Super Food to help you reduce Stress

Work pressure, peer pressure, managing kids all day, juggling between work and personal life continuously. Even if we try to maintain as healthy lifestyle as possible, still it is hard to get rid of stress as there are countless number of things to worry about nowadays. So, in order to ease some stress, I have prepared a list of some of the best stress busting food items to eat so that you can calm your mind.

1. Leaf Vegetables: Dopamin is a type of a neurotransmitter in the brain, secretion of which provides feeling of pleasure to the person and lowers stress level. Exercise, work out, meditation, doing some adventure, taking roller coaster ride, etc helps releasing dopamin from the nerve cells in the brain. Whereas, you can also relieve stress and give a preasant feeling of calmness to yourself by eating some particular food items like green leaf vegetables. Green Leaf Vegetables contain a super-nutrient named folate (folic acid, a type of a soluble vitamin) on the consumption of which, nerve cells secrets dopamin. Kale, Spinach, Collard Greens, and Rapini are some of the best Green Leaf Vegetables. So whenever feel stressed or depressed next time, instead of taking your regular meals, try a Green Vegetable lunch.

2. Fermented Food Items: There are some benefits of the fermented food items which I have already discussed in my earlier blog (i.e. they help in increasing Gut Floara in the digestive system which as a result improves digestion and bowel moments). There are number of other benefits of fermented food items such as improves immune system and helps protecting from many diseases as they are probiotic, they are good for skin and most importantly, helps reducing stress. Bacterias are everywhere, you’re your skin to inner organs, millions and billions of bacterias are living there. We can say that complicated life forms wouldn’t be possible without bacteria. Different types of bacterias help regularing different functions of our body. There is this one caterogy of good bacteria named microbiome, which helps promoting good mood by transmitting signals to the brain though nerves and results in secretion of stress-relief hormones. Femented Foods contain microbiames in high quantity, thus, lowers tension, and boosts mood.

3. Asparagus: Feeling low, angry, guilty, lack of concentration, lossing interest in your daily activities, non-persistent sleeping pattern are some of the signs of depression, which is mainly caused by lower level of focin acid into the body. Whereas, there is nothing better than Asparagus for fulfilling your daily mood boost needs because of high value of folate vitamins in it. Asparagus are easily available in the market and we can say that they are one of the least inexpensive vegetables, as well as you can add asparagus into any meal.

4. Avocado: Avocados are one of the best fruits. With the high level of nutrients they have, Avocados are considered one of the most health-beneficial fruit available in the world. They are a rich source of potassium, thus keeps check on our blood pressure, proper functioning of heart and kidney. They contain even more potassium than bananas (which are considered potassium fruits). Being high in fibers, Avocados help in losing weight and maintaining blood sugar level. Further, Avocados lower bad cholesterol, increases the level of good cholesterol in the body, is a great antioxidant and studies have shown that they prevent from many diseases like cancer, arthritis, etc. Avocado provides us all these health benefits which ensure our well being, and good well being is necessary for happiness. Along with this, there are some particular type of vitamins found in Avocados, i.e. Vitamin B5 and B6 which are associated to provide feeling of calmness and lessen stress and anxiety level. To start, you can eat avocados any time just as fruits, use them to make deserts, or use them as salad.

5. Berries: Berries have amazing antioxidant properties and are great source of various Vitamins like Vitamin C, Vitamin K which helps of maintain body metabolisms. When we feel anxious and stressed, our body need these antioxidants and vitamin to calm nerve cells and brought brain and body functions to normal, thus berries ensure mental growth of mind. It is recommended to have four to five servings of berries a month.

6. Milk: Even if you are not feeling stressed or low, drinking a glass of milk every night before going to bed is always beneficial as it contain high level of protein, calcium along with Vitamin B, C, D, K, magnesium, strontium, etc and is one of the best antioxidant. So, it fulfills your daily nutrition. Milk provides a sense of calmness, and wipes out feeling of restlessness, fidgetiness from the mind.
There are some other super foods for which you can go for when feeling stressed:
• Oranges
• Almonds
• Oatmeal
• Sea food (like Salmon Fish)
• Non-Veg like Turkey