Whenever I find myself working on something that triggers mental resistance because it’s boring or outside my comfort zone, I notice my brain scanning my fridge, freezer, and pantry for the existence of treats. Every time I check in with myself, I confirm that the curiosity is not about hunger. The urge to eat is my brain’s stress response.
Do you ever find yourself doing the same thing?
If so, don’t worry—you’re completely normal. Our brains are programmed to seek reward in the face of discomfort. And food is one of the simplest, quickest ways to stimulate pleasure/reward, making it a natural go-to when we’re feeling stressed.
But eating when you’re not hungry can feel frustrating, especially if you’re working on a mindful approach to your nutrition. And it’s even more frustrating when it feels like an automatic response that you have little control over.
If you’re ready to edit your identity to become the kind of person who does not turn to food to solve stress, you’re in luck! Neuroplasticity makes this possible.
“Neuro-what?” you might find yourself saying out loud.
Neuroplasticity means your brain is not fixed in the way it functions. In a sense, it can be considered mouldable. It can change and adapt with the introduction of different stimuli, which prompt it to form different connections between brain cells, thus creating new thought pathways. For example, when you learn something new, practice a skill, or experience something different, your brain reorganizes itself to accommodate the impact.
The key is that the more thoughts or actions are repeated, the stronger those neural pathways become. This is how you create new habits and why old patterns or behaviours can fade away, either with or without awareness. However, if used mindfully, this ability can help you improve behaviors over time.
This is why the concept of neuroplasticity is important if you’d like to change your trigger response to stress. Your identity as a stress eater does not have to be a part of who you are—you can mindfully edit that characteristic! No more heading straight to the fridge when you get home from a stressful day at work, feel lonely or bored, or you’re facing a challenging mental task. Instead, you can rewire your brain to respond to particular stressors by going for a walk, meditating, journaling, drinking a glass of water, doing a few push-ups, or simply sitting with the urge until it passes.
But how exactly do you create these new neural pathways while eroding old habits?
I like to use a simple metaphor to explain how it works in practice. Changing habits is like choosing between two swimming spots on a hot summer day. There’s a pond nearby—you’ve been there hundreds of times, and the path is so well-worn you could walk it blindfolded. Jumping in gives you instant relief, but when you get out, you’re covered in pond scum—ew!—and now regret.
One day, you hear about a beautiful freshwater lake hidden in the woods. The problem? There’s no path—just thick underbrush. You start clearing a trail, but it’s slow, uncomfortable work. Still, you keep at it. Over time, the path becomes easier, and once you finally reach the lake, you realize it’s everything you hoped for—refreshing, clean, and free of pond scum (aka regret). As you use this new path, the old one grows over, making it less likely that you’ll return to the pond.
Here’s how to forge a path to your own refreshing and regret-free response to stress:
Step 1: Choose your alternative
What’s one simple thing that you could do to shift your mind away from food when faced with stress? I listed a few options above, so choose one of those if it resonates or come up with an alternative that speaks to you. The key is that it needs to be something that does not ADD more stress to your already over-taxed system.
Step 2: Write it down
Write down what you will do when the impulse to eat when you’re not hungry arises. Complete this sentence:
Over the next week, when I feel like eating because I’m stressed, I will immediately [DO THIS INSTEAD].
Step 3: Put it into practice
Now that you have your plan in place, execute it when the time comes. Notice how, if at all, it changes your impulse to turn to food. If you like tracking your progress, start a tally system to account for the number of times you use it over the week.
Step 4: Rinse and repeat
When it comes to drawing on the benefits of neuroplasticity, your new behaviour has to be done over and over to make it stick. You want to dig a strong new neuropathway that results in a desirable automatic behaviour, while eroding your old trigger response that immediately sent you foraging through your fridge. Creating new neural pathways is like going to the gym—you have to put the reps in week after week if you want to get stronger.
Step 5: Don’t expect perfection
Understand that you may not do your newly chosen behaviour every time you feel that impulse to eat when stressed—and that’s okay! Focus on just doing a little better each week and don’t give up if you do reach for a bag of chips or a plate of cookies. Doing so is a genuinely human response but also recognize that you have the power to rewire your brain slowly over time so that you can become the kind of person who copes with stress in other ways.
Imagine feeling fully in control of your eating habits—knowing that stress no longer has the power to send you towards food on autopilot. That level of freedom is possible. And the best part? Every small choice you make moves you closer to it. So, start today. Choose your new response. Commit to it by writing it down. Put in the reps. And trust that over time, the well-worn path to stress eating will fade, leaving you with a more empowered way forward.
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