We've all been there. The boss is on your back. You get stuck in traffic. A huge project deadline is looming. It's enough to send anyone running straight for the ice cream and potato chips! It's called stress snacking and researchers from the University of California in San Francisco have came up with a scientific explanation for it.
In a groundbreaking 2003 study, they found that when we're under chronic stress, some primitive part of our brain thinks the solution is to seek high-calorie foods, spill a little cortisone into the blood to help convert them into fat, and pack on a few pounds around the middle pronto. Now this may have been a good thing back in the days when chronic stress was caused by things like drought, famine or some other calamity that may interrupt your food source for awhile. But in the modern world where food shortages aren't the problem, it just means an extra layer of belly fat — a prime risk factor for all kinds of health problems from heart disease to diabetes.
So when the pressure is high back away from the snacks, sister, and try one of these healthier tension reducers instead: exercise, do yoga, or get busy in the bedroom. You'll bust stress and burn calories. How great is that?
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