Top 10 Foods for Stress Relief

We all have different stress triggers in life, whether it’s relationships, work, or self esteem problems. If you can’t seem to ever relax, your diet might be part of the reason why. When our brain is overwhelmed, it’s tempting to head to high-calorie, processed foods, which provide a fast boost before turning into a miserable crash. When you’re stressed, treat your body like a temple and your mental health will reap the benefits. Here are our favorite foods to reduce your daily anxiety and increase your energy.

1. Olive Oil

Step away from the ranch dressing and drizzle two tablespoons of wholesome olive oil on your salad.

Daily olive oil consumption has been proven to boost serotonin. We suggest going for EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) which has little processing and contains tons of healthy phenols. Store your olive oil in a dark and cool place and make sure you always put the lid on so benefits don’t decrease.

2. Spinach

Many make a face when it comes to spinach, but we’re not talking about the wilted and limp variety .Add nuts, goat cheese, and fruit into a raw spinach salad for a refreshing treat. It’s high in folic acid, which leads our body to produce serotonin and dopamine. These neurotransmitters will encourage relaxation vs hyped up adrenaline and increased cortisol. By far the tastiest way to get your folic acid.

3. Black Tea

If you need an invigorating, caffeinated beverage to get you through the morning, we suggest switching to black tea. Coffee leaves you with anxious jitters all day, but black tea actually lowers cortisol ad stress hormones faster than herbal tea drinkers! Tea contains all sorts of goodies like polyphenols, flavonoids, and catechins. Those are all fancy ways of saying that black tea will make your neurotransmitters happy.

4. Red peppers

Always our favorite sliced up and dipped in hummus, red peppers are chock full of Vitamin C, which has the ability to ward off those nasty free radicals and stress hormones. If you eat them raw (like our suggested hummus idea) the antioxidants will have way more staying power. However, if you prefer them in a stir-fry, you can also get your daily dose of Vitamin C that way.