Nutrition Consulting Nutrition & Stress
| Stress Management & Nutrition |
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What is stress? Stress is our bodies’ reaction to change, both positive and negative. Psychological factors including emotional tension, anxiety, or anticipation and physical factors such as illness or injury to the body can generate stress. A well nourished body copes with stress better than an inadequately nourished one. Nutrition and stress are strongly correlated and one affects the other. As a result, how well your body handles stress is dependent on if it is well nourished before and during stressful periods and events. Can your diet be causing you stress? Yes! Poor eating habits such as skipping meals, consuming too much sugar, salt, fat, caffeine, alcohol, or overeating, and severe dieting can all put your body under stress. Poor eating habits can lead to health problems such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and obesity while increasing your risk for heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes. Can your nutrition affect your body’s ability to cope with stress? During stressful situations, your body requires energy to perform the fight or flight response. The foods you eat provide energy in the forms of carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Your body draws upon its stores of carbohydrate (stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles), protein (stored primarily in muscles) and fat (body fat stores) to provide energy for the stress response. Calcium is also required during stress, which is removed from the bones when it is needed. Can stress affect your nutrient requirements? Yes! If you do not have adequate vitamins and minerals stored in your body or taken in your diet daily, you may not be prepared to protect yourself in stressful situations. If eating a balanced diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meats, poultry, fish and dairy, you may not need a vitamin and mineral supplement to meet your everyday nutrient needs. Consult with a nutritionist if you are concerned you are not meeting your daily needs and they can help assess your current dietary intake and customize a nutrition plan for you. What nutrients are affected by extreme stress? Severe physical stresses have a much greater effect on your nutritional requirements. Energy requirements also increase significantly during very stressful periods. Studies have shown that the body depletes its stores of nutrients when under stress, causing you to need more of the following nutrients; Protein, B vitamins (whole grains, fish and seafood, poultry and meats, eggs, dairy products, leafy green vegetables, beans and peas and citrus fruits), calcium (dairy products, canned salmon, dark leafy green vegetables); vitamin C (citrus fruits) and vitamin A (eggs, milk, apricots, nectarines, cantaloupe, carrots, sweet potatoes and spinach) A deficiency of magnesium (legumes, nuts, whole grains, and vegetables), which helps muscles relax, has been linked to "Type A" or high-stress personalities. Try to maintain a regime that consists of natural (unprocessed) foods. Limit caffeine intake (coffee, tea, cola and chocolate) which causes nervousness and interrupts sleep if consumed in excess. Caffeine also causes a fight-or- flight response in your body and uses up your reserves of the B vitamins, which are important in coping with stress. Alcohol also depletes your body's B vitamins, and can disrupt sleep and impair your judgment. Limit refined sugar as it offers no essential nutrients and can cause an immediate "high" followed by a prolonged "low." Strategies to Cope With Stress:
CONTACT CARLY for a customized program to combat stress and optimize your body’s potential!
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