BY SANDRA GUY
Now that the coronavirus pandemic is keeping many people in their sweats and pajamas all day, it’s easier than ever to reach for a few soda pops and bags of M&Ms, Reese’s cups and Gummy Bears.
Stop – and stop now. It’s going to take a 360-degree turn to keep weight gain at bay, especially with most workout clubs shuttered.
Any rationale for coping with stress and boredom by indulging in unhealthy eating habits — especially over-eating high-fat, high-sugar and highly processed food as a stress reliever — requires a full-scale change of mindset, desire and behaviors, experts say.
Think comeback kid. Play the theme song, “Gonna Fly Now,” and watch Rocky’s run in the “Rocky II” movie. Laugh. Read food jokes. Relax. Get motivated.
“Stress eating is poor stress management,” says Sylvia Herbozo, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and surgery and director of the Body Image and Eating Behaviors Lab at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s College of Medicine.
“Breaking the link between stress and eating as a relief from stress is the way to go,” she said.
How is that possible, especially after a lifetime of what experts call “emotional eating?”
The first step is to recognize that emotional eating — stress eating and binge eating — may spring from psychological underpinnings, often starting as early as childhood.
And those high-fat, high-sugar foods release dopamine in the brain and “light up the reward center — the feel-good part of the brain” – so it’s like an endless loop of hunger urges.
The good news is that anyone who’s serious and committed can overcome ingrained bad habits.
Start with small steps, such as eating one more vegetable each day or eating fruit instead of candy or baked goods, experts say.
Other tips:
- Plan meals and snacks in advance.
- Learn healthy ways to cope, whether that’s taking up yoga, exercise, meditation or talking with a counselor.
- Acknowledge that success comes from being willing to change. That might mean getting up 30 minutes earlier than usual to stretch or exercise.
- Try to get seven to eight hours of sleep each night.