blog

Stress Less & Boost Your Mood With These Foods

Choose food to help your mood

There are lots of healthy foods out there that can assist in combating stress and boosting your mood.

Reaching for the cookie jar or ice cream tub is normal when feeling stressed or down. But, for a moment of temporary relief, we are generally left off feeling worse. These foods which are high in sugar have negative impacts on your mind and health.

Foods to help stress less and boost your mood

Wholegrain bread, oats, chickpeas, lentils and beans

These Foods are high in fibre, which means they are absorbed into your body slowly. This stabilises your hormones and mood. Fibre also promotes the growth of good bacteria in your gut, which can help towards better mental health.

Capsicum, kiwifruit, berries, broccoli & oranges

These foods are very high Vitamin C which can help lower hormones that make you feel stressed and hungry.

Tuna, salmon & walnuts

These foods have Omega-3 oils which can lower stress hormones and reduce feelings of anxiousness and depression.

Avocado & banana

These foods are high in Potassium which can reduce your blood pressure (blood pressure increases when you’re stressed).

Nuts and seeds

As well as being high in fibre, nuts and seeds have shown to help produce Serotonin which is our ‘happy hormone’ responsible for making us feel happy!

What to avoid when feeling stressed and in a bad mood

Highly processed foods – white bread, cakes, pastries, cookies, doughnuts etc.

Foods high in white flour and sugar are absorbed into your body quickly. This causes hormones that affect your mood to quickly increase then quickly drop, leaving you feeling irritable and in a bad mood.

Coffee, Coca-Cola and chocolate

These foods contain caffeine which stimulates your body (you want your body to relax when you’re stressed).

Instead of reaching for that sugary cookie or muffin when feeling stressed, try making these super speedy snack wraps full of foods to combat stress as well as comfort you!

Snack Wraps

Snack serving size: ½ wrap

Peanut Butter Banana

  • wholegrain wrap
  • 2T Peanut Butter
  • 1 small sliced banana
  • drizzle of honey

Rainbow Sticks and Hummus

  • wholegrain wrap
  • 2T hummus
  • carrot, cucumber & red capsicum sticks (a few of each)

Tuna & Avo Crunch

  • wholegrain wrap
  • ½ avocado
  • handful walnuts, chopped

Strawberry Shortcake

  • wholegrain wrap
  • 2T Greek yoghurt
  • handful of strawberries, sliced
  • kiwi fruit, sliced

Layer ingredients, roll, wrap and slice.

P.S these are also perfect for kid’s lunchboxes

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25415497

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25465596

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26317148

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29031185

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6087692/

Live Life Get Active is building a fitter, healthier and happier Australia and we want people to have fun along the way. With the help of Local Government and Corporate Australia we provide FREE health, fitness and nutritional education both online and in the parks, suburbs and cities of Australia.