Please don’t stress out over food.
Worrying about all the variables of a meal and your “perfect” diet—what to eat, what not to eat, macronutrients, organic vs non-organic, quantity, timing, what may or may not make you gain weight—is a detriment to your digestion and health. It revs up your sympathetic nervous system and basically suppresses digestion, over time leading to all sorts of issues from impaired motility to gut dysbiosis. In fact, you could have the cleanest, healthiest most dialed-in diet ever, but if you’re stressed out over your foods, especially when you sit down to eat them, you might as well not even waste your time or money on healthy eating and go grab a burger, fries, and beer. The effect of stress on your metabolism is that bad!
We need to focus on finding peace with our food. Firstly this means no distractions when we eat—no devices, no eating while driving or working. Basically, don’t do anything except eat when you eat. Get comfortable being one-on-one with your food (I know for some with an ED past this is terrifying, so it’s a skill to be learned. Have patience with yourself.) Learn to slow down and actually taste your food. Instead of ramping up your sympathetic state, i.e. “fight-or-flight” mode, we need to turn on the other side of our autonomic nervous system, the parasympathetic state, appropriately nicknamed “rest and digest” mode. When we’re in a relaxed parasympathetic state our bodies increase the production of enzymes that break down and digest food, so we can actually absorb nutrients. This has an overall optimizing effect on our motility (meaning food doesn’t get “stuck” in us). In other words, eating in a parasympathetic state prevents that very full heavy feeling, and also ensures that things don’t get backed up in the small intense, which is a common occurrence leading to small intestine bacterial overgrowth.
Don’t get me wrong: I think too many people are too lax about what they put in their bodies, not caring if it has vegetable oils and chemicals, and they do need to care a bit more. But caring too much in a way that leads to stress—or often orthorexia—must be managed. We have a choice on how we perceive and process information relating to food and our diet. I say, choose to view it as an exciting opportunity to nourish, not as a source of anxiety.
Your choice of words and the way you formulate thoughts matter, and will affect your stress response (or hopefully lack thereof). Don’t view clean eating as needing to be incredibly strict and deprived of all the things you “can’t have.” That has a negative connotation and will do more harm than good. Instead, clean eating is an opportunity to better yourself and enjoy the benefits of real food for health and performance. It’s a way of life, not a diet. When we learn to enjoy food and what good it does for our health, energy, and performance, then the stress dissipates. Meanwhile, if you’re in a situation where the food doesn’t quite meet your standards—i.e. the “20 portion” of the 80-20 rule—then likewise learn to find peace with your meal and understand that one meal won’t derail your health nor your goals as long as you get back to your ways soon after.
I’d also keep a record of how and when food makes you feel bad—a simple list will do. For example, “I ate too much of X and felt guilty after.” or “I ate this amount of Y and got bloated and felt fatigued after.” Or “I was craving Z but didn’t have it and was obsessed thinking about it.” Tracking the “qualitative” variables about how food makes you feel can often be more helpful than just calculating macronutrients! All of our needs are slightly different, and this can help you discover your perfect diet.
In terms of carbs: again, don’t stress over this too much but also understand that poor-quality and/or processed carbs are really not needed ever. But there are plenty of good carb options.
To summarize…
How does stressing over food hurt?
- Increase in “the wrong kind of” ANS activity—sympathetic “flight-or-fight” mode activates and impairs digestion
- Stress hormone cortisol is released and this can even impair weight loss goals
- Development of disordered eating or eating disorder
- Gut and digestion problems—there’s a reason they call it “rest and digest” mode. When we’re in a revved up sympathetic state—i.e. stressed—it’s not the time to be eating!
- Feeling deprived—you have no idea how to read your body’s needs intuitively
- Decision paralysis and further anxiety—unable to even make healthy wholesome choices because it gets overwhelming; a serious issue that has detriments to overall health
- Undereating or overeating—often when we’re stressed we lose touch with what our body actually needs for fuel. As such, we either binge and eat too much or lose appetite and chronically underfuel (often the stress can make you feel literally nauseous; this is not a ticket to enjoying a good meal)
Bonus tip on decreasing stress about food:
Stop rushing and seeking convenience when it comes to food! Avoid meal services, even if they’re “paleo.” Start loving the art of food preparation and make it a meditative practice. Learn to find enjoyment in picking your fresh produce and meats from the farmers market or store, and learn to find pleasure in preparing your own meals. We live in a world where everyone wants convenience and fast service and many of us lose out on handling fresh foods with our own two hands! If you make it a routine process to buy, prepare, and enjoy foods that you want, you’ll soon find that you’re not craving the crappier low-quality alternatives. Give it a try – now’s the perfect time!
Resources:
http://psychologyofeating.com/the-stress-metabolism-connection/