How can you improve your body’s stress management through daily nutrition?
Medical researchers have long established a strong link between the body’s stress response and how a person chooses to nourish their body.
Obviously, if you always eat fast food and fatty, high-calorie foods, your body will not be very happy with the excess salt, fat, and preservatives present in your diet.
Here are some simple and practical tips to increase your body’s resistance to the physical impact of chronic stress. These tips are based on what is known so far about the body’s nutritional requirements, as well as how our body reacts to certain types of food.
How can you increase your body’s natural ability to handle physiological stress?
The first thing to remember when you’re eating is that everything that goes into your body has a small impact on your overall health.
Over time, those little shocks will turn into big shocks, and if the factors are present, good or bad things will happen.
A good example of “increased impact” would be the effects of smoking tobacco. A person will not die immediately after smoking a cigarette. They can even be alive after smoking thousands of cigarettes. However, the combined negative impact of all the tobacco a person has smoked after 10 to 20 years will catch up over time in one form or another.
Stress is a lot like bad habits like smoking and drinking alcohol.
You may not feel the effects right away, but in time your body will let you know that you are physically in pain.
Here are some great tips for fighting stress through the foods you eat:
1. Increase your intake of complex carbohydrates – Complex carbohydrates are great for managing stress because the body breaks them down more slowly, ensuring you have a much longer energy supply.
You will feel fuller for a longer period of time and also more energetic. Complex carbohydrates can be easily obtained from foods like whole grains, brown rice, and other grains like quinoa.
2. Minimize your intake of simple carbohydrates – Simple carbohydrates have been linked to a more persistent stress response in both adults and children.
Refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), found in most processed foods and commercial beverages, are classified as simple carbohydrates.
If you want to sweeten your tea or coffee, look for stevia or honey instead of regular table sugar. After you stop consuming sugar and fructose, you will feel more relaxed and ready to go about your daily tasks.
3. Have enough protein in your diet – Protein contains the essential building blocks that your body’s cells and tissues need for growth and repair.
Your body needs a spectrum of protein-derived amino acids to stay healthy and strong enough to protect itself from the effects of stress.
Animal protein is always complete protein so eating a small serving a day is enough to provide your body with the amino acids it needs.
If you are vegan, be sure to eat a variety of protein-rich vegetables, such as lima beans and navy beans, so that your body has enough protein for normal function.
4. Stock up on antioxidants – Antioxidants are natural compounds found in “colorful” fruits and vegetables.
Antioxidants not only protect the body’s cells from oxidative damage and premature cellular deterioration due to free radicals, but also help reduce the physiological impact of stress, especially on the cardiovascular system.
Green tea is one of the richest sources of usable antioxidants, so instead of drinking coffee and other caffeinated beverages, drink green tea or black tea.
Eat foods rich in potassium – Foods rich in potassium can help the body recover and recover from a stressful day.
Potassium not only regulates the normal muscle activity of our heart, but also helps relax our voluntary muscles.
Eat Smart and Eat Frequently – Your body will always let you know when you need to eat, so when you’re hungry, eat something.
Don’t let your body starve during the day, even if you plan to have a large meal at the end of the day. Eating small, frequent meals with plenty of fruits and vegetables is the ideal way to replenish your body with calories and nutrients.
