Stress plays role in weight gain
Dissolve tensions by resolving issues
Stress for Success
March 23, 2010


Unless you’ve ignored all news over recent decades you know that obesity either causes or worsens six of the seven most common chronic diseases that fuel sky-rocketing health care costs, including diabetes and heart disease. There’s a plethora of programs to help you lose weight, some more effective than others. Yet the obesity epidemic continues, disturbingly and increasingly among children.

But losing weight isn’t only about eating a healthier diet and moving your body more, crucial as these are. Another very important contributor to weight gain – stress - needs to also be acknowledged and addressed if true weight loss is to be sustained over the long haul.

Americans are vulnerable to too much stress due to our society’s fast pace and to our penchant for so little time off from work. If we took as many days off as the German’s – the average American works 12.5 weeks more/year – how many of us would simply get another job rather than enjoy the time off? It’s not only corporate America who’s stingy with time off; it seems that workaholism is part of the American psyche. But over the years it takes its toll on our collective health.

Exacerbating this traditional stressful lifestyle is our rotten economy creating chronic stress for most of us. Chronic stress typically triggers weight gain, which can lead to obesity, which contributes to so many diseases.

You can find yourself packing on the pounds when you’re under increased pressure because when stressed your survival brain tells you to eat more carbohydrates. It would be one thing if you reached for complex carbs like carrot sticks but of course we tend to go for donuts or other refined flour and high-fat foods, contributing to diabetes and heart disease.

But becoming consciously aware that the urge to eat carbohydrates is part of the normal stress response can help you make healthier choices. Additionally, just because your brain pushes you to eat carbs, doesn’t mean you have to eat the bad ones. You could choose to eat healthy ones. Hopefully all weight loss programs tell you this.

You can lose all the weight you want but if you’re still highly stressed you’ll have to fight this carbohydrate urge endlessly. So, include a stress reduction plan along with your weight loss regimen, heart-healthy plan, or your diabetes management approach.

The most effective strategy for stress reduction is to face your challenges and solve them. What are your options regarding each stressor? If you can’t see any talk to someone who could help you. By reducing your stress you’ll diminish your natural stress response’s urge for carbs.

Jacquelyn Ferguson, M. S., is an international speaker and a Stress and Wellness Coach. Order her book, Let Your Body Win: Stress Management Plain & Simple, at http://www.letyourbodywin.com/bookstore.html. Email her to request she speak to your organization at jferg8@aol.com.