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Tuesday 23 September 2014

Best Foods For Anxiety And Stress

For people suffering any kinds of stress and feelings of anxiety, eating the right foods is one of the most practical things you can do to combat these feelings, and studies have shown that there are certain foods that can reduce this. As important as it is to know what foods do reduce stress and anxiety, the same importance should be placed on knowing which foods not to eat. Food which has been fried, high saturated fat foods and high sugar products are all known to contribute to increased anxiety. Avoiding these types will give a good foundation upon which to work, and some of the following foods are known for their stress reducing properties:
  • Dark chocolate in moderation can help to lift a person’s mood, as it helps to lower levels of cortisol in the brain, which is a stress hormone associated with feelings of anxiety.
  • Blueberries are rich in vitamins, and a variety of antioxidants, which are believed to be very beneficial to the reduction of stress and anxiety feelings.
  • Almonds contain healthy fats, and importantly are an excellent source of zinc, which is important in helping to create a balanced mood.
  • Acai berries have a similar antioxidant make up as blueberries, and this combined with phytonutrients make it great for reducing stress and anxiety.

Other Foods To Reduce Stress

Another two great foods to help combat feelings of anxiety are whole grain foods, and seaweed. For those who can tolerate gluten in their diet, foods such as wholegrain cereal, bread and pasta are great for helping with stress. Studies indicate that wholegrain is rich in magnesium – which a deficiency of can lead to feelings of stress - and tryptophan, which is used by the brain to help produce serotonin, a calming neurotransmitter. This along with the fact that whole-grains reduce hunger and give the body energy makes eating these as a part of your diet essential. For those who can’t tolerate gluten, try adding more seaweed to your diet. Sharing many of the same benefits as whole grain (seaweed is very rich in tryptophan as well as magnesium) can contribute to a more stable mood, and a reduction in the ups and downs associated with stress. And of course, there are a great number of pages on the internet nowadays with delicious recipes using seaweed.

What Foods To Avoid

It’s all too easy to simply reach for the fattening and sugary snacks when we are experiencing stressful situations during our lives. Moments of stress are temporarily relieved by a short term high off an unhealthy snack, but the body pays the price of this behaviour. Starved of the wide and healthy variety of foods it should be getting, it instead had to try to work off all of the sugar and fat put in, which leads to more feelings of stress and increased anxiety levels. When trying to improve and balance your moods, try avoiding:
  • Frying foods. Grill instead, allowing the fat to drip out and off, rather than soaking it up.
  • Sugary and high saturated content foods are guilty of providing that short term high and subsequent fall in mood, with the ups and downs contributing to increased stress. Unrefined sugars in excess can contribute to an imbalance of the blood sugar levels, which can also affect mood.
  • Alcohol is a depressant, and can serious affect mood, so reducing your intake to a bare minimum will provide short term, noticeable results.
  • Coffee. High in caffeine, many people find drinking any coffee at all will affect their feelings of anxiety as the caffeine itself is a stimulant. Others find that up to two cups a day does no noticeable harm, it is a case of knowing what works for you in this case.

Helping to Control Anxiety With Foods

Removing some of the unhealthier aspects of your diet, and replacing them with other healthier ones is to simply increase the amount of nutrients and vitamins you consume, and as much of a variety as possible, and use all these beneficial substances to allow your body to produce the wide variety of chemicals and fluids it needs to in order to operate properly. Once you start to do this, you will notice a palpable difference in your levels of stress and anxiety. With a much more solid foundation to work from, your body can produce a balanced and clear mind, enabling us to be free from the ups and downs of moods associated with stress, and in a position to handle stressful situations with a constant frame of mind. Understanding which foods you should eat and which to avoid should be done as a trial and error, and making these changes long term to your lifestyle, will see long term results against levels of stress and anxiety. Some people have been known to supplement with a variety of vitamins, including 5htp, which may help to control anxiety and stress levels. You can find a 5htp supplement at http://www.365vitamins.co.uk/mind/natural-anti-depressent-5-htp

Wednesday 10 September 2014

How To Eat Less When You Feel Depressed

People who are struggling with depression can often get into bad eating habits as one of the results of their condition. It’s all too easy when felling this way to eat the wrong kinds of things, and many people will tend to turn to food for comfort, finding they will be snacking in between meals and opting for easy foods that are within reach, rather than go out to get the ingredients for a healthier alternative. They may also find that they will gain weight as they try to use food as a way to feel better during difficult periods in their lives, and this type of behavior can easily become a habit. These kinds of routines can prevent the body from getting all the nutrients needed to be able to properly produce, manufacture and synthesize the massive amount of substances it requires to operate optimally. The brain in particular needs a substantial portion of the inputted food through the diet to run normally, and vitamins such as B – which is used by the brain to synthesize chemicals that affect a person’s mood – and vitamin C as well as things like omega oils all contribute to a person’s overall feeling of well-being.

Finding a Balance

Clearly, eating the correct foods can help to make us feel better, so a balance between the amount, the content and the variety has to be struck. Depression can make you feel lethargic, and the thought of going out around a supermarket is unappealing to many, so it is a good idea to buy a wide variety of ingredients when you do actually have to do your shopping, things like fresh frozen vegetable and fish as well as a stocked cupboard of dried herbs and olive oils can be used to make meals which offer a greater content and variety of nutrients, rather than pre-packaged equivalent. You should also find that eating the former meal should negate the latter meal, that is to say that if you are eating a proper meal, containing the correct balance of foods from different food groups, these should fill you up for longer, and as you begin to eat better, you will feel better. Some behavior to avoid:
  • Eating high sugar and high saturated fat snacks may make you feel better in the short term, but long term increases your risk to heart disease and other serious illnesses. Have plenty of either fruit or vegetables in the cupboard to snack on.
  • Skipping a meal is easy to do for some people who are struggling with their levels of depression, as food can seem unappealing and many will sleep through their mealtimes, narrowing the range and input of food the body gets. The food we are putting in is one of only a few physical things we can do to try to lift our moods, so a special effort should be made to work from this foundation.
  • Don’t sit about all night every night; promise yourself you will do even a little exercise. Take it easy to start with then you can add on a bit more, for example, a twenty minute walk, then a thirty minute walk. You will find that this lifts your mood, and will make you look forward to your meals.

What about Natural Remedies to Suppress Hunger

There are a number of tips and tricks you can do to try to help in this area. Simple and practical things like drinking two glasses of water or having a small bowl of salad about twenty minutes before a meal will help you to eat less when you sit down to the actual main course. Snacking on apples if you are hungry in between meals is a far better choice than a fatty snack, and as apples contain soluble fibre and pectin, they make you feel full up. Some other natural ways to help you control your appetite are:
  1. Almonds. Containing antioxidants and magnesium, almonds have been shown to make people with weight management issues feel full more full compared to those who didn’t eat them, in studies conducted.
  2. Green Tea has also been shown to slow down the conversion of food into glucose, keeping one’s blood sugar levels more balanced, staving off feelings of hunger.
  3. Adding some hot sauce or hot spice to your meals will do two things; help you to eat less due to the spicy taste, and will also help you to stay full longer.
  4. Having a glass of whey protein is one of the best ways to suppress hunger. People who take some of this consume significantly less calories at their next meal compared to those who don’t have it.
  5. Coffee and its high caffeine content can, when drunk in moderation, help to suppress appetite. Two cups a day is an ideal amount, as any more can leave one felling agitated or jittery.

Overall

The key issue in the fight to alleviate depressive symptoms without exposing your body to additional weight gain seems to lie in the area of committing yourself to a basic way of eating, and adhering to it as well as you can. Using this as a base to address all of your body’s needs through diet can give you the platform to build upon, without constantly reaching into the cupboards for high sugar and fat content fill snacks for short fixes. Try to be patient and work towards a long term and permanent removal of depression, and allow your brain in particular to get all it needs to be able to properly regulate and balance the rest of you, your mental health included. Snacking on the correct foods that will help you to reduce your appetite is also a much better way to deal with hunger rather than reaching for that bag of crisps. Learning to understand behavior patterns will give you the power to modify them, and put you on the correct footing to beat depression without gaining weight.