Hay House UK, £12.99) Available from Amazon.co.uk