Stress Foods That Contribute To Your Chronic Stress

When we talk about stress and stress relief, we tend to think of external stressors such as workplace stress or stress caused by personal circumstances. We don't often look beyond this, and so when it is suggested that our diets maybe a contributory factor are surprised and skeptical, especially if we consider that we have a reasonably healthy diet.

As I have already mentioned and have described in detail in my book "Is Stress Your Silent Killer?" I experienced a protracted time of chronic stress about 10 years ago. As my diet has always been relatively healthy it never occurred to me that it could in any way be contributing to my stressful state.

About 5 years ago I became more and more aware that I had digestive problems and decided to have a batch of tests done to find out the cause. I was surprised to discover that I had a gluten intolerance. Not only that but I also had several parasites that were causing havoc inside my intestines. The combination of the parasites and the gluten intolerance meant that I had a condition called leaky gut syndrome. Small holes had appeared in the lining of my gut and these holes were allowing undigested particles of food to be absorbed into my blood stream. This in turn caused an allergic reaction to certain foods that were, as a consequence, causing my body to be further stressed.

I have recently published my second book called "Really Healthy Gluten Free Living - How to heal your gut with a healthy gluten free diet" This book outlines the cause of gluten intolerance, how to heal the damage and includes over 30 healthy gluten free recipes.

Stress can cause so many health issues if it isn't managed correctly. It is important to scrutinize each area of your life to see where the stress triggers are hiding. Then you need to take them one at a time and find a way to eradicate them permanently.

Stress in the Workplace Can Affect your Health

Stress is responsible for far more than we realise. As well as being the leading cause of accidents in the workplace,  stress also is one of the main causes of accidents  in the home! Stress is the main reason we are often unable to think clearly and we are more  likely to forget simple things.

Our brains can only cope with  so much and we can easily experience overload.  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that:

·         25% of workers considered their jobs caused them the  greatest amount of stress

·         26% of workers have experienced job burnout at some time in their working life

·         40% of workers said that their jobs were very stressful

·         75% of workers think that job stress is much worse now than it was for previous generations

If you are experiencing stress in the workplace you certainly aren't  alone.

If stress is due to the fact that your job has simply become more than you can cope with, then for your health's sake you need to consider a change of job.

It maybe that you consider too much is being expected of you and the work can't be completed within normal working hours. If this is the case you need to talk to your line manager and see if you can resolve the issue.

If you are suffering from workplace bullying then it is vital that you report this to the appropriate people.

Workplace stress isn't something you tough out to prove your worth.  If it continues for any length of time it becomes chronic stress and can adversely affect your health.

Stress depletes the immune system and makes you more vulnerable to illness and disease. So it is very important to stop it in its tracks before it takes over your life and affects your wellbeing