Beat the Cheats

Whether it's your relationship, your job or what to wear to your high school reunion, stress can wreak havoc on even the strictest of diets. But before you reach for that pint of Ben & Jerry's and bring your progress to a screeching halt, let science help you stick it out. Thanks to a recent study, we now know why stress has you craving the wrong kinds of foods--ghrelin, the hormone that makes you hungry.

To find this out, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center placed mice in stressful situations--by putting male mice in a cage with more dominant males that "bullied" them. They found that during this stressful situation, the mice had higher levels of ghrelin and tended to eat more fatty foods. So how do you beat it without opting for cheat foods? Whip up a whey shake or whip up an egg white omelet. Both whey and eggs have been shown in clinical studies to lower ghrelin levels and, as we all know, there's never a bad time for breakfast!