At the October annual conference of The Obesity Society, there was a study presented that caught my eye. In one of the largest surveys ever to examine the relationship between chronic stress and eating behaviors, researchers at the University of California-San Francisco questioned more than 600 women who were overweight or obese about their eating habits and life stressors.

The women were categorized as having chronic stress if they had ongoing stressful situations such as being unable to pay their rent or mortgage; feeling stuck in a job they don't like; having a partner who expects too much or doesn't understand them; having a child who isn't doing well in school; or acting as a family caregiver for someone in poor health.

The researchers found that people who had greater chronic stress were more likely than the other survey participants to say they ate high-fat foods and felt they lacked control over their eating and hunger.

Well, that didn’t seem like groundbreaking news to me. My girlfriends and I know that we turn to chocolate or French fries when the going gets rough.

But the part that seems more important to me is that the study showed that those who were chronically stressed also were more likely to rely on more extreme methods to try to control their weight, including vowing to avoid fattening foods and skipping meals.

The problem with those weight-loss techniques is that they don’t work! In fact, they tend to cause rebound overeating so that people actually gain more weight.

When we are chronically stressed, it is even more difficult than usual to act only on our true physical hunger, as opposed to on our emotional hunger. This is especially true when we have an abundance of high-fat, high-sugar foods in our environment (whether in the refrigerator, or around us in the aisles of the grocery store).

So just when we most need to rely on our physical hunger cues to avoid weight gain, our emotional hunger cues can get in the way.

I am a big fan of the apple test. If I feel hungry (and especially if I just ate 30 minutes ago!), I pause and ask myself: “Does a juicy green apple sound good right about now?” I love green apples, so if eating one doesn’t sound appealing, I know I want to eat due to emotional reasons. If the apple sounds great, then I have a glass of water, wait and recheck my hunger level in 15 minutes and then eat my healthy snack at that time.

It’s not that we should never eat emotionally. There are times when I am clear that I am not physically hungry but am feeling stressed or lonely and reach for some chocolate. And I sit down, and savor each bite. But, when we are going through a period of chronic stress, we can gain significant amounts of weight if we do not follow our physical hunger cues most of the time.

So next time you are aware that your emotions are pushing you towards the piece of pie, pause, take a couple of deep breaths and consider if your emotional needs could be met in a healthier way. And know that I’ll be right there working on those same challenges too!