Responding Better To Stress

Stress driving you nuts? Adding walnuts and flaxseed to your diet could help your body respond better to pressure.
You can’t eliminate all sources of stress but you can change how you respond to it. A small study at Penn State found it could be as easy as swapping out some of your bad fats for omega-3 fats like walnuts and flaxseed. Volunteers who had been eating 1.3 ounces of walnuts and a tablespoon of walnut oil daily for six weeks showed a smaller surge in blood pressure when subjected to stressful situations than people on the typical American diet. In addition, their “lousy” LDL cholesterol and resting blood pressure fell while they were on the diet.

People who were given walnuts and one and a half tablespoons of flaxseed oil experienced similar benefits, as well as a drop in their C-reactive protein — an inflammation marker associated with heart disease. According to researcher Sheila West, people who show an exaggerated biological response to stress are at higher risk of heart disease.

By cutting out bad fats and replacing them with heart-healthy omega-3s, you may be able to reduce that risk.