‘Are You Stressed About Your Weight?’ by Kate Pollard published in Great Health Guide (Aug 2015). We often don’t realise the impact of stress on our bodies and health. Making some simple changes, can make significant improvements to your happiness and wellbeing. Kate shares some of her tips to help you plan for optimum health.
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NUTRITION: Are You Stressed About Your Weight?
written by Kate Pollard
Your weight can actually increase as a result of stress! With some planning and effective strategies, you can lower your stress and improve your health.
Stress hormones influence the fuel source your body uses and can make it more difficult to burn fat. When you’re in a high stress state known as ‘fight or flight’, your body is preparing to battle or run away – just like we did in ‘hunter gatherer’ days.
In today’s society, the majority of common stressors relate to relationships, health issues, financial problems and work issues. These situations are usually not resolved by fighting or running away which would use our physical energy. When you don’t use the physical energy that your body assigns to ‘fight or flight’ to solve these issues, the energy is stored in the body as fat, often abdominally, thanks to those stress hormones. While there will always be stressful moments in life, recognising them and taking steps to reduce stress and the effect on your body will be beneficial for your health. Planning ahead is a great way to help reduce stress. By planning ahead, some of the unpleasant surprises that can occur will be less stressful.
Here are my top REALISTIC tips on planning ahead with your diet and exercise:
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Plan your meals before the busy week begins – and combine this with your weekly shop
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Stock up on healthy convenient snacks, such as fruit, nuts and homemade muesli bars
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Schedule exercise into your week and use this as a stress release, why not catch up with a friend at the same time?
