Avoid stress fat! Eat the right 5 nutrients to relieve your mood and prevent weight gain

Whenever you feel stressed, you can’t resist your appetite and want to eat and drink a lot? Be careful, eating the wrong foods will not only fail to relieve stress, but will also make you fatter! What should we do if we want to get rid of stress fat? Nutritionists say that in addition to relieving stress through leisure activities such as exercise and listening to music, moderate intake of the five nutrients that help secrete the "happy hormone" serotonin is the key to conditioning!

Do stress hormones cause obesity? The key is to activate the human body's protection mechanism

Nutritionist Liang Jiawei said that if you want to understand why stress can easily lead to obesity, you should first talk about the mysteries of biological physiological structure! When an organism faces stress (natural enemies, disasters), the body activates the sympathetic nerves, causing the adrenal medullary system to produce an acute stress response, stimulating the secretion of adrenaline and norepinephrine, thereby increasing the metabolic rate, allowing the body to regulate blood sugar and blood pressure, helping to improve concentration, and quickly release energy in order to combat stress. Therefore, short-term, acute stress can indeed cause weight loss. However, if stress is long-term and chronic, in order to prevent the body from losing weight continuously, the human body will have a self-protection feedback mechanism. Not only will you not lose weight, you are more likely to gain weight due to stress!

The feedback mechanism is mainly through the secretion of neuropeptide Y (NPY) by peripheral nerves. Once NPY binds to receptors in the body, it will lead to increased appetite and increased fat accumulation rate. In addition, long-term stress stimulation will increase leptin resistance (the mechanism of action of leptin is to reduce the effect of NPY in the hypothalamus), causing an abnormal increase in NPY, which in turn leads to "stress obesity"!

Nutritionist teaches you how to get rid of stress weight! Aerobic exercise + aromatic herbal tea is good for stress relief

Therefore, if you want to get rid of annoying stress fat, the most important key is to relax at the right time! Nutritionist Liang Jiawei pointed out that it is not easy for modern people to completely get rid of stress and relax. However, it is still recommended to find time each week to engage in aerobic exercises such as brisk walking, swimming, jogging, aerobic dancing, etc.; this is beneficial to promote the brain to release neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, help increase positive energy and happiness, and reduce stress.

In addition to exercise, listening to relaxing music, reading, watching movies, massage, traveling, chatting with friends, etc. are also good choices for relieving stress! Nutritionist Liang Jiawei said that he likes to plant aromatic plants on the balcony, such as mint leaves, basil, lavender, etc. to help relax. Not only does watching the mint grow vigorously give people a sense of accomplishment and stress relief, boiling the mint and adding a little honey to make a cup of soothing honey mint tea is also one of my favorite stress-relieving tricks.

Can eating delicious food relieve stress? Take 5 nutrients correctly without gaining weight

As for the way office workers like to relieve stress by eating delicious food, is it feasible? Nutritionist Liang Jiawei emphasized that in fact, as long as you remember the principle of eating at regular times and in regular amounts, eat more whole foods, and avoid overeating, so that your body maintains normal blood sugar stability, you will naturally be able to enjoy delicious food without gaining weight! In particular, it is crucial to moderately consume nutrients that help secrete the "happy hormone" serotonin, as well as the following five nutrients that relieve emotional stress:

Nutrient 1／Tryptophan:

In addition to the influence of the external environment, the lack of sufficient serotonin in the body is also an important factor in causing the human body to experience emotions such as irritability, anxiety, fatigue, and restlessness. Serotonin is converted from tryptophan in the diet. The human body cannot synthesize it on its own and must be obtained through dietary intake. For example, common foods such as bananas, milk, nuts, etc. are good sources.

Nutrient 2/Vitamin B group:

If you want to promote the production of serotonin, it is not enough to supplement tryptophan alone. You must also combine it with other nutrients "catalysts", such as vitamin B6, folic acid, vitamin B12 and other nutrients, to successfully synthesize the "happy hormone" - serotonin! Therefore, it is very important to moderately supplement your diet with foods rich in B vitamins such as brown rice, pork, pork liver, egg yolks, beans, cereals, yeast, etc.!

Nutrient 3/Vitamin C:

In addition to the two nutrients mentioned above, moderate intake of vitamin C is also essential to help the body produce adrenocortical hormone to fight stress! Guava and kiwi, which are common in our daily diet, are fruits rich in vitamin C.

Nutrient 4: Magnesium and Calcium:

Moderate intake of calcium and the mineral magnesium not only helps relax muscles and nerves, but also helps maintain a regular heartbeat and relieves anxiety. A good way to supplement calcium is to consume moderate amounts of foods high in magnesium, such as soybeans, black beans, and spinach, as well as foods rich in calcium, such as milk, tofu, dried fish, and sesame seeds, during the three meals.

Nutrient 5/High dietary fiber:

Nutritionist Liang Jiawei mentioned that office workers who are under long-term stress often suffer from constipation. Therefore, in addition to the above nutrients, it is recommended that office workers also eat more foods rich in dietary fiber. For example, replacing staple foods with wheat germ, whole wheat toast, brown rice, and oatmeal, and consuming enough fruits and vegetables (burdock, bean sprouts, spinach, enoki mushrooms, persimmons, pears and other high-fiber ingredients) to help absorb the dietary fiber required for a day (the recommended daily amount for adults is 25 to 35 grams) is a good conditioning choice.

Get rid of stress and gain weight! DIY 2 stress-relieving dishes, eat nutritious, delicious and healthy

Although moderate consumption of the above five nutrients is beneficial for relaxing tense emotions and improving constipation problems, how should we start if we want to combine the above nutrients to prepare daily diet dishes? In response to this, nutritionist Liang Jiawei designed two stress-relieving dishes that are both nutritious, delicious, and colorful, and provided detailed cooking methods and steps for the public to use as a reference when cooking:

★Mediterranean style pan-fried salmon (served with brown rice)

Ingredients (1 serving):

Appropriate amount of olive oil, 1 piece of salmon weighing about 100 grams, about 30 grams of yellow zucchini, a few basil leaves, a few thyme leaves, 1 small piece of lemon, a little salt and black pepper, and 1 bowl of brown rice.

practice:

1. Marinate the salmon with olive oil, spice leaves and seasonings (salt, pepper).

2. After about 5 minutes, fry the salmon in a frying pan over low heat until the surface turns golden brown. Remove from the pan and place on a plate.

3. Slice the yellow zucchini and stir-fry until soft in the same pan. Then add the salmon to the pan and stir-fry it slightly. After serving, squeeze lemon juice on it and sprinkle with chopped herbs. It is a light meal rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.

benefit:

In addition to containing unsaturated fatty acid omega-3 oil, salmon is also rich in vitamin B6, which can help the production of melatonin. Melatonin is an important hormone in regulating sleep, which allows the body to sleep comfortably and deeply. With complete rest, stress can naturally be reduced a lot. The combination of brown rice can provide rich B vitamins to assist in the normal release of energy; and the dietary fiber in yellow zucchini and basil leaves can help people who suffer from constipation due to stress, stimulate intestinal peristalsis and achieve the effect of helping defecation!

★Stress-relieving fruit yogurt

Ingredients (1 serving):

240 ml of original unsweetened yogurt, half a banana, 7 to 8 blueberries, about 10 grams of oatmeal flakes, 1 teaspoon of honey.

practice:

1. If you don’t have time to make your own yogurt, you can choose commercially available low-sugar or sugar-free yogurt.

2. Slice the bananas, wash and drain the blueberries, then mix them with honey into the yogurt.

3. Finally, sprinkle with oatmeal flakes to create a stress-relieving snack.

benefit:

The base is made of calcium-rich yogurt and paired with bananas rich in potassium and vitamin B6 to help stabilize and relieve emotions. Blueberries, which are rich in a variety of antioxidant vitamins, can fight against the production of free radicals in the body. As for oatmeal cereal, it is a good source of B vitamins.

【Tips】：

If the weather is very hot, you can try adding a little ice cubes to the above recipe and blend it in a blender to make a fruit yogurt smoothie, which is also a great refreshing snack to cool off and relieve stress!