Not long ago while on a date with my wife we pleasantly conversed. Following a satisfying and nutritious meal I thought to bring up an important yet controversial topic in our marriage—a topic we have diametrically opposing viewpoints on. Yet, being in a safe and agreeable circumstance I thought we might venture… it did not end well. There was no shouting or harsh or unkind words, rather my wife started eating processed junk snack foods and told me that our conversation triggered it.
Have you or someone you love experienced a similar stress trigger and junk food eating response?
My Nutrition university professor joked, a student aces an exam and to celebrate bakes a sheet of brownies eating the lot, or fails the exam and also eats the entire sheet of brownies. Comfort food to celebrate and to console!
To form and maintain healthy habits, James Clear suggests changing our environments rather than relying on discipline alone. Clear writes, “We mentally assign our habits to the locations in which they occur: the home, the office, the gym. Each location develops a connection to certain habits and routines.… You can train yourself to link a particular habit with a particular context… [H]abits can be easier to change in a new environment.”
On another day, during a different stressful moment Jules felt stressed and she changed her environment. Immediately she walked upstairs to the bedroom to work on a Sumoku puzzle instead of binge-eating junk food in the kitchen.
Pro Tip:
Overcome stress-eating by changing your environment. When a triggering event occurs tempting you turn to food for temporary relief physically remove yourself to a new environment.
Atomic Habits, 87-88.
You-Thrive.net 