Avoid These Foods to Avoid Stress

Everyone deals with stress at one point of their lives but did you know that the foods you eat may also play a role in this condition? 

If you feel constantly stressed out, you might want to reduce or get rid of the following from your meals:

Alcohol

While a glass of wine can help you relax after having a long and intense day, anything more than this will likely negate any of the health benefits of alcohol. Instead, this will only make your life more stressful. 

This is because alcohol consumption can increase hormonal production that will make you feel more stressed and anxious than before you started to take a sip. This may even spike your heart rate and blood pressure and trigger your body to experience the same symptoms. 

Alcohol can also defect your sleep patterns. Yes, it might be easier for you to fall asleep than usual but your sleep won’t be deep enough to make you feel refreshed the next day. You will just feel cranky and more stressed out the following morning. 

Artificial Sweeteners

While sugar on its own is already bad enough, most food products are not sweetened using the real thing and artificial sweeteners are used instead. These artificial sweeteners may cause some health issues including headaches, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic disease.

What is worse is that it may make you addicted to sugary foods as your taste buds are retrained. This can cause you to look for sweeter and unhealthier foods. If this is not bad enough, these artificial sweeteners can also have side effects that may cause stress. 

Excessive Caffeine

There is no need to completely give up on your morning cup of coffee if you cannot function without this. However, if you regularly drink several cups a day, you might only end up feeling more stressed than before. 

Excessive caffeine may compromise your adrenal glands and make them over-stimulate your body. Since caffeine can stimulate the nervous system, this may lead to increased heart rate and blood pressure that can ultimately make you feel more anxious. If you are suffering from anxiety, cutting out caffeine should be among the most important decisions you have to make. 

Processed Carbohydrates

Refined and processed carbohydrates may satisfy your taste buds but they don’t offer anything good for your body. They lack nutritional value and are nothing but worthless calories. These can also make your blood sugar levels fluctuate, making you feel irritable and moody. You may also feel bloated and unwell as a whole, increasing your stress levels. 

Sugar

If your goal is to lower your stress levels, sugar is definitely among the first ingredients you need to remove from your diet. Every time you feel stressed, more cortisol is released by your body. This hormone helps you manage your blood sugar levels and stress alike. The issue with increased cortisol is that it can lead to headaches, reduced immune response, unhealthy food cravings, and sleep issues, all of which can leave you stressed out.

Hemp-based herbal teas and relaxing oils

Hemp tea, for example, is a beverage made by soaking dried hemp leaves or flower buds in boiling water, in a similar method to preparing other herbal teas. Hemp tea is naturally caffeine-free and packed with beneficial non-psychoactive cannabinoids like CBD.