7 Tips to Fight Stress With Healthy Eating

Whenever we get too stressed out, many of us tend
to make poor food choices that actually increase stress and cause other problems.

Follow these simple tips to get the most out of your food and avoid stress.

1. Always eat breakfast. Even though you may think you aren't hungry, you need to eat something. Skipping breakfast makes it harder to maintain the proper blood and sugar levels during the day, so you should always
eat something.

2. Carry healthy snacks at all times. Keeping some protein rich snacks in your car, office, or pocket book will help you avoid blood sugar level dips, the accompanying mood swings, and the fatigue. Trail mix, granola bars, and energy bars all have the nutrients you need.

3. Try green tea instead. The caffeine in coffee and sodas can have stress-producing effects on your system. Try to gradually wean yourself off of caffeine drinks (going cold turkey can leave you with a headache, usually on the second day). Replace that coffee urge with a cup of green tea, which is soothing to the senses and contains lots of antioxidants.

4. Replace bad munchies with healthy ones. If you like to munch when you're stressed out, you can replace chips or other non healthy foods with carrot sticks, celery sticks, or even sunflower seeds.

5. Drink your water. That means at least 8 cups a day. This helps filter stress-induced and stress-producing toxins from your system, and can also keep you energized. Being dehydrated can actually cause fatigue.

6. Bring your lunch to work or school. Although a lot of people prefer to eat fast food for lunch, you can save a lot of money and actually eat healthier if you take a few minutes and pack a lunch at home. Even if you only do this a few times a week, you'll see a much better improvement over eating out.

7. Stock your home with the good stuff. As important as it is to get the bad food out of your house, it's even more important to get the good food in! The best way to do this is to plan a menu of healthy meals, including healthy snacks, at the beginning of the week, list the ingedients you need, and then go shop for them. This way, you'll know what you want when you need it and you won't have to stress over what to eat.

Andrea Arnold writes about nutrition and healthy eating at http://www.articlesunleashed.com