World Mental Health Day 2025: Mental health is much more than just a buzzword today. With an increased number of reports, counselling needs, and overall awareness, the World Mental Health Day 2025 embraces the theme ‘Access to Service: Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies.’ However, several mental health issues directly impact one’s behaviour – from appetite and physical appearance to emotional resilience.
Bound to one’s desk during stressful periods at work, corporate employees often complain of weight gain. Stress, coupled with unhealthy eating habits, can largely contribute to that factor. We asked a mental health expert and a nutritionist for their advice on stress eating, eating disorders, and more. Here’s their take on how employees can maintain their diet and not sacrificing nutrition at the cost of mental health issues.
What is stress eating and how to identify it
Lifestyle coach and Justbe founder, Nidhi Nahata, told financialexpress.com, “Stress eating represents a physical response of the body which seeks comfort through food consumption.” Explaining how stress leads to a cortisol surge, which in turn triggers strong desires for sugary, salty, and fatty foods. Commonly, one tends to crave fried and salty chips, sweets, and other snacks to suppress the triggered cortisol levels.
“The human mind exists within the physical body structure,” noted Nahata, explaining how poor eating habits affect mental health and vice versa. “All mental and emotional responses in the body receive their power from nutritional substances. The human brain becomes foggy and develops reactive behavior and restlessness when the body receives only processed and artificial foods,” the lifestyle coach elaborated.
The mood-gut relation
There is a direct relation between your gut and emotional stability. Explaining the broader reason behind stress-eating, Vaishali Arora, Clinical Psychologist at Lissun, told us that people tend to develop an emotional bond with food. “Stress eating is often linked with mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, and binge eating disorders. Poor emotional regulation is at the heart of stress eating,” Arora briefed financialexpress.com.
“A body that remains clean will produce a peaceful state of mind,” concurred Nahata. Other common reasons behind relying on food to solve your emotional problems can also stem from your younger years. “During these years, a person’s self-esteem can be marred by body image concerns, peer and media influences, stress,” explained the mental health professional.
Managing stress-eating: Diet and emotional checklist
Looking at a common affirmation practice, Vaishali Arora advises managing stress-eating by self-reflection. “Checking in with yourself to see if you’re really hungry or emotionally triggered is recommended,” she said. Further, the mental health expert advised to “eat calmly” – “If you can’t eat it calmly, don’t eat it all, Arora remarked.
Instead of eating directly from packs or full-size servings, “use the portioning method,” Arora suggested. “Delay and distract – it allows you to have some time before you indulge in stress eating,” she added, saying that having water, taking a walk, and even addressing your feelings can largely help manage the stress-eating. Additionally, one must seek help whenever they feel the need to. “Feeling of loss of control over eating, feelings of guilt and shame after eating signal towards an unhealthy relationship with food,” said the clinical psychologist from Lissun.
Healthy snacking alternatives
The Justbe founder suggested that one can “redirect the urge, instead of fighting against it.” Nahata advised keeping healthier options like makhana, chana, peanuts, nuts, seeds, and fresh fruits near your work desk. “These snack options provide both comfort and crunch satisfaction to your body while maintaining your health,” she explained.
“The body uses overeating and stress eating as defence mechanisms, which stem from persistent stress and depression and anxiety. The body regains its natural state when we consume food in its unprocessed natural form, which leads to mental equilibrium,” said Nahata.