Have a bowl of stress!
By: Margerry Yuhico

       Stressed lately? You bet we are with the reports, exams, sleep-deprivation, relationship traumas, and college worries…it all adds up! Just how do we cope? EAT and raid the refrigerator of course! They don't call it comfort food for nothing.

       According to an experiment performed at the University of California, San Francisco, when experiencing stress, rats will forgo their normal, nutritious food for sugary water and lard.

       Sound oddly familiar?

       It turns out that a rat's way of coping with stress is not that different from ours. From researchers' point of view, the sugary water and lard that rats turn to are equivalent to our cookies, ice cream and macaroni and cheese - common comfort foods. Sure they're delicious and easy to grab, but they are also fatty and ultimately bad for you.

       As expected, the rat's comfort food led to weight gain mostly around the belly, but that extra weight may have a calming effect on the brain. According to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, there is something in the abdominal fat that lowered the production of the stress hormone cortisol.

       Gaining extra weight to counter stress is not healthy in the long run. Stop and think about what you grab off the shelf when tension builds up. Sweets and simple carbohydrates may seem calming, but they can lead to serious health problems including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, trouble breathing and sleep problems. Overeating to alleviate stress can become habit forming and lead to even more stress because you're worried about your body image.

       "Eating is not evil," said Martin Binks, director of health psychology for the Duke Diet and Fitness Center. Binks says that a small amount of food can be a useful coping mechanism, but if one cookie leads to the whole jar, it's time to find other strategies.

       "In the short term, if you're chronically stressed it might be worth eating and sleeping a little more to calm down, perhaps at the risk of gaining a few pounds," said Pecoraro. "But seeking a long-term solution in comfort foods rather than fixing the source of the stress or your relationship to the source of the stress is going to be bad for you."

       Some other tips on relieving stress include taking long walks, breathing in deeply for a couple of minutes or simply jumping in the shower. Others alternatives are exercising, sleeping and ultimately finding time to relax.

       The holidays are here, which means even more headaches. Here's a hint: When images of sugarplums come into your head, grab a healthy protein-packed, low-fat snack instead.

       For more stress relief tips, visit: http://www.relaxintuit.com/tips.asp.

       Identify symptoms of stress before opening the fridge; visit: http://www.jo.brown.uk-therapist.com/.

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