Eat Stress-Reducing Foods For A Healthier Tension-Free Lifestyle
Stress cannot be eliminated from your life just by changing your diet, but it is possible to greatly reduce stress if you know which foods influence your state of mind. If you are stressed out and need a break from your anxiety, try foods low in fat and protein and high in complex carbohydrates for a calming effect. This advice is suggested in the book entitled “Performance Edge.” These foods include cooked whole grains (wheat, oatmeal, buckwheat, or barley) with fruit or sweetener but no milk, low-fat pasta salad with fruit or vegetables, or low-fat, high-grain bread (bagel, muffin, or pita chips) with your favorite fruit preserves.
In the book “Food: Your Miracle Medicine,” food author Jean Carper suggests calming foods containing the trace element selenium (such as seafood and grapes) or the mild sedative quercetin (such as onions) as ginger, sugar, and honey. Foods that stimulate production of serotonin (foods high in folic acid, such as legumes and leafy vegetables) are also calming. Caper's list also includes anise, celery seed, cloves, cumin, fennel, garlic, lime or orange peel, marjoram, parsley, sage, spearmint, and various decaffeinated teas.
However, if you're looking to concentrate your energy to help you get through a stressful day, look for a food that enhances alertness. In Caper's book, neuroendocrinologist Judith Wurtman, Ph.D., of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recommends a low-carbohydrate, high-protein, low-fat meal or snack, making sure you start with the protein. Devoting five to ten percent of a meal to protein will offset the sedating effects of carbohydrates and help ward off a serotonin buildup, which makes us mentally sluggish. Such low carbohydrate, high-protein foods include meat or cheese sauce on pasta, tuna on a roll, low fat seafood (plain shrimp or tuna in water), turkey breast, skim milk, or low-fat yogurt. Don't forget fruits and nuts. These contain high levels of the trace mineral boron, which affects the electricity activity of the brain. You'll need only an ounce of two of such a snack to get an alertness level.
Be sure to avoid foods that set off stress. You do not want to experience a digestive system that is working erratically, with increased levels of gastric acid churning inside. Stress also intensifies allergic reactions, such as hives and difficulty breathing, so try to avoid your particular trigger foods and substances. And since stress may also aggravate migraine headaches, those prone should stay away from foods containing the amino acid tyrosine-aged cheeses, red wine, and cured meats among them.
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