Articles / How to Avoid Sugar When You’re Stressed Out About Politics
If you pay attention to politics, or you don’t live under a rock, you’re probably stressed out by what’s happening in politics right now. When stress levels increase, we can easily fall back to old habits for coping.
Many folks deal with stress by reaching for something sweet. Unfortunately, eating sweets makes things worse, so below are some suggestions to help you stay sugar-free during these trying times.
Limit Your Exposure to the News
You will still hear about the most important stuff. Limiting your exposure means less hype in your head and more living in your life. Start with news in the morning and then be as healthy as you can for the rest of the day. Avoid the news at night so you can get some sleep. Obviously you want to know what’s going on, but doom scrolling won’t help that.
Make Time For Yourself
Do activities you usually enjoy. Schedule downtime, and consider it to be as important as your uptime. Whatever you do, don’t bring sweets into your home or workspace. You need to regenerate. Sweets detract from that. You’ll tell youself otherwise, and that voice in your head will have all kinds of rationalizations as to why you should just have a little something sweet, but don’t give in. Things only get worse when sugar is involved.
Volunteer
You know what’s important to you. Get out there and get active. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Just don’t go to the bakery.
Talk to People
Your opinion counts, and it effects those closest to you. Speak out and stand up for what you believe is right. If you have the ability to do so, look out for those who are in need and help them. When political action isolates certain people, those folks don’t have the luxury to just go on living their everyday lives. They’re the most vulnerable. Helping others is a great way to help yourself stay healthy.
Remember Our Humanity
Beware if you start to generalize: “All ______ are evil, dangerous, idiots.”
That indicated that your brain is overtaxed and you are simplifying complex ideas in order to comprehend them more quickly and easily. We are all human beings. Why are some behaving the way they do? Why are others thinking the way they do? Is there a common ground? Taking time to really listen and understand other people can help you to empathize instead of demonize. If you can’t do that, avoid sweets (and people).
Get Moving
Take a walk. Take a run. Take a drive. Dance around. Do whatever you can and like to do. Staying active means you are staying adaptive.
Eat Smaller Portions
Smaller plates and smaller cups will help you to feel as if you accomplished the completion of your meal while also preventing you from over-consuming. Pretend that a war is coming. Rations will be limited and sweets even more so. Get tough.
Resist
Resisting means you are not a push-over. The best way to resist is to stay rooted in your community. Contribute and be a valuable participant. Also, write down your values. Make or gather small reminders of who you are and keep them around your home to keep you from self-censoring.
Rearrange Your Space
Purge old newspapers, magazines, digital files, clothes, books, CDs, golf clubs, Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, or whatever it is that you have accumulated. Repair or replace something you’ve been meaning to fix. Doing so will help reduce stress and help you to think more clearly.
Write, Journal, Vlog
Putting your thoughts into words—on paper or on video—will help you sort the clutter in your head. When you are not clear about who you are and what you think, you are more likely to be persuaded by outside influences. You are also more likely to turn to junk food to relieve the stress of not having enough information, or too much information.