How you handle stress and its impact on your life can affect your health. Usually, people know when they are feeling stressed but not ever know how to combat the stressors that inevitably happen from time to time. One strategy for coping with stress is to ensure you are eating a healthy diet that focuses on optimal nutrition. This will promote health and wellness and minimize some of the negative effects of stress on your body.
Stress and its Negative Effects
Stress can be described as the emotional or physical strain you feel when you encounter challenges, problems or change, notes Toronto Public Health. Excessive stress can cause your body to secrete more hormones that make your heart pump faster, blood vessels constrict, breathing rate increase and a host of other bodily responses that make you feel on edge, notes the Nutrition Information Service at the University of Western Ontario. When your body experiences this stress response for a long period, it results in decreased productivity, decreased quality of life and poor health. Stress can be the cause of many day-to-day wellness issues like insomnia, weight loss or gain, indigestion, diarrhea and constipation.
How Does Stress Hinder Nutrition?
Poor diet can actually be a source of stress, notes the Nutrition Information Service. If you frequently skip meals, consume too much caffeine, alcohol, sugar or salt, your eating habits are promoting stress. Furthermore, overeating, undereating and excessive dieting can also contribute to stress. These poor eating habits can result in serious health problems that will only multiply stress --- problems like obesity, hypertension, high blood cholesterol levels, nutrient deficiencies and many others. For example, if you also consume a diet high in fat and low in fiber, you have an increased risk of heart disease, some cancers and diabetes as well. To add insult to injury, stress can also reduce the absorption of certain nutrients.
How does Nutrition Help with Stress?
Keeping your body well nourished before and during periods of stress may help it better handle stress, notes Toronto Public Health. Poor eating habits will make it harder for your body to fight infection and illness. Proper nutrition is a critical component of your body's immune system and its ability to combat illness, notes the Nutrition Information Service. A healthy diet will not eliminate stress from your life but it is a vital and useful tool when combating stress.
Healthy Eating Tips to Combat Stress
Consume a nutrient-dense diet of high-fiber foods, notes Toronto Public Health. Choose whole foods, colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes. You should eat regularly throughout the day and have healthy snacks between meals. Cutting down on caffeine and increasing water consumption are also highly recommended. The University Health Center at the University of Georgia recommends decreasing your intake of sweet and sugary foods. Snacks and meals should always include protein and carbohydrates and breakfast should never be skipped. These tips should help minimize some of the effects of stress on your body and help you combat stress when it does arise.
