Stress Reducing Foods - 9 Super Stress Busting Foods

Most people know that a good diet is an important element in a healthy lifestyle. What you may not realise is that the food we eat can also play an important role in stress reduction. Listed below are some of the foods which have been shown to reduce stress levels.

Almonds, Pistachios & Walnuts

Nuts such as almonds are a great source of vitamin E, which acts as an anti oxidant and can boost your immune system. Almonds also contain vitamin B, which can help to support your body during stressful evens.

You only need to eat a small amount at around a quarter cup daily to get the benefit of it’s stress reducing properties. You can eat the almonds themselves or you could try using almond butter in place of peanut butter. While it can be little harder to find, you should be able to buy it at your local health food store.

Other nuts, such as pistachios and walnuts are also excellent at reducing stress. A 2007 study at Penn State University found that eating as little as 1 1/2 ounces of pistachios a day lowered blood pressure. Similar results have been obtained by eating walnuts.

Avocados

According to the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute,  one of the best ways to lower your blood pressure is to ensure you are getting enough potassium. Avocados are rich in potassium, and there is the same amount of potassium in half an avocado as there is in an average size banana.

Skimmed Milk

Studies by the University of California found that foods rich in calcium such as milk can reduce muscle spasms and ease tension. There is also some evidence to suggest that milk can help with PMS symptoms including mood swings, irritability and anxiety.

A 2005 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that women who drank four or more servings of skimmed milk daily were 46% less likely to suffer PMS problems than women who drank only one serving of milk per week.

Oats and Oatmeal

Any form of carbohydrates will make the brain produce more of the stress relieving chemical seratonin, and studies by the US MIT showed that the slower your body absorbed these carbohydrates, the more steady the release of seratonin.

Because oatmeal is full of fibre, it releases it’s carbohydrate more slowly that other foods, and this leads to a more prolonged release of seratonin.

Oranges

Oranges are well known as a great source of vitamin C.  In a study in Psychopharmacology, German researchers asked volunteers to carry out tasks involving public speaking and solving mathematical problems. It was found that the volunteers who had taken 3,000 milligrams of vitamin C reported feeling less stressed, and their blood pressure and levels of the stress hormone cortisol returned to normal levels more quickly. The American Dietetic Association also recommends vitamin C as a great immune system booster.

Salmon & Other Oily Fish

A Study from Diabetes & Metabolism in 2003, found that a diet with a high level of omega 3 fatty acids helped to keep the stress hormone cortisol and adrenaline under control. In addition, omega 3 also helps to prevent heart disease.

The Journal of the American Medical Association recommended that eating as little as three ounces of oily fish such as salmon, herring or mackerel twice a week would have an impact in protecting against heart disease.

Spinach

Magnesium is another chemical that can help to lower your stress levels. If you don’t have sufficient magnesium in your diet, it can cause problems such as migraine headaches and low energy levels.

Just one cup of spinach can provide 40% of your recommended daily amount of magnesium, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to incorporate this into a well balanced diet.

While diet alone will not completely eliminate stress, eating stress reducing foods can certainly help as part of an overall stress reduction program.