Stress Into Strength by Nick Arnett

Author:Nick Arnett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harpercollins Leadership
Published: 2021-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

You probably already know what a healthier diet looks like—a good balance of fruits, veggies, nuts, beans, seeds, and whole grains along with lean protein and healthy fats. One problem with shifting your diet is that it’s so much easier to buy or prepare food that’s bad for you. Try picking up a precooked rotisserie chicken, vegetables that you can steam in their bag, and other food that’s healthy but simple to prepare. Don’t add to your stressors by trying fancy new complicated recipes and such. Crash diets are a mistake because they amplify your body’s stress reactions, so they backfire. There is increasing evidence that regularly eating fermented foods—some cheeses, yogurt, apple cider vinegar, red wine, sourdough bread, raw sauerkraut, kimchi—encourages a healthy gut biome and lower inflammation. And here’s some really good news you may not realize—chocolate is a fermented food! Dark chocolate (which avoids the carbohydrates in other forms) contains both prebiotics and probiotics.

If you are working on muscle strength, you’ll benefit from making sure you’re getting protein before and after your workouts and in the morning. Watch out for dehydration—drink enough water to replace what you lose during exercise.

Eating mindfully is easy and rewarding. Slow down. Before taking a bite, look at your plate, smell, and begin to appreciate it. With each bite, take your time and savor the flavors. Set your fork down as you chew. Pause after swallowing, then pick up your fork and have another bite. You’ll find that you’ll eat less because you will more quickly notice you are full than when you wolf down less healthy fare.

Eating well is a tough challenge when your stress autopilot is stuck. The altered hormones conspire to make you crave carbohydrates, while confusing your senses of when you are hungry or full. In other words, an entire bag of potato chips (or your favorite high-carb junk food) looks really, really delicious when your autopilot is activated. “Stress eating” is all too real.

Cravings will diminish with time, but even if your resilience routines are hit-or-miss, you will be quieting down that noisy autopilot, which will give more energy to the part of your brain that gives you self-discipline and motivation. Keep in mind that these changes happen slowly, they create their own stress (especially if you overdo them), and backsliding is normal—start small and give yourself unlimited permission to fail and start over.

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