Fit Fare

Are you feeling stressed?

Are the foods you are eating making it worse?

It’s all too easy to fall into the habit of eating unhealthily at this time of year, either because you’re determined to lose weight, or because the cold and dark outside leads you to comfort-eat. Eating unhealthily can cause stress, and when we’re stressed, our levels of cortisol rise, leading to cravings for foods high in fat, sugar and salt.

Then we’ve fallen into the vicious cycle of eating badly because we’re feeling stressed because we’re eating badly because …

Stop! Stop it now … and here’s how.

1. Eliminate (or at least reduce) foods that can add stress to your life

• caffeine in coffee, tea and cola. If you drink too much caffeine, you are likely to feel jittery and hyperactive, which will raise your stress level.
• alcohol. Although it can help you feel relaxed, alcohol can disrupt your sleeping pattern, which can add to your stress level. (And we won’t discuss the often stressful situations caused by behavior changes due to over-indulgence …)
• sugar. This raises the energy levels in the body short term, but then your body will release insulin into your blood to reduce the sugar levels causing a fall in your energy level, resulting in the well-documented sugar highs and lows and adding stress.

Your body can also be stressed by over-eating or under-eating - so even if you wish there was a bit less of you, don’t rush to crash-diet. A healthy diet will help. Not too much food, nor too little.

2. Eat natural

Aim to find food as close to its natural state as possible, so that it still contains the vitamins and minerals, and hasn’t had dozens of extra ingredients added which you don’t understand. If you don’t understand the ingredient list, don’t eat it!

3. Eat stress-busting foods

Look for foods rich in antioxidants (like vitamins A, C, E and lycopene), omega-3 fatty acids, and folate:

• antioxidants, to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer - pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots, kale, grapefruit (red and pink), blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, oranges, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, sunflower seeds, almonds and olive oil.
• omega-3 fatty acids, to help control high cholesterol and regulate your immune system - linseeds, ground flax seeds, walnuts, salmon, soybeans and pumpkin seeds.
• folate, to help keep your brain alert, promote healthy blood cells and keep your DNA intact - dark green leafy vegetables, beans, asparagus, Brussels sprouts and okra.

4. Eat to feel comfortably full

Aim to eat high-fiber, carbohydrate-rich foods. Carbohydrates help us produce more serotonin, a hormone that relaxes and soothes us. Fiber helps prevent late-night binging, because you’ll feel full. Examples of healthy comfort food include baked sweet potatoes, sautéed vegetables and brown rice.

5. Add in some extras, to help your health:

• garlic and ginger support the immune system.
• sea vegetables, such as kelp and kombu, and river plants such as watercress, support the thyroid gland, so helping to combat the effects of stress
• many fruit and vegetables - especially citrus fruits - contain vitamin C, needed to replenish your adrenalin levels (often depleted if we’re stressed)
• skimmed milk & low fat yogurt, because milk contains both magnesium and calcium, which help release muscle tension. That’s why your grandmother suggested hot milk at bedtime.
• And apparently carrots & apples will also reduce stress - but any crunchy fruit or vegetable is good. Apparently the crunching noise alleviates our stress levels!

6. Do eat breakfast - your mother wasn’t wrong when she said it was the most important meal of the day!

Start the day with oats and some fruit juice for vitamin C (orange, cranberry and grapefruit are all high in vitamin C). I like to soak oats in fruit juice, but I know others prefer to add milk or yoghurt. Oats contain vitamin B, will help regulate blood sugar levels, fill you up, reduce your cholesterol - and taste good!

Try to cut down on the coffee - why not try some calming herbal tea?

7. Most importantly: enjoy your food

I know you’ve heard moderation preached a lot - but I believe eating is one of the big pleasures in life. So enjoy - just don’t overdo it.

You can’t do better than to follow the advice given last year by Michael Pollan in the New York Times:

Eat (real) food. Not too much. Mostly plants.