Controlling Stress and Blood Sugar by Eating Healthy Foods

Blood glucose level always goes up when patients of diabetes face stress. When in stress, the pituitary gland at the base of our skull stimulates the adrenal glands by the kidneys to release adrenaline. This triggers the muscles and liver to break down the glycogen stores into glucose. It then is released into the tissues to enable the body to fight or flight the potential danger. This release increases the blood sugar level which sometimes exceeds the normal range.

So, diabetes is closely related to our emotional condition. City dwellers always live in the environment that will inevitably create stress. Traffic jams, pollution, overwhelming workloads, and selling targets and problems in personal relationships are some of the causal factors for stress. So, it is easy to say to everybody that stress is unavoidable.

The easiest way is through recreation. Unfortunately, we cannot always do that.   City dwellers who are in stress condition usually try to relax their emotional condition by going out and eating out with friends.

Eating more food and drinking alcohol or coffee are the typical reactions which we usually experience.  To reduce the negative effects of stress, we must try to avoid foods that are bad to our body. Even though we can do that, the food and drinks that we consume in general contain excessive fat, salt, sugar, and alcohol and cafein. These deplete vital nutrients such as magnesium and vitamin B5 – the nutrients that are important in combating stress.

Eating foods that contain fiber can help improve our blood sugar. We will feel full due to the volume of the food but the calories intake is lower. In addition, our body cannot digest fiber. Fiber binds cholesterol and lowers its absorption. Food that contains fiber reduces our blood sugar as it slows down the absorption of sugars into the bloodstream. 

To minimize the negative effects of stress, we need nutrients such as magnesium and vitamin C as well as vitamin B. They are essential in supporting our body especially the adrenal glands to bust the stress. Foods that are rich in magnesium are almonds, cod, soya beans, sunflower seeds, nuts, dark leafy vegetables, blackstrap molasses. Foods that are rich in vitamin c are citrus fruit, strawberries, potatoes, berries, peppers, blackcurrants, kiwi fruit, cauliflowers, guavas, mangoes, and papaya. Foods that contain vitamin B are green vegetables, brown rice, dairy products, eggs, liver, wheatgerm, lentils and corn.