How the Foods You Eat can Help You Cope with Stress

Stress is something that everyone has an opinion on, but what does it really mean? We usually think of stress as  something caused by external sources: for example, a heavy workload, emotional problems, bereavement, or separation. But from a nutritional point of view, eating sugary or refined carbohydrate foods, having drinks containing caffeine, drinking alcohol, and smoking can all cause the body to have a stress reaction and can reduce your ability to cope when there is an external stress.

Internal stresses on the body can be caused by food allergies, food intolerances, high cholesterol, blood sugar imbalances, hormone imbalances and nutrient deficiencies. Our bodies strive to counteract these causes of stress to achieve a perfect balance between all its processes. Stress in any form is a disturbance of this balance.

Short-Term versus Long-Term Stress

Our bodies are designed to deal with short-term stress - it reacts by releasing stress hormones - the 'fight or flight' response. The body seeks to restore balance, and to adjust to stress in the best way it can. For example, the autonomic system may reset blood pressure, allowing it to remain higher than usual. This is fine for short-term stresses; but modern life doesn't allow our bodies to recover, meaning that we stay in permanent 'fight or flight' mode. And this is when problems occur.

Certain foods increase the stress on our bodies. High levels of sugars and refined carbohydrates (products made from white flour, such as cakes and biscuits, white rice, white pasta) drain stored nutrients and can lead to excess insulin. Stimulant drinks such as coffee, tea, alcohol, and some fizzy drinks can rob the body of nutrients and encourage the production of adrenaline, causing stress in the body.

Nutrient deficiencies decrease the body's ability to fight free radicals that are produced when the body is under stress. Free radical damage in the long term has been linked to premature aging, arthritis, some cancers, hardening of the arteries (with related increased risk of high blood pressure and coronary heart disease), and, underlying all of these, a weak immune system.

A weak immune system (leading to frequent infections - colds/flu) is one of the major symptoms of stress. Others are food cravings, weight loss, constant fatigue, loss of appetite, mood swings, depression, anxiety and skin irritation.

In stress the ability of the immune system to fight infections is reduced, as the body deems this to be less important than dealing with the immediate danger it has sensed. People exposed to long-term stress often have increased levels of cortisol (an important stress hormone) and this can be dangerous, causing damage to joints and to the thyroid, and decreasing energy. High amounts can also cause a breakdown of muscle and bone, which could lead to osteoporosis.

The Fuel Inside

The message is clear. To help ourselves cope with stress we need to take care of our bodies and that begins with the fuel that we put inside them. Here are some things you can do to reduce the impact of foods that encourage stress:

Reduce the amount of caffeinated drinks you have each day. Ideally you should have no more than one tea or coffee a day.

Reduce your sugar intake. Don't add sugar to foods or drink; reduce the sweets and chocolate that you eat; and check the labels on the foods you buy.

Resist the urge to use alcohol as a way to cope with stress; it's actually impairing your ability to cope.

Consider getting your cholesterol levels checked and finding out if you have any food intolerances.

Helping Our Bodies to Cope

We can't always influence the external factors that bring on stress - but we can help our bodies to cope better by the choices we make about what we put inside ourselves.

Certain nutrients have been shown to help deal with stress and support the organs of the body that are involved in the reactions to stress. These are:

Vitamins A, C and E, and the minerals zinc and selenium. These are the antioxidants that help fight the free radicals produced by a body under stress. Good food sources of these vitamins and minerals are things like plums, tomatoes, dark green vegetables, seafood, seeds, kiwi fruit.

Long periods of stress can reduce the ability of our immune system to protect us from infection and can disrupt the balance of hormones released from our adrenal glands. To cope with this the body needs:

Vitamin B5 and lots of vitamin C and magnesium. Good food sources for these are: whole grains, green leafy vegetables and animal and dairy products (for the B vits); whole grains, green leafy vegetables, almonds, cod and mackerel (for magnesium); and black and red berries, kiwi fruit, citrus, peppers and potatoes (for vitamin C).

If stress makes you aggressive, increasing your intake of zinc can help (it will also boost a weak sex drive) and you can find this in shellfish, whole grains, nuts, pumpkin seeds, eggs, lean meat.

The body has some 'feel-good' hormones too and these can be encouraged with the right foods such as whole grains, nuts and seeds.

The emphasis in a de-stress nutrition program should be on plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, as opposed to protein and complex carbohydrates. So a good 'de-stress nutrition day' might look like this:

Breakfast

Mixed cereal meusli with grated apples or pears OR fruit with plain yogurt and a teaspoon of linseeds (flax seed).

Lunch

Vegetable soup OR salad made with a variety of lettuce leaves, raw broccoli, raw sweet potato (shredded) and any two other vegetables of your choice (with dressing), plus fish or tofu.

Dinner

Grilled fish, chicken or tofu with three portions of steamed vegetables.

Written by Penny Williams, Nutritional Therapist

© LifeFirst, 2005, www.lifefirst.info