Is Your Sugar Addiction Actually Stress Eating in Disguise?

You likely know that your overeating of sugar and other ultra-processed foods (cookies, cupcakes, potato chips, etc) isn’t healthy. These foods contribute to inflammation and excess weight. If you’re like my clients, you’ve tried to quit eating them. And while you can resist them for a while, sooner or later you find yourself craving them. You say to yourself “I don’t care”. And, you go back to them with a vengeance – you don’t just eat one cookie, you eat an entire box. This cycle may make you wonder if you have a sugar addiction.

I’ve helped hundreds of people take control of cravings. To be able to enjoy these foods on occasion without overeating them. In working with them we’ve discovered that they don’t have a sugar addiction or addiction to ultra-processed foods. They’re stress eating. 

That’s why they can’t stop eating these foods, even though they know that they shouldn’t. Because it’s not about nutrition knowledge at this point. And, it’s not about addiction. It’s that they’re stressed.

Why Do We Stress Eat?

When we’re stressed, we have a legitimate emotional need. In stress eating, you meet your emotional need, i.e. deal with your stress, by eating. That’s why you say “I don’t care” in that moment. You do care about eating healthfully, but at that moment your emotional need is superseding your desire to eat healthfully. Stress eating provides temporary comfort and distraction from the stress. But it’s only temporary. And, in fact, it can actually cause more stress, because now on top of the stress you were already feeling, you beat yourself up for eating all that junk food. Ugh.

Common diet advice is to eat something healthy instead. You’ve seen it before – “Craving a cupcake? Have an apple instead.”

But that advice is treating the situation as if you don’t know that a cupcake isn’t healthy for you. Not true. Of course, you know that the cupcake isn’t good for you and you shouldn’t eat it. As the saying goes: “When all you’ve got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”. In other words, if all you’re looking at is food as fuel, then the only solution you can offer is another food.

The Solution to Stress Eating

The reality is that we human beings are much more complicated than that. Food plays more roles in our lives than simply fuel for our bodies. Food has emotional meanings and cultural connections beyond meeting our body’s nutrient needs.

To fix the problem, we need to address the root cause. I.e. meeting your stress/emotional need through something other than food.

The solution is to build up your other self-care tools. It’s not about eating healthier food during a stress-eating event. It’s about taking care of yourself in a way other than eating. What some call ‘practicing other coping mechanisms’. Each person’s self-care, how they can address their stress, is unique.  What makes you feel good is going to be different from what makes me feel good.

How to Stop Stress Eating (my stress eating technique):

1. When you’re in a good or neutral mood, write down a list of self-care actions. For example, do a sudoku puzzle, play the piano, have a bath, cuddle with your puppy.

2. The next time that you’re stressed and craving cupcakes/chips/etc, pull out your list.

3. Do an action from your list.

How to Prevent Stress Eating

Also, when you’re going through a stressful time. It’s important to do extra self-care, not just when you’re experiencing a craving. Prioritizing and investing the time in self-care will lessen your reliance on emotional eating. Yes, going for that walk, re-watching that favourite movie, and/or going to counselling will help you eat better when times get tough.  

 Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

The Cortisol- Belly Fat Connection (Hormones and Weight Gain)

I was planning to write about cortisol for the next post in this blog series on hormones. But I realized that two dietitians beat me to it. Amusingly, both are named Abby (well, Abbey and Abby to be specific). Their articles give a thorough breakdown of the role that cortisol plays in our bodies. The connection between cortisol and weight gain – particularly belly weight. And, nutrition strategies that can have an impact. Also, they take a look at the scientific evidence for specific diets and supplements that the internet claims can “fix cortisol quick”.

So, instead of recreating the wheel, I’m sharing their articles with you. And, adding my personal take on things from my almost 30 years of experience.

Here’s Abby Langer’s post: Does Cortisol Cause Weight Gain? Everything You Need to Know

Here’s Abbey Sharp’s post: Low Cortisol Levels and Weight Gain. How Cortisol Relates to Weight

Kristen’s Thoughts on Cortisol and Belly Fat

My experience of working with individual clients for so many years has led me to believe that chronic stress does have an impact on weight. It’s difficult to pinpoint whether this is through the action of cortisol, or other factors. A significant number of my clients are successful women. Some might call us ‘type A’ (I say ‘us’ because I recognize myself here). Driven, successful, we take on a lot of responsibility. These are fantastic characteristics and not something that we want to change. However, a consequence is that we’re chronically stressed. Often, we don’t even recognize ourselves as stressed unless something happens that takes our stress levels even higher. After having worked with hundreds of women like this, I’ve come to see that despite being physically active and eating quite healthfully, they have stubborn belly weight that just won’t shift. That’s usually why they’ve sought me out. Yes, I recommend some tweaks to their eating habits. (We all have blind spots). But more importantly, what I’ve seen to be essential for creating that weight shift is to take steps to lower chronic stress levels. Specifically:

• Daily mindfulness activities. I have no preference in how people do their mindfulness. We’re looking for the activity to take our minds out of the constant planning/to-do list and instead, sink into the moment. Examples include meditation, prayer, listening to music, a stroll in nature (forest bathing), practicing an artistic pursuit (e.g. playing the piano, singing in a choir, painting), and yoga.

• Prioritizing quality sleep. Incorporate good sleep hygiene. Talk with your primary care provider if menopausal symptoms are interrupting your sleep.

• Taking things off your plate. I mean the metaphorical plate, not eating smaller portions. This is the best way to really address the chronic stress. It’s the root cause. But usually it’s a longer-term solution. For example, what can you delegate to someone else? Is there a volunteer commitment that you can step away from?

• Adaptogens. A number of my clients have found Ashwaghanda to be helpful when combined with the other three items above. I want to be really clear here. It’s not going to work to continue on with your current lifestyle and expect a supplement to melt away belly fat (despite what the alluring social media ads tell you). If you’re considering taking adaptogens, just like before starting any vitamin/ supplement, check with a health professional to make sure it is a fit with your health conditions and/or medications.   

Understand more about your hormones. Check out this post on thyroid hormones.

Photo credit: Elisa Ventur on Unsplash

Nutrition for Insulin Resistance (Nutrition for Managing Blood Sugar)

Insulin’s primary role is to control your blood sugar.

I’ll get into more about insulin in a minute. But first, a quick orientation. This is the second in a series of posts where we dive into specific hormones and their connection with nutrition. (Check out the first article on thyroid hormones.) Why am I doing this series? Because “hormones” is one of the latest buzzwords in health on the internet. And, there’s both truth and manipulation intertwined in those messages. In this series, I’m teasing out the scientific evidence so you can spot the manipulation. Let’s start with a definition of hormones. What are hormones? Hormones are chemicals that your body creates to send a signal from one part of the body, through your bloodstream, to another part of your body.

Now, let’s get into the details about insulin.

We help a lot of people with managing blood sugar and insulin resistance. So, I wanted to cover it next in this series.

What Does Insulin Do?

Insulin is a hormone made in your pancreas. Your pancreas is a gland located near your stomach. As I shared already, insulin’s primary role is to control your blood sugar. When you digest carbohydrates (carbs), they’re broken down in your intestine into a sugar called glucose, which is absorbed into your bloodstream to be circulated to cells around your body such as your muscles and your liver. When glucose enters your blood, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin allows the glucose to move from your blood into the cells of your body where it’s needed for fuel. And, insulin helps your blood glucose to move into your liver where it’s stored to be used for energy later on.

Insulin Problems- What is Insulin Resistance?

There are two main types of problems with insulin.

Type 1 Diabetes (what used to be called juvenile or child-onset diabetes) is when the part of your pancreas that makes insulin has been damaged. This damage impairs your ability to produce insulin. That’s why people with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin (via needles or a pump). None of the dietitians currently on our team support people with type 1 diabetes so I won’t go further into this condition. 

The second problem with insulin is more common: insulin resistance. In insulin resistance, your body’s cells aren’t responding to the insulin that you make and aren’t letting glucose into your cells. At first, your pancreas will release more and more insulin to get the results – i.e. move the sugar from your blood into your cells. It does this because your body is like Goldilocks – it wants just the right amount of sugar in your blood – not too much and not too little. When you have too much sugar in your blood, over a long period of time, it causes damage to your blood vessels. Those are the side effects of uncontrolled diabetes that you may be familiar with such as blindness, nerve damage (pain & tingling in feet and hands), and amputation. High blood sugar also is associated with inflammation. To prevent this damage, your body produces more and more insulin to get the job done of moving the glucose from your blood into your cells.

Over time, despite your pancreas producing extra insulin, the resistance is so great that your blood sugar remains high. It’s this stage when blood sugar levels are high despite your body producing insulin, that is called “pre-diabetes”. When blood sugar levels rise even higher, it’s called Type 2 Diabetes (what used to be called “adult-onset diabetes”).

Risks of Insulin Resistance

Several factors increase the risk of insulin resistance. For almost all of these factors, it’s not known how or why they increase the risk of insulin resistance.

• Age: People over age 45 are at increased risk of insulin resistance.

• Genetics: Insulin resistance has a genetic component. It runs in families. People of certain cultural/ ethnic backgrounds have higher rates of insulin resistance. However, it’s not certain how much is related to genetics and how much is related to the social determinants of health (or the interaction of the two as in epigenetics). Some cultural groups that experience higher rates of insulin resistance are Indigenous, Hispanic/Latinx, and Pacific Islander people.   

• Menopause: While the relationship is not fully understood, estrogen helps insulin do its work. When estrogen levels drop in the menopause transition, insulin resistance increases.

• PCOS: It’s estimated that 75% of women with PCOS experience insulin resistance.

• Sleep Apnea: Sleep apnea increases the risk of insulin resistance.

• Larger Body Size: Insulin resistance rates are higher amongst people who carry more fat on their bodies. It’s not yet known whether the amount of fat causes insulin resistance or whether there is an unknown third factor that contributes to both the increased amount of fat and insulin resistance.

• Physical Inactivity: Physical activity helps insulin do its job. Therefore, a sedentary lifestyle means that insulin must do all the heavy lifting by itself.   

How to Support Insulin with Nutrition (Nutrition for Blood Sugar Control)

1. Move Your Body: Going for a walk or doing other forms of physical activity after you’ve eaten helps insulin clear blood sugar.

2. Choose Less Refined Carbs: When carbs are more refined, they take a shorter time to digest, resulting in the glucose hitting your bloodstream faster, i.e. a blood sugar spike. Choose whole grains so that they are digested more slowly. It’s easier for your body to handle the slower arrival of glucose into your bloodstream.

3. No Naked Carbs: Eat foods containing protein and/or fat when you have foods that contain carbs. I.e., don’t eat carbs alone (a.k.a. naked). Protein and fat help to slow the release of sugar into your blood – a similar result as #2 above. 

4. Eat Fewer Carbs: It’s logical that if you eat fewer carbohydrates, you will have less glucose entering your blood. Your body will be less stimulated to release insulin. Ketogenic (“keto”) diets are very, very low carb. But you can also eat lower or low-ish carb too. It doesn’t have to be a choice of high carb or keto. Those are just the two ends of the spectrum. Many factors go into deciding what level of carbs is a fit for you, including your physical activity, what foods you enjoy, how frequently you eat socially, and who else is in your household. What’s important is choosing a way to eat that fits your life long-term. Two weeks of doing keto isn’t going to fix your insulin resistance.   

5. Have Good Vitamin D Status: A meta-analysis found that having good vitamin D levels in your body reduces insulin resistance. To achieve a healthy vitamin D status, most of us will require vitamin D supplementation. I don’t have a specific amount to recommend because we customize our supplement recommendations to each individual.

6. Consider Other Supplements: There are supplements that have intriguing, although not definitive, scientific evidence regarding their impact on lowering blood sugar. Examples include berberine, chromium, and magnesium. As I shared above, I don’t give supplement recommendations in blog posts. We always individualize supplement recommendations because we take into consideration: what you eat, health diagnoses, medications, and other factors. 

Want more information on managing your hormones? Check out this article on Nutrition for Thyroid (Supporting Metabolism).

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Insulin Resistance and Diabetes

Moghetti, P., Tosi, F. Insulin resistance and PCOS: chicken or egg?. J Endocrinol Invest 44, 233–244 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-020-01351-0

Gabryelska Agata, Karuga Filip Franciszek, Szmyd Bartosz, Białasiewicz Piotr. HIF-1α as a Mediator of Insulin Resistance, T2DM, and Its Complications: Potential Links With Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Frontiers in Physiology.11. 2020. DOI 10.3389/fphys.2020.01035 

Vitamin D and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes in People With Prediabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Individual Participant Data From 3 Randomized Clinical Trials https://doi.org/10.7326/M22-3018  

Men Want Nutrition Help Too. But They Experience Barriers.

You may be surprised by how many of our clients are men. When I’m attending a networking event and sharing about our Agency, people often assume that most of our clients are women. While it’s true that women do outnumber men - it’s only by a slim margin. We’re much closer to 50%-50% than many would imagine.

In this article I share why men need help with their nutrition. What the barriers are for men to access help with their health. And, why our service method is such a good match for men’s needs.

Note: In this article I use the term “men” to reflect people who self-identify as such. I recognize that gender is a complex concept that includes both social constructs and personal identity that may or may not correlate to sex at birth.

Men Have Unhealthy Habits

According to the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation:

“72% of Canadian men have unhealthy habits, putting them at risk for chronic conditions and diseases.”

Since February is heart month, let’s look at heart disease as one example of a chronic condition. According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC and Yukon, 9 in 10 people have at least 1 risk factor for heart disease. And, almost 80% of early heart disease and stroke can be prevented by lifestyle factors – such as healthy eating.

While pretty much everyone knows that healthy eating is important, only 1% of Canadians have healthy eating habits. Only 1%! And more women were amongst that 1% than men. So, less than 1% of men have healthy eating habits.

Why Men Don’t Seek Help from Health Professionals

Men are raised in our culture to power through things. Research shows that there are two main barriers to men accessing healthcare:

1. Traditional Male Gender Norms: Men may see the action of seeking help for their health as going against traditional ideas of masculinity. The need for independence and control is a masculinity norm that can present a barrier. Also, admitting that they are experiencing a health problem can feel like weakness. Admitting this vulnerability goes against traditional gender norms.

2. Lack of Convenience: This barrier has aspects that apply to all, no matter where you fall on the gender continuum. And, has an aspect that may be unique to men. Most health professionals aren’t available when you work full-time. Research shows that men often find conventional health services difficult to access due to work schedules. When forced to choose between attending a health appointment or work, research shows that men will pick work because of the traditional male gender role as the financial provider for their family.

Those two barriers have been identified in the research regarding accessing health care. When it comes to nutrition, there is an additional barrier stemming from traditional gender roles. Food and cooking has traditionally been a woman’s responsibility.

So, there are three barriers working against men taking action on their eating habits!

Change Isn’t Equal

In my personal experience, I’m seeing that things are changing. Men are starting to overcome these barriers and seek help for their eating habits. Yay! That’s the excellent news.

The bad news is that it’s not changing across-the-board. In my experience, it’s changing amongst professionals and those in the knowledge economy. What you may call white-collar jobs. Professional men are taking action regarding their health, incorporating healthy eating habits. In my experience it’s changing more slowly amongst the trades, construction, and manufacturing sectors. What you might call the blue-collar workforce. I.e. those sectors that are typically male-dominated.

I even seen this difference within the same company. The owners and management staff have healthy lifestyles. Whereas the on-the-tools workers have unhealthy eating habits.

Why Our Services Meet Men’s Needs

Because of traditional male gender roles, men often don’t want to talk with their friends and co-workers about their bodies and health. Our services are a good match for men’s needs because our services are private. We work one-to-one with you in the comfort of your own home/ office/ vehicle. No group sharing. No being seen in a crowded waiting room where you could be spotted by people who know you.

Also, we have appointments on evenings and weekends in addition to weekdays. So whether you work 9am-5pm, 7am-3pm, 7pm – 7am, etc, we have appointment times that are convenient. You don’t need to choose between taking care of your health or providing for your family.

Next Actions

Are you an employer who wants to help the men on your team overcome barriers to their health and performance? Book a call with me to discuss our workplace one-to-one nutrition counselling packages: Workplace Nutrition https://kristenyarkernutrition.practicebetter.io/#/5f160bb22a9c240758b3e95e/bookings?s=6366d2f48236b867e4a30a65&step=date

Looking for nutrition services for yourself: Book a free information call and I’ll match you with the best-fit dietitian on our team: calendly.com/kristenyarker

Looking to point the men in your life towards a free resource: https://dontchangemuch.ca/ is evidence-based and good.

Photo by Christopher Burns on Unsplash

References

Canadian Men’s Health Foundation: https://menshealthfoundation.ca/

Heart and Stroke Foundation: https://www.heartandstroke.ca/heart-disease/risk-and-prevention

https://www.healthpolicypartnership.com/itll-get-better-on-its-own-men-and-their-resistance-to-seeing-a-doctor/

https://info.primarycare.hms.harvard.edu/review/men-primary-care

Diet Quality in Canada. 2009.