low stress diet

7/27/2019 Low Stress Diet

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T H E W E L L N E S S C O U N C I L O F A M E R I C A P R E S E N T S

Keeping The

Immune System

Strong In The

Face O Stress

Stress

The

Diet

Low


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aboutWELCOA

Wellness Council of America ( WELCOA)

was established as a national not-or-proft

organization in the mid 1980s through the eforts o a number

o orward-thinking business and health leaders. Drawing on

the vision originally set orth by William Kizer, Sr., ChairmanEmeritus o Central States Indemnity, and WELCOA ounding

Directors that included Dr. Louis Sullivan, ormer Secretary o

Health and Human Services, and Warren Bufet, Chairman o

Berkshire Hathaway, WELCOA has helped inuence the ace o

workplace wellness in the U.S.

Today, WELCOA has become one o the most respected resources

or workplace wellness in America. With a membership in excess

o 3,200 organizations, WELCOA is dedicated to improving the

health and well-being o all working Americans. Located in

Americas heartland, WELCOA makes its national headquarters in

one o Americas healthiest business communitiesOmaha, NE.

This WELCOA eature article brings you

the insights o National Stress Expert,

Dr. Brian Luke Seaward. In 2010, Dr.

Seaward addressed WELCOA members

with a three-part training series on

stress management. The inormation

shared in this publication is based

on Dr. Seawards WELCOA

webinar presentations.

aboutBrian Luke Seawardphd

Brian Luke Seaward, PhD is a renowned and respected international expert in the elds of stress

management, mind-body-spirit healing and health promotion. His mission, as expressed through

his legacy of acclaimed books and public appearances, is to make this a better world in which

to live by having each of us reach our highest potential. Dr. Seaward is an award-winning author, photographer, teacher,

celebrated lm director/producer and much sought after inspirational speaker.

Dr. Seaward is the CEO of Inspiration Unlimited, which began as a consulting company in the eld of health promotion and

wellness, and provides the most current information on the aspects of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness

for both personal and professional training and development. He is the author of numerous stress management books,

including Stressed is Desserts Spelled Backwards.

For more information about Dr. Seaward, visit:http://www.brianlukeseaward.net/index.html

PH: 402-827-3590 | FX: 402-827-3594 | welcoa.org Learn more about WELCOAs ree resources:

http://www.welcoa.org/freeresources/

aboutDavid Hunnicutt phd

Dr. David Hunnicutt is the President

o the Wellness Council o America. As

a leader in the feld o health promotion, his vision has led

to the creation o numerous publications designed to link

health promotion objectives to business outcomes.

about Madeline Jahn

Madeline Jahn is the Communications

Associate or the Wellness Council o

America. Her role is to coordinate the development o new

publications and pool existing resources or WELCOA mem-

bers, serving the mission o health promotion throughmarketing and planning support. She earned her Bachelor o

Arts rom Creighton University, and is currently pursuing a

Masters Degree in Organizational Leadership rom the Col-

lege o Saint Mary. For questions about this publication, or

to obtain permission or reprinting, please contact Maddy at

[email protected].

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T H E L O W S T R E S S D I E T
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Thousands of companies

are raving about theirWELCOA Membership

More than four thousand

organizations across the U.S.

and Canada are members of

WELCOA. With the most com-

prehensive benefits of any

organization, WELCOA mem-

bership will save you time and

money in your quest to builda results-oriented workplace

wellness program.

To become a WELCOA member

simply visit:

http://www.welcoa.org/store/

tress and stress management should undoubtedly be a

top priority or your health promotion programs. Ater all,

excessive stress can increase the risk o high blood pressure,

heart disease and obesity over time. But stress-related diseases

also afect the gastrointestinal (GI) tractmore so than any other

physiological system in the bodyand can bring about illnesses

and conditions such as ulcers, acid reex, colitis, irritable bowel

syndrome and Chrons disease.

In your eforts to help employees address and cope with stress,

it is imperative not to overlook the important link between stress

and nutrition. Stress afects all aspects o human nutrition. I your

employees are stressed, their bodies are not going to digestood or absorb nutrients properly, and their metabolisms will

sufer. Additionally, certain oods and eating habits can actually

trigger the bodys stress response, resulting in serious health

consequences.

The good news is that the reverse holds trueby choosing

certain oods, changing their eating habits and making more

conscientious nutritional decisionsyour employees can

reduce their stress and even reverse the harmul efects it has

on the body.

S

There is no other organization ully dedicated to

worksite wellness. WELCOA is a leader in providing

valuable, trustworthy resources. This niche is

WELCOAs alone.

2 0 1 1 W e l l n e s s C o u n c i l o f A m e r i c a w w w . w e l c o a . o r g

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Te remainder o this article will ofer more detail on just how stress afects human

nutrition, and vice versa, and look at the harmul efects o stress on the immune

system. We will also provide you ways to help employees prevent and overcome the

negative efects o stress with some easy-to-implement strategies or your workplace.

Stress, Diet & the Immune System: The Domino Eect

When your employees are stressed, their immune systems sufer. And once a single

aspect o the immune system is afected, its not long beore a whole chain reaction

o negative responses can occur. In other words, its a domino efect. Te next

section takes a look at how and why these dominoes all, and ofers tips you can

use to teach your employees about managing their stress triggers.

The bodys nutrients are depleted. When your employees are stressed, theyshould know that important nutrients will be used up much aster as the body kicks

into its ght or ight response. In the stress-response process, the body utilizes

more nutrients than it might normally use during a resting state, including vital

minerals like magnesium, calcium, potassium, zinc and copper. Tese minerals

are utilized by the body in about 15 diferent metabolic processes. I these critical

nutrients are depleted, employees metabolisms sufer because they do not have the

uel they need to unction properly.

You can access hundreds

of workplace wellnessresources on Absolute

Advantage

WELCOA is your number one

resource for workplace wellness

information. Archived articles

and webinars help practitioners

take their wellness programs to

the next level.

Read All About It At:

www.absoluteadvantage.org

Become A Member!

Gain access to hundreds o exclusive

articles, and stay abreast o the latest

developments in workplace wellness.

Find out all the benefts o membership

today! Visit: http://www.welcoa.org/

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Unhealthy quick xes.When people are stressed, good eating habits tend to

go out the window. Stressed individuals will gravitate toward comort oods, junk

oods and highly processed oods. Moreover, when people are stressed, its hard to

nd time to prepare oods or cook, so its easy to turn to rozen dinners, ast ood or

take out. Your employees ultimately need to know that most prepackaged and ast

oods are prepared at the lowest cost possible, and with little to no regard or health

and nutrition quality. Tese oods are usually stacked with processed sugar, salt, ats

and various other substances that tend to please your taste buds, but wreak havoc on

the rest o your body.

Poor food choices trigger the stress response. Much like putting gasoline on

a re when youre trying to put the re out, many oods that employees will turn towhen stressed tend to promote the stress response even urther. Foods that induce

the bodys stress response include anything with rened sugar, processed our or

white our, salt and cafeine. Foods containing these substances trigger the release

o epinephrine and norepinephrine into the bloodstream, which increase heart rate,

blood pressure and metabolic activity. When individuals are already stressed, this

ood-induced trigger only adds to the problem.

oods that employees will

turn to when stressed tend topromote the stress response

even urther.


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The immune system becomes

compromised. Specic oods can also

compromise your employees immune

systems. For example, certain types o at,

such as saturated at, cannot be taken in

through the bloodstream easily. As a result,

people who eat diets heavy in saturated ats

put undue stress on their bodies because their

digestive systems have to work harder to break

down these oods and then get them transported

throughout the rest o the body. In addition, oods

with rened sugar can compromise the immune

system, because they decrease the number o whiteblood cells, thus afecting the unctionality o the immune

system. So in essence, the more sugar your employees

consume, the more they suppress their immune systems. Its as

simple as that.

Nutrition Tips That Promote A Healthy Immune System

Although we certainly cant eliminate stress rom employees lives, we can ofer

them inormation, tips and strategies to efectively cope with it and keep their

health intact. Te ollowing nutrition guidelines are intended to help your

employees adopt practical eating behaviors that will enhance their immune systems

when the body is under stress.




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When implementing these guidelines, keep in mind that there is not a one-size-

ts-all diet, simply because everyones physiology is diferent. Te low stress diet

detailed below does not ocus on losing weightalthough that may certainly

happen. Tese strategies are designed to help employees keep their immune systems

unctioning when theyre dealing with stress at optimum levels.

The Low-Stress Diet:

Eat a variety o ood colors. Within the past 10 years, researchers

discovered compounds called bioavonoids, which are plant substances

that give ruits and vegetables their color and contain antioxidant properties. More

recently, researchers discovered that bioavonoids can help ght cancer or the

growth o cancer cells.

Its important to note to your employees that they can only benet rom these proper-

ties when they eat resh ruits and vegetables with naturally occurring bioavonoids.

Processed potato chips or diet sodas, while they do have color, do not contain the same,

nutritionally benecial compounds. Encourage your employees to maximize the bio-

avonoids they are taking in by eating a variety o vibrant colors. Red peppers, green

apples, blueberries and green, leay vegetables are some examples or a healthy range.

Choose oods that are high in antioxidants. Help your employees getamiliar with the concept o ree radicals. Free radicals are oxygen mol-

ecules, and when they enter the body, they work hard to destroy healthy cells, cell

membranes, mitochondria, and RNA and DNA. Tis is clearly a bad thing, but the

good news is that the dangerous efects o ree radicals can be counteracted by con-

suming oods rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants can essentially destroy ree radicals,

and can be ound in a variety o ruits and vegetables.

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2

This article is based

on the work of NationalStress Expert, Brian Luke

Seaward, PhD.

Dr. Seaward is among the most

notable experts on stress man-

agement and sleep disorders in

the United States. His insights

in the eld of health promotion

have contributed to numerous

WELCOA publications and pre-sentations on such topics. Dr.

Seaward is an award-winning

author, photographer, teacher,

celebrated film director/pro-

ducer and much sought after

inspirational speaker.

For more information about

Dr. Seaward:

http://www.brianlukeseaward.net/index.html

!While youre there, dont orget to pickup your copies o his best-selling books!


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Choose organic oods whenever possible. You may see your employees

roll their eyes and hear complaints that organic oods are expensive.

And there is certainly truth to thatorganic oods are more expensive than

conventionally grown oods, because they have been grown or raised on soil that has

been clean o residue rom herbicides, ungicides, pesticides and ertilizers or at least

three years. Organic oods dont have those potentially harmul substancesthats

what the certied organic label means.

Employees should be encouraged to choose organic oods whenever possible. O

course, they may ask, Cant we just wash our ruits and vegetables? Wont that get

rid o those substances? Although some chemicals can be removed by washing

ood, it is important to note that most harmul substances are actually in the soil

and get taken up through the root system, which means theyre not only on theoods; theyre in the oods as well.

I possible, try to ofer organic ruits and vegetables at company meetings, in the

caeteria and elsewhere throughout your organization. Make sure employees know

the oods are organic, and why you have gone the extra step to provide them with a

more pure, nutritious ood.

I possible, try to ofer organic ruits and

vegetables at company meetings, in the

caeteria and elsewhere throughout

your organization.

3

WELCOA Oers National

Workplace WellnessCertications

As part of our mission, WELCOA

is dedicated to providing a

variety of training opportuni-

ties each year. Drawing from

the latest science as well as best

practices in the eld, WELCOA

oers dynamic and nationally

recognized seminars, webinarsand certication opportunities

that engage workplace well-

ness practitioners, business

leaders and health profession-

als all across the country.

To Check Out This Years

Schedule, Visit:

http://www.welcoa.org/consulttrain/

about.php


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Drink fltered water. Water is the ideal drink o choice at the worksite,

but bottled water isnt always best. Teres no regulation o bottled water,

and a lot o it, these days, is just tap water. Furthermore, research shows that

across the country, our water systems retain much o the runof rom herbicides,

ungicides, pesticides and ertilizers, and although there are ltration systems

throughout our countrys water treatment plants, it appears that theyre not

doing the job properly. races o everything rom steroids to birth control pills to

antibiotics are showing up in drinking water. So, i you can install a water ltration

system at your workplace and encourage your employees to do the same in their

homes, you can help ensure the water theyre drinking is healthy and pure.

Reduce caeine consumption. Cafeine tends to trigger the stress

response. I employees are stressed, excessive cafeine consumptioncan only make this worse. While you dont have to suggest that your employees

completely avoid cafeine, you should try to make them aware o how much they

consume. For some people, drinking 14 to 15 cups o cofee a day is just the norm,

but they need to realize the harmul efects that that amount could have when stress

compounds on top o it. Also, remind your employees that cafeine is not just in

cofee, but its also ound in sodas and chocolate.

While you dont have to suggest that

your employees completely avoid

cafeine, you should try to make them

aware o how much they consume.

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5




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Avoid or minimize genetically modifed oods. When a gene rom a

ounder sh is spliced into a tomato so that the tomato can withstand

rost, you now have a genetically modied organism (GMO). Genetically modied

oods contain a variety o compounds and chemicals that arent naturally in their

DNA. Employees should know that corn, soy and tomatoes are the most heavily

genetically modied oods.

Were beginning to see airly signicant problems associated with genetically

modied oods and the chemicals used to grow them. A large increase in ood

allergies has emerged as one o the biggest problems. Te increase in ood allergies

directly corresponds with the introduction o GMOs into our national ood chain.

Tere used to be only three signicant ood allergieseggs, milk and peanuts.

Now, however, many people have serious allergies to over 40 or 50 substances,

and this is thought to be the result o GMOs. Moreover, most ood allergies are

due to an overactive immune system. Te bottom line is to avoid these oods as

much as possible by eating organica label that protects your ood rom genetic

modications and harmul chemicals.

6

Employees should know that

corn, soy and tomatoes are themost heavily genetically

modied oods.

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Incorporate resh herbs and spices into meals. Fresh herbs and spices not

only make oods tastier, but they also have anti-microbial properties. An

anti-microbial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth o micro-organisms,

such as bacteria and ungi.

Another tip your employees should know: the reason a resh herb or a spice is

healthy is due to its essential oils. Yet, many people store their herbs and spices,

dried, on a rack right above the stove, which ultimately evaporates out all the

essential oils. So, the resher the herbs and spices your employees are eating,the better.

Consume ree range meats. Free range means that the animals are

not actory animals, and are ree o chemicals that are typically ound

in conventionally produced meats, including synthetic hormones, antibiotics,

pesticides, herbicides, ungicides and synthetic ertilizers. Tese potentially

dangerous compounds are created in the laboratory, but eventually get into the ood

chain when the animals ingest them, and then people ingest them through their

meat. Tis is a very problematic cycle. Te best thing your employees can do is to

make sure that the oods they eat are as clear o these substances as possiblewhich

is why eating ree range meats is best.

Consume an adequate amount o fber. Te key word here is adequate.

Te World Health Organization recommends that individuals consume

between 30 to 40 grams o ber per day. However, the typical American tends to

eat less than eight grams o ber a day. Why is ber so important? In very blunt

terms, ber acts like a broom that cleans out the GI tract. So, i your employees arenot taking in ber, theyre not sweeping out that GI tract. Tis is problematic,

especially since colon cancer is on the rise. Research suggests that this is

largely due to inadequate amounts o ber in the diet.

Employees need to know that the best sources o ber include

ruits and vegetables, and that little to no ber is available

through a diet high in processed and prepackaged oods.

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WELCOA Presentations

Are Perfect For EmployeeWellness Seminars!

Now Available At No Charge...

The Low Stress Diet: Eating

For A Healthy Immune System

In a Stressful World

Because stress and nutrition

are very closely related, many

illnesses of the digestive

system are induced by stress.

This WELCOA presentation by

national expert, Dr. Brian Luke

Seaward has many practical

tips, conveyed in a beautifully

illustrated format that will

capture the attention of your

employees.

To access your copy simplyvisit this link:

http://www.welcoa.org/reeresources/

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Include omega-3 oils in a proper diet. Its very important that your

employees know the sources o omega-3 oils in the oods that they eat.

Certain eggs, sh and axseed are all great sources o omega-3s. Te human

body cannot naturally make omega-3 and omega-6 oilsthese substances are

only available rom external sourcesand the average American diet tends to be

extremely heavy in omega-6 oils, and lacking in omega-3 oils. Inammation is a

major symptom in people who dont get an adequate amount o omega-3s, and this

can have negative efects on the entire body.

Preparing ruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are a great source

o nutrition, but your employees should know how to prepare them, so

they can benet rom all o the vital nutrients. Tis especially applies when cooking

vegetables in water. When vegetables are dropped into hot or boiling water, the

water leaches out most water-soluble vitamins and minerals, meaning most o the

good nutrients go down the sink, instead o on the plate. Your employees should

steam their vegetables to avoid this problem, and maximize the nutrition benets

rom their ood.

Additionally, cooking with eon-coated cookware is problematic because research

is showing that people who cook with eon consume some o the plastic and the

petro chemicals that rub of rom nonstick suraces. You can help your employees

be more conscious o how they prepare their oods, so they can gain the oods ull

benets and be sae rom harmul byproducts.

10

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Help your employees

cope with stress, with,In Tune, a new comprehen-

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This 6-week stress-manage-

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Choose supplements wisely. In most cases, the best source o vitamins

comes rom their natural source, which mainly includes ruits and vegetables

and other natural, whole oods. Supplements shouldnt be completely ruled out, but

employees do need to be aware o the nutrients their body really needs, and the best

ways in which they can attain those nutrients.

When it comes to vitamins and supplements, the real question is: what are you

eating? What are you lacking? Its important to teach your employees about the

bodys natural shedding processthat i you cant use, or already have enough o a

certain vitamin or mineralit will just be eliminated through the digestive process.

Encourage careul selection o supplements and make sure your employees know to

buy only the vitamins they actually need, instead o throwing money down

the toilet.

Coping with Stress One Bite at a Time

Weve given you 12 practical eating and nutrition tips that can help your employees

combat the harmul efects o stress. While not impossible, it may be somewhat

unreasonable to assume that employees will immediately adopt all 12, so, well leave

you with one last piece o advice:

Simply encourage your employees to eat at least one meal a day that is nutritionally

designed or their immune system. Just one meal! I they can incorporate any o

the tips above into that one meal, they will be doing pretty well, because by and

large, most people today are not eatinganymeals or their immune system. Get

them started with one, and soon, hopeully they will gravitate

towards much healthier eating-habits and liestyle changes, and

maybe take your advice to heart or all o their meals.

12

Simply encourage your employees to

eat at least one meal a day that

is nutritionally designed or their

immune system.




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