10 Simple Ways to De-Stress Without Food
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Transcript
If you tend to turn to food when you're stressed, I suggest keeping a note on your phone of 5 - 10 simple ways to calm your nerves when you're tempted to snack or you feel the urge to binge.
Sometimes, honestly, just removing yourself from the room or the space where you feel stressed is enough to reset and overcome the urge to overeat.
But some of my other go-tos are:
Making a cup of tea. I love just holding a cup of hot tea. So keep some of your favorite tea blends, like herbal tea blends, on hand. Make a cup of tea.
Read a short poem or a few pages of your favorite book.
Take three deep breaths. This is a really powerful restart, and it's also a great physical release for the body.
Take a short walk or just step outside for a few moments. It really just takes a little bit. Like I said, removing yourself from the space that you're feeling stressed in is helpful, but also being outside is really helpful, too.
Listening to ocean sounds, or spa music, or your favorite playlist. I keep Bose soundproof headphones near my desk and I put those those on and will play spa music, and that is an instant relaxation for me. Like I feel zoned out from whatever is stressing me out in the outside world, I can tune into my breath, into my body. And I love, love, love that.
You can call a friend.
You can doodle, or knit, or journal, or do something creative.
You can dance. Just have a favorite song or two that you know you'll want to get up and dance to, and you'll feel instantly better.
You could hug someone or snuggle with your pet. That's another favorite of mine.
And you can also just do some gentle stretching. Like I said, sometimes it's just trapped in our body, and moving your body is really powerful. And stretching is just a nice, gentle, grounding way to move some of that energy out.
So try some of these, or one of these, the next time you're feeling stressed and you're feeling like you want to eat to help manage that stress. Try one of these instead. And like I said, keeping the list on hand is also really helpful because sometimes in the moment, we're really quick to just do what our default is. So if your default is turning to food, just keep a list somewhere where you're generally stressed and choose the few that resonate best with you, and try those throughout the week.
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