In today’s society, anxiety and stress is more prominent than ever. Our high paced society creates nearly constant stress that has just been looked at as a norm. However, there are ways to alleviate this anxiety and stress, and one of the easiest is centered around food!
What Effects Does Food Have on Your Mind?
Our mood, energy, and metabolism is directly affected by what food we choose to eat. When stressed, our body enters what is called a fight or flight mode, which is the same way our ancestors acted when they felt threatened. Although beneficial for them, our current bodies are not adapted to the constant levels of stress that we experience, causing imbalances in the body, subduing our regulatory functions such as metabolism, adrenals, hormones, and thyroid. Many of us react to this stress with the consumption of sugar, which is actually more detrimental than beneficial. Sugar in excess messes with our mood and energy from blood sugar crashes we experience and also causes fatigue, weight gain, and imbalance of our hormones. However, foods that contain mood-stabilizing minerals, brain-boosting B vitamins, amino acid building blocks, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory substances, and antioxidants can help prevent severe anxiety!
How To Lessen Your Anxiety!
There are a variety of different minerals and vitamins in certain foods that you should focus on and consume if you hope to relieve some of your stress. Foods such as avocado, leafy greens, cacao, and nuts are high in magnesium, which works directly with the HPA Axis to lower adrenal and cortisol outputs, two of the stress hormones in our bodies. Also, eat foods with choline and B vitamins which helps produce the production of a chemical called acetylcholine, which helps to regulate the stress response. Food such as egg yolks, salmon, and shellfish have high amounts of these vitamins so they are great to help regulate your stress. L-theanine helps control the brain’s neurotransmitters, helping to fix deficiencies and excess. Try to eat mushrooms, herbal tea, or matcha to experience the benefits of L-theanine. Lastly, try to eat foods with lots of probiotics. Probiotics help produce serotonin and GABA, which are known as our feel-good transmitters. Veggies, kombucha, kimchi, and saurkraut are good food rich in probiotics.
So What?
Consuming foods rich in magnesium, B vitamins, L-theanine, and probiotics will help immensely when it comes to regulating your stress and mood. Make sure you eat two or three choices daily from the foods mentioned to truly experience the wonders they can do for you!
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