Deep_Thinking

Do You Ever Eat Trash Food To Help Manage Stress? Read This Now If So!

Do You Ever Eat Trash Food To Help Manage Stress? Read This Now If So!

Deep_Thinking

Here’s the bottom line with stress: it can make us fat, sick, eat away at our brain and literally kill us if we let it!

But let’s take a look and try to understand why…

The physical impact of stress causes the release of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol causes all kinds of issues, including an increased appetite, intense cravings and can cause someone to overeat. The food cravings that materialize from high cortisol levels, unfortunately, aren’t for highly nutritious lean, high-quality cuts of protein, fruits or green leafy vegetables; but for sugary, heavily processed, high calorie, fatty foods with minimal nutritional value.

The natural human desire to eat junk when stressed is probably the most self-sabotaging trick the mind can play on us when we get stressed or aren’t quite feeling like ourselves.

We tend to give in to these urges and would like to think surely our inner voices would never lead us in a direction that would hurt us, or perhaps compound the already super stressful issue at hand…

Or would they?

I have it on good authority that since the inception of mankind, there hasn’t been a single documented case where a stressed-out individual who sought out comfort by eating a bunch of sh*ty food, was actually successful in rectifying the underlying stressful issue by going this route…

In fact, when this path is taken, outside of the 5-15 minutes of when the binging occurs and the brain is rapidly releasing short term gratifying endorphins, “comfort” is typically the opposite of what materializes!

There is nothing comfortable about being overly full, bloated, gassy, disgusted and in a state of regret as the dust settles and you now realize that on top of the initial stressor, (that’s still there by the way!) you’ve now moved further away from your goals and have also unknowingly neurologically conditioned yourself to perform this extremely dangerous, profoundly counter-intuitive habit in response to stress…

Not good.

Please my friends, keep that in mind next time you pick up the phone to order a pizza or stop by the nearest drive-thru the next time you get stressed out!

Remind yourself that if you decide to lean on bad food to try and help cure anxiety, sadness, frustration etc.

Literally and metaphorically speaking, you will be “feeding” the underlying problem and making the situation far worse than it already is!

Instead of eating your feelings anytime weakness begins to whisper in your ear and attempts to derail you off the path to being your best self…

You Should Instead IMMEDIATELY:

Go workout!

Even if it’s going for a long walk outside OR doing a sh*t load of push-ups, sit-ups, squats, or burpees right where you stand! By getting the blood flowing and body moving, you will alter your physiology, replace the cortisol with positive mood-enhancing endorphins that will lift your spirit and curb those bad food cravings!

Breathe

Sitting down in an upright, yet comfortable position or laying flat on your back, close your eyes and clear your mind for 5-10 minutes. Clear your mind by focusing on your deep, belly & chest breaths. Breath in as deep as you can comfortably through the nose for a 4 count, then forcefully exhale out through the mouth for a 4 count.

When you find your mind has wandered, just be aware of it, don’t stress about it and bring your attention back to your circular breathing. This will immediately drop your levels of stress and can be down in this capacity, or for a minute or 2 in any position if you find yourself getting stressed at any point of the day…

Have sex!

Either with a partner… or yourself! 🙂 Look I know that’s kind of a weird thing to suggest to you…But the University of Arizona Medical School conducted a study that conclusively linked sexual behavior to significantly lowered stress levels, healthier immune systems and an overall better mood in its subjects!

So next time you’re stressed AF, do one, or do them all! Just be sure to do SOMETHING that’s in your own best interest that won’t leave you full of guilt and remorse after the fact!

Moving forward let’s all try to do a better job of NOT using unhealthy food as a way to manage or eliminate stress…because the reality is, it will actually do the opposite!

Thank you for your time and attention today.

***If you would like to see more content like this, make sure you’re following me on IG @chriscavallini

Nutrition Solutions
Thank You!
Your promo code will be sent to your phone momentarily.