Tag: mental health

Today, I have something a little bit different for you: 7 natural ways to reduce your stress using foods and herbs, based on scientific studies. Stress is a major reason for overeating and weight gain, and causes all sorts of bad health effects, both physical and mental. So if you’re stressed, reducing it could help you reach your health & appearance goals!

In the video, I go over the remedies and what types of stressors and stress symptoms they help with, how to use them, and briefly cover studies supporting them. In the post below, I list specific supplements/foods, dosages, how long they should take to work, and link the studies.

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Unfortunately, many supplements don’t actually contain what they say they do. So I researched independent lab tests for supplements to make sure they contain the proper dose of the active ingredient, are free of toxins, and have the most bang for your buck!

For the food and teas, I’ve researched the best ones and linked my favorites. I also include my recommended dose for everything if applicable, based on the linked studies and others. And, I found a few combo products (linked at the bottom) that contain multiple remedies in one!

All of these remedies are supported by placebo-controlled studies in humans. (All studies linked below are in humans, and all but one are placebo-controlled). Studies done in rodents also support these remedies.

1) Lemon balm:

• Available as tea
• Available as a supplement (or smaller dose)
• Take 1 capsule right before a stressful event to help

Studies: 1 | 2

2) Tea

• Black tea
• In the study they drank 4 cups a day for 6 weeks, but I imagine less would help too

• Green tea & matcha
• Anywhere from 1-5 cups a day is helpful–the more the better (unless the added caffeine causes you stress)

• Available as a supplement: L theanine (or a smaller dose)
• Taking as little as 40mg is helpful, but you start to get extra benefits around 200mg (larger dose link). Take one to two 200mg capsules a day, will likely start working within a week.

Studies: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

3) Dark chocolate

A lot of chocolate is high in heavy metals (particularly cadmium), so I researched brands that have the most flavonols and the least heavy metals!

• Chocolate bars (anything by this brand is good!)
• Cacao nibs (I LOVE these in smoothie bowls, as a healthy chocolate chip replacement, etc.)
• Cacao powder
• Can be taken right before a stressful event to help (studies found good effects with 280 cals/50g of a dark chocolate bar, but you would likely need less when using cacao powder or nibs since they contain more flavanols)

Studies: 1 | 2

4) Ashwagandha

• Available as a supplement
• Recommend taking 1 of these capsules per day (do NOT recommend taking higher doses), can expect to see good effects in at most 4 weeks (they will almost certainly start sooner though!)

Studies: 1 | 2

5) Rhodiola Rosea

• Available as a supplement
• Recommend taking 1-2 capsules a day, can expect to see benefits in 2 weeks or less

Studies: 1 | 2 | 3

6) Holy Basi (Tulsi)

• Available as tea
• Available as a supplement
• Recommend taking 1 capsule per day, can expect to see benefits by 6 weeks or less

Studies: 1 | 2 | 3

7) Probiotics

• This probiotic contains 5+ strains mentioned as helpful
• Take 1 per day, expect to see benefits in 8 weeks or less
• Can take non-dairy kefir or yogurt as well

Studies: 1 | 2 | 3

 

Combo products:

• Supplement that contains ashwagandha & L-theanine
• Supplement that contains lemon balm, ashwagandha, rhodiola rosea, and L-theanine (also contains other herbs though)

 

 

Happy de-stressing,