Smart and Wise Stress Eating

One of the ways we increase the level of negative stress in our bodies is through the food to which we are exposed. Forcing our bodies to absorb the harmful toxins contained in the wrong types of food by stress eating increases the amount of stress our bodies must handle.

Fortunately eating is an easy way for us to deal with stress effectively. Supermarket shelves and restaurant menus will often be enjoyed by only one of our body’s organs – our tongue. But they are an increased burden on the rest of our body, reducing its ability to effectively deal with stress.

Most comfort foods are made from refined flour, additives, preservatives, sugar, and hidden fats. They are marketed under a label of convenience – but this is not at all how your body experiences them.

Fat chance for freedom from stress eating

An easy way to damage your body is to eat more fat than your body needs or to eat the wrong kinds of fat. These prevent your body from making efficient use of carbohydrates and so increase your risk of developing diabetes. Eating too much fat increases uric acid, fat, and cholesterol levels in your blood, which all contribute to the development of gout and arthritis.

A diet that is high in fat also causes you to age quickly and be more vulnerable to illnesses that make your body age quicker.

What is wise stress eating? Much of it is being aware of both types of fat you need to make a conscious decision about each time they pass your lips. Namely, saturated and unsaturated fats.

Milk products and meat will most often contain saturated fats, the vast majority of which will have no good use other than increasing the amount of fat you carry on your belly and hips. These saturated fats weaken your body’s ability to be healthy and lean.

Unsaturated fats are most often found in convenience foods, margarine, and processed oils. Unfortunately, unsaturated fats are chemically altered so your body cannot even use the essential fatty acids they once contained. In most American homes, half of our calories come from unsaturated fats, yet we still experience fatty acid deficiencies because this type of fat is harmful.

Habitually using butter on your bread or oil in your salad is completely unnecessary. Instead make sure your diet is at least three-quarters vegetables, fruits, and unrefined grains – and include some fresh seeds and nuts. This is the basis of wise stress eating.

Adding lean meat or fish to your meals can be beneficial, especially if you exclude any added oils and cheeses. Fats need only be 15 to 20 percent of our daily calorie intake, yet most of us load almost 45 percent of our calorie intake with fats. This is exceptionally unhealthy and dramatically increases the stress our body mechanisms are forced to endure just to get on with daily life.

Do not add sugar

Wise stress eating is informed and mindful eating. This is why it is important to note that refined sugar is directly linked to diseases that make us age more quickly. The medical term is degenerative diseases, which cause the function or structure of the affected tissues or organs to change for the worse over time.

Refined sugar contains no nutritional benefit because every vitamin, mineral, and trace of natural fiber originally present in it has been refined. This means that almost any amount of refined sugar is not healthy for us.

When we eat refined sugar, we raise our blood sugar levels. This makes it difficult for our pancreas to maintain normal blood sugar levels. Americans eat an average of seventeen teaspoons of refined sugar each day, mostly hidden in sugar-sweetened beverages and snacks.

Unless sugar enters your body the way nature intended, in a piece of fruit for example, it is very difficult for your body to process. This extra bodily stress is felt in tiredness, depression, and emotional instability because of the increased insulin resistance that raised blood sugar levels trigger in your body.

Having high blood sugar levels leads to deficiencies in B complex vitamins and an imbalance in trace minerals. Unfortunately, white flour, white rice, and products made from them are not much better. While these refined carbohydrates do not put your body under as much stress as sugar and extra fat, they stop your body from flushing out harmful toxins, which further increases the risk of degenerative diseases.

Hold the coffee

Something you can drink less of to increase your body’s ability to handle stress is coffee. Even a few cups each day will undermine your well-being and accelerate aging. Caffeine is a drug and it stimulates the central nervous system, pancreas, heart, and brain. This is why you feel more alert for a short time when drinking it.

You may think that drinking coffee makes you more efficient, but studies show that it slows your mental performance. The 90-120 milligrams of caffeine in each cup add up quickly and this daily high caffeine dose can be dangerous.

Studies link habitual coffee drinking to many stress disorders and some mental illnesses, including depression and anxiety. If you suspect that you drink too much coffee, then stop for a short time and monitor your body’s reaction.

Removing caffeine can cause powerful withdrawal symptoms, including headaches that can last for a few hours to several days. Fortunately, the withdrawal symptoms do not last long and are worth going through to be rid of the caffeine habit once and for all.

Eat less meat

There is a myth that you need to eat meat to stay healthy. This is not true. Research shows a mixed diet of grains, vegetables, and fruit can be a healthier source of high-quality protein than traditional meat, fish, and dairy products – which are often high in fat and too concentrated in protein.

If you cannot bear the thought of giving up meat, balance your protein intake by eating the meat you enjoy in smaller quantities. Such as in two or three portions each day instead of it being the main food at a single meal. Alternatively, eat the same amount as usual but far less regularly.

When you do eat meat make sure it is very lean, remembering that vegetables and pulses contain good quality and significant quantities of protein. Add unprocessed grains to this meal for a balanced meal including essential amino acids without the extra fat.

Most American households consume far more meat than required. Our bodies use constituents of protein and amino acids to build muscles, make new hormones, convert the energy in food to run cellular processes, and eliminate any extra or toxic substances.

But if we eat too much protein then we absorb precious minerals and trace elements from our bodies such as zinc, calcium, magnesium, and iron from our bones and tissues. These are the minerals our bodies use to stay healthy, maintain firm skin and have shiny hair, and keep a balanced emotional state.

Make your carbs complex to overcome stress eating

Have you heard that starches are not good for you? Yes, refined carbohydrates certainly are not. But complex carbohydrates like refined grains, vegetables, and fruits – eaten as close to the way nature presents them as possible – are important for physical and emotional balance.

Refining rice or wheat removes their natural vitamins, minerals, and fiber. But unrefined carbohydrates, such as in brown rice, provide a steady stream of energy throughout the day.

Cleaning up your body

If you want to use food to increase your body’s ability to handle stress, the first step is to remove foreign substances from your blood, organs, glands, and tissues. You do this by giving your body time to filter out these harmful substances naturally, without replacing them by eating or drinking anything unhealthy. This will help you feel balanced and clear-headed, and experience higher and more consistent levels of energy.

Amazingly, each minute 300 million cells in our bodies wear out and need to be replaced. Spring cleaning our bodies through a diet is a good start to helping our bodies achieve this with less effort. The second step to wise stress eating is to swap careless, uninformed eating habits with intentional eating habits. This will give your body what it needs to keep you strong and balanced.

A raw food diet for stress eating

Fresh raw food is one of the best clean-up diets your body can enjoy. Raw fruit and vegetables have the remarkable ability to clean your body from the inside out by effectively dissolving and uprooting toxic material and stored wastes which have formed in various parts of the body. They will kick-start your digestive system and stimulate the proper functions of your organs and tissues.

A raw food diet will give you a type of transformation that leaves you shining with vitality and will help you feel rested and able to meet high-energy demands head-on. While doctors and food scientists have found that raw food diets have healing properties that are not yet fully explained, the wisdom of eating raw food is not new. Physicians in ancient times also used raw food diets for healing.

Changing to a raw food diet for several days every few months will help revitalize you and remind you of the benefits of eating healthily. Consider adopting this diet at the change of each season.

Christian counseling to help stress eating

If you’re looking for additional help with stress eating and establishing the habits of assisting your body to cope better with stress through food beyond this article, then browse our online counselor directory or contact our office to schedule an appointment. We would be honored to walk with you on this journey.