Stress, Comfort Food (carbs), &
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| Wed, 11-26-2003 - 5:02pm |
Abdominal Fat"
A timely message for those interested in good health, low carb eating, and fitness:
Rhonda
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Easy Does It
Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
November 26, 2003
Dear Reader,
For those of us in the U.S., our thoughts are turning to the
preparation of a Thanksgiving feast tomorrow and the pleasures
of having family and close friends gathered round the dining
table (and in front of the television for a few football
games).
But once dinner is over and the table is cleared, everything
changes. Because that's the approximate moment when the year-end
holiday season begins. And for many of us, that means extra
levels of stress heaped on top of the large and small stresses
we already deal with every day. Just the passing thought of the
coming holiday crush may be enough to send us into the kitchen
looking for comfort in another slice of pumpkin pie.
If you tend to eat when you feel stressed (which, I confess, I
do), don't be too hard on yourself, because a new study reveals
just how normal it is for stress and food consumption to be
linked. In other words, your desire to load up on comfort food
isn't the result of a weak will; it appears to be a powerful
need, driven by your body's biological reaction to stress.
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Raging hormones
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The body has two basic responses to stress: acute and chronic.
When your boss tells you you'll have to work on Saturday - the
same day your daughter is giving her first piano recital - your
response is acute; your stress level spikes.
But when you add that and other acute stress sources to dozens
of daily and long-term stresses, the typical response is
chronic. Your chronic stress level is more like a plateau with a
gradual rise.
The chronic response to stress triggers the unpleasant side
effects we associate with stress: depression, weight gain or
loss, mood swings, a weakened immune system, and even damage to
brain cells. And it's this chronic response that researchers at
University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) studied by
examining the reaction of laboratory rats that received
artificially increased levels of a glucocorticoid steroid
hormone; a hormone that has been shown to naturally increase in
both humans and rats when stressors are abundant and ongoing.
The UCSF team found that within 24 hours of stimulating the
chronic stress mechanism with glucocorticoids, the rats
responded with pleasure-seeking behavior. Specifically, the rats
had a clear preference for sucrose and lard. When glucocorticoid
levels are high, other hormones are also stimulated that help
perpetuate the overall chronic stress response. But researchers
observed that as the rats increased their abdominal fat, the
stimulation of the additional hormones was gradually inhibited,
and glucocorticoid levels returned to normal.
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Hit the brakes
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In a UCSF press release, one of the co-authors of the study,
Norman Pecoraro, Ph.D., said, "Our studies suggest that comfort
food applies the brakes on a key element of chronic stress."
More research will need to be done before the UCSF researchers
can conclude that the intake of comfort food is actually a
biological response that combats stress. But even if they can
prove this to be the case with humans, an intake of the types of
foods that create abdominal fat would be a poor way to treat any
health problem. Abdominal obesity (as opposed to weight gain in
other parts of the body) has been shown to raise the danger of
type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and stroke.
Nevertheless we can put to good use the apparent connection
between stress and food cravings.
In a recent Johns Hopkins University study, many people who were
tested and shown to be suffering from long-term stress reported
in interviews that their stress levels were not high. So some of
the most-stressed subjects weren't even aware of how much stress
they were experiencing.
To successfully manage chronic stress, it's important to
understand that a craving for comfort food is actually a
pleasure-seeking reaction to stress. And it's also important to
make the distinction between a food craving and actual hunger.
When constant cravings are recognized as a possible stress
warning sign, then healthier activities can be employed to
satisfy the pleasure-seeking impulse. The UCSF researchers note
that exercise, meditation, yoga, and sex can all provide the
needed stimulus to quiet food cravings.
So what will it be? 20 sit-ups, or a slice of pie? Not much of a
contest there when you're craving comfort. Pie wins every time.
But there's no question about which choice is the healthy one.
And if the UCSF researchers are correct, the healthy choice will
take care of your cravings AND help manage your stress.
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Happy Thanksgiving
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I certainly don't want to be a wet blanket on anyone's
Thanksgiving celebration. If you don't gorge yourself on carbs
and sugars there's no real danger for most of us in enjoying a
slice of pie after our meal.
But when holiday stress kicks in, a brisk walk or a few minutes
of quiet breathing exercises will do more good for your
waistline and your frazzled brain than any amount of pumpkin
pie.
Rhonda
Time invested in improving ourselves cuts down on time disapproving of others.

Hi Rhonda,
Thanks for the timely info.