Americans are more stressed than ever, with a 2010 survey conducted by the American Psychological Association showing that 44%of Americans dealt with increased levels of stress in the five years prior to the survey.1 Survey participants cited money as the biggest cause of stress, with work, the economy and family responsibilities also ranking high on the list. While stress is inevitable, the way we deal with it makes the difference between bad decisions that make us feel even worse and a return to calm, rational thinking.
Controlling stress is no mystery. You can’t just depend on good genes to keep your reaction to stress at a minimum; you have to work on it just like any other health goals Manage your stress with a combination of healthy eating, exercise and nutritional supplements. Learn how to manage stress through nutrition for a calmer disposition and better overall health.
Give Up Junk Food to Manage Stress Better
Soft drinks, candy, processed foods, energy drinks and some (allegedly) healthy energy bars may contain preservatives and artificial coloring. These chemical ingredients heighten stress, and stress causes you to become anxious and make poor decisions. In large amounts, chemical ingredients can cause anxiety or decrease mental function. Too much processed and chemical-laden food in your system causes you to gain weight through empty calories that have no nutritional value. Your body also becomes acidic, throwing your pH balance off and increasing the debilitating side effects of stress. An acidic body pH increases your chances of developing diabetes and other chronic conditions.
Avoid drinking alcohol, eating fast or processed food, or consuming too much butter and oily or fried foods. Even if you’re not under stress, eating a healthy diet will improve your energy and physical and mental health, giving you the tools to deal with stressful situations when they occur.
Some Nutrition Tips to Reduce Stress
If you don’t have time to cook meals using fresh foods, try bean soups, oatmeal, peanut butter sandwiches and prepackaged tuna salad or chicken salad. Limit consumption of sugary soda, candy and sweetened tea. Replace sugary drinks with water, fruit juice or herbal tea. Avoid drinking too many caffeinated beverages, including coffee and cola. Coffee may give you an immediate rush, but your mood and energy will drop abruptly later. Drinking coffee late in the afternoon or evening interferes with restful sleep.
Plan your meals in advance. Choose foods that supply you with proteins and carbohydrates. Proteins include tuna, tofu, fish, poultry, peanut butter, red meat, eggs and dairy products. Add pasta, whole grains, rice, potatoes and other carbohydrates to complete the meal.
Don’t neglect breakfast. Your morning meal provides you with energy for the day’s activities and helps you cope with stress. Make an egg and bagel sandwich or egg burrito, instead of bacon or sausage, add veggies or black beans for extra protein and less fat. Yogurt with fruit, granola or chopped nuts is another stress-fighting choice. Foods with sugar, salt and additives reduce your resilience to stress, leaving you jumpy and high-strung when confronted with tense situations.
Include healthy Omega 3 fatty acids in your diet to keep your heart healthy and your blood pressure regulated. A study by the French Academy of Medicine cited a connection between Omega 3 fatty acids in salmon, avocado, walnuts and other food sources with a reduction in anxiety, depression and dementia.
Eat without the TV, Computer or Smartphone
Eat meals or snacks with as little distraction as possible. That may be hard today in today’s 24/7 non-stop electronic world, but stepping away from the Smartphone and computer during meals will keep you from overeating (or eating the wrong foods) and you’ll enjoy the taste of food more.
How to Snack During Stressful Times
Keep sunflower seeds, cashews, almonds, fruit and other healthy snacks on hand throughout the day. This will keep you from buying junk food and keeps your energy level steady. To maintain proper blood sugar and avoid fatigue, you should eat every four to five hours. Not eating for longer than five hours leads to tiredness, headaches and faulty concentration. Nothing replaces the nutrition of a full lunch or dinner, but snacks offer temporary nutrients to keep you going in between meals.
Beat Nervous or Digestive Problems with Probiotics
A French study conducted in 2011 by the Ethologie Appliquée, Department of Psychiatry, indicated a possible connection between probiotics, gut health and decreased anxiety. Probiotics are strains of healthy bacteria that improve digestive health. (They are found in yogurt with live active lactobacillus cultures.) The study showed that people who took probiotics for a month had lower levels of psychological stress than people who didn’t consume yogurt or probiotics.3 Stock up on low-fat yogurt instead of ice cream or sweets to improve your digestive health and reduce stress.
Herbs That Help Reduce Stress
A good diet full of essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients will improve your reaction to stress. If you find it difficult to get all the stress fighters you need from food, herbal supplements may help. You can take herbal supplements as part of a proprietary blend to give you nutrients from several powerful remedies simultaneously. Each herb in a proprietary blend is tested and formulated to give you the precise amount needed for improved mood and health. Including a wheatgrass supplement containing a proprietary blend is one of the best ways to fight stress and the diseases it triggers.
Wheatgrass and Chlorophyll Keep You Healthy and Reduce Stress
The wheatgrass used in supplements is taken from young wheat plants right after they sprout. Wheatgrass is one of nature’s superfoods, largely due to its high chlorophyll content., the substance that makes plants green, has dozens of nutrients to make you look and feel better fast.
Chlorophyll is used in all-natural skin care and dental products as well as nutritional supplements. Its health benefits include:
Restoring and replenishing red blood cells - Chlorophyll is rich in enzymes that cleanse blood and enable it to transport more oxygen. It helps prevent anemia, which is caused by a lack of red blood cells in the body.
Stress and Insomnia - Chlorophyll reduces the effects of anxiety on the body, helping you think more clearly during stressful times. It relaxes you to prevent insomnia and “butterflies” in your stomach.
Better Immunity - With its alkaline nature and ability to strengthen cell walls, chlorophyll fights disease-causing anaerobic bacteria. This combines with its stress-reducing and oxygenating properties to deliver a strong barrier against everything from the common cold to cancer.
Hormone Balance - Chlorophyll helps maintain sexual hormones in men and women. It contains Vitamin E, which controls production of estrogen in females and testosterone in males.
Deodorizing Properties - Chlorophyll is used in mouthwash and toothpaste for its ability to fight bad breath. It is effective against body odor. By stimulating digestive health, it cleanses the colon and blood stream, eliminating the gut conditions that may lead to bad breath. Chlorophyll tablets are given to patients who’ve had colostomies to reduce fecal and urinary odor.
Getting Rid of Toxins in Your Body - Chlorophyll helps detoxify the blood and body. It flushes out harmful chemicals and heavy metals, such as mercury, from the body. Chlorophyll detoxifies the liver and reduces the effects of pesticides and radiation.
Builds Better Bones and Muscles - Magnesium forms the core of the chlorophyll molecule, and helps form and maintain strong bones. Along with calcium and Vitamin D, it is essential for bone health. Magnesium contributes to muscle toning, contraction and relaxation. If you’ve ever experienced muscle cramping at night, you probably need more magnesium in your diet.
Wheatgrass is packed with enzymes, phytochemicals, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, healthy fatty acids and trace minerals to detoxify, oxygenate and improve your physical and mental function. Wheatgrass contains all the B-complex vitamins to keep you focused, energetic and fight stress. Vitamin B6 and B12 are considered mandatory for better energy and resistance to stress.
Some herbs included in a wheatgrass and proprietary blend supplements include:
Cayenne Pepper does a lot more than spice up your food. It detoxifies blood and is one of the strongest natural remedies for reducing LDL or (“bad”) cholesterol. Cayenne pepper contains capsaicin, which improves blood flow to the brain to heighten memory and mental acuity. –
Gingko Biloba improves memory and concentration and is especially helpful to elderly people. It has antioxidant properties that guard against macular degeneration and other eye problems. It improves blood flow to the brain to increase mental acuity and learning ability. Ginkgo Biloba extract has been used to reduce depression and may be used in place of prescription antidepressants for mild cases of depression.
Gotu Kola has been used for thousands of years as a treatment for many conditions in Indonesia, China and India. Gotu Kola contains triterpenoids, a substance that has been shown to reduce anxiety. It has been used as a sedative to induce sleep in animals, and some researchers believe it may be helpful in reducing insomnia in humans, but no conclusive tests have been undertaken on gotu kola and insomnia.
Damiana is best known as an aphrodisiac, first used by the Mayan Indians and Mexicans to boost sexual potency. It brings oxygen to the genital area and works equally well for both men and women. Damiana has also been used to treat depression, anxiety and increase energy.
Choline – Boosts Memory for Better Brain Function During Stressful Times
Choline, added to the National Academy of Sciences’ list of recognized nutrients in 1998, is considered a member of the B-complex family of vitamins. Nutritionists once believed that our bodies produced a sufficient amount of choline for our needs, but recent research proved otherwise. Choline improves brain function and memory. It may reduce the chance of Alzheimer's and dementia. This nutrient keeps energy steady during physical exertion, and reduces the amino acid homocysteine, which contributes to heart disease.3
Like B-complex vitamins, choline is involved in methylation. A methyl group passes biochemically from place to place in the body during this essential process. Choline helps produce phosphatidylcholine, which forms the structure of living cells.
Choline is available in many foods we eat everyday. Egg yolks, shrimp, chicken, tuna, turkey and beef are the most common foods containing choline. Vegans and vegetarians can get adequate amounts of choline from vegetables, including collard greens, Brussels Sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli.
Manage Stress with a Better Diet and a Wheatgrass Supplement from WheatgrassLove
Eating better is one of the cornerstones of a good anti-anxiety plan. If you’re occasionally under stress, like most of us, better nutrition will help you manage it better, along with exercise and enough sleep. Sometimes it’s hard to eat nutritious meals every day, despite our best intentions. That’s why it’s important to take a supplement for additional anti-anxiety support. Happy Girl, WheatgrassLove’s all natural mood enhancement supplement, is recommended for men and women with mild to moderate anxiety or depression. (If you think you may have severe anxiety or depression, check with your doctor – you may need a prescription anti-anxiety medication or antidepressant.)
Happy Girl gives you wheatgrass and a proprietary blend of cayenne pepper, ginseng, damiana and other herbs to relieve stress and help you focus better on daily tasks. Happy Girl Mood Enhancer is safe to use for most people, and offers all the health benefits of wheatgrass, plus several popular herbs. Read testimonials from satisfied Happy Girl customers.
Wheatgrass Love offers two other great wheatgrass supplements. If you’re on a diet or trying to maintain your current weight, Zeal O2 provides nutritional support while it curbs your appetite. Read testimonials from Zeal O2 customers.
If you are looking for a sugar-free energy supplement, REVV chocolate wafers supply the power of wheatgrass, L-Taurine and periwinkle herb to give you an energy boost and improve your mood with B-complex vitamins. Read testimonials from REVV customers.
All WheatgrassLove supplements come with a money-back guarantee. If you’re not satisfied, return the unused portion for a refund! Always check with your doctor before taking any dietary supplement.
1. http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/01/stressed-america.aspx
2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20974015
3. http://balchem.com/fhn/health-benefits-choline
