6 Stress-Relieving Foods To Prepare If You’re Feeling Stressful

Feeling stressed isn’t anything new. But even us cooks have a difficult time relieving from the harmful effects of stress. So what better way to do that than to prepare these 6 stress-relieving foods at home? Not only will these foods help you easily cope with stress, but they’re simply wonderful to enjoy.

Green Veggie Salad

A salad is just what you need to help you cope with work-related stress. Green vegetables are beneficial for you in more than one way. One way is that they help with dopamine production. Veggies like kale and spinach contain tons of minerals and vitamins. But they also contain folate.

Folate is a natural vitamin that does exactly what we just mentioned – help with dopamine production. Dopamine is a brain chemical that does wonders when needing to destress. So preparing a salad full of green veggies like spinach and kale is just what you need to destress after a hard day of work.

Oatmeal

When stress hits, a bowl of oatmeal is just what you need. That’s because oatmeal contains carbs. While carbs are good for us in more than one way, they’re also excellent for serotonin production. Much like dopamine, serotonin is the feel-good chemical that is responsible for our mood.

When serotonin levels are down, we tend to feel depressed. According to this post, stress drastically affects serotonin levels. To prevent it from going down, we need to eat lots of carbs. And a bowl of oatmeal is just what you need when stress kicks in.

Oatmeal is better than other carb-containing foods because it doesn’t affect us in the same way. First off, it doesn’t contain complex carbs nor does it contain a lot of sugar. And in many cases, oatmeal won’t affect blood glucose levels.

Salmon

Stress can lead to all kinds of problems. Chronic stress can derail your life and cause anxiety, among other things. The more we are feeling it, the more anxiety hormones kick in. This is something you don’t want happening. Adrenalin and cortisol are two of the most prominent anxiety hormones. So one way to take care of them is to eat plenty of omega-3 fatty acids.

As many of you are aware, salmon is one of the richest sources of omega-3 fatty acids. More so, salmon is quite a versatile fish that can be prepared in more than one way. You can prepare raw salmon with cucumber and yogurt for brunch, or bake it with red potato.

Seeds

Let’s not beat around the bush; seeds are kitchen essentials, meaning every pantry must stock the ingredient. Much like salmon, you can put seeds in every dish. The three we recommend to stock the pantry with are pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and flaxseeds.

But how do seeds help with beating stress? Well, seeds are full of magnesium. Magnesium is a mineral that helps regulate your emotions. The scientific evidence of that is pretty spectacular. According to this post from Healthline, magnesium is the perfect mineral for anxiety.

Not only that, but it is a feel-good mineral that can also fight cramps in women. If you are indeed using it for cramps, make sure to eat the seeds raw as opposed to baked. Raw seeds contain much more magnesium than baked. If you’re thinking of preparing meals with flaxseeds, sunflower, or pumpkin seeds, then we recommend making seed bars, dukkah, seeded dhal puffs, or simply taking them as they come.

Avocado

Who doesn’t love avocado? More so, who doesn’t love avocado on toast? If you’re ever feeling stressed out, then avocado on toast is quite possibly the easiest food to prepare. But why is avocado so good? The reason why avocado is so good for stress isn’t that it contains magnesium, carbs, or anything like that, but because it stops stress eating.

When stress kicks in, the natural response is to eat something. Strange as it might sound, it’s actually true for a lot of people. Avocado on toast is the perfect food to stop cravings and stress eating altogether. A single slice of avocado on toast can stop cravings by as much as 40%. So instead of reaching for an unhealthy snack to satisfy your needs, why not go for something healthier?

Green Tea

Granted, green tea isn’t a food but a beverage we’ve all had before. The reason why green tea makes the list is down to its ability to lower stress. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published research that states green tea lowers psychological stress.

By taking more than one cup of green tea during the day, you will lower stress by as much as 20%.