Have you thought about your food choices as a trigger for stress?

Today we are all facing stress from places and things in our daily life we may not even associate with stress. Our bodies are in perpetual overdrive just to get us from morning until night so we can shut down, do some repair work and then do it all over again. Most of us feel stress as something that comes from dead lines at work, or balancing the check book and trying to make ends meet at the end of the month. Some of us relate bumper to bumper traffic while traveling and even the chores and day to day tasks we do to be stressful, especially when we are running behind, procrastinating and while being disorganized.

All of these things, and many more are triggers for stress, and all of them can cause our bodies to become run down, exhausted and lead us to run at less than optimal levels. The fact is, we are always going to have stress coming at us full speed ahead, and this will rarely change no matter who you are or where you live. How we deal with this stress and disarm it's harmful effects is the key to success.

Many of us do not relate food with stress, but if you eat the Standard American Diet (SAD) there is a good chance you are running your body's nutrition on less than quality fuel. We have become a nation where sugar, processed and white bleached foods are the things we prefer. It is not uncommon for people to actually crave them,and feel a withdrawl when we do not get them, and although we are told to eat healthier, we don't. Daily in the media we are instructed to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, to avoid fast and deep fried foods, cut back on caffeine and alcohol, these foods have become the foods of choice for a large portion of America. The funny thing is we know better and we understand the ramifications of an unhealthy diet, and we know the health consequences that are almost a given when we eat this way. With all of this information we are still holding on to our unhealthy eating convictions and I see no mass exodus to a healthier way of eating anywhere in sight. This way of eating is a huge factor in the stress on our body, and continuing to eat this way can weaken our system and cause even more daily and long term stress.

Stress is a daily part of life and I do not see it going away anytime soon. I do see us having to make lifestyle adjustments to deal and live within the stressful way of life. I am sorry to say when it comes to stress, and our dealing with it, the ultimate decision to have noticeable change is up to the person in the midst of the stress. I am sorry to say it may take running into the wall face first a few times for some people to get the motivation to make any changes at all.