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Back to Healthy Living Archives
Seven Secrets To Reduced Stress
by Lisa Dorfman, MS, RD, LMHCWe all experience stress. Although some stress can be seasonal, like pre- and post-holiday stress, other stress affects us daily in our homes, offices and personal lives. Efforts to overcome stress are futile without a strong food and fitness foundation. Poor nutrition and lack of exercise can paralyze our coping mechanisms for dealing with difficult people, projects and situations.
Stress Science 101
In the short run, stress causes the "fight or flight" response. Our bodies immediately deal with stress by dilating our pupils, consuming more oxygen, shutting down the gut, elevating blood sugar and fat levels and pumping more blood to the heart, which elevates heart rate and blood pressure. As a result, the body is prepared to either attack or flee from the annoying source.
In the long run, the hormones that control the body's delicate, harmonious balance react by storing fat in the gut, suppressing the immune system, affecting your mood with anger, fatigue and depression and by causing chronic conditions such as elevated blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar and triglyceride levels and ulcers.
A new field of research called "psychoneuroimmunology" (PNI) is looking at how stress factors may inhibit timely healing from the physical and mental wounds of daily life. Healing from a minor cold to a major surgery can also be affected by smoking, alcohol and drug abuse and malnutrition, since each of these affect the body's hormone levels. Chronically distressed individuals are also more likely to experience appetite and sleep difficulties, which further impede the ability to cope with daily stress.
Plan of Attack
The first step to managing stress is to exercise. That means adding any activity that is continuous and weight bearing to your daily routine. Put your sneakers on and jog up the steps to your office. Bring your sweats to work and visit your local gym during your lunch break for a new class or personal training session. You can also take a brisk walk at lunchtime or around your block before or after work.
Stress-free Eating
The best foods for managing stress are "irritant" free. Caffeine-rich, sugar-laden, chemically created and fat-saturated meals will challenge your metabolism and prohibit energy from being used optimally.
In order for your food to be "spent" appropriately for stress reduction:
- Consume green vegetables, citrus fruits, and orange and red plant foods at least five times per day to ensure stress fighting antioxidants and chemicals, adequate iron, folic acid, vitamin C, A and "food" fluids.
- Include beans, soybeans and whole grains at least once a day to get B vitamins critical for carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism, fiber for a fit gut, and prohormones to help prevent hormone-related breast and reproductive cancers.
- Eliminate excess sugars by reducing the amount of soda, honey, coffee, sugar and desserts in the diet. Read product labels. Every four grams of sugar is equivalent to one teaspoon. Even a child-sized carton of natural 100 percent juice has 30 grams, more than seven teaspoons of sugar. Some of the new, exotic teas and "lifestyle beverages" prepared with herbs are also sugar-laden. Only 10 percent of your total carbohydrate intake should come from pure sugar.
- Drink no more than a cup of brewed coffee a day, preferably before noon. Reduce the amount of chocolate, diet colas and caffeine-containing pain relievers you consume.
- Drink no more than one glass of wine or beer a day. Drinking alcohol depletes the body of the vital B vitamins, acts as a diuretic and prevents deep sleep.
- Hydrate with healthy beverages! Get plenty of fluids from bottled water, herbal teas and sugar-free juices, smoothies and shakes. Order your fruit smoothie without honey or turbinado. Drink a store-bought Balance or Complete shake for a great caffeine-free afternoon pick-up.
- Don't get hooked on low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets. Despite their popularity, excess protein causes stress on the kidneys and dehydration.