LA VIDA: Is Stress Making You Fat?  Our ancestors ate to
survive. They ate because they were hungry or maybe to celebrate
a victory over a warring tribe. Us? We eat because we're hungry,
too, of course—but also when we're stressed, angry, bored,
depressed, frustrated, busy, not busy enough, getting together
with friends or ticked off that the Lions lost.  Stress may
actually be the eating trigger that causes the most trouble.
Many of us have high levels of chronic stress, whether it's from
workload, relationship troubles or to-do lists that are longer
than Route 66. Our bodies respond to this stress the way our
ancestors' bodies did: triggering "fight or flight" chemicals in
the brain that lead to calorie accumulation and fat storage. But
the difference is that we have plenty of food at our disposal;
they didn't. So we end up continually upgrading the size of our
storage unit.  Here's how the cycle of fat spins out of control:
When you have chronic stress, your body steps up its production
of cortisol and ins