According to the American Psychological Association’s Stress in America survey, twenty seven percent of adults stress eat. If I were to take this survey I would definitely be part of that percentage. I often joke around with friends that I need something sweet to distract me from how bitter the day has been. Stress eating, also known as emotional eating, is no laughing matter as it can lead to weight gain and push people towards obesity.

Why does stress make us want to eat so much? Long term stress causes the adrenal glands in your body to release cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that increases appetite. Increased stressed leads to increased cortisol which means an increase in the amount of food you’re putting in your stomach. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad if stressed caused us to crave foods like celery and peanut butter but unfortunately that is typically not the case. Stress eating is likely to be the consumption of sugary foods. It can also mean knocking back a few alcoholic drinks.

Stress can also cause you to exercise less so you intake more calories but don’t do much to burn them. It is also possible that stress causes you to skip meals and as a result when you do eat, you eat too much. Many people feel worse or disappointed in themselves after stress eating because they know they’ve eaten too much and very unhealthily. Stress eating also makes dieting harder and overtime all those calories take a toll on your body and that may lead to even more stress.

Aside from learning how to cope with your stress in general, there are ways to stress eat less often. The first step to decreasing your chances of eating too much is recognizing that you are craving comfort food and not actually hungry. If you are craving nothing but sweets and it’s been a hard day then you know that you’re not actually hungry, your body just wants to stress eat. It’s also important to remember that you may feel like eating just because you’re bored.

You can try substituting junk food with fruit. Instead of a donut you can eat grapes or pineapple to satisfy the craving for something sweet. You should also try to tend to your stress another way once you realize you want to stress eat. You can go to the gym or talk to friends as an alternative so long as that conversation with friends doesn’t end with going out to eat. Once you learn to recognize what causes you to stress eat and if you feel like stress eating you can work towards replacing that habit with a healthier one.