Have you ever heard of anyone saying,
"last night, I was so stressed out and ate whole bunch of broccoli"
No right?
Usually when people are under stress, we have tendency to reach out for more sugary food such as ice cream, chips, cookies and so on. This happens because of the stress hormone called cortisol secretion increases when stress level goes up. When cortisol is elevated for extended period of time the body will start secreting insulin to counter the cortisol response. To bring this response down, fastest way to do it is consuming carbohydrates especially in a form of sugar.
However, there is a consequence. Whether you are stressed out or not, when consuming high carbohydrate food source, the blood sugar is in imbalance causing more insulin to be secreted. Overtime this cycle will create inflammatory response and causing more stress to the body. Continuation of this will lead to obesity, increase in estrogen in men and increase in testosterone in women, causing changes in physical appearance.
Here are 9 symptoms that you may experience when inflammatory stress level increases:
Carbohydrate craving
Salt Craving
Need caffeine for energy
Irritable, shaky, or headache between meals
Energy increase after eating
Feeling lightheaded upon standing
Trouble falling asleep
Trouble staying asleep
Excessive fat in-mid section
If you are experiencing one or more symptoms listed above you should consider working on managing your stress.
How can you do that?
There are 2 areas in which you can improve on.
First is to control insulin.
Make sure to eat about 1 gram per pound of your body weight for protein per day.
Keep carbohydrate intake less than 150 g per day.
Fiber should be no less than 25 g per day.
Choose nutrient dense food source.
3-4 days per week of strength training.
Using digestive enzyme supplement may help digest food more properly to reduce stress to the digestive system.
Second is controlling cortisol.
Prioritize sleep - should be getting at least 8 hrs
Magnesium and Zinc supplement 30 min prior to bedtime can help improve quality of sleep.
Set cut off time for caffeine - ideally no caffeine after 12 pm
Minimize alcohol consumption.
Using chromium supplement may help suppress cravings.
It is important to improve these symptoms because they could be the major cause of weight gain, lack of energy, and joint issues. Exercise and diet is important, however, it is also important to know what to work on so each workout and meal become more meaningful.
Kota Shimada
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