Nutritional Approach to Stress Management

Discussion 2: Nutritional Approach to Stress Management

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.
– Hippocrates

From the time you were old enough to use a fork, did your parents recite the nutritional purposes of various foods as you pushed them around on your plate? These dinnertime lessons were to show that food was not just for curing hunger pains. Carrots made your eyes sharper and spinach made your muscles stronger. Eat an apple every day and you could avoid a trip to the doctor. Yet, somehow as you aged, meals might have become more about what tasted good and less about what was good for you. However, food and the nutrients it can provide have more to do with fueling your body and its many systems and less to do with the preference of your taste buds. With the prevalence of pills and other medical interventions, it is easy to forget that mother nature offers a host of preventative medicines in the form of various natural foods and herbs. Consider how the management of stress can benefit from nature’s medicine.

For this Discussion, review this week’s Learning Resources including Appendices 12–15 of the 2010 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Also review the ”Nutrition, Stress, and Your Cells” handout and the “Stress and Its Impact on Nutrient Processing and Absorption” handout. Then, research nutritional approaches to stress management and select two that might be effective. Finally, consider any contraindications or cautions that might result in applying the approaches you selected.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 a brief description of two nutritional approaches you selected for stress management. Then explain why these approaches might be effective. Finally, explain any contraindications or cautions to using these two approaches and explain why. Be specific.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

Readings

  • Article: Ferguson, J. K., Willemsen, E. W., & Castañeto, M. V. (2010). Centering prayer as a healing response to everyday stress: A psychological and spiritual process. Pastoral Psychology, 59(3), 305–329.
    Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete database.
  • Article: Kelley, D. (2009). The effects of exercise and diet on stress. Nutritional Perspectives: Journal of the Council on Nutrition, 32(1), 37–39.
    Retrieved from the Walden Library using the CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.
  • Article: Mora-Ripoll, R. (2011). Potential health benefits of simulated laughter: A narrative review of the literature and recommendations for future research. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 19, 170–177.
    Retrieved from the Walden Library using the ScienceDirect Health Sciences Subject Collection.
  • Article: Romeo, J., Wärnberg, J., Gómez-Martínez, S., Díaz, L. E., & Marcos, A. (2008). Neuroimmunomodulation by nutrition in stress situations. Neuroimmunomodulation, 15(3), 165–169.
    Retrieved from the Walden Library using the MEDLINE with Full Text database.
  • Article: Seifried, H. E. (2006). Oxidative stress and antioxidants: A link to disease and prevention? The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, 18(3), 168–171.
    Retrieved from the Walden Library using the ScienceDirect Health Sciences Subject Collection.