Stress eating is a well known phenomenon. When you are under stress, your body senses that it is under attack and it prepares for survival. One result is that your body creates cortisol. This hormone activates the process of your body's defense. When It anticipates that there may not be food available later, it conserves resources. As it releases sugar for short-term energy, it stores fat for the longer term. The result is that unless you change your response to stress , you can't control the weight you gain around your middle no matter how much you diet or exercise

It was always believed that only major life stressors like death of a loved one, divorce, or getting fired would cause a major stress response. In the 1980's two leading researchers, DeLongis and Lazarus, discovered that the daily stresses we have accumulate and at the end of the day have the same effect as major life stressors. Despite the cause of the stress, if you eat when you feel it, you can't lose weight.



REASONS YOU EAT WHEN UNDER STRESS

Loneliness        Anger        Emptiness        Numbness        Need a reward        Need for love or comfort



OUR APPROACH

We show you how to unlink eating from your response to stress and replace a stress response with a non-stress response.

STEP ONE Through our evaluation questionnaires we determine what your patterns of eating are and the best weight loss program for you. STEP TWO Through structured classes or individually we teach you to identify the trigger stressors that cause you to eat. We show you a system to neutralize them while they are happening, and replace the patterns that have prevented weight loss STEP THREE We coach you in changing your eating patterns and in replacing your usual food choices with alternative ones that will not cause weight gain. We then keep you on track.