Expert Dietitians Shared Some Tips to Cope With Stress Eating At Home
A big part of the corporate industry over 67% employees are working from home, according to a report released by Forbes on March 19. As COVID-19 outbreak has led most of us to work remotely, there are many unforeseeable changes that we have observed in daily life. Stress and feeling low is probably included in the list, but there are many others that need to take into consideration first.
There is a systematic way to make work from home successful that must be followed, especially at this time, amid the coronavirus pandemic. Stick to your daily routine — shower, plan your day-to-day routine so that everything will be running smoothly in a planned manner and other essential things as well. There are hundreds of online video conferencing software, productivity manager tools and work from home tools to boost your productivity. (Yes, these things exist in real life.)
But, remember we are not working remotely instead being asked to stay at home for some critical public health reasons. If you’re the one among the people who call themselves foodie after turning to food for comfort, then the situation may be even worse for you. Doing this can add more stress to your life and make your living tough now as you’re stuck at home, probably alone, with a complete stock of food in the kitchen.
Remember “Stress Eating Doesn’t Reduce The Stress, But Increases.” and there is saying “Eat to Fuel Your Body. Not Feed Your Emotions.” You better look at these quotes and should openly talk about stress because mental health is not a destination, but a process that can be either skipped. However, stress eating not only affects your health, but also makes you feel lonely and makes it hard to stay alone in the isolation period.
People who love self-obsession might be okay with this, but we can try to overcome this because stress eating is a kind of illness. To help you cope with the stress eating, we have met some professional dietitians to give some useful tips to stop stress eating while stuck at home.
How to Stop Stress or Emotional Eating While Stuck At home?
No, there is nothing like willpower that works in this scenario so stop doing this with that. Above all, what is stress eating?
What is Stress Eating or Emotional Eating?
It is a disorder in which some stress eaters consume food in response to their feelings, even if they are not hungry. It is also called emotional eating, which means your emotions get control over your hunger.
Causes of Stress Eating:
Any type of stress can cause emotional eating. From personal issues, monetary problems, relationship issues, family turmoil, office workload of anything that you have to struggle with can be the origin of stress eating.
Emotional eating is more common in women than men because females reported weak in stress-coping behavior screening. If we talk about how it’s gender-wise effects then females are more likely to turn to food and males to alcohol and smoking. It was clear in a survey of over 10,00 men and women in which women found it hard to cope with stress. Here’s how to improve mental health while stuck at home.
Signs of Overeating Due to Stress
So, how to know whether or not you’re a stress eater? There are several signs that appear in your behaviour and body when you eat to reduce stress. If you can answer the following questions, then you are a stress eater and you must be serious about it.
- Do you keep eating without knowing that you are actually doing it?
- Is it normal for you to feel ashamed after a meal?
- Do you hate group eating and love eating alone?
- Do you crave for something special after an argument or whenever you’re sad?
- Do you turn to eat, especially when there is nothing to do?
- Does it improve your mental health?
You should ask these questions to yourself, because only you can answer — “Whether or not you are a stress eater?” Well, there are hundreds of ways to cope with emotional eating because everyone has a unique way to deal with anxiety and stress. Some people cry, travel, sleep or some love to walk through streets to swing their mood. However, dealing with emotions can be difficult, especially for the people who live alone. Here’s how to cope with stress eating at home.
1. Find Other Ways to Deal With Stress
You will have to be strong enough to face the stress first because finding out different ways to deal with stress will work as the most transforming steps towards fighting against emotional eating. There are many things to get rid of anxiety, like reading, writing, playing or a few hours of relaxation on the bed. But people choose food over these ways and here it goes wrong.
You better engage into your favorite recreational activities such as playing, singing, or binge watching Netflix.
2. Switch to Daily Exercise
The world of yoga is so massive that it includes hundreds of amazing and proven ways to cope with stress. Yoga is undoubtedly the most ancient way to fight against stress and effective too. If you are outside where yoga is not possible, then take a walk outside and inhale fresh air. It will improve your mood effectively.
Emotional eating is nothing but a mental disorder in which an individual feels happy after eating some pieces of bread of his favorite meal, but it may have a negative effect on your body therefore you better overcome stress eating as soon as possible. Daily exercising can give you hope and keep you mind calm & concentrated.
3. Meditation
Another proven way to fight against emotional eating, meditation is one of the most effective and proven ways to cope with stress eating. Anxiety affects your concentration and meditation is the most effective way to improve concentration. If something is pinching in your mind, then you better close your eyes and concentrate on your body parts.
You can also try other types of meditation. Well, breathing meditation is easy & effective and you can do it almost anywhere, even in public transports as well.
Sit quietly and focus on every breath or air that passes through your body – this breath meditation that helps improve concentration and also results in better senses. Also, you can download free meditation apps to opt for a better healthy lifestyle in this era.
These are some easy & best ways to cope with stress eating or you better maintain a eating diary to keep a record of every meal. Well, stress is nothing but a thought that arises in your mind whenever something negative hits your mind and therefore you better get rid of stress first. If you fail to overcome stress and anxiety with these methods then you better visit your doctor.