From the time you were old enough to use a fork, did your parents recite the nutritional purposes of various foods as you pushed them around on your plate? These dinnertime lessons were to show that food was not just for curing hunger pains. Carrots made your eyes sharper and spinach made your muscles stronger. Eat an apple every day and you could avoid a trip to the doctor. Yet, somehow as you aged, meals might have become more about what tasted good and less about what was good for you. However, food and the nutrients it can provide have more to do with fueling your body and its many systems and less to do with the preference of your taste buds. With the prevalence of pills and other medical interventions, it is easy to forget that mother nature offers a host of preventative medicines in the form of various natural foods and herbs. Consider how the management of stress can benefit from nature’s medicine.

review this week’s Learning Resources including Appendices 12–15 of the 2010 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Also review the ”Nutrition, Stress, and Your Cells” handout and the “Stress and Its Impact on Nutrient Processing and Absorption” handout. Then, research nutritional approaches to stress management and select two that might be effective. Finally, consider any contraindications or cautions that might result in applying the approaches you selected.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 a brief description of two nutritional approaches you selected for stress management. Then explain why these approaches might be effective. Finally, explain any contraindications or cautions to using these two approaches and explain why. Be specific.