Our life in megacities is full of stress: we are nervous at work, we swear in traffic jams, we go to bed late and get up early, we have little rest and do not play sports. All this drives the body into a state of chronic stress. However, if it is not dealt with, it can seriously harm the body and psyche, diseases will develop and depression will occur.
One of the anti-stress factors has always been food. Many seize stress with sweets and get overweight. But how to “seize” stress correctly, without harming the figure and benefiting the body?
What is stress?
Stress is an effect on the body that activates all body systems, especially hormones, and betrays them with excessively strong impulses, overstrains them, as a result of which such an overstrain, lasting for a long time, harms the normal functioning of cells.
Physiological stress, short-term and not very strong, helps the body to cheer up, while chronic stress depletes and exhausts the body, starting to disable organ after organ.
As a result, diseases of the heart and blood vessels, nervous diseases, problems with digestion and metabolism are formed. The body does not have time to “patch the gaps” from numerous stresses, it does not have enough “building materials” from food, it has to spend the body’s reserves – and this does not benefit the body.
Causes of stress include:
- hard nervous work
- chronic lack of sleep
- anxieties and worries at home,
- exams,
- bad food,
- colds,
- digestive infections,
- poisoning and fever.
In addition, stress can be caused by medication, alcohol and smoking. All these actions lead to a deterioration in well-being, loss of appetite, poor absorption vitamins and minerals.
What does the body need
If the car does not work well, we drive it to a car service for diagnostics, the same is necessary for the body, but we pull to the last, until stress does not undermine our health at all and unbearable pain arises, no organs fail or nerves completely fail. However, if you start fighting stress in time, you can avoid most of the negative phenomena and the development of diseases.
One of the important points in the fight against stress is nutrition as a source of essential nutrients (especially proteins), mineral salts, trace elements and vitamins of all groups.
Stress is a typical process that directs the body to “defend or run away from danger.” To do this, it is necessary to activate the brain, muscles and organs that supply them with blood and oxygen. The remaining systems are practically switched off for a while and are poorly supplied with blood. If stress becomes chronic, the body will “go into deep defense” and begin to destroy its organs due to constant hypoxia.
Under stress, the amount of elements needed by the body increases, which means that nutrition should be special. The body itself often hints to you what it lacks at the moment – there is a desire to eat salty, meaty, sometimes even gnaw on chalk.
The body has special anti-stress substances, they protect the body from destructive effects free radicals, quickly repair cell damage and help the formation of new ones. These substances are commonly referred to as vitamin E (tocopherol), as well as ascorbic acid, in addition to them, anti-stress include pantothenic acid, choline and riboflavin, related to B vitamins.
body loss
Under stress, the body loses a lot of protein, since the protein is used to activate the immune system and the formation of stress hormones. Protein begins to be supplied from all organs that are not responsible for “defense” – the walls of the stomach, from the intestines and kidneys.
As a result, these organs suffer. A lot of calcium is needed for the stress response, it begins to be washed out of the bones, and the bones become more fragile. Teeth, hair and nails suffer.
“Friends” of stress
First of all, you need to know that any restrictive diet, and especially mono-diets and starvation, are the strongest stresses for digestion and the whole body. Therefore, if you want to live without stress, diet is not your way to lose weight. In addition, there are a number of foods and drinks that can drive even a calm person into a state of stress. This is, first of all:
- fast food,
- fatty, fried to the skin, products,
- excessively sweet or salty foods
- plentifully flavored with chemistry, products.
Of the drinks, the leaders in stress are:
- energy,
- cola,
- black coffee (no milk),
- strong black tea.
All these foods and drinks stimulate the production of stress hormones – adrenaline, cortisol. If you want to live without stress, remove them from your diet.
Anti-stress nutritional formula
The main reaction to stress in humans is the feeling of hunger, again this is the action of cortisol. In a state of chronic stress, hunger can occur even if the body does not need so much food. But he, like a thrifty owner, thinks, “stress means bad times have come.” As a result, fat is stored in reserve.
To cheat the feeling of hunger and relieve stress, you need to eat often, in small portions andlow calorie meals. In addition, products should be as natural and fresh as possible. But, I would like to immediately stop those who, in the fight against stress, want to switch to vegetarianism: the lack of protein in the human body (and he is a predator) is also stress. Meat and fish dishes should be present in the diet, but their amount should be reasonable.
Anti-stress effects have:
- milk and dairy products,
- liver and dishes from it,
- green leafy vegetables,
- wheat bran cooked or added to soups
- vegetable oils (unrefined, with smell and taste),
- citrus fruits, sour fruits,
- tomatoes, kiwi, pumpkin,
- seafood.
It will be useful to know
If a person is upset or tired at work, they usually go for a drink. coffee or tea. However, it is right for the body in stress to drink a glass of freshly squeezed juice or milk.
Make it a rule to take lunch with you from home – useful in the fight against stress at work will be:
- cereal bread with cheese and lettuce,
- green apple,
- carrot salad with pumpkin or apple,
- sandwich with pate, a piece of fish
- sushi.
Japanese cuisine is generally a storehouse of anti-stress substances – after all, fish and seafood contain a lot of iodine, minerals and unsaturated fats. Drink throughout the day yogurt – it is much healthier than coffee and does not cause stress.
For the weekend, plan for fasting anti-stress days for yourself – give preference to salads, cereals and nuts, juices in nutrition, and instead of routine household chores, go for a walk in the park or out of town. Then the next week will not seem so painful to you.
