Christmas stress can easily throw a wrench into your holiday spirit.
Add the holiday craziness onto your day to day stresses and you may as well throw your hands up and surrender.
While your body can handle a little stress here and there, chronic stress can quickly become a problem.
Even though you can’t control every ounce of stress that comes throughout this season, you can reduce the impact that stress has on your health with a few simple tweaks to your nutrition, lifestyle, and supplementation.
4 FOODS TO HELP MANAGE HOLIDAY STRESS
Food is one of the best ways to help your body adapt to and manage stress. While poor nutrition can impact your adrenals, increase inflammation, and cause hormonal imbalances, proper nutrition can support balance in all of those areas – while also aiding proper digestion.
Here are some of my favourite foods for managing stress:
1. Nuts and Seeds
Stress promotes inflammation in the body, and while studies are still being done on how omega 3’s help to reduce inflammation – evidence is mounting and it’s worth taking action as we do know there are plenty of other benefits to omega 3’s.
Nuts and seeds are full of healthy fats and nutrients, and also contain magnesium, a precursor in the production of serotonin which helps to regulate mood and acts as a natural relaxant.
Green leafy vegetables, seaweed, nuts, beans, avocado, and dark chocolate are all great sources of magnesium.
Try these Spiced Walnuts for a simple holiday appetizer.
2. Kombucha
The health of your gut has a direct impact on your brain, as I explain here.
To manage stress, you need the right balance of healthy gut bacteria because they affect your mood and regulating controls by changing your brain chemistry via messages sent through your vagus nerve.
In order to build a healthy balance of bacteria in your gut, you should be consuming fermented foods regularly as part of your diet. Fermented foods include kombucha, sauerkraut, miso, yogurt, kefir, and kimchi.
3. Blueberries
Antioxidants help to reduce oxidative damage related to chronic stress, and blueberries contain large amounts of polyphenols, a potent antioxidant.
At this time of year, psychological stress may be at an all time high, ao including blueberries with your morning smoothie, afternoon snack, or in your salad at dinner can be helpful in reducing the effects of stress on your body.
You can also make a batch of these Maple Blueberry Muffins (they are gluten-free, dairy-free, oil-free, and nut-free) to have handy during the holidays when you need that blueberry fix!
4. Dark Chocolate
You officially have permission from your Nutritionist to eat dark chocolate throughout the holidays to relieve stress! But first, let me explain …
Raw cacao, not processed cocoa, is a source of antioxidants (like blueberries) as well as magnesium (like nuts and seeds). Magnesium deficiency has an impact on the central nervous system, and magnesium is also a natural and effective muscle relaxant.
I don’t recommend eating chocolate as an emotional fix when stressed, but a piece or two of good quality, organic, dark chocolate (80% cacao or more!) may help to relieve stress.
Sneak a piece of this Pistachio Pomegranate Dark Chocolate Bark when stress is building to help your body manage it better!
4 LIFESTYLE SKILLS TO HANDLE HOLIDAY STRESS
Food can’t fix everything (though I wish it could!). If the holidays always stress you out, learning to manage your stress and changing your circumstances is the only way to make a big impact. Yes, it’s one of the harder steps, but it’s so important.
Until then, here are some of my most recommended lifestyle skills to help you handle holiday stress:
1. Practice Breathing
As silly as this seems, slow and controlled breathing is an important way to initiate relaxation.
Under stress, your sympathetic nervous system is activated (fight or flight), which causes various responses to stress. By taking time to breath slowly, you activate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) – which can counter those stress responses. You can learn more about this here.
It’s as simple as breathing in slowly for a count of eight and breathing out slowly for a count of eight. Repeat five to ten times or until you can feel your body relaxing.
2. Fresh Air and Exercise
Holidays are typically the time of year when you’re “too busy” to exercise. While most health and fitness advocates are telling you to workout to beat holiday weight gain, I want you to move your body and get fresh air to reduce stress and heal digestion.
Moving your body in some way, like a daily 30 minute walk outside, will quickly put you in a better mood, improve energy, and help you get more done in less time (efficiency is king!)
3. Sleep it Off
Sleep can often be the first thing we put on the back burner when the to-do list gets longer and we need to get things done, or we’re so stressed out we choose binge-watching our favourite netflix series until 3 a.m. over sleep (guilty!).
Getting enough sleep is critical to managing your stress, mood, and energy levels and making it through the holidays. Plus, sleep truly will help you get more things done in less time as it helps you stay focused. Learn more about what too little sleep does to your body here.
Aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night to see noticeable improvements in your stress and digestion.
4. Write it Out
While I have addressed different ways to approach the holidays to manage stress here, sometimes we don’t notice it’s a problem until we’re already headed off the deep end.
When that’s the case, I find writing it out is really helpful.
Keeping a daily journal where you write out one problem and its solution, plus five things you’re grateful for, can help to release the tension while changing your perspective for the day.
I take 5 minutes each morning to write these out, which prevents me from holding on to unnecessary negativity. Let it go!
4 SUPPLEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS TO REDUCE HOLIDAY STRESS
Supplements are not a magic pill and can’t “fix” your health issues or make your stress disappear. However, combined with a healthy diet and lifestyle, they are an important support in helping to bring balance where there may be deficiencies present.
While these supplements are all great for reducing stress, please consult with your healthcare practitioner or book in a consultation with me before starting any new supplements. If it’s not right for you then it’s not safe!
1. Pascoflair by Pascoe
This herbal remedy uses a base of passion flower to relieve stress and help with sleep.
2. Magnesium Bisglycinate by New Roots Herbal
With most people being deficient in magnesium, adding this natural relaxant and stress reliever into your daily routine is just a smart move for your health. Plus, it helps encourage regular bowel movements.
3. Stress B by Thorne Research
Your B vitamins are important for both brain function and energy, and stress reduces both, while depleting your b vitamins. Adding in a b complex may help improve your body’s ability to handle the holiday stress.
4. Calm-Pro by Bioclinic Naturals
L-theanine, an amino acid commonly found in green tea, has been shown to help relax the brain and manage stress. Sipping on green tea throughout the day is helpful, or keep these handy and take a tablet when stress hits hard.
Don’t let your to-do list, family and friends, or other holiday stressors get the best of you this year. Follow these tips for easy ways to stay stress-free and keep that smile on your face.
