Health Stress

Health stress can come in many forms, mental, physical and spiritual. When your body doesnt get what it needs, it becomes physically stressed, which causes increased physical and mental stress. It can easily turn into a non-stop vicious circle!

This section will explain how to provide your body what it needs to keep it from getting stressed, as well as what you can do to counteract the harmful effects of stress itself.

Without a doubt eating nutritious meals and regular exercising are the best things you can do for your body. When you feel good and look good, it helps you gain confidence and fight stress as well.

When you eat the healthy foods your body craves, you help maintain it in peak-performance condition: your body, brain, and immune system all work together to keep you healthy and alert and fight off disease.

On the other hand, filling your body with greasy, sugary or over-processed foods purposefully introduces toxins into your body that cause its functions to fail, which prevents it from getting the nutrients it needs to heal itself.

The result is an unhealthy body burdened by increased stress.

Eating to Combat Stress

The most important rule in healthy eating is to focus on natural, unprocessed foods as close to nature as you can get. Increase your fresh, raw fruits and vegetables and decrease your meat. Eat organically whenever possible. Include fish like tuna and salmon in your diet. Add probiotic dairy foods to aid in digestion as well as help provide an environment where your body can better absorb your nutrients.
Avoid eating when you’re feeling stressed! The fight or flight response to stress causes your blood to flow to your arms and legs for quick action and shuts down your digestive system. This prevents you from absorbing the nutrients from your food and slows down your metabolism. That’s not so good!

Here are some specific foods that help combat stress and its undesired effects:

B-Vitamin foods. The B vitamins are particularly important in fighting stress, depression, and panic attacks. They’re also water soluble, so reserves of them don’t remain in your body. You need to replenish them as often as possible – several times a day./p

These foods have lots of B vitamins to help you fight stress:

Whole grains
Eggs
Milk
Vegetables with dark green leafs – broccoli, kale, spinach
Nuts
Bananas

Turkey.

Turkey contains L-tryptophan, an amino acid which triggers the release of serotonin. Serotonin makes you feel relaxed. This is one reason why we so often feel the need for a nap after Thanksgiving dinner!

Sweet potatoes. This high-fiber, high-vitamin, carbohydrate-rich food is one of the best for fighting stress.

Anti-oxidant rich fruits and vegetables. Since stress inhibits our immune system, these foods counteract that effect by building it back up again.

Carrots and acorn squash have beta-carotene, a powerful anti-oxidant.

Citrus fruits have lots of Vitamin C to help our immune system and return our blood pressure and cortisol levels back to normal after a stressful situation.

Apricots and spinach. These foods are high in magnesium, which fights stress and is also a muscle relaxant.

Avocadoes. These contain a lot of potassium, which helps lower blood pressure.

Salmon. High in the good fatty acid Omega-3, salmon fights stress effects by leveling off the amounts of adrenalin and cortisol produced by stress, which also helps your heart.