The first thing I do when I get stressed out is to head to the nearest drive-thru at a fast food restaurant. My salve of choice? A couple double cheeseburgers, large French fries and the biggest soft drink they've got. Within minutes I feel calmer - all for only 2,900 calories, 160 grams of fat, 280 grams of carbohydrates and almost twice the recommended daily allowance of sodium.

My tendency toward compulsive, stress-related eating is not surprising to most readers, I'm sure. It's a common habit among many of us. Recently, however, researchers have discovered a link between stress, eating and weight gain, particularly the type of weight gain that leads to the increasingly common diseases associated with obesity. It certainly has consequences and lessons for all of us who always seem to be a diet that doesn't seem to work.

What Happens When We Get Stressed or Anxious

Let's face it - we live in a stressful, fast paced world in the 21^st century. It's likely not going to get any slower, either. When we face stressful events, our bodies kick in the "stress response," an evolutionary mechanism that prepares us to respond to situations that may be life threatening. Our ancestors faced many life-threatening situations, like being attacked while hunting for food, but most stressful situations in modern times are not actually life threatening. Getting laid off. Too much to do at work. Constant traffic. Realizing we're starting to look older. Granted, these are all uncomfortable - even extremely "stressful" - situations, but our bodies generally react the same way to these conditions as they did thousands of years ago when we faced down saber toothed tigers.

Our brain reacts to these situations by pulling blood to the large muscles of our body so we can react. Heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing speed up. We get a rush of adrenaline. All of these changes, known as the "fight or flight response," enable us to fight better or run faster.

Chronic Stress and Eating

If stress lasts long enough, our brains will actually alter various bodily functions to prepare us to face these ongoing stressful situations. It does this by releasing stress hormones, which regulate all types of functions in our bodies. One of these mechanisms is the storage of fat, which is saved up to later burn for energy to survive in times of need.

Also, these hormones ("glucocorticoids" in science speak) make us crave and enjoy high calorie "comfort foods" that are sweet and contain lots of fat. Cortisol is one stress-related hormone that has received a lot of attention from the supplement industry, because it was been proven to increase appetite, cause weight gain, and create sugar cravings (among other necessary functions). For many people, if they're constantly stressed and anxious, they may overeat such foods, especially since food on a per calorie basis in Western society (think fast food value menus) is so inexpensive compared to other times in history. Our brains actually release chemicals to make us eat more than we really need to when we're stressed. That, of course, leads to weight gain.

A Breakthrough Discovery in 2007

Scientists from around the world made an important discovery in 2007: that a certain molecule released during stress (again, in technical language, "neuropeptide Y, or NPY") caused mice to gain fat in the belly area more than anticipated when they ate a diet high in sugar and fat - just like the food all around us in every city and town in America. It is belly fat (think apple shaped bodies) that is the most troublesome, associated with "metabolic syndrome," a group of risk factors that increase the chance of one's developing diabetes, heart disease and stroke. The study may explain why people gain more weight around the waist than they theoretically should considering the number of calories ingested when they're stressed. The researchers called the process "fat remodeling" - an evolutionary process of storing excess fat, our fuel for survival, in the middle area for times of hardship.

What's a stressed out, anxious dieter to do when evolution is fighting against us?

Implications for Weight Loss Programs

The researchers in the 2007 NPY study noted implications for new drugs that affect the NPY molecule (reducing the increase in belly fat) and even advanced cosmetic procedures, such as injections similar to those used in the study to improve fat graphs.

But what about the cause of the weight gain the first place and inability to keep weight off after a diet? According to a study in "The New England Journal of Medicine," most people who participate in weight-loss programs regain one-third of the weight initially lost during the next year and have generally gained all the weight back in three to five years. Some reasons include the following. Our metabolism adjusts to the lower calories and we have a harder time losing weight (another evolutionary mechanism). Diets are temporary and people gain weight back once they start eating the same way again. Adequate calorie-burning exercise is not often included as part of the weight loss program (a favorite of the fast food lobbyists in Washington, DC).

As part of this article, I researched some of the most popular diet programs, books and surgical procedures available in the US. I will not list them here; they are likely known to almost every dieter who has attempted to lose weight at one time or another. Though several of the most popular dieting programs involve motivational counseling and support groups, emotional and mental health is not the core of their services and I found no "best-selling" diet books that discussed the importance of reducing stress and anxiety - or getting to their complex, personal roots and causes. Several promising programs involved up to a year of counseling and stress educational services before receiving gastric bypass surgery, but they were lonely examples in the $40 billion a year American weight loss industry and focused primarily on the patient before the procedure.

Including the Complex Causes of Stress in Your Weight Loss Program

Based on the recent scientific research, it's clear that your body and mind will likely fight against your best attempts at weight loss, especially if you're stressed or anxious, like so many people are. I doubt a prescription pill to influence neuropeptide Y will solve the problem. Nor do I have high hopes regarding the recent scientific research for the plastic surgery industry to calm our stressed, anxious selves.

What seems clear is that we need to include our emotional health in the weight management process, including the complex causes of stress and anxiety. After all, some situations may stress out one person and energize someone else. We all have unique genetics and histories that influence our personalities and responses to life and its challenging situations. At a time when an estimated 66% of Americans are overweight or obese, leading to enormous health consequences and costs, the future "stress" on the healthcare system cannot be overstated.

Without understanding what makes us stressed, it is unlikely we'll be successful at naturally losing weight and keeping it off - and certainly keeping me out of the drive-thru line.