Written by Felicia Hacket, RD, H3’s Program Manager
Stress arises when people encounter a barrier or a problem in their life, whether it is perceived or not. Chronic stress can lead to chronic diseases like diabetes, depression, cardiovascular and digestive problems. Our on-the-go culture coupled with the lack of time to slow down and eat well-balanced meals may lead to unhealthy eating behaviors like:
– Eating often at fast food restaurants
– Skipping meals
– Increasing caffeine intake
– Using fad diets to lose weight
– Constantly grazing on “snacky” foods that are highly processed, and packaged
Eating behaviors like the ones above promote feelings of negativity and make it more difficult to fight the “blues”. Chronic stress has shown to increase cortisol levels in our body, a hormone that stimulates appetite. According to Harvard Health, physical and emotional distress increases intake of high fat, high sugar foods. How can we combat stress with nutrition and are there foods that will act as a “chill pill”?
There are foods that help increase dopamine, a brain chemical that provides us with feelings of bliss, pleasure, drive, and motivation. Two ways to increase dopamine production in our brains is to eat foods that are high in tyrosine, a building block of protein, and magnesium, a mineral that has been dubbed the “relaxation mineral”.
The main take-away for combating stress is to enjoy wholesome foods instead of the highly packaged, refined foods we tend to grab. Have a nutrition plan in place for stress because we all experience it at some point or another. If stress becomes your lifestyle start to fight it off with the foods you eat. A diet rich in a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds will promote those fuzzy, good feelings we all strive to have.