How can Stress throw off your efforts to eat healthier? – Wexford Chiropractic Centre

Story at-a-glance

  • Stress may counteract some of the benefits of a healthy diet
  • When women had low stress levels, they had higher markers of inflammation after eating an unhealthy meal but not after eating a healthy meal
  • When women were stressed out, their inflammation levels were elevated even when they ate a healthy meal
  • Women with a history of major depressive disorder also had higher post-meal blood pressure levels than women without a history of depression

By Dr. Mercola

Your mental state, including negative emotions like stress as well as depression, and your diet can alter levels of inflammation in your body.

Health problems such as obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, periodontal disease, stroke and heart disease are all rooted in inflammation, particularly chronic inflammation that may fester out of control in your body.

Ordinarily, eating a healthy diet is one of the best ways to keep inflammation in check, but recent research suggests that even that may not be enough if you’re also under stress.

Does Stress Counteract the Benefits of a Healthy Diet?

A study of 58 women, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, showed the impacts of stress on health, even in the presence of healthy eating.1

The women were given two meals, one healthy and one not, and filled out questionnaires assessing symptoms of depression over the prior week and stressors over the past 24 hours.

When women had low stress levels, they had higher markers of inflammation after eating an unhealthy meal but not after eating a healthy meal. When women were stressed out, however, their inflammation levels were elevated regardless of which meal they ate.

Women with a history of major depressive disorder also had higher post-meal blood pressure levels than women without a history of depression.

There are some potential issues with the study — namely the researchers’ definition of what constitutes a healthy versus unhealthy meal — but the results showing that stress is associated with higher levels of inflammation are not surprising, nonetheless.

In a study published in 2015, the researchers also found daily stressors were associated with changes in metabolic responses that could make a person gain almost 11 pounds a year.

“These findings illustrate how stress and depression alter metabolic responses to high-fat meals in ways that promote obesity,” the researchers explained.2

Eating Junk Food While You’re Stressed May Compound the Problem

The take-home message is certainly not that eating healthy is futile if you’re feeling stressed out. Certain healthy foods may help to improve your mood when you’re stressed but, unfortunately, nearly 40 percent of Americans report overeating or eating unhealthy foodsas a result of stress.3

This will only make matters worse. For instance, among a group of chronically stressed women (those caring for a spouse or parent with dementia), eating foods high in unhealthy fats and sugar led to concerning health effects, including a larger waistline, increased abdominal fat, more oxidative damage and more insulin resistance.4

The combination of junk food andstress was particularly dangerous, as low-stress women who ate similar foods did not experience such profound changes over the course of the study.

The study’s lead author, Kirstin Aschbacher, Ph.D, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, said:5

“Many people think a calorie is a calorie, but this study suggests that two women who eat the same thing could have different metabolic responses based on their level of stress.

There appears to be a stress pathway that works through diet — for example, it could be similar to what we see in animals, where fat cells grow faster in response to junk food when the body is chronically stressed.”

Why Stress Is so Detrimental to Your Health

Stress is a known trigger for systemic low-grade inflammation, and the fact that this negative emotional state may counteract some of the beneficial effects of healthy eating is revealing.

Stress clearly affects virtually your whole body, but according to neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D., in the documentary “Stress: Portrait of a Killer“, the following are the most common health conditions that are caused by or worsened by stress:

Cardiovascular disease Hypertension Depression
Anxiety Sexual dysfunction Infertility and irregular cycles
Frequent colds Insomnia and fatigue Trouble concentrating
Memory loss Appetite changes Digestive problems and dysbiosis

Further, stress has a notable impact on your gut, including affecting movement and contractions in your gastrointestinal (GI) tract and increasing inflammation. It’s not surprising that it may also alter the benefits your body receives from healthy foods, as the stress response is also known to cause:6

  • Decreased nutrient absorption
  • Decreased oxygenation to your gut
  • As much as four times less blood flow to your digestive system, which leads to decreased metabolism
  • Decreased enzymatic output in your gut — as much as 20,000-fold!

Anti-Stress Foods to Add to Your Diet

Your diet can support or derail your positive mood, which is why when you’re under stress it’s especially important to eat well. One of the worst choices you can make is to go on a sugar binge, as sugar consumption promotes chronic inflammation.

In the long term, inflammation disrupts the normal functioning of your immune system, which is linked to a greater risk of depression. Sugar (particularly fructose) and grains also contribute to insulin and leptin resistance and impaired signaling, which play a significant role in your mental health.

So what should you eat when you’re under a great deal of stress? Here are some top anti-stress foods to consider.

1. Green Leafy Vegetables

Dark leafy greens like spinach are rich in folate, which helps your body produce mood-regulating neurotransmitters, including serotonin and dopamine. One 2012 study found people who consumed the most folate had a lower risk of depression than those who ate the least.7

Not to mention, research from the University of Otago found eating fruits and vegetables of any sort (except fruit juice and dried fruit) helped young adults calm their nerves.8

2.Fermented Foods

Unhealthy gut flora can have a detrimental impact on your brain health, leading to issues like anxiety and depression. Beneficial bacteria have a direct effect on brain chemistry, transmitting mood- and behavior-regulating signals to your brain via your vagus nerve.

For instance, the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus was found to have a marked effect on GABA levels in certain brain regions and lowered the stress-induced hormone corticosterone, resulting in reduced anxiety- and depression-related behavior.9

3.Wild-Caught Alaskan Salmon, Sardines and Anchovies

Found in salmon, sardines and anchovies, or supplement form, such as krill oil, the animal-based omega-3 fats EPA and DHA play a role in your emotional well-being.

One study in Brain Behavior and Immunity showed a dramatic 20 percent reduction in anxiety among medical students taking omega-3,10 while past research has shown omega-3 fats work just as well as antidepressants in preventing the signs of depression, but without any of the side effects.

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