Take a break from television, or at least avoid cooking channels. Advertisers spend years researching the best way to get you to buy, buy, buy. If you struggle with a food obsession, food advertisements are likely to make a subconscious impression. Either you’ll run for the kitchen when a picture of a juicy hamburger flashes across the screen, or you’ll buy more than you need the next time you’re at the store.

All of the above – but if you have to eat something, choose something with slower energy release than sugar filled cookies and fill up on it e.g. oat biscuits and peanut butter and a big glass or two of water – or if it is meal time, then eat a normal balanced meal slowly.

what you do is the result of a habit … the desire for sweets during stress is a learned activity in the awareness and it happens automatically. You should “teach” the body how to deal with a new way of stress … start doing something else, go for a walk, practice, cook something … it distracts you

What were the most significant symptoms of anxieties that you remember most?

I had one worst last week…palpitations, lost imbalance fainting feeling,no sensation at my right head till neck and blood pressure shot up very high the entire day..

Mukica and Joshua – you need to see your doctor – that’s not normal on 5:2.

I have a stress window in every day which usually runs from about 3:30 pm to 6 pm and then I am fine! I think all of the stress of the days builds up and show up during that time window. The only thing I found that works to calm me is to become more physical. Walking or running is helpful! Meditation and yoga don’t work for me. The more I try to stay still, the higher the level of my stress goes. Being physical seems to calm me. Once that works, I can be calm for the rest of the evening. I tried wine to calm myself but while that worked, it caused me to gain weight. I don’t want that trade off. I think everyone has their own way to address stress and we just need to find what works for ourselves! Good luck!

I noticed that my tendency was to pile whatever was bothering me into one big unmanageable lump and call it stress. A friend suggested that instead of simply saying “I’m stressed!” and allowing that to be a trigger to eat cookies, instead to make myself unravel the threads and identify precisely what was bothering me. A quickly jotted list might look something like…

It’s 4:00 and I’ve been too busy to go get water so I’m thirsty
I shouldn’t have stayed up so late last night
I wish this diet would go faster
I’m anxious about getting this project finished
I’m annoyed that Joe keeps interrupting me
My desk chair is really uncomfortable
I’m worried that my dog threw up this morning
I’m still bothered by that thing my mother-in-law said last Sunday

At the end of the list I would add…

“And I am convinced that eating a cookie (or fill in the blank) will solve these problems.” 🙂

It’s always made me laugh to read the list and the proposed “solution.” I think doing this helps to identify the causes of stress and find actual solutions. It’s also pretty easy to see that in no way would eating a cookie address any of my concerns. I also realized that I was somewhat complicit in my stress because feeling “stressed” had always given me the perfect excuse to eat junk.