A new age term of nutritional stress is uncomplimentary stress created by the food from its unhealthy properties. Uncomplimentary stress can be environmental like air pollution, psychological such as when we worrying about future events that are uncontrollable, or nutritional like eating processed, nutrient deficient meals.
What happens when are we nutritionally stressed? Stressed people do not burn body fat as efficiently compared to those who are not stressed. The body perceives not eating enough nutrient-rich foods as stressful. Try eating a burger or Chinese food with a fried egg roll at lunch vs. green salad with nuts and fruit. What happens? Are you hungry an hour or two later?
When you eat nutrient-rich food, the body doesn’t have to work so hard to break down the food (digestion uses a lot of energy). Additionally, the body is fed the nutrients it needs and the brain turns off the hunger signal. This overall concept is net-energy surplus meaning more usable energy that can be directed to improving the immune system and restoring cell damage (another form of stress).
Why do people crave fat and sugar? Those numb the brain receptors that regulate emotional responses, and eating processed foods diminishes certain unwanted feelings. Carbohydrates especially release serotonin, which has a powerful effect on your mood. Serotonin is abundant and free flowing when stress is low, and as stress levels increase the production of serotonin decreases. Your craving for starchy and fatty foods is the brain’s attempt to “feel good.”
You wouldn’t put the wrong fuel in a high-end sports car, so why are we doing that to our bodies everyday?
Source: Thrive, Brendan Brazier, 2017
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