How to eat healthier when you’re stressed, according to science

Next, participants were asked to perform two experiments to simulate stress. In one example, students dipped their hands in warm water and performed a basic counting task without being evaluated. In a second experiment aimed at simulating stress, students alternated between keeping their hands immersed in cold water and performing mental arithmetic tests under pressure. These students were also told that they were being recorded and received negative feedback.

All students then completed a “pre-commitment” phase of the study in which they observed food pairings. In some situations, they were simply shown food combinations. Others were given the option of eliminating less healthy foods. They then performed another experiment, either a stress task or a hot water task, depending on what they had done beforehand. From there, they moved to the choice stage, where participants were asked to see pairs of foods and choose which one they wanted to eat.

Overall, the researchers found that students chose palatable but unhealthy foods more often than healthy but unpalatable options. However, they also found that when participants felt stressed, they were more likely to choose less healthy but palatable foods.

This association was present in viewing trials (where people simply looked at the food) but not in restriction trials (where they had the option to remove the unhealthy food).

“This has important implications for interventions aimed at promoting healthier food choices, especially in stressful environments, and may particularly benefit individuals with less restrictive diets,” the researchers said in the study.

Pre-commitment is a strategy that limits what you eat in the future in order to make healthier choices. One example the researchers pointed to is that people don’t want to eat cake at home because they don’t buy it at the grocery store.

“When it comes to eating, precommitment means making food decisions before stress, hunger, or cravings set in,” says Keri Gans, registered dietitian and author of the book. small change diet. This includes deciding ahead of time what to buy, what to pack, and what to order, she says, making it easier to make healthier choices when the moment actually arises.

This is useful for several reasons. “Sometimes one of the biggest barriers right now is decision fatigue,” says Jessica Cording, registered dietitian and author of the book. game changer little book. “Planning gives you one less thing to think about in the moment.”

If you have a hard time making deliberate choices when you have so much going on in your life, or if you’re trying to build new healthy habits, deciding what you’ll and won’t eat ahead of time can go a long way toward increasing your chances of making food choices that align with your goals, Cording adds.

Pre-commitment may sound like just knowing you’re on a diet, but that’s a little different, Gans explains. “Knowing or thinking you’re ‘on a diet’ may reflect intention, but it doesn’t necessarily include a specific plan,” she says. “Pre-commitment is a behavioral strategy that creates structure in advance, so you have fewer decisions to make on the fly and less need to rely on willpower when you’re tired, stressed, hungry, or tempted.”

There are many ways you can use pre-commitment to eat healthy. “Make a grocery list before you shop, plan several meals for the week, pack snacks, and check restaurant menus in advance to ensure nutritious options are easily available,” Gans says. “It’s not about banning foods; it’s about building structures in a way that makes healthier choices feel easier.”Of course, committing to meals in advance also has the unexpected benefit of potentially saving you money through meal prep and snack packing.

Coding also suggests being realistic about what you eat. “Many people try to choose foods they think they should eat, but don’t enjoy,” she says. “It’s much harder to eat food you don’t actually like.”