Nutritious, Delicious & Kosher

Food: Stress Reliever or Creator?

By: BONNIE TAUB-DIX, MA, RD, CDN

"I gained weight because I'm so stressed out." Sound familiar? I have heard this statement more times than I could count. The fact is that stress doesn't make you gain weight. Believe it or not, some people actually lose weight when they are carrying an overload of emotional baggage. It is true that when you're upset and feeling pressured, there is a tendency to reach for comfort, and for all too many of us, its easiest and most familiar to reach for food. Food is easy to obtain, it's inexpensive, it's legal, it's kosher, and, unlike drugs, alcohol, or gambling, food is a socially acceptable stress-reliever. But, like anything else, taken in excess and used inappropriately, food can be dangerous and addictive.

To feel balanced emotionally, your diet needs to be balanced. Diets that emphasize one food and demand that you avoid whole food groups will wind up causing you to avoid the whole diet altogether. You need a little bit of everything to feel satisfied in your stomach and in your head.            

Here are some stress-busters to help you face emotional challenges with a calmer mind and body:

• B-vitamins help the nervous system and can be found in foods like oats, turkey, Brazil nuts, and legumes as well as fortified breakfast cereals. (Just watch the sugar in cereals because too much of the sweet stuff can make you feel like you're on a rollercoaster—not a very stable feeling. Shoot for a cereal that has 5 grams of sugar or less and one that has 5 grams of fiber or more to get the most out of breakfast and beyond.)
• Help is on the way if you add beans, the unlikely hero, to your daily diet. The financial crunch has hit us all, and beans are probably the least expensive way to enhance your diet with protein, fiber, complex carbs, calcium, folate, and powerful antioxidants all in one neat package. They are easy to buy, store, and prepare, and they can be incorporated into recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks.
• Fish for good health. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to boost mood while they multitask to also protect your heart.
• Go nuts (carefully). Almonds and walnuts, in particular, contain zinc and help to boost your brain power and balance your moods. People who eat nuts generally have lower risks of heart disease and nuts are rich in fiber, phytonutrients and antioxidants.
• Blueberries, the jewel in the antioxidant crown, has been shown to slow age-related loss in mental capacity as well as reduce the risk of infection by preventing bacteria from adhering to the cells that line the walls of the bladder.  In other words ... they may help clear up your memory and urinary tract infections.
• Warm milk before bed is low in calories and loaded with stress-fighting nutrients like B-vitamins, calcium, and magnesium. Milk also contains tryptophan which can help you fall off to sleep. (It's harder to fight through a stressful situation without catching enough shut-eye.) A cup of skim milk is satisfying and could take the place of higher calorie bedtime treats you otherwise might have indulged in. If you had meat for dinner and a dose of dairy is not happening at that time of day, try calcium-fortified soy milk instead. 
• James Bond may have been known for his line "shaken not stirred," but you should make your mantra "grilled not fried." Fatty, greasy foods can bring your weight up and bring your mood down. The right type of fats coming from foods like avocado, olive oil, and nuts, can fuel the brain with their antioxidant-rich contents.
• Foods high in animal protein stimulate the release of dopamine and norepinephrine, neurotransmitters that act as stimulants instead of soothers. Although you may think that big steak may feel good on its way down ... the baked sweet potato side-dish can create a more positive effect on your mood.

And finally, it's not always about the foods we eat or don't eat ... sometimes our mood is dictated by our eating style. Try not to skip meals, eat slowly, avoid fad diets and savor every bite.

Author Bio:

- BONNIE TAUB-DIX, MA, RD, CDN authors Kosher.com's "Nutritious, Delicious and Kosher: Tips for Healthy Kosher Living and Eating," providing nutritional insight to site visitors/users. She is a national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and Director and Owner of BTD Nutrition Consultants with offices on Long Island and in New York City. She is also a specialist in behavior and lifestyle modification, nutritional psychotherapy, obesity and weight management. - Read more...