Avoid These Foods When You're Stressed
Ladies, you're no stranger to stress. It's natural! Stress is the way your body responds physically, mentally, and emotionally to certain things and events. It's great for you when it's in small amounts, but stress gets overwhelming very quickly! This is why you need to practice stress management. That said, there are unhealthy and healthy ways to cope with stress!
Healthy stress management includes things like exercise and deep breathing. Mindfulness for stress is very popular! Another great natural stress management technique is meditation. Of course, cognitive behavioral therapy for stress helps a lot as well, as do other forms of therapy. Be sure to follow a healthy diet for stress as well. This starts with avoiding certain foods!
Ice Cream
Ladies, ice cream is perhaps the most common thing you eat when you're sad or stressed. It's the ultimate comfort food! After all, ice cream is soothing. That said, it will cause problems when you eat it all the time, especially when you're stressed. The problems are both mental and physical! Ice cream has lots of sugar in it. Thus, it's going to make your blood sugar spike and then crash. This is dangerous, even when you don't have type 2 diabetes! Blood sugar crashes leave you with fatigue and energy problems. Lethargy over time is very common! Your brain's also going to release cortisol when your blood sugar crashes. It's the stress hormone! When your brain releases it, ladies, you're going to deal with sleep problems, crave unhealthy food, and have abnormal immune responses. It also means a cycle of high stress!
Canned Soup
You have to eat. However, stress makes putting any effort into cooking hard! That's why many of you, ladies, reach for canned soup. It's an easy meal, and it has veggies. Unfortunately, you actually need to avoid eating canned soup when you're stressed. It's comforting, but it's also full of sodium! In fact, there's usually at least 1000 mg in each can. This is below the recommended daily amount, but most doctors say you need to keep it under 500 to 600 mg! Eating lots of sodium triggers issues like fluid retention. This is simple, but others aren't! Serious ones include high blood pressure, kidney disease, even stomach cancer!
Lots of canned soups also have chemicals in them. They preserve the soup! The most common one is MSG. It's approved, but it harms your central nervous system in some cases. Ladies, eating lots of MSG triggers headaches, nausea, and drowsiness. Your chest will feel tight too! That's why you need to avoid canned soups that have it.
Processed Meat
Processed meat means hot dogs, deli meats, even jerky! Ladies, you have to avoid eating all of these when you're stressed. Processed meat has lots of chemicals, preservatives, and other unhealthy things in it! Examples include MSG and sodium. Both make your meat taste great, sure, but they also trigger health issues over time. You will also see energy crashes and higher stress in the short term.
Processed meat's been linked to many chronic conditions, like heart disease, high blood pressure, and COPD. One of the preservatives in it, sodium nitrite, is even linked to many cancers! One example, of course, is stomach cancer.
Coffee
Coffee's great for helping you wake up in the morning. The problem is that when you're stress, you often drink way too much! It's supposed to be calming, but the caffeine does the opposite. Ladies, caffeine's a stimulant. That's why it gives you energy! Unfortunately, high amounts also mean you will be even more stressed. Caffeine also triggers nervous system issues, like high anxiety, high blood pressure, and even a fast heart rate. Drinking lots of caffeine also makes it harder for you to sleep at night. Even if you fall asleep easily, it will be hard to stay asleep the whole night! Thus, avoid drinking coffee when you're stressed. If you have to, limit yourself to 1 or 2 cups in the morning!
Fried Foods
Fried food tastes good. This is one major reason why many of you eat it when you want comfort! Ladies, some of the most popular choices are french fries, onion rings, fried chicken, and burgers. They're fried in unhealthy oil that has lots of trans fat in it. This is part of why fried food is so unhealthy. Eating lots of trans fat puts you at risk of many conditions, including obesity! Of course, fried foods are often breaded, which contributes to their higher calories! This also increases your risk of health issues over time, such as heart disease.
Ladies, you're also at a high risk of type 2 diabetes when you eat lots of fried food. Actually, your risk doubles! You will also be more likely to be resistant to insulin when you eat 2 or 3 meals of fried food every week. It's also important to know that frying food makes acrylamide! This is a major carcinogen, so your cancer risk is also a lot higher. Skip the fried food when you're stressed and save yourself grief later!