Emotional Stress in Emotional Eating Data Collection Process

Emotional Stress in Emotional Eating Data Collection Process
Hypothesis
* Engaging in emotional eating (independent variable) will increase my emotional stress (dependent variable) as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS).
Reflection
I began the data collection process enthusiastically as I was curious to know the relationship between the types of foods that I consumed and my mood for the day. However, I could not significantly alter my diet because of my condition that demanded I consume more ketonic foods. However, the condition is not so significant to deny me an opportunity to learn new experiences. Unlike in the past, where I have never been concerned about having a balanced diet, I tried my best to ensure that I had a balanced diet in all the three meals.
The variation in specific incidents might have affected my study because incidents cannot occur at the same time for every cycle of the month. Therefore, while I tried to avoid situations that would automatically increase my anxiety levels, such as thinking about examinations, there were instances of concern that I believe had a greater impact on my anxiety levels and could have affected the readings. For example, I was often nervous about whether my study would yield the expected results. Such is a problem in several studies where the respondent anticipates a certain outcome. Such studies often suffer from some form of bias. Therefore, my main concern was that the study should not suffer from any form of bias.
Even without considering the experiment, my health status and the types of foods I consume further affirm the significance of diet in regulating anxiety. In my case, I have to consume ketogenic foods to reduce my anxiety levels. Anxiety is a mental problem that results from a dysfunctional GABA activity. Therefore, my consumption of certain foods to regulate my anxiety levels already confirms the role of diet in reducing stress.
Getting a balanced diet for the three consecutive meals was also challenging. As it demanded that I visit the grocery more often and in some cases, I could not get the specific types of foods I needed because of their demand in my area. I was forced to always keep checking the grocery for their availability, especially certain fruits. In maintaining a healthy diet, I tried to incorporate different types of foods to obtain the benefit of consuming different types of nutrients. I constantly googled foods that improve mood and tried out different types available. Therefore, besides engaging in the experiment, I was also able to learn about the different types of foods that exist that I can rely on to ...