Stress is a physical or emotional response to a demanding or challenging situation. Your body is designed to adapt to short-term stress; it can even help you make a decision or motivate you to be more productive. However, chronic, unrelenting stress can seriously affect your health and daily behaviors, including when and what food you eat.

Also called emotional eating, stress eating usually has little to do with actual hunger. Instead, it centers around emotions. It’s a way to deal with uncomfortable feelings, but it can undermine your efforts to feel good in your body (or stall weight loss if this is your goal).

Stress eating usually centers around highly palatable or comfort foods that are sweet, salty, and high-fat. These foods may provide temporary pleasure but don’t make us feel better long-term. It’s common to feel like stress eating is running your life, but change is possible. Here’s how to have self-control with food.

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Understanding How Stress Affects Appetite

Stress can impact your appetite in two ways. For some people, high stress means lower appetite. Think about that feeling of butterflies you might get before public speaking or a job interview. Losing your appetite or feeling sick when your body is in “fight or flight” mode is normal. However, anxiety and appetite suppression are usually associated with acute or short-term stress.

On the other hand, increased appetite is more common under chronic stress. But does stress actually make you hungry? Stress eating isn’t necessarily due to true hunger (meaning you haven’t had enough calories to sustain your energy levels), but it may feel like this is the case.

Cortisol, the primary stress hormone released in response to stress, can increase appetite. This is your body’s way of ensuring you have enough energy to deal with the “danger” it perceives. Unfortunately, high cortisol levels can raise blood sugar and tell the body to hang onto weight.^{1, 2}

Conversely, emotional eating isn’t necessarily about appetite but about filling an emotional void. Consider how often we use food to respond to something difficult in life, even starting in childhood.

Many kids are given treats like ice cream after a hard day at school or a lollipop after a doctor’s appointment. Treating ourselves to a food we enjoy is not inherently a “bad” thing. However, the timing of these treats can cause our brains to normalize using food to cope with negative emotions.

Pleasure signals from food can also make you experience positive emotions, at least temporarily. According to some studies, sugar, salt, and fat are the pleasure-reward trifecta for your brain, and they can light up the same reward centers as drugs.  When you regularly consume foods with sugar, the body also releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked with pleasure.^3, 4

Best Tips on How to Stop Stress Eating

Learn Your Triggers

Your stressors may differ from your friend’s, whether it’s work, family, or a particular event. Learning how to stop eating anxiously and move towards intuitive eating starts with understanding why you’re reaching for food.

Eat Regularly Throughout the Day

Skipping meals can lead to low blood sugar and increased cravings. If you sit down to a meal when you are already super hungry, you’re more likely to overeat even beyond that meal. Regularly spaced meals with lean proteins, high-fiber carbs, and healthy fat can help balance blood sugar and minimize binge eating behaviors.

Go for a Walk

Taking a few minutes to move your body can be an incredibly therapeutic stress reliever. Even if you don’t feel like it, research shows gentle movement can boost endorphins, which will help improve your mood and lower anxiety.⁵

Try a Journal

It’s not for everyone, but writing down how you feel and what’s causing stress can be helpful. You don’t need to write for long; just a few sentences about your feelings can be enough to help you reset. Or you can keep a food diary if it helps you stay more mindful and keep tabs on your eating.

Turn on the Music and Dance

Listening to music is a powerful way to improve mood (and it’s backed by research). Dancing to your favorite tunes instead of turning to the kitchen is a great way to burn off energy, have fun, and reduce stress.⁶

Have Go-to Healthy Snacks on Hand

If you usually crave a salty bag of chips, try keeping salted snacks like a handful of nuts and air-popped popcorn nearby. If you crave sugar, try dates with peanut butter or dark chocolate. 

Follow a Meal Plan That Includes Foods You Enjoy

A plan that includes foods you enjoy eating is much easier to stick with and makes it less likely you’ll feel deprived. Knowing what you’re going to eat ahead of time can also help reduce the stress of having to figure it out when hunger hits, and you’ll already have the food ready to go in the fridge.

Don’t Restrict Calories

Restrictive diets can lead to rebound overeating. When you’re not getting enough energy from food, your body compensates with hunger hormones that increase appetite. Instead of restricting, aim to eat a balanced diet with adequate nutrition and enjoy treats in moderation. If you need additional support, a dietitian can help you work through a personalized plan for your needs.

Find Social Support

Friends, family, or an online community can provide invaluable support to help you manage stress. Talking through feelings and sharing ways to cope with the sources of your stress can make you feel less alone.

Keep Foods You Know Are a Problem Out of the House

It may not have to be forever, but while the stress remains a problem, keep those foods you know you can’t resist out of the house. It doesn’t mean you’ll never eat them again, but keeping them away from the kitchen counter gives an extra barrier and can promote better food choices.

Work With a Mental Health Expert

If you find that despite your best efforts, stress eating continues to be an issue, it may be time to seek professional help. A mental health expert can provide guidance on how to cope with stress, better manage cravings, and help you understand why you reach for food in the first place.

Work on Stress Resilience

While you can’t eliminate all stress from your life, managing stress levels better can be incredibly beneficial in preventing stress eating. Stress management can include finding strategies such as mindfulness, deep breathing, or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Stress Eating: When Should You See a Doctor?

If you've been stress eating and notice that it’s becoming more than an occasional occurrence, it might be time to take a closer look. In some cases, stress eating can turn into more serious behaviors like binge eating disorder, where you find yourself eating large amounts of food in a short period and feeling like you can't stop. If these habits start causing distress, interfere with your daily life, or you feel a lack of control over eating, it's a signal that you might need some extra support or medical advice.

You don’t have to manage this on your own. If your stress eating feels overwhelming or out of control, consider talking to a mental health professional or other healthcare provider. They can help you find healthier ways to cope with stress and develop better eating habits.

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