Food And Stress
Foods that help your body deal with stress and foods that don’t
What causes stress?
As humans have evolved so have the types of stress we face. Our stress response was designed for danger moments but modern day life presents different and more prolonged stressors. Work, relationships, money and living through a pandemic are some of the other psychological stressors we face. Physiological stressors like infection, inflammation and polluted environments can all be significant too.
How does our body deal with stress?
Stress causes our body to secrete various hormones - Cortisol, Adrenaline and Noradrenaline - to prepare you for ‘fight or flight’. These hormones quickly increase your heart rate and blood pressure to divert blood to give you energy in parts of the body such as your muscles to enable you to run. As a consequence less energy is available for digestion and other less ‘urgent’ functions.
Modern day stresses can be longer term and this can play havoc with our Cortisol levels in particular which can cause inflammation, digestive problems, poor blood sugar management, insulin resistance and ultimately diabetes.
How can we manage stress?
It is very difficult to avoid stress in life, especially as we can’t always control the stressors, but we can try to reduce the impact stress has on our bodies through lifestyle and food choices.
Managing Stress through lifestyle
Exercise, good sleep patterns and meditation are just some of the ways you can manage stress. Take a look at GSMethod Wellness section for tips on dealing with stress through lifestyle.
Managing Stress with Food
Key Nutrients - Magnesium, B Vitamins, Vitamin C and Chromium can all help your body cope with stress - these can become depleted if stressed and Magnesium is often called 'Mother Nature’s Relaxant’. Up your intake of these nutrients by prioritising these foods:
Dark Leafy Vegetables - broccoli, spinach, kale - lightly steamed or raw to maximise the vitamin content
Seeds and nuts - unsalted - sprinkle over food to add texture, use as snacks or try nut or seed butter (unsalted and no added sugar) on a wholegrain cracker
Beans and legumes - black beans, chickpeas, lentils, peas, edamame beans - great in salads, dips and soups
Wholegrains - including brown rice, jumbo oats and quinoa
Avocados
Eggs
Protein - lean chicken, oily fish (salmon, mackerel), tempeh and tofu
Nutritional yeast - sprinkle over food as a seasoning
Berries - blueberries, raspberries, strawberries
Citrus fruit and peppers
Balancing Blood Sugar - by concentrating on the above foods and avoiding (or at least cutting back on) foods that release too much sugar in to the body you will significantly improve your hormone balance and ability to deal with stress. It is quite common when stressed to reach for junk food, sugary foods and alcohol as these may give you a short term boost but in the the long run they can reduce your energy and add even more stress to your body.
Avoid or minimise eating:
Sugar - including confectionary, cakes, biscuits, puddings, sweetened drinks and hidden sugars in ready meals and takeaways
‘White food’ - processed carbohydrates such white bread, white rice, white pasta as these all break down in to blood sugar very quickly
Fruit - try to cut back on fruit juices, fruit smoothies and very sweet fruit such as grapes, bananas and melons and prioritise berries, apples, citrus and vegetables for your daily vitamin and mineral intake
Plan your day:
Don’t skip meals and have healthy drinks and snacks to hand (see Drinks and Snacks tips)
Try to incorporate some protein in to each meal - it doesn’t have to be a lot but can help regulate blood sugar spikes - this can be as simple as sprinkling nuts and seeds on porridge at breakfast or adding egg or beans to a salad at lunchtime.
Eat mindfully - give yourself time to eat without being rushed, chew well and enjoy the feeling of eating wholesome, nutritious food
In summary….
Food can play an important role in managing stress - nurture your body with foods that help support your stress hormones and balance blood sugar. Try to avoid the temptation of reaching for sugary or junk food which will only give you a short term boost and then make you feel tired and possibly add to the stress load on your body.
© C Spurling BA (Hons) Dip ION
© GS Method