Negative impact of
stress on your daily healthy meals
Try
to imagine, that you are preparing to deliver a public speech, you have a
difficult exam ahead of you or you are not getting enough sleep, disagreements
among the family members, health and financial problems, and other difficult
situation that stressed you out. Do you tend to think about food in such
moments?
No, Stress can cause you to eat junk food and
neglect your health. It has become a universally common
phenomenon. The moment you wake up, a new stress cycle begins. But while it's something
we all deal with from time to time, stress can have a negative impact on
your health.
Worry
and overwork can lead to unhealthy lifestyle habits, which causes more stress,
leading to a very harmful cycle. When you are stressed, you
may tend to crave certain foods or overeat.
Having a lot of stress in your life can cause your diet to go out
of control. You can never get rid of it completely.
Something will always keep going wrong and you will hardly ever have a
stress-free day.
Impact of bad eating
habits on your health
You experience stress on a regular
basis, and at times stress can serves as a motivator to accomplish your goals.
But excess stress can have a negative impact on your health. See how it occurs;
·
Imbalances of blood sugar level
When
you don’t eat healthy food or you don’t eat the food with vital
nutrients, you can experience blood sugar fluctuations or imbalances.
These
fluctuations can lead to mood swings, poor concentration, fatigue and other
negative consequences in the short term, and greater health problems like hyperglycemia
in the long run.
·
Increase
in weight size
Continual overproduction of cortisol
in your body due to stress can lead to visceral fat gain. Be mindful of what
you eat to alleviate stress or what you are eating because you're hungry.
The types of food you want will be
the clue here, don’t just eat anyhow avoid junk foods.
·
Caffeine side effects
When
you take too much of caffeine due to stress or tight schedules, it affect your
mental health. It leads to lower levels of productivity, sleep disorder and
increased levels of cortisol in the blood, as well as other negative effects.
·
Poor health outcomes
Bad
eating habit can lead lowered immunity. You are more susceptible to different
kind of illnesses both minor and major.
As
you can imagine, this can lead to other problems, including increased stress
levels because you're sick when a major project is coming up.
How stress affect your
eating habits and lifestyle
It
is important to make healthy eating a priority in order to prevent unhealthful
eating habits. Below is a list of common bad eating habits people indulge in
when overwhelmed and worried;
·
You take too much coffee and forget water
When
you are burning the candle at both ends, you may find yourself drinking several
cups of coffee through the day to keep yourself going. So, it is easier for you
to forget to take water.
·
You eat the wrong foods
Due
to partialincreasein levels of cortisol
(the stress hormone), you tend to crave foods high in fat, sugar, and salt.
Many will turn to potato chips, ice cream or other junk foods after a rough
day. This is unhealthy.
When
you are juggling a dozen things at once, eating a healthy meal often drops down
in priorities.
You
might find yourself skipping breakfast because you're running late or you have
important meetings to attend or not eating lunch because there's just too much
on your to-do list.
·
It causes emotional eating
Conversely,
stress also makes you prone to emotional eating, you eat despite not being
hungry due to an eating-friendly environment and you are alsocomfortable.
·
It tends you to eat fast food
These days, people
eat less at home. It is easier for you to
just drive in to any fast food place or go to a restaurant than to go
home and cook something. Unfortunately, this gets expensive and is often unhealthy.
·
It causes crash diets
Because
of weight gain from stress, some
people intentionally eat less food than they need, or try dangerous fad diets
in order to lose the excess weight.
A
diet without fruits and vegetables, protein and healthy carbohydrates can often
be bad for your health in the long run, even if they look attractive short
term.
·
It
determines the rate of eating
Due
to stress some people eat more, others eat less and still others turn to drugs
and alcohol. All of the above can lead poor functions of your body systems due
to imbalance of neurotransmitters.
Coping
with stress by consuming fewer calories leads to lowered thinking ability and overeating
can cause drowsiness and impeded nutrient transport into your brain.
·
It
delays the absorption of vitamins and minerals
Stress affects absorption of certain
vitamins and minerals, Magnesium is particularly susceptible to loss during
stress and low levels of this mineral are shown to lead to stress-related depression
and irritability. Deficiencies of niacin can lead to depression
How to cope with the stress to enhance a good eating habit
It is important you understand
how stress affects your dieting and eating habits. If you want your diet to be
successful, they you need to control your stress.
What can you do? There are different
ways you can manage stress in order to maintain proper digestion and keep your
body healthy.
·
Exercise
In addition to a healthy diet, regular exercise is very
important.Because it can increase the levels of endorphins (natural mood
enhancers) which relieves stresses and changes your mood into a more cheerful
one while improving fitness levels.
Even if it’s only 15 minutes of exercises
and workouts a day, it will help you feel good while keeping your eating on
track. Jogging is also very effective in dealing with stress.
·
Meditation
Countless studies have shown that
meditation reduces stress, because you will think to select the right and
healthy meals. Meditation helps you to be mindful of what you eat; you would
not eat anyhow or eat what you see.
You will pay better attention to the
impulse to grab a fat- and sugar-loaded comfort food and inhibit the impulse.
·
Social support
Family, friends and other social
support team seem to have a buffering effect on the stress you experience.
For example, research suggests that
people working in stressful situations, like hospital emergency departments,
have better mental health if they have adequate social support.
Others include;
·
Avoid
smoking or alcoholic drinks to ease stress.
·
Reject
drugs that alleviate stress
·
Do
Yoga and listen to music.
·
Talk
with your friends, loved ones about your stress. You can also talk with a
therapist or mental health professionals to get new coping skills.
·
Eat
healthy foods, avoid junk foods, don’t overeat and eat foods that digest
easily.
·
Ensure
to get a sound sleep of 8 hours each day.
·
Cultivate
a social life so that you won’t stay at home most of the time
Healthy eating tips to combat stress
No evidence proves that your body uses
more nutrients when you are under mental stress. But it may cause you to
neglect eating well, which may temporarily affect your nutritional status.
If you are mentally or emotionally
stressed out, here are some general guidelines for healthy eating:
·
Don’t forgo breakfast
Invest in your health every morning
by starting out with breakfast. It will help you to stay alert and prevent
overeating before your next meal.
·
Try not to skip meals
Do no skip meals; eat at least three
meals a day, with a few simple snacks. Skipping meals too often actually
stresses out your body more and reduces energy when you need it most. Eating
regular meals can reduce the temptation to snack on junk foods and to eat too
much in one sitting.
·
Find time to eat well
Don’t binge or grab whatever is in
sight; don’t just eat what you see. Take time to select the best diet to
achieve and maintain healthy body weight.
·
Separate eating habits from other
daily activities
Hectic meals can lead to poor digestion,
poor food choices and to feeling bad. You need to make time to eat right in
order to have energy to do other important activitiesthroughout the day
·
Avoid or limit your coffee intake
Don’t take too much of coffee instead
drink water to sustain you meal. Limit sugar, salt and foods high in saturated
fat.
·
Develop a schedule for eating
Get a timetable pasted behind the
wall of your office on eating schedule. Space your meals and snacks out about
every three or four hours. Eat small more frequent meals and snacks
Bottom line
There is no way you can eliminate
stress from your life. All what you can do is to protect yourselves from it by
adopting various options that suit you without affecting your normal life.
You have to modify your eating habits
and lifestyle suitably to ensure that you eat healthy and exercise continuously
to be able to live a stress-free life and to have a smooth digestion.Don't
think it's a free pass to eat whatever you want when you're stressed.
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