Stress Eating

Who remembers to breathe during stress? Or that you need to drink lots of water. Take vitamin C. Or even pee.

All you remember is that you want to pig out on junk food and chug down Coke. Or that there’s a Mexican bar across the street and that maybe you can steal a shot of tequila at midday. And that one can love coffee as much as life itself. And now I’ve totally figured out retail therapy. You’re to justify all that work, it has to show you something tangible, like new shoes or three shopping bags.

No wonder there’s a Mini Stop at every street corner and unlimited rice is fast becoming the best business concept. There’s nothing else you wish for except eat carbohydrates and have a dose of the happy hormone. It’s the carbs that get you from grumpy and stressed to calm and in control. There’s a science to it too. “Carbohydrates set off a series of biochemical events that produce serotonin, the feel-good chemical. Serotonin makes us feel calm and in control when events beyond our control threaten us” says Wurtman, a research biochemist and co-author of “The Serotonin Solution.” She declares, “eat carbs and you feel better in just 20 minutes.” So carbs it is.

But then, fruits and vegetables, they’re packed with carbohydrates too, why not eat those? Who wants to snack on a fruit or have a salad for lunch when they’re stressed? Will you be fine with a sorry cracker or hollow popcorn? I want refined carbohydrates, bread, pasta, cake, soda, and gooey hot chocolate. Never mind that it will supposedly wreak havoc on my system or that my body will suffer later. Honestly, all health plans get thrown out of the window the moment stress enters the door. I understand it now. This need to binge on rice and finish it off with chocolate. You want all the seratonin you can get and the more evil the carbo is, the more you hunger for it.

And so I totally get you. You who have to toil all day. Especially, the ones that toil all night answering our complaints. I will no longer blame you for helping fill up the streets with Mini Stops. And that your favorite topic is the “It” bag, and how you finally invested in the “It” shoe. Or especially, that you snicker at the silly ones who say “just breathe and drink lots of water.”

If you want to stay healthy nonetheless, this article might help. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/08/health/healthy-eating-tips-stress