The food choices we make on a daily basis literally shape us from the inside-out – but these choices can be lead by stress.

Have you ever had a bad day and reached for the ice-cream or chocolate? Or craved fatty, salty snacks?

Or perhaps when you feel stressed you don’t want to eat at all. Everyone deals with stress in different ways but one of the most common is to make unhealthy food choices.

One of the leading reasons for over-eating is prior ‘restricted eating’. This is where an individual deliberately cuts out food groups or restrains their eating to lose or maintain weight. Then – when they are faced with a stressful situation they try to overcome it by ‘emotional over-eating’; literally, they blow the lid off the biscuit box!

This can lead to a vicious cycle – but generally in most cases stress temporarily supresses the appetite as we are put into the ‘fight or flight’ mode by the hormone epinephrine.

However, prolonged and chronic stress releases another hormone called cortisol – and this increases the appetite and the desire to eat.

The fact that stress affects what we actually chose to put in our mouths in these circumstances could be due to these high cortisol levels combining with high insulin levels. There are many ways to cope with stress naturally; yoga, meditation, exercise, getting outdoors – and of course social support – rather than eating the wrong foods.

What happens when we make poor food choices is that free radicals are released – as well as when we are exposed to pollution, cigarette smoke, excessive sunlight and alcohol.

These free radicals can cause oxidative damage which accelerates the ageing process. The way in which to fight this is to take as many antioxidants as you can. These are nutrients and a type of enzyme which help the body fight against oxidative stress caused by these free radicals.

Be sure to add antioxidants to your diet on a regular basis through making good food choices – such as fresh fruit, vegetables and salad – and also take your Daily Dose of Absolute Collagen which is a wonderful, natural and powerful anti-oxidant! It will also support your skin, hair, nails, joints, ligaments, tendons and is a great source of protein for building lean muscle.