Why We Eat Unhealthily When Stressed
Stress means tension — both negative and positive. High work pressure, conflicts, traffic jams, illness in the family, but also a wedding or the birth of a child. Normally, tension suppresses your appetite — your body switches to fight or flight mode and virtually shuts down digestion.
But with prolonged stress, that changes. The hormone adrenaline drives you to action, and then cortisol helps you sustain the tension. It's precisely that cortisol that stimulates your appetite — especially your cravings for carbohydrates and sweets.
The Vicious Cycle of Sugar and Stress
Your blood sugar spikes quickly from sugary food, you feel better for a moment — but it drops just as fast. The result? Cravings again. And so it continues.
Meanwhile, your diet is affecting your hormones. Insulin, the most important fat-storage hormone, is produced with every rise in blood sugar. Excess insulin is stored as fat tissue. And cortisol makes it even worse — it breaks down muscle tissue and raises your blood sugar, requiring even more insulin.
The rule is simple: when insulin is low, fat burning is high. But with chronic stress, your insulin is constantly elevated.
9 Hormones That Influence Your Weight
Hormones control virtually everything. You have more influence over them than you think — not with pills, but with what you put on your plate.
- Insulin — regulates blood sugar. Too much sugar = too much insulin = fat storage. Solution: fewer carbohydrates, foods rich in chromium and fish oil
- Thyroid hormone — stimulates fat burning and metabolism. Solution: iodine, zinc, selenium, vitamins B and C. Avoid crash diets
- Testosterone — stimulates muscle building and fat breakdown. Solution: protein, zinc, magnesium, less alcohol
- Oestrogen — influences fat distribution. Solution: broccoli, turmeric, ginger. Avoid plastic packaging
- Progesterone — prevents fluid retention. Solution: vitamin B6, vitamin A. Avoid sugar and artificial additives
- Growth hormone — repairs muscles and bones. Solution: protein, vitamin C, good sleep
- DHEA — supports the immune system and fat burning. Solution: olive oil, butter (in moderation), vitamin C
- Cortisol — the stress hormone. Promotes belly fat. Solution: less sugar, organic food, relaxation
- Melatonin — regulates your sleep. Solution: sufficient daylight, less screen time in the evening
Why Are Our Hormones Becoming More Unbalanced?
Our hormones were designed for a natural way of life. But so much has changed:
- Enormous amounts of sugar and calories
- Food that is barely natural anymore
- Too little exercise
- Working in the evening under bright lights
- Hormone-disrupting chemicals in products and packaging
- An increasingly fast-paced, digital society
Even your day-night rhythm is vulnerable. The pineal gland produces serotonin (the happiness hormone) during the day and melatonin (the sleep hormone) at night. Even an hour's difference due to daylight saving time can disrupt this balance.
10 Practical Tips
- Keep your blood sugar stable — choose buckwheat, quinoa, sweet potato, legumes
- Eat as unprocessed as possible — meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds
- Eat what suits you — be mindful of lactose and gluten
- At least 400 grams of vegetables per day — broccoli and kale contain DIM, which helps break down oestrogen
- Maintain a healthy gut flora — avoid sugar that feeds fungi
- Avoid hormone-disrupting substances — pesticides, plasticisers, parabens
- Watch out for phyto-oestrogens — soy and beer affect your hormonal balance
- Quit smoking — raises stress hormones and burdens your liver
- Limit alcohol — raises oestrogen, lowers testosterone
- Don't drink too much coffee — stimulates cortisol and adrenaline
Relaxation Is the Other Half
Nutrition is one side of the story. The other side is relaxation. Regular massage lowers cortisol, improves your sleep, and gives your body the rest it needs to recover.
I offer various relaxation massages that help with stress-related issues. From a relaxation massage to the Zen Special — there's always a treatment that suits you.
Curious about the state of your hormones? Book a free introductory call and discover how I can help you.
My favourite Botanical Beauty products for relaxation and stress relief:
