Stress Busters: Balanced Nutrition

How balanced nutrition can help manage stress: Overview

Balanced nutrition helps us deal with stress. When we give our bodies the right nutrients, it can improve our mood and help our bodies feel better. Here are other ways that nutrition can help manage our stress:  

• Helps give our brains the fuel for thinking and learning.
• Decreases inflammation. 
• Keeps us strong by decreasing sicknesses. 
• Takes care of our hearts. 
• Makes us feel happy.  
• Lowers sadness and worries.

Healthy Food Swaps

While it is okay to eat these foods occasionally, try choosing healthier options most often. These healthier food swaps focus on increasing the nutrients your child consumes while decreasing added sugars and fat.  

Instead of…	Try…
Whole milk	Low-fat milk
Soda	Water or flavored sparkling water
White bread	Whole wheat or whole grain bread
Ice cream	Homemade smoothie
Butter	Olive oil
Cream-based salad dressings or pasta sauce	Oil-based dressings or vegetable-based pasta sauce
Potato chips	Baked chips or nuts

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Simple nutrition tips for kids and teens

There are many fun ways to involve your child in what they eat. Before grocery shopping, pick out your menu for the week and find the ingredients together! Below are some great ways to involve your child in incorporating balanced nutrition in their lives:    

• Help pick out a recipe to make! Shop for the ingredients and help with cooking and serving the meal.  
• Count how many different colors of foods are on your plate.  
• Decorate your food – grab a piece of bread or bagel half, spread a nut butter or cream cheese on it, and then use fruits and veggies for the eyes and nose. Add a smile! 
• Do a blind taste test by trying different fruits and veggies and guessing what they are.  
• Practice eating mindfully by paying attention to your hunger and fullness cues. How do you know when you feel full?  

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Tips for parents and caregivers: How to get kids excited about nutrition

• Check out resources like MyPlate for what a balanced diet full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins, and dairy/dairy alternatives can look like. 
• Cut fruits and vegetables into fun shapes. 
• Explain the benefits of each food group and how they contribute to overall health and growth.  
• Help kids learn their colors by telling you which ones are on their plate. 
• Make a wall chart and have kids put a sticker by each color they ate that day. 
• Make up silly songs about a new fruit or vegetable. 
• Have children pick out and weigh the fruits and vegetables purchased at the grocery store. 
• Ask children to help pick out the recipe to make.  
• Incorporate taste tests of the fruits and vegetables used to make a meal. 
• Look for chef demonstrations at a farmer’s market. 
• Build a garden and help your child plant seeds to watch the food grow. 

Have a nutrition scavenger hunt

Here is an example of a scavenger hunt you could do at the grocery store or a farmer’s market. Or, use the video below to help guide your scavenger hunt!

Raising a healthy eater

In the parenting journey, teaching your child healthy eating habits can sometimes feel like a challenge, especially when there are so many food options. Below are some tips to help you get started. Remember to encourage, not force, healthy eating habits, and celebrate the small victories your child makes along the way.  

• Children thrive on routine. Follow a regular meal and snack schedule so kids know what to expect.  
  • Offer foods in different ways, such as roasted vs steamed vs raw. 
• Let kids learn by serving themselves. 
  • Respect their fullness by teaching, “Your body knows how much you need to eat.” 
• Patience works better than pressure. 
  • Give children repeated neutral exposures to unfamiliar foods rather than persuading them to eat them. 
• Let kids help in the kitchen. 
  • This can help support them in trying new foods 
  • Name the dish they help with, like “Sara’s Salad,” and praise them for their help 
  • Use foods to learn about math, science, culture and history.  
• Set a positive example.  
  • Children often copy the behaviors of adults around them, so it is important to model healthy eating habits for themselves.  
  • Let your child see you and other family members eating and enjoying many nourishing foods. 
  • Don’t talk negatively about yourself.  
  • As parents/caregivers, we may bring our phones to the table so we can multi-task, but during this time, it is important to turn off screens and focus on your child.  

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Having trauma-informed conversations about balanced nutrition: Tips for clinicians

As clinicians, introducing healthy eating to children can profoundly impact their emotional well-being. Below are some ways to begin the conversation on balanced nutrition with your patient.  

• Meet patients where they are at and emphasize strengths. 
• Never blame or shame patients’ current eating habits, culturally valued food, or weight 
• Use an empathetic and nonjudgmental lens when asking about eating habits, especially in the context of stress, anxiety, or sadness. 
  • Ask questions like: What is your favorite fruit or vegetable? 
• Keep the focus on health rather than weight.  
• Normalize the drive for high-fat or high-sugar food when stressed. 
• Explain how an anti-inflammatory diet, high in fruits and vegetables and low in processed or fast food, can combat stress-induced inflammation and improve health.  
• Share information about local community gardens and farmers markets participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or CalFresh, or share the free app MyPlate. 
• For more resources to help patients manage stress, visit acesaware.org/managestress 
• For community resources, visit findhelp.org 
  • For example, in Orange County, you can find nutrition education classes, one-on-one nutrition consultations, diabetes prevention programs, and health education.  

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Balanced Nutrition: Frequently Asked Questions

What is a healthy meal? 

Meals that include:  

• Whole grains. 
• Lean meats. 
• Fruits. 
• Vegetables. 
• Low-fat daily. 
• Healthy fats include omega-3 fatty acids (e.g., avocado, olive oil, nuts/seeds, fatty fish).  

What are anti-inflammatory foods?   

• Tomatoes 
• Olive oil 
• Green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, kale, and collards 
• Nuts like almonds and walnuts 
• Fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines 
• Fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and oranges 

What are inflammatory foods?

• Fried foods 
• Sodas 
• Refined carbs 
• Lard  
• Processed meats  

What are key nutrients for brain development and function? 

Based on the following resource, here are some tips: 

• Macronutrients
  • Carbohydrates: Provide the brain and body with a readily available energy source and is the brain’s preferred fuel source 
  • Protein: Important for building tissues and organs 
  • Long-chain fatty acids: Helpful for brain development 

• Micronutrients
  • Choline 
  • Iron 
  • Zinc 
  • Iodine  
  • Copper 
  • Vitamin A, B, C, D 

What foods offer these macro and micronutrients?

• Fish (omega-3 fatty acids) 
• Eggs 
• Yogurt and other calcium-containing products 
• Berries 
• Dark, leafy green vegetables  
• Whole grains 
• Nuts 
• Seeds  

How do I use CalFresh and EBT when it comes to balanced nutrition?

• CalFresh monthly benefits can be used to buy any SNAP-eligible foods (i.e., fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs, honey) at farmers markets that accept EBT 
• Check-in at the farmers markets information booth to swipe your EBT card and receive EBT scrip (tokens or vouchers, depending on the market) 
• Use the EBT scrip to purchase items directly from vendors  
• For more information, please click here for information about California’s healthy food incentive program or here for tips on using your CalFresh EBT card at farmers’ markets  

What is the special supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)?  

• This is a program that provides supplemental foods, healthcare referrals, and nutrition for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and nonbreastfeeding postpartum women and infants and children up to the age of 5 who are found to be at nutritional risk. 
• This means that WIC offers vouchers for farmer’s markets and for purchasing organic produce in stores. 
• Please read more about the program here.   

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