How to combat stress eating - Eat Right

Shape, April, 2002 by Kathleen Doheny

Been doing more mindless eating lately? Because of recent events, many Americans have. Rising levels of the stress hormone cortisol spur increases in appetite, especially for carbohydrates and fat Some tips to help you avoid the overeating and weight gain that can result:

Use your mind. Examine and reassess feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and defeat. Practice "thought stopping": The minute a negative thought arises, raise a stop sign in your mind and say, "In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity." This introduces hope - the antidote to stress - into the situation.

Get crunch without calories. If you must munch, eat baby carrots or celery sticks. Include protein. It satisfies longer and helps kill carb cravings. Pump up your raw-veggie snack with some lowfat cheese, for example.

Fill up on low-cal fluids. Water-based bean soups are perfect.

Avoid alcohol. It often leads to out-of-control eating and disturbed sleep.

Take vitamins. A daily multivitamin and a B-complex supplement can help fight stress.

Pamela Peeke, M.D., M.P.H.

PREVENTING DIET-SHAKE DISIRESS

Drinking meal-replacement shakes can help some people lose weight and keep it off. But intestinal gas and bloating are unpleasant side effects for some people, especially if they are intolerant to the lactose (milk sugar) in the products. These symptoms are especially likely to occur when no food is eaten along with the shake. Researchers from the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center have found a way to prevent the problem: Add an over-the-counter lactase product such as Lactaid (follow package directions) to the prepared meal replacement, then refrigerate it for 48 hours before drinking. The study was published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

you can't fool your food diary

Writing down what you eat as you eat it is a proven weight-loss \strategy because it makes you more aware of what and how much you're putting into your mouth. But it won't work if you don't pay attention to between-meal snacks and to how your food Was prepared: Omissions and inaccurate descriptions lead to Incorrect calorie estimates, U.S. Department of Agriculture research found. Snacks were often forgotten entirely, and food descriptions were fuzzy. Was that no-fat milk or 2 percent? Baked or fried chicken? Meat entrees frequently were described incorrectly, and knowing whet her a pork chop was breaded or not can make a whopping 73 percent calorie difference. Remember, when you fudge your diary entries, you're really just cheating yourself.

-Sarah Waters