A Wholistic Approach to Stress

Have you ever heard of wholistic stress? Wholistic stress is all you do, all your mental, physical and emotional habits, that either enhances or negates your health and moves you closer or further away from optimal health.

Something that enhances your life, on all levels is to take holistic approach to managing your stress including mind, body and spirit. When you take a holistic approach, you are better able to function with day-to-day demands.

Real or Imagined?

Think about those things that cause you stress. The kind of stress that causes problems such as anxiety, insomnia, over eating, over spending and lashing out at your loved ones.
Stress can be real and tangible or imagined. Imagined stress causes worry. Your body reacts to worry in the same way it does to actual stressful situations.

Tangible stress could be a meeting that you are going to be late to due to a traffic jam, a college exam, finances, or a challenge with your teenager.

Eustress

There is good stress and bad stress. Good stress, called eustress, is caused by things like buying a new house, getting married, and going to a party. Amazingly, you process good stress in the same way as the bad stress.
The body doesn’t know the difference between the two. You do, and herein lies your ability to address your stress.

Environmental Conditions

Conditions in our environment can be stressful on the body, too, such as the changing of the season. Heat and cold can create stress, whether you’re indoors or out.

Your body has different requirements for food in the hot summertime than it does in the cold of winter. Your body probably needs light, cooling foods in the summer, like fruits, vegetables, and raw foods, and requires less food than at other times of the year.

If you live where the winters are cold, your body needs complex or concentrated foods that create heat in the winter, like meats, grains, and beans. You might need to eat more food in the winter than in the summer.

Your body’s nutritional requirements change with any number of different kinds of stresses in your life. Studies have shown that diet helps or hinders your stress load depending on the type of nutrition you take in. Food that has been healthy for you in the past can become unhealthy for you, and vice versa. This can be due to changes in your body from reactions to stress, health conditions, aging, and a list of other factors that can be summed up in one word: anything.
And your life is constantly changing. It’s different than it was five years ago, and probably five months ago or even five days ago.

What may have caused stress in the past, may not do so today. And, conversely, what didn’t cause stress in the past, may do so now.

Wholistic Stressors

Stress affects your entire energetic being. Knowing this allows you to do something about it. Food is one of the best ways to bring your energy back into balance. Bringing your energy back into balance can require a particular food. The only way to determine what your body needs to enjoy balance is to ask it. The best way to ask is by using the Food Codes method.

In my book, The Food Codes, I take you step-by-step on how to tap into what your body requires given the specific situation you are in. As previously mentioned, what might be good at one point, may not be good for you under different circumstances.

Learn what your body requires, and you will be well on your way to minimizing the results of stress. Minimize the results of stress and you are sure to live a happier, more balanced and joyful life. After all, isn’t that what we strive for?