5 ways to stop stress-induced eating

culled from:pulse.ng

Stress eating is not a myth or a joke, it is definitely real and it is one of the top reasons many fail to reach their fitness goals.

Stress is an emotional black hole that we unfortunately fall into a lot of times based on all the problems we deal with in our daily lives.

However, food should not be a solution, as it really does not solves anything, rather it adds even more problems, usually health related ones.

The five steps below can be used to finally put an end to this bad habit and also conquer those fitness goals you have.

1. Seek solace in something else rather than food- Whenever you are stressed out, try reading, walking(exercise is never a bad thing), sleeping, talking to a friend, anything other than food. Simply avoid food as a response to stress.
2. Be conscious of what you are eating and why- Most times, we are not even conscious of what we are putting in our mouths because our minds are racing in a million directions and food is just an afterthought. Henceforth, make an effort to take notice of what you are eating, when and why. You an achieve this by focusing on your food, refrain from multitasking and eating on the run.
3. Make sleep a priority- Sleep is something that is overlooked a lot. We think sleep is not important, that we can make up for it but we can't. Sleep is very important to our health and body, so important that if avoided can induce stress and irritability, thereby causing stress eating. Not making sleep a priority and cutting corners on it raises your cortisol levels (our stress hormone), thus decreasing our rate of fat loss. In order to avoid stress eating and live a healthy life, make sleep a non-negotiable aspect of your life.
4. Figure out your stress triggers- It is a lot easier to avoid stress eating if we already know what triggers the stress in our lives. These different stress triggers that we all have cause us to make poor decisions including stress eating. The easiest way to build this awareness is to start a daily journal and notice your moods and thoughts as you reach for tempting foods.
5. Give yourself off/cheat days- Being healthy and fit is a good goal but we also have to give ourselves days to just let go and let loose. This way, it easier to stick to our fitness strategies, avoid falling off the train wagon and stress eating, if we have days when we can simply relax, with moderation of course.

Let us know what you think and please share other ways you avoid stress eating.