Feeling stressed and can't seem to get a handle on your eating - However hard you try?

Julie Hodgson
8 hours ago
3 min read

When people think about stress, they usually think about feeling busy, overwhelmed, anxious, or mentally under pressure.

But the body doesn’t only respond to psychological stress. It also responds to physiological stress. Anything that signals strain on the body. 🌻

Things like -

🍃 Poor sleep

🌿 Skipping meals

🪴 Unstable blood sugar

🌱 Compromised digestion

🪷 High caffeine intake

🎋 Intense exercise without recovery

☘️ Illness or inflammation

🌵Constant mental load

All of these can put extra demand on the body, which increases stress hormones like cortisol, and when this happens day after day, the HPA axis (the body’s stress-response system) and blood sugar regulation can remain chronically dysregulated, making it much harder to maintain consistent, healthy eating habits.

Cortisol and those pesky cravings! 🧁

Cortisol’s job is to help you deal with a challenge by mobilising energy, which it does by releasing glucose into the bloodstream, stimulating appetite and activating reward pathways in the brain, particularly those involving dopamine.

This makes high-energy foods such as sugar and refined carbohydrates feel more appealing and rewarding, increasing the likelihood that you will seek them out when you feel stressed or depleted. Hello Battenberg! 🫠

In simple terms, it pushes the body to find fast fuel, which is why stress often increases cravings for sugar and carbohydrate foods.

The cortisol / insulin connection

Cortisol and insulin work closely together, and when cortisol raises blood sugar, insulin has to bring it back down.

If this cycle happens repeatedly, especially alongside higher sugar and carbohydrate consumption, poor sleep, irregular eating patterns, or high caffeine intake, blood sugar becomes more unstable. 🎢

The result can be -

🌻 Energy dips and ongoing fatigue

🌸 Stronger cravings

🌷 A more unpredictable appetite

🌼 Increased feeling of stress and anxiety

And great difficulty sticking to healthy habits. 😮‍💨

Not because you lack discipline, but because your body is trying to stabilise energy.

It becomes a powerful combination of elevated stress hormones and unstable blood sugar, the perfect cocktail to derail even the best intentions when it comes to eating well.

This is also one reason chronic stress is considered a risk factor for metabolic issues such as insulin resistance, weight gain (particularly around the tummy), and eventually conditions like type 2 diabetes.

And also, one of the reasons obesity or weight gain is a symptom of metabolic dysregulation, not the cause!

Supporting your physiology helps regulate appetite

When energy becomes steadier, appetite usually follows, cravings subside and healthy habits start to feel much easier to maintain. It also helps your feelings of stress, anxiety and overwhelm, further helping you eat well and follow your healthy regime.

🧡 Sometimes the solution isn’t being stricter with your diet or food, it’s reducing the stress load on your body. Small changes can make a big difference!

Small things such as -

✔️ Eating more consistently

✔️ Ensuring balanced blood sugar earlier in the day

✔️ Reducing caffeine

✔️ Creating a calmer evening routine

✔️ Building small periods of rest and repair into your day

All can make a big difference!

We can also take it one step further if needed by addressing issues such as compromised digestion, nutrient absorption problems, and low-grade inflammation, which can place additional physiological stress on the body, further influencing energy regulation, blood sugar balance, and appetite.

If stress is making your appetite harder to manage, it doesn’t mean you need more willpower. It may simply mean your systems, such as your HPA axis (the body’s stress-response system) and blood sugar regulation need more support. And why addressing metabolic health often involves looking beyond food alone.

🌼 If you’d like some simple guidance on how to start stabilising energy and appetite, I’ve put together a short free guide that walks through the key foundations I often start with when working with clients.

You can download it by filling out the form at the bottom of this page. 👇

I focus on metabolic health because many symptoms are often downstream consequences of how well your body is regulating energy. When energy regulation is unstable, it can drive issues such as cravings, fatigue, weight gain, anxiety, increased feelings of stress, and hormonal disruption. Impacting your life Every. Single. Day.

By supporting metabolic health and stabilising how the body produces, stores, and uses energy, you create greater stability in the body. This helps reduce some of the underlying drivers behind many of your symptoms, daily struggles, and longer-term disease processes.

My download at the bottom of this page will tell you more. 😜

And of course!

✨ If you need any help, have any questions or feedback, be sure to get in touch below.

I would love to hear from you.😊