Stress It Is

Today I realized once and for all that it's stress that screws up my healthy lifestyle.

This morning started out good. We don't publish a paper on campus this week and I'm ahead in work hours, so my Monday and Tuesday are pretty free. That never happens. I was feel really good about life and the amount of time I would have to get some homework done.

For breakfast I had a bowl of cereal and glass of 100% orange juice. For lunch, I had a salad with light dresses and three pieces of celery. I even drank a liter of water - no pop! Even for dinner I just had some rice and cottage cheese. Nothing too big. I was feeling good about my diet for the first time in weeks.

Then comes the stress. All the sudden there's drama I have to deal with, an assignment I don't understand and my to-do list nearly doubled. And now I can't stay away from the sunflower seeds or vanilla covered holiday pretzels. It's absolutely ridiculous. As if I'm not stressed enough already, add the fact that I'm not eating well to it.

Why are we prone to emotional eating? What is it about stress that either drives us away from food or nudges us to the fridge every 20 minutes? Whatever it is, I don't like it.