A type of stress that gets overlooked?
When we asked any person, do they have stress? Majority relate their stress as in mental/emotional stress.
Did you know diet and exercise can contribute to stress?
Yes, diet and exercise can increase the stress in your life! Keep in mind, stress is anything that triggers our adrenal glands to produce more of its stress hormones. Digestive difficulties, blood sugar imbalances, and exercise cause the body to produce more of its stress hormones. This constant demand can eventually deplete and exhaust our adrenal glands and cause adrenal fatigue and exhaustion, which is an underlying problem to many of our health issues.
1. 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱 S𝘂𝗴𝗮𝗿 – When we skip meals, our blood sugar drops. Low blood sugar is associated with cravings, irritability, mood swings, and light headedness. Basically having low blood sugar affects our concentration, our focus, and our ability to think clearly. Worst of all, it takes us out of our ‘fat burning’ zone. Low blood sugar due to skipped meals or poor dietary choices triggers the adrenal glands to produce more cortisol and adrenaline. Eating processed, refined, junk foods will also throw our blood sugar out of balance and triggers additional demand on the adrenal glands. Add that to all the mental stress going on and you can eventually deplete and exhaust your adrenal glands.
2. 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 – The second culprit, which is often overlooked, is bloating, gas, indigestion, heartburn, and other irritable bowel problems. Digestive difficulties are a huge problem! Antacids and other digestive products are in the top five sellers for prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Digestive problems cause irritation and inflammation in your stomach. This triggers your adrenal glands to produce additional cortisol, which works as a powerful anti-inflammatory, needed to reduce the inflammation in your stomach. The result is the adrenals are over-taxed, which further depletes and fatigues them.
3. 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲 – There’s nothing better than punching the heavy bag or running or lifting some weight to let some steam off. But the intensity of the exercise could be adding more stress to the body. Exercise triggers the adrenals to produce more cortisol and adrenaline. The more intense the workout, the more stress hormones you produce.
Aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, swimming, dance) at low to moderate intensity is stress reducing. On the other hand, moderate to high intensity exercise will trigger additional cortisol and adrenaline, which is stress producing.
Exercising at moderate to high intensity is great. But if the person is already in this exhausted state due to all the stress taxing his or her body, it can work against that individual. This is why it is so important to recognize the difference between aerobic training and aerobic “metabolism.” The thought that exercise cures everything just isn’t right. Your current health and fitness level, along with the amount of stress in your life, may dictate the need for an easy, low intensity workout instead of the “no pain no gain” motto.
Identifying where the stress is coming from is critical. If you’ve only focused on steps to reduce the mental stress and overlooked these types of stress, it could be the reason why your health has been suffering. The key is to identify where the stress is coming from and reduce it.
Many of the principles taught to help reduce mental stress work great, but they don’t help you digest your food, keep your blood sugar stable, or exercise at the right intensity.
𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀:
-Don’t skip or delay meals.
-Stay away from refined, processed junk foods, snacks, and beverages.
-Eat protein and good fats with each meal to keep blood sugar stable.
-Take your time to eat and digest your foods. Eating on the run is a ‘NO, NO’.
-Add a good digestive enzyme if you struggle with digestive problems.
-Avoid common food allergens such as dairy, wheat, corn, soy, caffeine, MSG, and artificial sweeteners for two to four weeks.
-Follow good food combining principles.
-Eat fruits by themselves.
-Eat protein with fibrous vegetables.
-Refrain from protein and starchy vegetables.
-Keep exercise intensity low to moderate for a while.
-Use a heart rate monitor to determine your intensity level for aerobic exercise.
A good rule of thumb is to keep your heart rate below targeted heart rate (180 minus your age = maximum targeted heart rate for aerobic exercise). When you exercise above that level, you increase the amount of cortisol and adrenaline.
Most importantly, nourish the adrenal glands. Stress depletes the body of specific nutrients and causes hormonal and metabolic changes and imbalances. Just as an athlete depletes his or her body of water and minerals after a workout, a person under constant stress will deplete his or her adrenal glands of their much-needed nutrients.
These are the first simple steps you can take to reduce the load of stress on your body. (cbn dot com)
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