How to Stop Stress Eating Due to the Pandemic
When the pandemic began and turned the world upside down, everything about life at home was magnified — including your good eating habits and your crappy ones.
You may have seen yourself using food as an escape, a reward, or a tool to help you cope with the upheaval of normal life.
You may have noticed old patterns of emotional eating or restricting resurfacing from the depths.
You may have found yourself overeating, undereating, or just not knowing what to eat.
“Your relationship with food will often mirror your relationship with life.”
And let's face it, life has been strange this last year. So naturally, your eating probably has been too.
Stop punishing yourself for what you ate or didn't eat yesterday. Let go of the expectations you had about food pre-pandemic. Your body knows that the world is different now:
Your nervous systems can feel the draining effects of social isolation.
Your nutritional needs may have changed as your activity level and routines have shifted.
Your sleeping and eating rhythms may not be constrained by your old work schedule.
Now that we're a year into the pandemic, it's time to revisit how you've been eating during this crisis and ask whether it's serving you. If you want to stop stress eating and start finding peace and pleasure with food, here's how to begin.
IDENTIFY YOUR CURRENT PHASE OF NOURISHMENT
Marc David, author, and founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating describes eleven different nourishment phases that people pass through in a lifetime. These phases represent distinct eating patterns and thinking about food (e.g., cleansing, celebrating, healing) that serve different purposes for different occasions.
Sometimes, you intentionally choose to adopt a new phase. Other times, life chooses for you.
For many, the global pandemic and resulting changes in daily life made the choice for them. People were thrust into the following three ways of eating, whether they liked it or not:
"The Emotional Phase"
"The Fanatic Phase"
"The Anything Goes Phase"
When these phases become extreme or stagnant, they can lead to lots of unwanted eating habits. Here's what you should look for:
THE EMOTIONAL PHASE
The Emotional Phase is characterized by a non-rational approach to food. Balanced meals and macros aren't particularly important. What is important is quelling your anxiety. Your eating follows the roller coaster of emotions, exacerbated by the pandemic and political news and aggregated by household stressors. You may find yourself "eating your feelings" and approaching food to fill some emotional hunger or yearning that you can no longer access due to pandemic restrictions.
THE FANATIC PHASE
The Fanatic Phase is often the counterpart to the emotional phase. It is characterized by rigid food rules and strict ways of eating. Given the loss of control due to COVID-19, you may notice yourself doubling-down on controlling your food. Fears of eating the "wrong foods," gaining weight, or losing muscle can make your eating more regimented or fundamentalist. If it's not perfectly paleo/vegan/keto/etc., you want none of it.
THE ANYTHING GOES PHASE
The Anything Goes Phase is a response to life being turned upside down by the "new post-pandemic normal." All your food routines—the helpful and the limiting—are out the window. You may find yourself eating at weird times or skipping meals because you have access to the kitchen all the time if you're working from home. You may be pushed into cooking more because restaurant options are limited, or waiting in line for groceries isn't your thing. You may feel out of control, or even a bit lost when it comes to deciding what and how to eat.
TO STOP STRESS EATING, YOU MUST ACCEPT & LET GO OF OLD PHASES
These patterns of eating can last for days, weeks, or even years. They often stay until you've learned their lessons and or the stressors that drove you there initially disappeared.
While the initial shock of the pandemic may have worn-off, the stress of it all remains. If you're still struggling to find balance in your eating, you're not alone.
Start by acknowledging that this phase you're in this last year had its purpose. It helped you cope with the uncertainty and enormity of it all. Now, as you look ahead to the rest of 2021, you have two options:
You can either sit around and wait for your circumstances to push you into a new phase.
Or you can become larger than your circumstances and intentionally shift to a more helpful way of eating.
Are you ready to move on?
If you feel the answer is, "Yes, I'm ready," it's time to do the work of shifting to a new phase of nourishment: The Casa Phase.
TO STOP STRESS EATING SHIFT TO THE "CASA PHASE" OF NOURISHMENT
When you can truly accept your current phase of nourishment and embrace all of its unwanted habits, you open a window to the "Casa Phase."
"Casa," the Spanish word for house, is an appropriate symbol for the post-pandemic world where so much of life has been relegated to the home.
CASA is an acronym for "Comfort," "Adventure," "Surrender," and "Awareness," the four elements necessary to stop unhelpful eating habits. The Casa Phase of eating is about transforming the uncertainty and stress of these times into a more supportive approach to food.
COMFORT
Eating for comfort is a part of being human. There's nothing wrong with seeking comfort in food. It only becomes problematic when you stay stuck there, eating in excess or avoiding the reality of discomfort.
It may feel selfish to eat good food and truly enjoy yourself when there's so much suffering in the world right now. Release your guilt. You're allowed to be happy and enjoy yourself.
Food should be a source of contentment. Mealtimes may be one of the few things left that allow you to connect and relax, both to yourself and others.
If you're feeling guilty about the privilege of eating out every meal or indulging in your favorite foods, use that good conscience to take socially responsible action. Do what you can to share resources with those who really need them. Everyone deserves to eat quality food.
ADVENTURE
Adventure, novelty, and variety are core human needs. Without some adventure in your eating, meals become dull, and you'll likely get bored.
The challenge is that traditional ways of experiencing adventure—dining out, traveling, etc. — are gone, so you must find new ways to spice up your life and eating.
“If you can’t have an adventure outwardly, then you have a unique opportunity to have an adventure inwardly and learn something new about yourself.”
Learn to be creative at home and make eating an experience, not a chore. Whether it's ordering out or trying a new recipe, you need to make it fun and novel. Eat with different silverware, use different dishes, put on different music, or even switch positions and try eating on the floor or couch. Rediscover how to make eating more fun.
SURRENDER
We're all dealing with a sustained level of uncertainty about the future in a way that has never been true in our lifetimes. Even after vaccines, we simply don't know what is going to happen next: Will everything reopen? Will we still have to wear masks? Will another variant of the virus push all back into isolation?
The Casa Phase of nourishment asks you to surrender to the uncertainty, even if you don't like it or wish it otherwise. Fighting it only makes it worse.
The lesson at hand is learning to let go of what was and trust yourself: your hunger, your cravings, your pleasure, and your fullness. Build your faith in the wisdom of your body to show up for you in this moment.
When you can accept the uncertainty outside, you lessen the need to reach for food as a source of certainty inside, which means less compulsive binging, less rigidity around food, and less controlling calories or playing games with your macros and meals.
AWARENESS
Bring awareness to how your body feels when you eat.
What are you truly hungry for?
Are you tense or anxious?
Are there certain times of day that are harder for you?
Are there certain foods that are triggering?
Do you know yourself well enough to predict when you'll stress eat?
Remember that stress is just an overwhelming amount of emotion (energy-in-motion) in your body. The energy arises, moves through you, and will pass, often in a matter of minutes.
With awareness, you can learn how to ride the wave of intense emotion and then let it go, releasing the compulsion to eat with it and returning your attention to what is most meaningful.
HOW TO STOP STRESS EATING IS ULTIMATELY A JOURNEY BACK HOME
Transitioning into a "Casa Phase" of nourishment begins with permission.
Give yourself permission to feel what is true for you right now. The last twelve months have been crazy. Your old self and old way of doing things are gone. Breathe and let that truth settle in before doing anything else.
From here, you need to be willing to experiment in little ways with eating differently. This requires curiosity and playfulness.
If you notice yourself reaching for food because of anxiety about the future, invite in a little surrender.
If you notice yourself eating out of boredom, invite in a little adventure to keep you from slipping onto autopilot.
If you notice that you're snacking without being satiated, invite in a little comfort and make complete meals that give you pleasure and satisfaction.
Experiencing both comfort and adventure is part of your eating birthright. With the right mixture of surrender and awareness, you can start nourishing your mind and body without stress eating.
GET TO KNOW JEFF
Jeff is a health, wellness, & lifestyle coach, helping people upgrade their body, take care of their mind, and show up to benefit the world. He holds a Masters in Buddhism from the University of Hong Kong and a Masters in Mind & Brain Education from Harvard University.
You can learn more about Jeff's journey through eating challenges Jeffsiegelwellness.com and follow him on Instagram for the latest fitness, nutrition, and mindfulness practices.