What to Eat When You’re Stressed
Statistics from a recent global stress research study show that increased stress is felt worldwide. A continued or prolonged stress response can rob the body/mind of its ability to regain balance after stress. Continued exposure to stress and the experience of the stress response can cause exhaustion of our adrenal system and create lowered resistance to disease.
The stress response in the body is geared to deal with every day stress. When stress is extreme or unrelenting it can become harmful. Developing a plan to manage stress positively can help to move and balance through stressful life situations. A proactive plan incorporating attitude, belief systems, diet and mind/body fitness can allow for us to react to stress more positively. Allow for resilience and confidence to be part of your plan for managing stress and creating a life or balance, vitality and well being. In dealing with stress, preparation is key!
Healing, reducing stress and living more positively and aligned with your hearts purpose takes courage, a willingness to let go of obsessive self-critiquing and judgment. Begin where you are. Make an honest assessment of your present stressors and your coping mechanisms. Now, define what is possible. Stretch yourself to think new thoughts. Envision new patterns of being. Live the idea of creative confidence. This is possibly more about willingness as opposed to will power. Be on purpose, not so much on outcome. Honor your essence, your authenticity. Celebrate your life in new action, new thoughts, and a celebration of the possible.
Under stress the body can lose valuable stores of important vitamins, minerals, and/or amino acids. Certain foods rich in these nutrients may help to keep your system strong under stress and possibly offset the damage that stress can cause. One thing that you can do is to take a daily multivitamin and mineral to cover your basics. Nutritional deficiencies can show up in a number of ways, so we like the idea of a daily multiple as one part of your preventive medicine strategy. Your ability to handle stress, is largely dependent on antioxidants like vitamins C and E, B vitamins, which help prevent fatigue and are vital for immunity and nerve cell activity, magnesium, which helps prevent depression and relieve muscle tension. An increase in stress causes a decrease in magnesium – an important “calming” mineral. A loss of magnesium is not only caused by stress, it also causes stress to increase and causes an overall increase in vulnerability to stress.
Stress causes a decrease in Vitamin C. Studies show both subjective and objective improvement in stress management when vitamin C levels are strong. Subjects who had highest levels of vitamin C showed fewest symptoms of physical and mental stress. Key vitamins such as C are stored in the adrenal glands.
Certain herbs can also help target and prevent against specific stress symptoms. Kava kava may be beneficial for stress-related anxiety (limit use to times of high stress and do not take for longer than three months). If you’re unable to fall asleep, try melatonin. St. John’s wort may help ease mild depression caused by stress. Siberian ginseng and Panax ginseng help strengthen and tonify the adrenal glands. These herbs help the body adapt to stressors. All these supplements can be found singly, together, or in combination with other stress-fighting herbs and nutrients. One note of caution: The FDA has recently issued warnings on kava due to its adverse effects on the liver. Other herbs that are wonderful in tea form include passionflower, cauliflower, and valerian root. Sipping chamomile tea about ½ hour before bed is a nice and calming ritual.
Here are some other dietary anti-stress measures you can take:
Decrease Coffee and caffeine (weakens adrenals/adrenal response to stress)
Decrease Alcohol, and decrease refined carbohydrates
Eat more complex carbohydrates – Here’s your list:
Greens (Spinach, Watercress, Lettuce, Mustard greens, Swiss chard), Most Fruits and Vegetables and Whole grains (Whole Barley, Buckwheat, Oat bran, spelt, Oats, Brown Rice, Wild Rice), Yogurt, Legumes (Lentils, garbanzos, soy beans, black beans, pinto beans), soy milk, onions, tomatoes
Complex carbohydrates can help to raise serotonin levels. Under stress our brain uses serotonin. When our stores of serotonin become low due to stress (extended stress) our mood can become affected and become less positive or even accompanied with anxiety and depression.
Eat fewer simple carbohydrates: Table sugar, Corn syrup, Fruit juice, Candy, Cake, Bread made with white flour, Pasta made with white flour, Soda pop, baked goods made with white flour, Most packaged cereals
It is important to avoid missing meals or ingesting too many sugar/refined carbohydrates as they can cause hypoglycemia, which can cause for the brain not getting its only food source glucose. Stress hormones can also starve the brain of glucose, leading to interference with brain chemistry and chemistry for balance of mood.
Our bodies are blessed with the ability to be continuously adjusting and readjusting its internal chemistry so it can remain in balance. The fight or flight response disrupts this balance. If we are physically and/or psychologically or spiritually unprepared we can experience this response as very demanding and potentially debilitating.
We haven’t touched here on the variety of other tools available if you are feeling stressed. Research strongly supports integrating meditation, visualization, yoga and biofeedback as potential techniques to help decrease your stress. Be sure to speak to your doctor to determine whether or not you are a candidate for any of these natural therapies.
March 23, 2010
by Optimum WellnessComments
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