So with lots of stress, you get cravings for starchy comfort food and you pack it in the abdomen. One final distressing piece of information, based on some fascinating recent work by Mary Dallman from the University of California at San Francisco: consuming lots of those comfort foods and bulking up on abdominal fat are stress-reducers. They tend to decrease the size of the stress-response (both in terms of glucocorticoid secretion and sympathetic nervous system activity). Not only do the Oreos taste good, but by reducing the stress-response, they make you feel good as well.
