My colleagues and I were recently invited to participate in
a health focused evening at youth Quest Central in Downtown Moncton. We were
very impressed with the youth’s participation in a health challenge for the
month of November and hope that they will continue to find ways to improve
their nutrition, activity level and find more and more ways to cope with stress. We all have different thresholds for stress, some determined by our
genetics, life events, coping habits and other illness. The area I choose to
focus on, in my discussion with the youth and staff at Youth Quest was how
nutrition, and eating more healthfully can influence your ability to cope with
all of life's stress.
The holiday season present a “double whammy”, adding more
stress, while simultaneously presenting more opportunities to run a muck with
our dietary choices. I've decided to pass along what I shared with the group
for the benefit of anyone who is interested.
Eating mindfully is my number one suggestion for a dietary
approach to coping with stress. This simply means trying to make meal times
regular and relaxing. Simply put, don’t eat while driving, working or watching
stressful TV. When our adrenaline is pumping our body diverts blood to the
muscles in our limbs versus our digestive systems. Taking 10 deep breaths,
giving prayer or thanks for our meals and chewing slowly and carefully can take
some of our digestive stresses away, and increase a sense of well being. If
we’re meditative while we eat, we sneak in three or more daily relaxation
sessions by default. Simple Change: Take
a minute before you eat to focus on being thankful for the food you are about
to enjoy.
Trying to balance starches and sugars with protein is also
important for stress and coping. If we load our blood with easily absorbed
starch (refined breads/ cereals) and/ or sugar our body responds by releasing
insulin. Insulin is the hormone which helps sugar out of the bloodstream and
into the cells for storage or energy. If we overdo the sugar, the insulin
responds and we can get reactive low blood sugar leaving us feeling dopey,
stressed and looking for more sugar. Thus, the cycle repeats adding more stress to our
system as we go. Protein, on the other hand increases the release of a hormone
called glucagon from the liver, which helps to balance the influence of insulin
on blood sugar levels. Making sure we get adequate protein throughout the day
can help to balance out the physiological (and often times emotional) highs and
lows from our daily dietary habits.
Protein is broken down to amino acids for absorption into
the blood stream, amino acids serve as the precursors for our neurotransmitters
which help to balance mood and stress perception in our brain and central
nervous system. Meat, nuts, beans, eggs, green peas and most seeds are all
examples of good sources of dietary protein when eaten as whole foods (from
organic sources whenever possible). Simple
Change: carry toasted pumpkin seeds in your backpack/ purse/ brief case, enjoy
a handful whenever your meal or snack falls short on protein.
It’s become a natural reflex in our society to grad a coffee
to start the day, and another to keep going, and another if we’re slugging
behind. Coffee is a fantastic herb, it’s a bitter stimulant of digestive
juices, it increases our focus, and research shows it can help keep blood sugar
levels more stable, but as my mother’s proverb says “too much of a good thing
is good for nothing”. Coffee stimulates the release of adrenaline from our
adrenal glands, simulating physiological stress. Occasionally this can be a
good thing resulting in some of the benefits mentioned above. However, drinking
highly caffeinated beverages throughout the day can place you into the “fight
or flight” mode, even when external stress is at a minimum. Overtime all
this stress can start to wear out our adrenaline response (notice how your not
as sensitive to coffee as you used to be, so now you need more?). This higher
amount of adrenaline release can theoretically deplete key co-factors like
certain b vitamins and minerals (especially magnesium) from our systems,
increasing the need for supplementation. Simple
Change: Limit your caffeine intake to approximately 80 mg per day, less if you
are very caffeine sensitive; choose green tea or herbal tea as alternative
lower or caffeine free choices.
These three simple changes are meant to be illustrative examples
of how we eat, and what we eat affecting our coping mechanisms and the levels
of perceived and actual stress in our systems. By no means is this a complete
list, and if your stress levels are high, were high for an extended period in
the past, you would likely benefit from more personalized and intensive dietary
and whole system naturopathic care. Helping people to find balance in a
stressful time is an area that we, as naturopathic doctors flourish. Stress has
been linked to so many serious illnesses it’s important to start with simple
steps towards prevention as soon as possible. Try thanks-giving, pumpkin seeds and green tea
this week, to move three simple steps closer to your inner Zen.
