You are what you eat. It is understood that your diet determines your health status.
In recent years, more and more people have become aware of the importance of diet and health. And experts say that people can adjust the body’s ability to cope with stress through diet.
Stress is a common problem faced by modern people, whether it is work pressure, or academic pressure and family pressure and so on.
So, what food can help people to better reduce stress?
Eat more fruits and vegetables
It seems like a cliché to say that eating more fruits and vegetables is good for your health. However, some studies have shown that food not only satisfies people’s hunger, but also the needs of the trillions of bacteria that live in their intestines.
If you eat the right food, intestinal bacteria balance can help reduce anxiety symptoms, and thus the effect of stress reduction.
Experts say that food can affect the type and balance of bacteria in your intestines. The intestinal flora will affect the brain’s mood. A good and balanced diet can make your brain soothe and calm.
Dr. Chaterjee, a health expert, says that people should diversify the types of foods they eat. For example, try to eat five different colors of vegetables every day. Because those less processed vegetables preserve natural fiber, they are best for your intestinal bacteria.
Here are some tips on how the intestines digest food. First, our bodies cannot digest certain fibers, including those found in many vegetables and fruits. Therefore, they enter the intestine for fermentation.
Mediterranean diet and plant fiber
Healthy foods contribute to the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the intestinal tract. At the same time, during the fermentation of food, intestinal bacteria also release essential chemicals and acids that interact with all of the body’s cells.
Felice Jacka, a nutritional health expert at Deakin University in Australia, says it is this interactive process that can affect people’s brain mood and immune health.
Jacka recommends that people eat a Mediterranean diet, which is rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes and plant fiber like whole grains.
In addition, fermented foods such as sauerkraut, Korean kimchi, black tea mushrooms (also known as kombucha) and kefir can nourish bacteria and yeast in the intestinal tract, and are also beneficial to health.
Stay away from sugar and sweets
People often like to eat for comfort when they are in a bad mood, but if you give yourself a big bucket of ice cream first, you may be temporarily comforted, but then you may feel even more depressed. Because, if you eat a lot of sugar, your body will release insulin to absorb the excess fructose to regulate blood sugar levels.
Nutritionist Sophie Medlin (Sophie Medlin) said that the negative effects of such high and low blood sugar levels may include lack of concentration, fatigue, etc., which will hinder your ability to cope with stress.
If you have too much caffeine in your body, it’s best to metabolize it through exercise.
Many past studies have shown the effects of caffeine on anxiety. But Medlin says how sensitive you really are to caffeine depends on genetics, gender, and how much you drink.
First, caffeinated beverages can interfere with people’s sleep, and poor sleep naturally affects your ability to cope with stress. If you’re one of those people who have trouble sleeping after drinking coffee, it’s best not to drink it, or to drink decaffeinated beverages.
Hunger and Stress
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you know you have a tough problem to deal with or a stressful situation to deal with, don’t go hungry.
Hunger often leads to irritability, Medlin says. When people are hungry, their blood sugar drops. At the same time, the body’s cortisol (also known as the stress hormone, cortisol) and adrenaline will rise.
This is because the neuropeptides secreted by the neurons that control chemicals in the brain do not distinguish between hunger and anger. In other words, when you are hungry and when you are angry, your brain secretes the same chemicals.
This is why we tend to become irritable when we are hungry.
If this moment and then encounter stress and tension environment, the consequences can be imagined. Therefore, experts recommend that you always have a healthy snack on hand to prevent hunger, especially when you have to deal with a high stress environment.
Eat healthy food tips
Although many people know that they should eat more healthy food and stay away from “junk” food. However, healthy food is not necessarily the best food.
How to eat healthy food? Here are a few tips for you to summarize.
- Changing your mindset is the key, and then you have to keep trying. Start with a small amount, not a lot. Experiments have shown that having kids keep trying a vegetable they don’t like, such as cauliflower, can make a difference in a few weeks.
- Take your time, don’t rush. Don’t try to try too many new foods in a short period of time. Keep in mind that most eating habits are subconscious, so it takes subjective effort to change them.
- Give yourself mental cues. Nutrition experts say that if you imagine how delicious fruits and vegetables are before you eat them, you’ll feel better when you actually eat them.
- Keep healthy foods and snacks close at hand so you can always have them at your fingertips, and then get into the habit. Otherwise, you’re more likely to eat unhealthy foods when you’re hungry.
- Never give up. It’s not easy to develop a new habit, but experiments have shown that if you persevere and choose healthy foods, you will develop a “craving” for healthy foods.
- But if you can’t accept a healthy food, you can always find an alternative to a healthy diet.
Recommended reading:
Does a “variety diet” not necessarily make you healthier?
You need to have a healthy diet to have a strong immune system
