Healthy Coping Strategies for Stress.

Hope everyone had a Great Christmas!

2011 is right around the corner which means it is time to get more specific on the goals we want to accomplish to achieve better health. I feel one important step when defining our goals is to also define and write down the obstacles that could stand in the way of us achieving your goals.

One of the common obstacles in achieving better health is unhealthy food choices and over-consumption of these unhealthy foods. The over-consumption of these unhealthy foods usually occurs when we are stressed and under-fed. Therefore, it is of primary importance to "keep that wood-stove burning" throughout the day by consuming healthy snacks and meals each 2.5-3.0 hours. When we create a starvation mode in our bodies by going long durations without food and water, we become more likely to over-eat.

Emotional Eating is now a term that is used to describe the times when we reach for food to deal with stresses in our life. It is a source of comfort for us in chaos. However, if eating becomes the primary coping strategy for dealing with the stress in our life, weight-gain will occur. Therefore, we must create alternative coping strategies other than food to deal with the stress in our life. Some of these coping strategies include:

• Physical Activity.
• Conversations with others
• Stretching/Yoga
• Deep breathing exercises
• Hot bath
• Music

Instead of reaching for food during times of stress, try one of these alternative strategies first and then really ask yourself if you are really hungry.

Again, it is important to keep yourself well-fed throughout the day so you can accurately determine if you are eating out of hunger or just eating to comfort yourself from stress.

If we do get stressed and reach for food as a coping strategy, I feel it is important to not give ourselves an "easy out" and have readily available junk food within arms reach. For example, if you are at home and your child will not stop crying or the Buffalo Bills commit another turn-over and a bag of salty potato chips or ice-cream seems like a great way for dealing with this stress, simply don't have the chips or ice-cream in the house. If you must have the chips or ice-cream, you will need to go all the way to the store to get it. I believe when you are forced to do that, you will realize you really are not hungry and can use a different coping strategy to deal with that stress.

Wishing everyone a Great New Year and I am really excited to getting started on accomplishing all our goals for 2011!!

This is the opinion of Jonathan T. Felsen