Unmasking the Stress-Induced Weight Gain: How Chronic Stress Makes You Fat

6. Uncover the conspiracy of stress-induced weight gain

People's lives change regularly with the four seasons. Every autumn, when the weather cools down, stress often increases.

This is a crucial period, with only one or two months left until the end of the year. How can we not rush to finish the work? Otherwise, evaluations and assessments...

How should I deal with the promotion issue?

Speaking of which, many people are troubled by a question: It's said that hard work makes you lose weight, but nowadays many...

People get fatter the busier they are. A beautiful woman said dejectedly, "I'm so tired every day, my eyes are like a panda's, and my waist..."

My belly is getting thicker and thicker, just like a panda's! Is there some conspiracy between stress and obesity, or is it just that I'm really eating too much?

"Wrong?"

Although it was said casually, it unexpectedly hit the bullseye-both of the sentences happened to be correct.

Studies have found that excessive stress can indeed lead to weight gain.

In ancient times, the main pressures came from foraging for food and survival. For example, when chased by wild animals, people only had two choices.

Choice: Fight or flee. Both require immense physical exertion; to supply the energy necessary for survival, the body will...

It releases adrenaline, a stress hormone that raises blood pressure and increases blood sugar levels, preparing muscles for exercise.

After running and exerting yourself, your blood sugar is depleted, and stress hormones naturally decrease. Therefore, adrenaline itself...

It won't make you fat; it's just a preparatory state for your body before high-intensity exercise. When you're feeling nervous...

Sometimes, just doing some exercise can relax the body, and that's precisely because of this mechanism.

Unfortunately, modern people experience mostly chronic mental stress, which has almost nothing to do with physical activity. This leads to elevated blood sugar and blood pressure.

After a period of high blood pressure, sitting in the office working overtime, there's nowhere to burn off the energy concentrated in the blood. The body continues like this all day...

Being in a state of high blood sugar at night will increase insulin production, and one of the secrets to insulin lowering blood sugar is...

It promotes fat synthesis and inhibits fat breakdown, which naturally makes it easier to gain weight.

Studies have also shown that sleep deprivation and emotional distress can easily lead to appetite control disorders. When sleep is insufficient...

People become less sensitive to hunger and fullness, making it difficult to control their food intake; and when emotionally anxious, they may overeat because sweet foods can trigger hunger.

For temporary comfort, people crave sweets. This is especially true for women, many of whom have a tendency towards "emotional feeding."

When feeling down, depressed, or in pain, they tend to overeat high-fat, high-energy sweets, snacks, or treats.

Afterwards, the temporary comfort quickly wore off, and the body returned to pain, leading to a renewed increase in appetite.

A vicious cycle. Needless to say, these are all hidden dangers of obesity.

In addition, actively choosing the wrong foods is also a significant reason why stress is linked to obesity.

Many people like to treat themselves after a hard day's work, since it involves a lot of mental exertion. They've heard that fish is good for the brain, so they give themselves fish...

I order myself a spicy grilled fish; I heard I need high-quality protein, so I get myself a grilled steak; I work overtime or stay up late at night...

There's a reason to eat potato chips and crispy cookies; when feeling down, there's an even stronger reason to treat yourself to a slice of cheesecake...

In fact, these foods not only do not improve work efficiency, but actually cause trouble for the brain.

No matter how busy you are, if you're not doing muscle-building training, you only need 60-70 grams of protein per day. (50 grams)

Meat, 50 grams of fish, one egg, one cup of milk, a small amount of soy products, plus one bowl of staple food and half a pound of fruit per meal.

A pound of vegetables, plus a small amount of nuts, is enough. Too much oily food and sweets are not only unhelpful but also detrimental to health.

Working your brain can also increase the burden on your body's metabolism, which is simply making things worse for yourself.

When the body is under great mental stress, the autonomic nervous system is suppressed, and the blood supply to the digestive tract is insufficient.

Insufficient rest and poor sleep will significantly affect digestion and absorption.

Cell renewal and repair can even easily lead to "chronic food allergies," one common symptom of which is unexplained food allergies.

Miao Fa Pang.

Of all kinds of foods, those high in protein and high in fat are the most troublesome for the human body to digest, absorb, and metabolize.

Food. The digestion of protein-rich foods requires a significant amount of stomach acid and proteases. After amino acids are absorbed, the subsequent processing...

The metabolism of high-protein foods is also the most complex, so excessive intake of high-protein foods puts a lot of stress on the stomach and liver; while high-fat foods...

Not only does the food in the stomach empty slowly, but it also requires a lot of bile to help it.

To maintain a stable release of energy over a longer period and preserve physical and emotional well-being, it's essential to consume "slow-digesting carbohydrates."

"Compounds" refers to various whole grains, legumes, and other legumes. If you only eat white rice, white bread, white steamed buns, and various other foods...

Sweets cause blood sugar levels to fluctuate, which not only makes it difficult to control appetite but also makes it impossible to maintain work efficiency and cognitive abilities in the long run.

Stablize.

After a day of physical labor, it's good to treat yourself to a big meal; after a day of mental work, a good meal is also good.

To continue working, you can't eat too much fatty, sweet, or greasy food, you need to reduce the proportion of white rice and white flour, and you should stay away from...

I ate all kinds of sweets; otherwise, instead of improving my brainpower, I just gained weight around my belly.

Therefore, to break free from the vicious cycle of "stress-obesity," it's essential to choose low-fat, high-fiber foods and try to...

Reducing the energy expenditure of the digestive system is essential to maintaining abundant energy, sharp thinking, and a slim waist. Specifically...

The details of how to do this will be explained in the following sections.