Hard Economic Times & Your Nutrition.

Xform1 · 02-05-2009, 08:04 AM

Last October I experienced these hard times first hand. I work as an IT Analyst managing several IT commodities, when my company went through a 7% work force reduction I was responsible for the immediate termination of active units belonging the employees. I watched nearly 1000 people loose their job over those three days, and now my company just announced another round of layoffs. The amount of stress we feel during these economic times can lead us to make bad decisions about things that are normally important to us. In this thread I'm going to focus on nutrition, and provide some tips on how we can stay on track. Some of this information I pulled from the web some of it is mine, I hope all of it can help you as we move through these hard times together.

If you reading this thread in the nutrition forum at Bodybuilding.com you obviously care about your nutrition, the way you look, the way you feel, and most important, your health. Good nutrition has become a part of our every day lives, a well-rounded diet, consisting of lean protein, complex carbohydrates from whole grains, and the right kinds of fats, is a great way to stay healthy and prevent disease. Many people have a naturally healthy mindset about food, I believe this is a direct reflection of your eating habits as a child & young adult. I personally was brought up on many fast absorbing carbs and fried foods, because they were inexpensive and my family didn?t have a lot of money. During stressful times it can be easy to jump track and go back to this horrible way of eating, but the questions is WHY? Stress tends to lead us into eating for pleasure, let?s face it, if you just lost your job a greasy cheeseburger has the tendency to send your brain into overdrive and bring that temporary sensation that everything is okay. Maybe that is because a greasy cheeseburger reminds us of a more pleasant time, or happy memory. This sort of behavior is okay in small doses, but when high stress situations pop up, sometimes things can quickly get out of control, and that?s when we loose sight of our goals and start eating for taste, texture & pleasure.

When we are stressed, it is often more difficult for our bodies to function at full capacity. We are more prone to things like infections, migraine headaches, and depression. Add poor nutrition to the mix, and what you have is a recipe for disaster. Food not only fuels our systems, it also affects brain function and serotonin levels, as well as more superficial things like the appearance of our hair and skin. If you?re not keeping a healthy balance of vitamins and nutrients, or if you?re loading up on things like sugar and starchy carbohydrates, you are more than canceling out any perceived psychological benefits you think you have gained from comfort eating. Not eating right can make it more difficult for you to regulate your moods, and when you are under a lot of stress it is of utmost importance to be as in control of your emotions as possible. Also, let?s not forget the more obvious issue: packing on pounds of excess fat is not healthy at the best of times, but when you?re stressed and feeling under pressure, it?s easy to get in the pattern of falsely associating unhealthy food with successful coping, thus causing physical problems as much as emotional ones. This is a habit which, if left unchecked, can make it very difficult to lose the fat later. And of course as you become aware of your rising body fat percentage, your self-confidence is likely to suffer, as well, only adding to your overall anxiety.

Tips for staying healthy without the high expense.

Foods:
Tuna & eggs - These are excellent sources of protein and good fats that are always inexpensive.
Chicken - Locally we have 3 supermarket and every week one is running a special on chicken breast, get them when they are on sale, I saved 50% last week, got a bag of five 8oz breast for $6.00.
Sweet potatoes, brown rice, and oats - All very inexpensive, and very good sources of carbohydrates.

Training: (So you can?t afford the gym membership.)
How bout heading down to the local playground and making up some of your own exercises using the swings and jungle gym, the one in my neighborhood has all kinds of things to use.
Fills some milk jugs with sand or water and use them as you kettlebells.
Pushups, sit-ups, leg thrust, and resistance exercises can do wonders, yea it's different but believe me it will be a challenge.

In closing I just want to say good luck to everyone. I know these times are hard, but I also believe that statement is used a little freely. As we move through this rescission the media fuels the fire, and companies hold their hands out. In many ways I believe the reality is better then the depiction, and the depiction feeds into the ridiculousness of the situation.