I am a stress eater. My husband is NOT a stress eater; he's one of those blessed with a rapid metabolism, and it takes eating a lot of fat and protein, along with carbs, for him to gain--if he lifts weights.

But he responds to stressors by raising his respirations and his BP, and gets anxious. *My* suggestions are not always met with appreciation, but he's learned some things about controlling stress with mindful breathing, etc.

I went through some really rotten stuff when my kids were young, and didn't want to be taking it out on them. So, of necessity, I had to learn ways to deal with severe stressors without becoming stressed. It's not always successful, of course--ask my kids about my behavior during menopause! I had to relearn all those helpers, then. And again, after my concussion last year.

Interestingly, it was this past winter, when simultaneously I started brain injury rehab, and my thyroid started slowing down, that I also started reaching for the carbs. My brain was constantly on overload, and the slower thyroid activity caused my brain to be less adept at everything, including seeing what was going on.

There are any number of practices, though, that will help to lower stress responses, from mindful breathing, to yoga, to journaling, to meditation.

For me, when I feel myself getting stressed, the first line is to force myself to breathe more slowly. Slower respirations can trick your brain into thinking that you are relaxed, even if you are not.

I'm no expert in dealing with stress. But it seems to me I can see it right in the name: Fight or flight. So, run or punch. After all, those hormones sets up the whole body for that purpose, might as well use it.

I'm going with MickieSue's slow breathing, otherwise I'd be out of a job and leaving a great many black eyes in my wake. Grrrr!

Stella

I'm not sure it is 'body fat talking to the brain' in times of stress. I think that in times of mild to moderate stress we reach for certain foods to boost dopamine and serotonin to 'soothe', those foods being more carb based foods which bring the greatest effects.

But I agree with Martin that sudden extreme stress may well shut down all desire to eat in order to deal with the danger at hand - I want to eat sugary food during mild to moderate stress due to the effect on my brain and mood, but my experience with sudden extreme stress, is feeling nauseated and unable to eat until that stress dies down to a more moderate level - when I then go back to soothing myself with carbs.

I think that there are many different levels of stressors in our lives. Its obvious to me that we will each respond to it in our own ways.

For me, I live in a state of fairly constant fears of issues that I do not care to discuss on a public forum. These issues cause me great stress. It/stress builds up over time and I then tend to overeat.

food soothes

I have the same problem. I always try to eat my stress away.
I believe in some of what the article say. My whole life I struggled to keep my weight in check. The only time it seems that I can eat everything I want and not gaining is when I am on vacation and be relaxed. I often feared when I came home from vacation a huge weight gain given the way I ate, to find out that weight had not changed.

I currently have shingles: a disease that should be reserved for serial killers and those people who take up two spaces when they park.

My doctor is doing a multi-staged series of medication, and it's going okay; first was a whole week's delay in getting treated since it had a weird presentation. And then there was a medication screwup and I finally got the right stuff back today. It made me realize:

Pain is in our brain. And when it wants something, WE MUST OBEY.

As a teenager, binging, I still knew I was doing this because certain foods stopped the pain in my brain. I was so desperate to stop the screaming that I binged, because it was literally the only drug I could get my hands on. (It kept me out of jail, at least. )

My stress level was so high that my brain became a stew of unhappy chemicals. And it was in terrible pain.

Carbs release dopamine and serotonin. There's ways of getting them that don't involve food. Of course, the best way to remove stress is to REMOVE IT. Address the stress. Because the brain won't stop screaming until we do.