You may notice that you reach for the potato chips when a television program becomes particularly frightening. Or you grab the crackers at work when you learn that you’ll have to handle a new project. You may also nibble on candy bars when you’re having difficulty controlling your children. These eating patterns are all a reaction to stress.

Stress plays an important part in our daily diet. In fact, a great deal of overeating has been attributed to stress. However, it is also true that your diet can have an impact on stress. There are certain foods that tend to worsen our stress levels. A number of these foods fall into the category of stimulants.

Of course, the best-known stimulant is caffeine. You’ll find it not only in coffee, but in soft drinks, tea and chocolate. Your heart beat races, as does your mind, when you are served a significant amount of caffeine. Caffeine consumption may even be connected to high blood pressure. However, you might not want to cut out caffeine entirely all at once. A gradual reduction will help lessen your withdrawal symptoms.
Read the rest of this entry

Eating raw foods is natural. Our bodies thrive on all that is fresh and vital. A raw food diet (or increasing the amount of raw food that you eat) is bound to bring a feeling of increased wellbeing.

Raw food diets are based on unprocessed and uncooked plant foods, preferably organic, such as a variety of fresh fruits and vegies, nuts, seeds, grains, dried fruit, fresh juices and purified water.
Read the rest of this entry