5 Nutritional Strategies for STRESS - Embodied Wellness Radio | Episode 19

EPISODE 19 – 5 Nutritional Strategies for STRESS| By Embodied Wellness Co.

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Welcome back to another episode of Embodied Wellness Radio! On this episode, Sarah breaks down 5 nutrition strategies to help with stress to help you live a happier and healthier life!

STRESS KILLS

In fact, if you had to pick ONE THING that put your health and life at risk for more than anything else…it would definitely be stress.

According to the American Psychological Association, “chronic stress is linked to the six leading causes of death.”

Most people think of stress as caused by things like work, traffic, tense relationships, and then follow it up by focusing on “solutions” like meditation, going to the spa, and so on.  And that's not to say those don't help acutely, both Sarah and Denon have a daily meditation practice and built in routines to alleviate stress throughout the day, but it doesn't take into account nutritional deficiencies which are a huge factor in your bodies stress.

The fact is, over 80% of Americans are deficient in a critical nutrient that helps rid the body and mind of stress, and this nutrient is magnesium.  And since this nutrient is responsible for 300-600 different biochemical reactions in the body, including your metabolism… when your levels are low, you struggle with sleep, energy, metabolism, pain and more.

Worst of all, this deficiency has a very “toxic relationship” with stress. According to Dr. Leopald Galland,. — “stress increases the amount of this nutrient we lose from our body (through our urine that is), leading to a dangerous deficiency.” 

So in turn, this deficiency WORSENS our response to stress, leaving us stuck in a cycle of feeling stressed, losing more of this nutrient, reacting even more to stress, losing more again, and so on.  And this critical nutrient is Magnesium.  Interestingly, studies show a direct correlation between magnesium deficiency and levels of anxiety and stress. 

Stress increases stress hormones like cortisol. In fact, a Yale study found that stress can cause abdominal fat in otherwise slender women!  Not only that, but according to the Mayo Clinic, the long-term activation of the stress-response system — and chronic overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones — can disrupt almost ALL your body’s processes.

This puts you at an increased risk of numerous health problems, including:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Digestive problems
• Headaches
• Heart disease
• Sleep problems
• Weight gain
• Memory & concentration impairment
• & so much more!

Stress also destroys our sleep, and given that sleep is connected to just about everything else: recovery, weight, heart health, on and on — we need to pay attention to it.

Stress also makes you gain weight because it affects your blood sugar, a critical factor in your weight and longevity. [7] Second, and this is super interesting, in a study published in April of 2015 in Biological Psychiatry [8], women who had one or more stressful events during the previous 24 hours burned 104 fewer calories in the seven hours following a fast-food meal than women who ate a similar meal but were stress-free.

But it's not all doom and gloom because MAGNESIUM is the only nutrient that’s been shown to actually defeat stress on a cellular level! 

A 2010 review of natural treatments for anxiety found that magnesium could be a treatment for anxiety, and more recently, a 2017 analysis that looked at 18 different studies also found that magnesium did in fact reduce anxiety.  These studies looked at mild anxiety, anxiety during premenstrual syndrome, postpartum anxiety, and generalized anxiety. According to this review, one of the reasons why magnesium might help reduce anxiety is that it may improve brain function.

But before you go to your grocery store and slam a dose from the first bottle of magnesium you see, it's important to understand that one of the biggest misconceptions about magnesium is that you just “need more” of it and you’ll be healthy and optimized.
But the TRUTH is, there are many different types of magnesium — and each plays a critical role in different functions in your body, and getting each one upgrades virtually every function in your body.

At Embodied Wellness Co, we pride ourselves of searching for THE BEST quality supports for our clients, and that's why we recommend Magnesium Breakthrough by BiOptimizers.  It's the ONLY 7 source magnesium product currently on the market, and is the most complete full spectrum formula ever created.   Both Sarah and Denon take a dose at the last meal of the day to help with creating the deepest and most restful sleep possible.

Visit biopimizers.com, and use code EMBODIED10 at checkout for a discount on your order of Magnesium Breakthrough.

We really do wholeheartedly believe in BiOptimizers and especially Magnesium Breakthrough.   We are super proud to have partnered with BiOptimizers after falling in love with their products, and we hope you do too!

Magnesium References:

• Yale Study - Psychosomatic Medicine/Stress and Body Shape: Stress-Induced Cortisol Secretion Is Consistently Greater Among Women With Central Fat -https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Abstract/2000/09000/Stress_and_Body_Shape__Stress_Induced_Cortisol.5.aspx & https://news.yale.edu/2000/09/22/study-stress-may-cause-excess-abdominal-fat-otherwise-slender-women
• Mayo Clinic - Chronic stress puts your health at risk - https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037
• Biological Psychiatry Journal - Daily Stressors, Past Depression, and Metabolic Responses to High-Fat Meals: A Novel Path to Obesity - https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(14)00385-0/fulltext
• NCBI - The Role and the Effect of Magnesium in Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7352515/
• NCBI - The Effects of Magnesium Supplementation on Subjective Anxiety and Stress—A Systematic Review
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5452159/

   

   

PODCAST NOTES:

5 Nutritional Strategies for STRESS

1. Are you eating enough macro and micro-nutrient rich meals for your energy needs? 

A 2019 study on overweight women showed an acute increases in complex carbohydrates over an 8-week period reduced salivary cortisol and responsiveness.  The same was not seen with an increase of protein or fat. 

Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6893582/

A similar result was found in a 2016 study that used an increase in complex carbohydrates to show a decrease in both physical and mental stress.

2. Balancing and stabilizing your blood sugar:

Keeping blood sugar stable is imperative in your battle against stress.  When we are stressed, our body is less sensitive to insulin (the main anabolic hormone that is responsible for regulating the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and protein).  Chronically low or high blood sugar can be a stressor for the body as well as sudden dips and spikes, so finding a happy stable medium is key.  Some of the common reasons we may experience sudden spikes and dips in blood sugar is because we are either eating too many carbs at once, too many simple (non-complex) carbs, or perhaps too many carbs in the absence of fat or protein.

Takeaway:  If you are in a stressed state, try to eat within 30-60 minutes of waking and every 3-4 hours afterwards, pairing your carbohydrates with either protein, fat, or both.

3. Coffee AFTER Breakfast!

• Weight Gain/Binge Eating:
  It'a true that coffee has appetite suppressing effects, however the benefit of lowering your stress by eating within the first few hours of eating (especially if you live a stressful life) far outweighs the minimal benefits you might think that a smaller appetite will bring you. Less stress = better fat loss.  Drinking coffee on an empty stomach will likely lead to unbalanced insulin levels, leading your brain to crave high high sugar foods, subsequently causing you to binge mid afternoon/evening. Eating a small breakfast that contains both fiber and protein will help keep your energy going until lunch. Scrambling eggs with some vegetables is a perfect and quick breakfast that is not only healthy, but will help avoid this binge eating response.
• Zero Energy:
  Do you drink coffee first thing and rush our the door?  We'd bet you probably have a mid morning or mid-afternoon crash huh? Exactly, it's not our first rodeo 😜
  At the very least, if coffee is a non-negotiable for you, combine it with a protein/carb or protein/fat meal first thing in the AM so you're not depleted on nutrients with an incoming caffeine crash.
• Irritability/Mood Fluctuations:
  A mid-morning or mid-afternoon fatigue crash isn't the only symptom, it's also common to feel a huge rush of irritability. This is because without the proper nutrients to keep your blood sugar at a stable level, your stress hormones are beginning to elevate, leading to the irritability.  Aka- you're hungry (and fatigued...the perfect storm). When you go long periods of time without eating, your blood sugar drops and you will be less able to deal with stress, this also goes for fasting, but thats another conversation. Likely due to the perfect storm you will also experience a decrease in cognitive functioning, leading to increased frustration.  Keep those blood sugars stable friends!

4. Limit processed foods and inflammatory oils:

A 2012 study in the Endocrine Journal demonstrated that high cortisol levels are associated with low low quality food choices.

Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3253931/

Avoid processed foods, esspecially those with harmful additives such as vegetable/seed oil, and preservatives.  Choose organic to lower your intake of the chemical glyphosate or commercially known as "Round-Up" that is a known toxin that adds a tremendous amount of acute and longterm stress to the body.  To learn more about this destructive chemical, we highly reccomend you search out and learn from Zach Bush MD.  He had a few incredible talks on the Rich Roll podcast that are highly informative.

GMOs, Glyphosate & Gut Health - Rich Roll & Zach Bush MD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWgnkgYtqnw

Food Independence & Planetary Evolution: Zach Bush, MD | Rich Roll Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3aOQ0N74PI&t=5880s 

5. Supplements to support stress:

• General multi-vitamin or desiccated liver - all of our systems require proper mineral status
• Magnesium - Accurately described as "The Miracle Mineral", magnesium supports stress, nervous system function, sleep & energy!
• B-Complex - Can help reduce stress & fatigue
•  Adaptogens/cortisol control supplements that support adrenals and herbal adaptogens that help our body deal with stress.
• Aeryon Wellness - Restore: We have no affiliation with this company, however they sent us a bottle to try, and through quite like the concoction of ingredients.  It includes ingredients such as hawthorne, ashwaghanda, bacopa & astragulus, and helps to control cortisol throughout the day. 
• L-Theanine - Theanine is an amino acid that helps to promote relaxation without creating drowsiness
• Rhodiola - natural adaptogen
• Avoid stimulant based supplements 

Thanks to todays podcast parter, BiOptimizers, and more specifically the product Magnesium Breakthrough that helps us rid our bodies of stress and up-level over 300+ biochemical reactions in the body.  USE CODE "EMBODIED10" AT CHECKOUT