Finals are a week away. Procrastination is no longer an option. It is time to prepare for papers, presentations, and tests. Finals week is extremely stressful, and the pressure to do well can cause you to change your habits and even act differently. It is important during this time to stay calm and avoid emotional eating.
Emotional eating has many causes, but is easily avoidable. If you can recognize the source of emotional eating, it can be fixed. Here are some of the main reasons stressed people overeat, according to About.com:
Cortisone: the Stress Hormone – Stress increases levels of cortisone in the body. High levels can be positive, but when they are too high they can cause cravings of sweet and salty foods.
Social Eating – This is occurs mainly amongst women. It is easy when feeling stressed to turn to a pint of ice cream, reach into a bowl of chips and finish off the guacamole, or eat a huge dinner at restaurant. These types of behaviors make you feel better at the time, but usually you regret them after.
Nervous Eating – This usually happens when you are anxious or stressed and need to do something with your hands or mouth. A lot of people grind their teeth or bite their nails, eating when you are not hungry gives your mouth something to do.
Childhood Habits – When you were a child your parents gave you candy as a reward, to make you feel better after you fell, or to keep you occupied when they needed you to be quiet. This carries into adulthood, because when we are stressed we will eat to feel better, reward ourselves, or to celebrate.
Pent-Up Emotions – One of the final reasons people stress-eat is to hold back emotions. Instead of verbalizing an issue or telling someone how they feel, they will eat a cookie. Some people would rather eat than cope with emotions productively.
It is crucial to recognize habits that cause stress and correct them. According to Spencer’s Institute: Life Coach, stress depletes nutrition. Our emotional and mental state has a huge effect on nutritional metabolism. It is important to find things that help us to relax. Everybody is different; sometimes simply breathing in and out can ease a stressful situation. Explore some different ways to beat stress from Goodhousekeeping.com.
Cooking is a hassle. Thats why people eat out, overeat, snack on junk food, and make poor eating choices in general. The process is usually what turns people away from preparing a meal because it takes a lot of effort. A night in the kitchen usually looks like this:
- Preparing the meal: Shopping, defrosting, chopping, dicing, cutting, etc.
- Making the meal: Cooking, searing, pouring, mixing, watching, waiting, etc.
- Consuming the meal: The fun part.
- Cleaning up after the meal: Scrubbing, washing, drying, complaining, etc.
Some people love this process, but after a long day at work, this can become a procedure a person comes to dread. Cooking takes a lot of effort, especially when trying to eat healthy and prepare delicious meals. In addition, cooking for a family means that there are many needs that have to be met, which can add stress and a lot of pressure.
Luckily, San Luis Obispo offers quite a few catering services. A lot of times a personal chef can work out to being the same price as eating out, junk food, and wasted food adds up to be. The benefits of a personal chef do not end at easing stress; it can also do emotional wonders to a cook, or the personal in charge of cooking for a household. Some of these benefits are listed on the Article Insider web site.
As mentioned before, there are many catering companies is San Luis Obispo due to the beautiful wine country and entertainment venues on the Central Coast. A personal chef is a different story; I have two personal chefs to recommend:
“Good food for busy people, cooked with care.”
Seasonal Custom Cuisine prepares healthy and delicious meals that can be delivered to your house, or picked up at their Atascadero location. Using produce that is organic, fresh, and locally grown, whole grains, and lean meats, Seasonal Custom Cuisine will aid its custome