Here’s something we could all use these days: A way to lower the effects of stress on our bodies and minds without elaborate or time consuming rituals, or making major changes in out daily lives. And there’s a major bonus attached that would help improve our overall quality of life…
Here you go: The Med Diet. It may cost a little more – which sounds like a lot
to deal with amid sharply-rising food prices – but it’s a simple thing
to help make our lives better and improve our resistance to
current stresses associated with the War on COVID-19…
It’s been a while since I posted something here about the ever-broadening vistas of good that the so-called Mediterranean Diet can apparently do for the average over-fed, under-nourished, Developed World denizen who currently lives under the burden of too much empty-Calorie, Sugar-laden processed food.
Now, science has revealed that simply adhering to the Med diet can materially improve our resistance to the onslaught of stress and fatigue caused by the unrelenting pressure of the COVID-19 waiting game. What can’t this natural, ages-old dietary regime not do to make out lives better? Answer: It can’t do anything at all unless folks commit to following it and stick to their commitment.
The new findings
According to an abstract of the results of recent studies Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, “the researchers studied the effects of the chronic stress of low social status and the acute stress of being socially isolated for 30 minutes in 38 middle-age animals that were fed either a Mediterranean or Western diet. The diets were formulated to closely reflect human diets, with protein and fat derived largely from animal sources in the Western group and primarily from plant sources in the Mediterranean group.”
They did this easily by measuring the levels of the hormone cortisol in the animals’ blood before and after they were subjected to stress.
“Cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, helps the body access resources needed to fight or flee. However, if stress is continuous, cortisol levels stay high and damage tissues. […] Compared to animals fed a Western diet, those fed the Mediterranean diet exhibited enhanced stress resilience as indicated by lower sympathetic nervous system and cortisol responses to stress, and more rapid recovery after the stress ended.”
The takeaway
“It is very difficult to control or reduce stressors in our lives,” said Dr. Carol A. Shively, principal investigator of the study. “But we do know that we can control our diet, and previous observational studies have suggested that lower perceived stress is associated with high fruit and vegetable consumption.”
Now, Shively and her team have shown how the Med Diet performs its magic. Add to this development the discovery of a possible ‘magic bullet’ to help the severely obese lose come serious weight and we might have the core of an effective strategy to help the whole world control one its most serious health epidemics the world has ever seen and save the global health care system billions upon billions of dollars a year.
My take
Amid the crisis and chaos of the war against COVID-19, we seem to have stumbled upon a real, effective way to combat obesity and stress. All we have to do is commit to the Med Diet and stick with that commitment. “Easier said than done,” you say. Of course. But it may be the most important thing we can all do right now – aside from wearing our face masks, and staying home and isolating as much as possible – to get out of our current mess. Let’s all at least consider switching to the Med Diet – and consider what a wonderful world it could be if the majority of us did so!
~ Maggie J.