February 21, 2017 · Written by Foodtolive Team
4 Best Foods to Reduce Stress Without Adding to Your Waistline
Despite the fact that it’s not officially considered a disease, stress is a serious health problem. The worst thing about it is that it weakens your body and makes it vulnerable to a variety of dangers. However, the best way of stress relief is often unavailable to us as people today are just too busy to relax. The good news is that there are some things we can do in order to help ourselves with this problem. Today we’ll share the list of the best foods to reduce stress. Eating these products when you are feeling totally overwhelmed or anxious would help you deal with the experience much better.
The detrimental effects of stress on cognitive abilities, as well as various systems that ‘run’ the human body have been proven numerous times. It’s also a well-known fact that the best methods of stress relief are meditation and relaxation. In the perfect case scenario, one should move to a place with no stressors and spend there enough time to ‘recharge their batteries’.
Sadly, few of us can do this even while on vacation. Therefore, we have to look for other solutions that would help us cope with the stress right this moment. The foods we’ll list in this article do exactly this. They also give you a boost of energy, which can help you handle the stressful task more efficiently. However, one should control their intake of these ‘help’ foods to ensure they don’t develop a case of ‘emotional eating’, where food becomes an unhealthy comfort.
Best Foods to Reduce Stress in Any Situation
Nuts of Any Kind
A handful of nuts a day makes you an overall stronger, healthier, and stress-resistant person. The minerals and B vitamins that one gets from nuts are very good for your nervous system and help maintain its proper function. They are also high in calories and fiber, which means they are energizing and support your digestion.
However, calories in nuts can become an issue if you are on a weight loss diet. You’ll need to design your meal plan carefully to keep it slimming despite this snack. Luckily, you only need to eat about 4-6 nuts a day to get the health benefits they offer.
Berries: Fresh and Dried
Berries are one of the best food sources of potent antioxidants. They are also low in calories, high in fiber, and fantastically delicious. All in all, everyone should eat berries at every opportunity, and they make a perfect comfort food.
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Blueberries and raspberries are the best options for fresh produce of this variety as they are extremely rich in vitamin C and anthocyanin, an extremely potent antioxidant. They also taste great and make a great addition to your morning cereal.
The best foods to relieve stress among dried berries are goji and cranberry. They are rich in antioxidants as well, and they make a good source of extra energy for a stressful day. These particular berries also taste good when dried and they are available all year round in that form.
Chamomile Tea
Chamomile tea is an extraordinary drink that has been revered by many cultures and is still used by herbalists all over the world. It’s great for digestion and natural medicine practitioners claim it helps relieve stomachache. It’s also one of the spicy teas that are great for weight loss, so it makes a perfect food for stress relief when you are on a diet.
Research from the University of Maryland Medical Center states that chamomile tea has a calming effect and can even promote healthy sleep when taken regularly. It surely is a good choice of drink to have when you are anxious or angry and need something soothing right away.
Fermented Foods
Yogurt, in particular, is one of the best foods to reduce stress as it contains valuable probiotics that normalize and improve the function of your digestive system. Studies indicate that one’s mental health is closely connected to their gut health. As stress hits your mind the most (and its impact is definitely most dangerous there), improving your brain health in any way possible becomes a necessity.
Good bacteria from fermented foods can do this very effectively. You need to get more of them especially when you are taking antibiotics or other medications that can disrupt the gut microflora. Vegan sources of probiotics include, but aren’t limited to sourdough bread, miso, and tempeh.
The Opposite to the Best Foods to Reduce Stress
Eating foods that help you reduce stress both long and short-term is a wise decision, but you need to understand that all your efforts might be negated by poor dietary choices at other times. If you are serious about controlling your stress levels with the help of your meals, you must say no to sugar and processed foods. For a variety of reasons, they are detrimental for your general health, and their effect within the body only increases your level of stress.
