By michael - August, 6th 2014

Stress is a state of mental, physiological and emotional tension and/or anxiety that keeps your mind and body from relaxing. Stress includes problems from your job, home, personal life, school, finances, etc. Stress can occur if you do too many a task or even by just sitting on the couch watching television.

It’s an open book that stress affects how much you weigh by how much or less you eat. But mostly, when people are stressed, they tend to eat foods high in fat and sodium, so stopping by McDonald’s combo, speed dialing a pizza, or grocery shopping for only a tub of ice cream is no news.

When people are stressed and feeling down they crave these kinds of food. The craving is three-fold: you want a comforting taste, a little treat and freedom from your current situation, and you want to feel good (meaning less stress). But the connection between what you crave and what you eat isn’t without basis—that is you don’t eat junk food just because it tastes good. These foods also generate chemical and hormonal effects: the sugar releases serotonin, a feel-good chemical that boosts your mood, while the carbsrelease hormones to battle cortisol, the stress hormone.

But overall, eating is not a good way to combat stress as it can have negative long-term effects on your weight and health.

Scientists asked 53 women with an average age of 58 if anything has stressed them out the day before. Each of the women ate a meal of eggs, turkey sausage, biscuits, and gravy totaling 930 calories and 60 grams …

Stress actually changes your metabolism and the rate you burn calories and/or keep them. The women who recall having stressful encounters burned less fat but have increased levels of sugar in their blood.

The study is interesting but worrisome.

Firstly, the study was limited to only women whose ages were on the average 58. It was not tested on men who have more muscle mass than women which increases metabolism, and on a greater number of participants.

Bottom line, stressing will not be doing you any good. It could be costing you your health more than your pants size and the diseases that come with obesity. Therefore, in the event you find yourself in stress, grab for a whole grain, complex carbohydrate that will produce serotonin and provide valuable calories at the same time.

Sources for Today’s Article:

• Beck, L., “Stressed? Put down that burger,” The Globe and Mail web site, July 22, 2014; http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/stressed-yesterday-put-down-that-burger/article19699028/?click=sf_globe.
• Caldwell, E., “Weighty Issue: Stress and High Fat Meals Combine to Slow Metabolism in Women,” The Ohio State University web site, July 14, 2014; http://news.osu.edu/news/2014/07/14/weighty-issue-stress-and-high-fat-meals-combine-to-slow-metabolism-in-women/.

 

Please read the rest of the article at Naturalblaze.com

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