quick question about diet during stress

[made in oregon]

i am going through unbelievable stress right now that is causing loss of appitite. I have been hardly able to eat all week (when normally fighting to control my appitite).
What will be the results of falling so far off the program (in the oposite direction as normal) besides weight loss, which I was attempting anyway.
I am aware that it is not healthy to not eat, but become physically ill when I attempt it and am emotionally unable to think of food and have zero desire.
thanks for your imput

[AnnaS]

I would suggest some VERY easy to digest soups, such as a simple veggy soup with clear broth, or maybe some miso soup (if you're not too sensitive to sodium). Another thing that is easy to digest is brown rice. It should be alright for you to just survive on plain, simple food like this for a few days. I have eaten that way for a while when I had a stomach bug, and also when I had some GERD symptoms for a couple of weeks.

I have read that when we are under stress our blood flow and energy goes into our muscles and away from the digestive organs. This is the "fight-or-flight" reaction--your body is preparing to run away or climb a tree or something. That is why when we're under stress we get neck and shoulder pain, backaches, etc.--the muscles are just too wound up. Same with tension headaches, maybe. It's not surprising that we lose our appetite in a crisis, as eating is not the most important thing if there's a life or death crisis. Evolutionarily speaking, your digestion is less vital to your survival when there's a stressful situation, so it makes sense that the muscles would take priority. However if this goes on for an extended period (as it often does in modern life), you can get all kinds of digestive problems as a result.

Have you tried meditation? Any form of meditation or guided relaxation practice can help your body to cope better with stress. I have had some stress problems also and have been doing some simple meditating twice a day for about three weeks--this seems to help me a lot, even short term, and I hope to see long term benefits also.

Take care!
--Anna

[groundhogg]

I'm sorry to hear you are having such stress.

The only thing I can think of is to find something to alleviate the stress and try to get enough of a handle on things to manage to be able to feel like eating again (easier said than done).

I hope things get better for you soon...I think it's wise not to push yourself to eat if your stomach says no...and stick with "sick" comfort type foods until you can get a grip on the situation enough to resume eating.

Hope it gets better...and I gotta tell ya....I Just LOVE that chewing LION!

Very cute! Hope life gets easier on ya real soon!