When you’re stressed, your body can start to crave foods for comfort. In this episode, Jen delves into what your stress cravings can mean and how you can give your body and more specifically your brain what it needs without giving in to those sugar, carbs and fatty cravings.
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SHOWNOTES
SUGAR CRAVINGS BE GONE – How to beat stress eating
STRESS EATING
For many of us, food has become a way of handling stress. When we are stressed our adrenals are activated, the fight or flight response sends a blast of hormones throughout our bodies and after a stressful event we need instant fuel to keep going, so we crave carbohydrates and fats – that’s why we eat chocolate when we’re stressed.
We default back to childhood comfort food
Have to look at emotions to break cycles
Adaptogens are a select group of herbs (and some mushrooms) that support the body’s natural ability to deal with stress. They are called adaptogens because of their unique ability to “adapt” their function according to the specific needs of the body. This may be physical, chemical or biological needs.
“adaptogen” was first coined in the 1950s, the medicinal practice of using these herbs can be traced back to 3000 B.C., in Ancient Chinese and Ayurveda practices.
Coined by Russian toxicologist Nikolay Lazarev, he defined an adaptogen as a plant that increases the “state of non-specific resistance” when applied to stress, meaning it can help protect the body against a range of stressors.
MOOD EATING
Have you ever noticed that an hour or so after lunch you are ready for a nap or a trip to the vending machine?
Depending on the Glycaemic Index (GI) of the food you’ve eaten and the level of chromium in your body, your blood sugar can be going up and down like a rollercoaster and taking your moods, emotions and energy levels along for the ride.
If you eat a ‘healthy’ salad and meat sandwich on white bread for lunch chances are that an hour later you’ll be ready for a nap, chocolate or coffee – it’s the mid-afternoon slump that we know so well.
CHROIMUM RICH FOODS
Mussels and oysters
Brazil nuts
Dried dates
Pears
Wholemeal flour
Tomatoes
Mushrooms broccoli
Cook with lid on – water soluble nutrient
YOUR GUT FEEDS YOUR BRAIN – AMINO ACIDS
ENZYMES AND GRASS FED TURN YOUR HAPPIES ON
9 essential amino acids, named because the body cannot make them, and they must come from the diet.
including eggs and dairy (for those lacto-ovo vegetarians), as well as quinoa, buckwheat, hemp seeds, chia seeds, and spirulina.
Other foods such as nuts, seeds, legumes, grains and veggies are considered incomplete proteins because they are missing one or more of the essential amino acids.
Digestive enzymes. I’ll speak on that in a future episode
HEALTHY LIFE HACKS
- Remove the refined grain NO BUM GLUE – EPISODE 4
- Adaptogens – link in show notes to the one I use
- Increase chromium rich foods
- Eat grass fed proteins to feed your brain
Did you enjoy the podcast today? Please let me know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Every month I draw one lucky reviewer to have a free one-hour consultation with me. Also, remember to subscribe wherever you’re tuning in from so that you always catch the next episode.
Are you looking for more great resources? Get a free copy of my Feed Your Body ebook here and be sure to explore my blog while you are there.
