Comfort Foods
Break The Stress Eating Habit 

Comfort foods are generally eaten during periods of stress or anxiety.

You think they make you feel better but unfortunately this is only temporary and are often replaced with feelings of guilt and even more anxiety.

Eating this way can soon turn in to a vicious circle which leads to only more stress and further health problems.

The Stress Eating Habit

When we are feeling stressed many of us turn to foods and substances which we know will help us feel better quickly. Things like

• Coffee
  
• Fatty foods
  
• Sweets
  
• Cake
  
• Cigarettes
  
• Drugs
  
• Alcohol

We think that coffee will be soothing and then give us a energy boost, we also think that alcohol or cigarettes  calm us down but most of all we like these things and the guilty they give us. Just like the pleasure of having a chocolate bar or some other unhealthy food that makes us feel good right?

Sure all these comfort foods and substances may give us a stress break but it is generally very short lived and may in fact not help at all and is simply a habit you have formed over time.

Is It Just A Habit?

Habits have a funny way of creeping up on us when we are not looking. What once started as an occasional treat suddenly turns into a daily ritual.

But how do you know when it has turned into a habit?

This is easy to answer really, once something no longer gives you any benefit at all and you don’t really know why you are doing it any more, this is a sure indication that this has become a habit. For instance drinking a cup of coffee in the morning because you enjoy it and look forward to it is fine, but if you find yourself chucking back coffees throughout the day without really noticing the coffee at all then it’s time to knock this bad habit on the head.

Habits Are Stressful Too!

The trouble with eating comfort foods and letting this behavior turn into a bad habit can actually make your stress levels go up, not down which was the initial reason for the behavior.

There is several ways in which it can cause further stress.

• Comfort eating and other over use of substances such as alcohol and caffeine can put your body under physical stress. It can put a strain on the body and introduce harmful chemicals into the system, making it weaker and more prone to illness. This will in itself cause you more stress.
  
  
• Emotionally it is bad too as you will start to experience feelings of guilt and even frustration at your behavior and this will affect how you react to other people. This in turn will make them respond to you differently; possibly resulting in confrontation and yes those stress levels will rise again.
  

Breaking The Habit

Once you realize that your comfort eating has turned into a habit you will be able to start to do something about breaking it.

There are several ways you can do this.

• Don’t have your comfort foods available in the home. I.e. if you know that when you do comfort eat it is usually something sweet like cake or savoury like crisps then don’t have them available in the home all the time.
  
  
• Use the pause method. When you find yourself just about to indulge in stress eating, stop and ask yourself these questions first;
  
  Will it nourish my body?
  Is this good for me?
  Will I feel bad about eating this later?
  Is it worth just a few moments of pleasure?
  
  
• Replace your bad habit with something else which will be better for you and have this thing available at all times. So if you smoke because you get stressed, why not replace the cigarette during times of stress with another activity you like, listen to some music for instance.

Addiction

It must be remembered though that for some, over eating comfort foods, drinking too much etc is more than a habit and is in fact an addition. When the body actually craves the substance then this is more serious and needs to be handled differently. Advice and help needs to be sought from a health professional so that you can wean yourself off of the addiction safely and permanently.