How Balanced Nutrition Impacts Stress, Energy, and Mood

What you choose to eat at every meal does more than just satisfy your hunger. Meals can either nourish and sustain your body or have undesirable effects, such as a sudden drop in energy. A balanced diet is more critical to managing stress, energy, and mood than you might think.

What is balanced nutrition? Avoiding processed foods is a start, but your plate may look different from someone else’s depending on your dietary needs. What matters is a focus on whole foods, including fruits, vegetables, and protein. Ready to learn how balanced nutrition impacts how you feel and function? Let’s dig in.

Supports Stress Management

Managing external sources of stress can look like taking a time out, practicing meditation, and getting enough shut-eye. While it’s common to believe pressure comes from your environment, it’s not so clear-cut. Yes, a demanding job, heavy traffic, and screaming children can all cause tension. Yet, what you eat (or don’t) can lead to internal sources of stress.

Internal disarray comes in the form of systemic inflammation and hormonal imbalance. Even being low on certain vitamins can make it more difficult for your body and mind to process environmental stress. Turning to donuts and coffee might sound like a way to get through, but it may make the problem worse. 

A better way to power through is to give your body nutrients like magnesium and antioxidants from healthier foods. Examples include smoothies with berries and salads with spinach or avocados included in healthy meal kits. Antioxidants combat oxidative stress within your body, while magnesium helps to regulate cortisol.

As you may already know, your body produces more cortisol in stressful situations. Too much of this hormone can cause weight gain in the stomach area, high blood pressure, and a weaker immune system. High levels of cortisol could also spike your blood sugar and throw a woman’s menstrual cycle off track. Additionally, concentration difficulties, mood swings, and irritability are linked to high cortisol levels. 

Keeps Energy Stable

There’s a reason yo-yo dieting is associated with rapid weight loss that doesn’t last. You tend to gain the weight back because not only is the diet unsustainable, but it can also mess with your metabolism. People have what’s called a resting metabolism, which is typically influenced by their DNA, environment, and lifestyle. It’s known that males tend to have higher resting metabolisms than women due to more muscle.

In addition, some individuals have lower resting metabolisms than others due to body type or genetic influences. Your resting metabolism is the energy (i.e., calories) your body uses to function at its most basic level. It’s the caloric intake you need to do the basics like breathing, sleeping, and sitting on the couch.

You can boost your metabolism through exercise, especially strength training that adds muscle mass. But another way to make your body’s use of calories more efficient is through balanced nutrition. You’ve probably noticed you don’t feel so hot after digging into a bag of chips and dip. Yet, a plate of whole wheat spaghetti and a mixed greens salad gives you steady energy until the next meal.

Nutrient-dense foods, along with proper hydration, help your body and mind function at peak levels. There aren’t any blood sugar spikes followed by crashes. You don’t feel as fatigued as you do after a big plate of pancakes at the corner diner. Stable blood sugar and steady energy from balanced nutrition mean you’re more prepared to handle whatever stress life throws your way.

Regulates Mood

Fatigue usually leads to irritability. When you’re tired, you can’t process information as well. Plus, you become more sensitive to stimulation. Lights seem brighter while sounds seem louder. Being tired makes you feel on edge, which can inevitably lead to outbursts you later regret.

Downing an energy drink might be a quick fix you’ve turned to before. One of the reasons drinks like these give you temporary mental clarity is that they’re loaded with B vitamins. While they have other questionable ingredients, it’s the B vitamins that increase the serotonin in your brain. 

Serotonin is also known as the “feel-good” neurotransmitter. It’s been linked with reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression, such as low mood. Consuming enough B vitamins through your diet helps your brain get enough serotonin to keep you even keel. Because energy drinks can contain high amounts of caffeine and sugar, they’re not the best source. Try low-sugar fortified cereals and salmon instead.

Fatty fish like salmon are also loaded with omega-3s, which support your brain’s overall health. Omega-3s are anti-inflammatory as well. If you’re not into fish, pumpkin seeds are a plant-based source of omega-3s. A well-functioning brain means a well-functioning digestive system, another source of anxiety and depression symptoms. When you feed your brain and gut healthy nutrients, your body’s major systems stay in balance, so your mood can too.   

The Physical Benefits of a Balanced Diet

Eating well has benefits that go beyond skin deep. While your appearance can improve from a healthy diet, so can your body’s ability to respond to stress. Tolerance differences aside, the food you consume can either support or deter the physical functions you can’t see from the outside.

Instead, what you’ll feel when you eat well is steady energy and a stable mood. These two things give you the ability to respond rationally to stressful situations. Furthermore, you’ll have the endurance to power through without experiencing a major crash afterwards. A balanced diet is like a well-built foundation. A weaker one can cause a house to crumble when faced with the elements, but a strong one will withstand.    

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