Studies have shown that stress can do terrible things to the body, from triggering headaches and stomach pains to causing you to gain weight. Celebrity nutritionist Zoe Bingley-Pullin reveals how 5 simple diet changes can improve your moods and make life run a whole lot smoother.
The reality is stress is all around us and unfortunately sometimes we can’t choose not to feel stress in our lives. What we can choose is how the body copes with this stress. Stress stimulates the adrenal glands to produce two hormones, Adrenalin and Cortisol.
Adrenaline is our ‘fight or flight’ hormone. Adrenaline can make us feel jittery and anxious, and will increase your blood pressure. Cortisol, on the other hand, is much more subtle. It lowers our immune response, making us more susceptible to infections.
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Zoe Bingley-Pullin’s 5 ways to manage stress, and even decrease it, are:
1. Increase more grains into your diet.
Grains contain a high amount of Vitamin B, which reduces stress by literally supporting the adrenal glands and the nervous system.
All the Vitamins B have a fantastic anti-stress effect on the body. Vitamin B actually balance the amount of adrenal hormone that is released by the adrenal glands so it therefore helps to decrease the detrimental effects stress has on the body. It also works to inhibit anxiety and increase sedation or a feeling of calmness.
2. Increase avocados.
Avocados are chock-full of magnesium. The mineral magnesium helps to calm nerve impulses by acting as calmative on the central nervous system. This will reduce the anxiety that can be caused by stress.
3. Increase citrus fruits.
When we get stressed, we release Cortisol which can affect our immune system. By eating citrus food, you will increase your Vitamin C content. Vitamin C helps lower the amount of immune harming hormone Cortisol, which is released by the Adrenals Glands during periods of stress.
Simply by increasing foods which contain a high amount of Vitamin C, such as oranges, pink grape fruit, lemons and limes, you can help your body to heal the immune system.
4. Reduce caffeine from your diet.
Caffeine based drinks, such as coffee or cola, have a very stimulating effect of the adrenal glands. Caffeine increases the release of adrenaline by the body. The interesting thing is the body can not decipher from a normal stress response or a cup of coffee so it will react in exactly the same way.
Top tip: Try including alternatives such as dandelion tea, chamomile, peppermint, licorice, lavender or ginseng tea. They have a wonderful calming effect on the central nervous system.
5. Regular exercise.
Exercise is vital for stress-free living. Isotonic exercise, such as weight lifting, deepens breathing which counter acts the shallow, quick breathing patterns that are characteristic of stress. Exercise also increases serotonin levels, which is the neurotransmitter that makes you feel good and helps you sleep.
