THE ANTI-STRESS DIET

The holistic guide to nurturing your way out of stress and burnout

- AMBER BRAMBLE

Ah, February. While many of us start each new year promising ourselves this one won't be as stressful as the last, now is often the time when work, family commitments and life in general start to speed up again.

If overwhelm is starting to rear its head, now may be time for some self-care. Holistic health expert and founder of Kamalaya Koh Samui, Karina Stewart, says that when we burn the candle at both ends, we can send our adrenal glands into overdrive - leading to an overproduction of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol.

"For many of us, our adrenals are working overtime in a constant state of fight or flight response. This creates a tremendous amount of energy and produces a lot of cortisol, which over time contributes to poor sleep, fatigue, depression and health issues such as insulin resistance, inflammation and high blood pressure," Stewart explains. "Not to mention the chronic lack of high-quality restful sleep."

While our natural stress response is largely unavoidable, the good news is that Stewart says there are practical ways we can protect, restore and reset against stress and burnout.

AVOID COFFEE FIRST UP