5 ways a little bit of nutrition and wellbeing helps a lot

by Joanne Hart. www.healthandhart.com Registered Nutritional Therapist, Integrative Sports Nutritionist, Yoga Teacher, Coach & NLP Practitioner.

BSc (Hons), BEng (Hons), BWY (Dip), (Mac), CISN.

Little by Little, a Little Becomes a Lot: Stress Awareness Month April 2024

5 Ways a little bit of nutrition and wellbeing helps a lot

This month is Stress Awareness Month and the Stress Management Society quote that ‘79% of adults experience stress at least once a month, with 74% feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope at some point in the past year’.   

I certainly experience overwhelm at times. Along with my own experience of getting professional help including counselling and nutrition during some very stressful times, and with my nutrition and yoga training and experience I know that I have a brimming toolbox to use and share!

Many of my clients have benefited from my insights and here I share a few ideas to help you build your resilience. Of course the best approach is something tailored to you and we can do that through one of my programmes, details of how to contact me are at the bottom of this article.

Get it all written down When your mind is spinning with things to do you can feel short on time and not want to plan. But 10 minutes actually writing it down and identifying what to do in this moment can help you get focused on where to start or what to leave out. Try it.

Ignore the rules about fasting or even those about only eating 3 meals a day

We’re surrounded by people telling us to fast, that we should follow this diet or that diet. They know nothing about you though.   Trying to fast when you are stressed, in my opinion is just not a good idea.  

Instead have three balanced meals and a couple of healthy snacks if there is a 4 hour or more gap between meals.  When life is full on you need more energy to manufacture the stress hormones. 

Don’t rely on carbohydrates though 

When I was studying for my degree I remember hearing that stressed people tend to overeat or undereat.  If you’re one of the overeaters and focus on the quick carbohydrates like pasta, toast and cereal to give you a fix then you’re setting yourself up for more stress as your blood sugar levels dip after eating them.

The solution? Eat less of the pasta or the toast or the cereal, but also add tuna, peanut butter, eggs and yoghurt (in any combination you like!). All of those are protein sources, they slow down the release of energy, potentially leading to less stress on the body.

Commit to 20 minutes of time to yourself each day

Take yourself for a 20 min walk at lunch, or sit in your car and read a book or listen to your favourite music 20 minutes before work starts. Go to bed 20 minutes earlier or have a bath or do some gentle stretches.

These are all going to send relaxation messages to your body and help to combat the stress.

Some of my clients now have playlists they put on before and after work to 'change the state' and shake off the day or get started.

Don’t do it all alone

Get some help. If you accept that you need to ask for help and input on a project at work because you’re not skilled at everything (no one is!) then why not transfer that same belief over to your health. Maybe you can think of yourself as a project that just needs some expert input from elsewhere.

You’re still the project manager and can decide what you implement and when!

Testimonials: 1-1 Client

This is from one of my clients, we've been working together for over a year now.

'Before I was working with Joanne I was suffering from low energy levels, my anxiety was up and down, I was comfort eating to cope with stress, I made poor diet choices, seriously overweight, poor sleep and I was miserable.

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I've learnt about how food, sleep and exercise can improve my mood and aid controlling my anxiety. Losing weight and developing muscle strength takes time, discipline and patience but can also be fun and not so intimidating.

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Working with Joanne is great as she breaks the most complex things into bite size chunks and makes everything clear and achievable which is why I have seen huge improvements in my energy, mood, sleep (I now sleep over 7 h compared to 5h before we started) and improvements in my body composition' Greg.

Testimonial: Employee Wellbeing - Stress Workshop

Multiple sessions including workshops on stress and heart health and 1-1 consultations with staff 

'We selected Joanne from “Health and Hart” to engage with colleagues at our busy financial service centre, following an observed increase in stress levels. After an initial consultation meeting, Joanne delivered a tailored, interactive talk. The subject was the link between food, mood and resilience.   Joanne is clearly passionate about her subject, highly knowledgeable and adept at engaging people. We observed real enthusiasm during the sessions. We have also noticed a more lasting impression afterwards, our colleagues continue to debate/compete between each other when it comes to eating smarter. Working with Health and Hart has benefited us greatly, seeing an improved atmosphere, and a measurable reduction in reported instances of high stress. Overall, we felt the exercise was so beneficial and well engaged that we facilitated a subsequent day for Joanne to return and provide individual consultations'.

Tanya Chalkley, Area HSES Manager - UK&I (Southern) at Lloyd's Register

Next steps:  If you'd like to explore how a wellness programme could help you, or talk through some options for your business then I'd love to hear from you. You can message me through LinkedIn or book a call via my calendar:    Select a Date & Time - Calendly

NOTE: This is generic advice and doesn't replace medical advice, check with your GP if you have medications or a health condition. If you do have medications or health conditions you can still work with me, please ask (excludes cancer and eating disorders).