5. Hunger hormones
• Leptin appetite suppressant
• Ghrelin appetite stimulant
• Glucocorticoids (Cortisol)increases appetite, makes you
feel motivated to eat
6. How Stress Affects Appetite
• ↑ Ghrelin (makes you crave food)
• ↓ Leptin (not able to detect when full)
• ↑ Cortisol (makes you crave food)
• Emotional eating
• Comfort food
7. Chronic Stress effects
- Stress can cause increase body fat,
in the abdominal area specifically
- When stressed your body gravitates
towards foods that are high in fat
and sugar
- Reduces muscle mass
8. 4 Steps for stress management
1. How do you experience stress?
2. Identify your stressors.
3. How do these stressors make you feel?
4. How do you deal with these stressors?
5. Are you dealing with the stressors in a healthy manner?
9. Manage Stress Eating
• Stock your fridge/pantry with healthy food options
• low fat protein, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates
• Time your meals properly.
• Food journal/food app (MyFitnessPal)
11. Healthy ways to manage stress
• Regular physical activity
• Yoga
• Mindfulness Meditation
• Music
• Social connectedness
• Spending time in nature
• Deep breathing
12. Diaphragmatic breathing benefits
Helps us relax
Helps with postural stability
Helps with neck tension
Helps core stability
Helps us recover from exercise more efficiently
13. Diaphragmatic breathing
1) Lie on the floor, keeping the back flat and knees bent.
2) Inhale slowly, and make sure that your belly pushes out
3) Exhale as slow as possible, drawing the belly button
into the spine.
14. Variation (if that’s too easy)
1) Lie on the floor, keeping the back flat and knees bent.
2) Inhale slowly, and make sure that your belly pushes out
3) Inhale one more time, making the chest expand as you
draw the belly button to the spine
4) Exhale as slow as possible, keeping the core engaged.
15. Sources
• Epel, E., Lapidus, R., Mcewen, B., & Brownell, K. (2001). Stress may add bite to
appetite in women: A laboratory study of stress-induced cortisol and eating
behavior.Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37-49.
• Epel, E., McEwen, B., Seemen, T., Matthews, K., & Castellazzo, G. (2000). Stress
and body shape: Stress-induced cortisol secretion is consistently greater among
women with central fat. Psychosomatic Medicine, 62(5), 623-32.
• Funston, L. (2015, April 13). Stress eating helps, when they're these superfoods -
CNN.com. Retrieved April 16, 2015, from
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/health/superfoods-stress-relief/
• Lutter, M., & Nestler, E. (2009). Homeostatic And Hedonic Signals Interact In The
Regulation Of Food Intake. Journal of Nutrition, 629-632.
• Schellekens, H., Dinan, T., & Cryan, J. (2013). Taking two to tango: A role for
ghrelin receptor heterodimerization in stress and reward. Frontiers in
Neuroscience, 7(148).
• Stopyra, Diane. (2015, April 1). Happy Hour. Runner's World, 59
• Why stress causes people to overeat - Harvard Health. (2012, February 1).
Retrieved April 16, 2015, from
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/why-stress-causes-people-to-
overeat
Editor's Notes
Stress is defined as a mental, physical or emotional factor that can cause tension either physically or mentally.
Stressful situations (stressors) activate a stress response.
In ancient times, your stress response was created as a rapid way to deal with immediate threats such as being chased by a lion. After you dealt with being chased by a lion, the stress response turned off, and your body returned back to normal. When immediate threats exist, your stress response is actually beneficial.
However, our bodies perceive stress differently in modern times. The stress response often stays turned on without getting turned off. Nowadays, our stress response gets turned on by situations that are not necessarily life or death situations. This is known as chronic stress. I believe that this picture is a great representation of modern stress [note: to do list, eating junkfood and the fact that she looks overtasked]. ASK THE AUDIENCE: How many of you can somewhat relate to this picture?
As you can see, I could spend a couple of hours going over the negative effects of stress. However, today I am specifically going to delve into how stress can negatively impact your weight loss goals, and some simple techniques that you can practice to counteract the negative effects of stress.
While it might seem like you make the conscious decision to eat, you actually have a lot of hormones that work together to influence your hunger levels.
Leptin is an appetite suppressant. When your body feels satiated that’s when leptin kicks in to let you know that you have had enough food.
Ghrelin is your hunger hormone, and opposes the actions of leptin. Basically, when you feel those hunger pangs that’s ghrelin kicking in, signaling to your body that you need food, while preparing the body for food intake.
Glucocorticoids, specifically Cortisol are constantly being released when your body is under chronic stress. This hormone makes your body store fat, lose muscle, slow metabolic rate, and increases appetite.
Chronic stress increases ghrelin levels thus making you feel more hungry, which makes you increase your food intake, consequently increasing your weight.
Moreover stress makes your body resistant to the signals of appetite suppressing hormone leptin, which can cause you to overeat and binge on these comfort foods, without realizing that your body is full.
Prolonged stress also increases the levels of cortisol. Elevated cortisol levels signal your body to eat calorie dense foods, which explains why when you’re stressed, In N’ Out sounds a lot more comforting than a kale salad.
-While many people try to get rid of their belly fat for the sake of appearance, it is important to note that greater abdominal fat generally puts you at a greater risk for health problems such as bad cholesterol and insulin resistance. Additionally, studies show that the cortisol that is released when you’re stressed is highly correlated with greater abdominal/central fat deposition.
-While you might think you are making the conscious choice to reach for that cake in times of stress, your body is actually hardwired to crave more fats and sugars when stressed. Studies have shown that when people (especially women) are faced stressful situations, they are more likely to choose high sugar foods (desserts anyone?!)
-Long term/chronic stress causes an overproduction of cortisol, which is a catabolic hormone. Long term exposure to catabolic hormones can reduce protein synthesis and prevent tissue growth. Keeping your stress levels down can help you with your muscle gains.
Write down the answers to these questions! 1. What are the thoughts and behaviors that let you know that you are feeling stressed? (ex: faster heart rate, difficulty concentrating, you yell at everyone around you).
2. What are the events that trigger that stress response? (ex: deadlines at work, traffic jams, bills etc.)
3. What emotional response do the stressors trigger?(ex: do you feel angry, umnmotivated, depressed, anxious etc.)
4. What are your coping mechanisms/are they healthy (ex: binge eating, drinking, smoking, shopping etc.)
Binging when stressed becomes hard when you don’t have sugary junk food available. That way if you do feel compelled to eat in response to your stress, you’ll consuming nutritious food, which you are more likely to eat in moderation.
Instead of opting for sugary simple carbohydrates such as candy bars, soft drinks, cake and refined grains, try complex carbohydrates such as lentils, sweet potatos, brown rice, quinoa etc. Moreover, making sure you get enough lean protein will help you feel satiated throughout the day.
When you wait too long between meals you are more likely to feel sluggish, excessively hungry which can lead to nutritionally poor choices. Make sure you put something of substance into your body every 3-4 hours.
Tracking your food intake can keep you cognizant of not only what you are eating but WHY you are eating. Moreover, apps can help you determine the nutritional value of what you are eating.
-Turkey has an amino acid that is the precursor for making the neurotransmitter that helps you feel calm and happy ‘serotonin’
-Yogurt has probiotics, which can help reduce the gastrointestinal distress that stress creates
-Salmon has omega-3 fats. These are anti-inflammatory fats that can counteract the inflammatory actions that stress creates
-Blueberries have antioxidants, which help your body fight stress and stress related free radicals
-Green Leafy Vegetables have folate which is associated with another feel good neurotrasmitter ‘dopamine’
-oatmeal is a great example of a complex carbohydrate that can keep you full for a longer period of time.
-Studies have shown that regular physical activity is a proven stress reliever. Level six is open for you from 5:30am-9pm Monday-thurs, and from 5:30-7pm on Friday. Make time for yourself to exercise before, in between or after your work day.
-Many people feel that activities like Yoga can specifically help de-stress since the poses involve slowing down, being mindful and help relieve muscular tension. Try a yoga class on Wednesday (noon or 5:30) or Friday at noon, free for Level Six members.
-Studies show that meditation and mindfulness help with stress levels. Take ten minutes a day to close your eyes and meditate
-Other stress relievers include spending time with friends, listening to your favorite music and spending time outside
-The stress management technique I am going to teach you today will be deep breathing.
Implementing diaphragmatic (or belly breathing) helps stimulate the vagus nerve, a nerve that controls the part of your nervous system that is responsible for the relaxation response.
Using diaphragmatic breathing engages your innermost core muscles, which help with core stability and posture.
Shallow breathing can over exert the neck musculature, causing neck pain. Implementing diaphragmatic breathing can help with this.
1) Lie on your back with your knees bent, rotate the pelvis under to make sure your spine is neutral.
2)Inhale slowly through your nose. As you inhale, expand your stomach. This might take practice to coordinate as it seems counterintuitive. Try placing your hand on your belly to see how far you can move it.
3) Exhale as slowly as possible, drawing the bellybutton into the spine to engage your intrinsic core musculature. Try to exhale without opening your mouth. I like to put the tongue to the roof of my mouth to slow the exhalation. Try to make the exhale as long as possible, I like to count the numbers of my exhale. The longer your exhale, the more you stimulate that vagus nerve, consequently making you feel more relaxed.
