Most people who struggle with their weight certainly understand the role that stress plays in their patterns of eating. The goal of any serious weight controller is to learn how to deal with stress in new ways and to make sure that if you do overeat when under stress you do not choose foods that will put you back in a weight-gain spiral.
Dr. Dan Kirschenbaum, Clinical Director, suggests that if you do deviate from your food plan, you deviate QUANTITATIVELY and not QUALITATIVELY. This means you continue to choose healthy, nutritious foods rather than start going "back" to high-fat, calorie-dense foods such as pizza, cookies, and other foods that tend to lead to long-term binges.
One of the main reasons it is important not to start eating high-fat, sugary foods during these high-stress periods is that it gives you a taste for those foods again. When you have avoided pizza and ice cream for many months, you will find them too rich and fatty. However, if you start to re-introduce them into your eating plan, you will begin to crave them on a regular basis.
As a committed weight controller, you will want to focus on "safe foods" that will not undermine your long-term goals. Part of the process of losing weight is developing strategies in advance that will help you get through challenging events and periods of your life. How you view your weight control commitment will have a great amount of influence on how you deal with stress. If you view weight control in a negative light, it will be much easier to convince yourself that you "deserve treats." If you view weight control in a positive light, it will be much easier to convince yourself that you "deserve health."
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