{"id":7231,"date":"2015-06-10T07:00:11","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=7231"},"modified":"2015-06-06T19:05:53","modified_gmt":"2015-06-06T23:05:53","slug":"7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html","title":{"rendered":"7 Tips to Put an End to Stress Eating"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2013\/01\/eating-spagetti.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3998\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2013\/01\/eating-spagetti-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"eating spagetti\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a>\u201cI can\u2019t believe he just broke up with me!\u201d Renee is headed for the ice cream and about to engage in stress eating.<\/p>\n<p>Eating when stressed\u00a0or when we need to relax or calm down is a bad habit. But we do it. Ice cream is the number one comfort food for both men and women. Comfort food is often high energy, sugary foods, eaten during chronic stress that tell the brain to calm down.<\/p>\n<p>The problem with stress eating is that we feel guilty later and tend to gain weight. It is a habit most of us would like to break. Obviously the main solution is to practice better ways to reduce stress. If you are working on better stress management, here are 7\u00a0tips to help break stress eating:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Attend to the signs of physical stress (irritability, poor concentration, lack of sleep, etc,). If those physical signs are missing, don\u2019t eat. Chances are you are emotional eating and not really hungry.<\/li>\n<li>Have a number of ways to de-stress. Choose one when you have the urge to eat.\u00a0For example, take a hot bath, listen to relaxing music, pray, engage in deep breathing, massage your shoulders or head, read a book, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t skip meals. Skipping meals makes it easier to binge or stress eat.<\/li>\n<li>Practice self-care when stressed&#8211;get enough sleep, exercise and talk out your problems with a trusted fiend. Don\u2019t turn to food.<\/li>\n<li>Remove the source of stress when you can. Sometimes, the best strategy is to eliminate stress.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t keep stress treats in your house. If food is available, in sight and only a cupboard away, the temptation is to eat. So eliminate the tempting foods.<\/li>\n<li>If you are really stressed and want to eat, eat a small amount of a treat, not the whole thing. Researcher Linda Bacon found that you really only enjoy a few bites of food. After that, your taste buds lose their sensitivity to the chemicals in that food. So eat a few bites slowly and mindfully, and then put the rest away or share with someone else.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Overall, the goal is to stop reaching for food out of emotional need. This means you must press pause and become more intentional.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For more help with stress eating, check out Dr. Linda\u2019s book, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Press-Pause-Before-You-Eat\/dp\/1439148643\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1433631548&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=press+pause+before+you+eat\">Press Pause Before You Eat<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI can\u2019t believe he just broke up with me!\u201d Renee is headed for the ice cream and about to engage in stress eating. Eating when stressed\u00a0or when we need to relax or calm down is a bad habit. But we do it. Ice cream is the number one comfort food for both men and women.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[918],"tags":[351,1035,3300,17],"class_list":["post-7231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-relationship-to-food","tag-eating","tag-emotional-eating","tag-mindful-eating","tag-stress-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>7 Tips to Put an End to Stress Eating<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 Tips to Put an End to Stress Eating\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cI can\u2019t believe he just broke up with me!\u201d Renee is headed for the ice cream and about to engage in stress eating. Eating when stressed\u00a0or when we need to relax or calm down is a bad habit. But we do it. Ice cream is the number one comfort food for both men and women.&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-10T11:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-06T23:05:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2013\/01\/eating-spagetti-300x199.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"7 Tips to Put an End to Stress Eating","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"7 Tips to Put an End to Stress Eating","og_description":"\u201cI can\u2019t believe he just broke up with me!\u201d Renee is headed for the ice cream and about to engage in stress eating. Eating when stressed\u00a0or when we need to relax or calm down is a bad habit. But we do it. Ice cream is the number one comfort food for both men and women.&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2015-06-10T11:00:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-06-06T23:05:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2013\/01\/eating-spagetti-300x199.jpg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html","name":"7 Tips to Put an End to Stress Eating","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2013\/01\/eating-spagetti-300x199.jpg","datePublished":"2015-06-10T11:00:11+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-06T23:05:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2013\/01\/eating-spagetti-300x199.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2013\/01\/eating-spagetti-300x199.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/06\/7-tips-to-put-an-end-to-stress-eating.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"7 Tips to Put an End to Stress Eating"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice &amp; Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7231"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7233,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7231\/revisions\/7233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}