Eating certain foods can actually make stress levels increase, so it’s important to remember which foods to avoid.
Stress has the ability to control how humans behave, often making radical decisions, so it’s easy to be care-free of what food we consume in times like this.
Stress can either make people food-deprived or mindless munchers.
Eating when stressed is the way many people relax, however, there are some to foods to avoid as they can make you feel even worse.
Here are the foods you must avoid when feeling stressed:
Caffeine
Drinking caffeine boosts energy rapidly, which in a stressful state only adds fuel to the fire.
No doubt coffee will enhance mood and energy but coming down from that high can feel awful. Caffeine drinks full of sugar should especially be avoided, such as a Frappuccino or latte.
Caffeine provides a jittery and nervous effect on the body, and while stressed, that’s the last thing anyone wants or needs. Coffee elevates cortisol levels which is a steroid hormone that helps the body respond to stress. When levels are increased too much, it can lead to negative effects including chronic stress and weight gain.
Fried Foods
Frying food and biting into crunchy goodness may be satisfying in the moment, but in the long run, when stressed, fried food can result in the body feeling flat and sluggish. Fried food provides zero nutritional value and does not help stress levels decrease.
Pretzels
This delicious snack is the perfect type of food to mindlessly munch on in stressful situation – it’s small, crunchy and has the right amount of salt and flavour. However, pretzels are high in sodium which will increase blood pressure and its refined carbs can enhance anxiety levels – hardly ideal when stressed.
This is due to pretzels being made from simple, quick-digesting carbs where lifting the mood will only last a short-period of time before rapidly dropping back down to low levels as glucose levels will increase.
Tofu
Although tofu is a healthy alternative to a lot of ’unhealthy’ foods, soy is tofu’s main ingredient which is, consequently, something needed to be avoided when stressed. Soy is high in copper which is a mineral linked to anxious behaviour. A lot of soy products are also packed with high GMO ingredients – known to negatively affect one’s health.
Refined Sugar
Added sugar in foods including bread, lollies, biscuits, pastas, condiments and soft drink, can give the body a high boost of energy before experiencing a sugar ‘low’. This is the body’s response to sugar levels reaching a high and comes crashing back down to an even worst state afterwards. Sugar rushes cause highs and lows with mood and energy as the body tries to stabilise blood sugar level, increasing stress, anxiety and lethargy.
