You could be stress-eating these holidays - or eating your way to stress

Here are some tips for enjoying festive foods, while avoiding stress-eating.

- Saman Khalesi, Charlotte Gupta and Talitha Best

The holiday season can be a time of joy, celebration, and indulgence in delicious foods and meals. However, for many, it can also be an emotional and stressful period. This stress can manifest in our eating habits, leading to what is known as emotional or stress-eating.

There are certain foods we tend to eat more of when we're stressed, and these can affect our health. What's more, our food choices can influence our stress levels and make us feel worse. Here's how.

WHY WE MIGHT EAT MORE WHEN STRESSED

The human stress response is a complex signalling network across the body and brain. Our nervous system then responds to physical and psychological events to maintain our health.

Our stress response - which can be subtle or trigger a fight-or-flight response - is essential and part of daily life.

The stress response increases production of the hormones cortisol and insulin and the release of glucose (blood sugars) and brain chemicals to meet demand. Eating when we experience stress is a normal behaviour to meet a spike in energy needs.

But sometimes our relationship with food becomes strained in response to different types of stress. We might attach shame or guilt to overeating. And anxiety or insecurity can mean some people under-eat in stressful times.

Over time, people can start to associate eating with negative emotions - such as anger, sadness, fear or worry. This link can create behavioural cycles of emotional eating. "Emotional eaters" may go on to develop altered brain responses to the sight or smell of food.

WHAT STRESS-EATING CAN DO TO THE BODY