Eating icecream as you bliss out to avoid feelings you are not comfortable with is not a calming practice around your food but an addictive practice of avoidance. The line can be fine, as we all choose foods to make us feel good in one form or another — in the most primal sense to avoid starvation or in the most enlightened way to fuel the body with clean food to bring about balance with little to no highs and lows.

The first principle in using food to calm your body is to listen to the subtle and obvious signals your body is constantly using to communicate with you. Feelings of euphoria that are followed shortly after by feelings of aggression and anxiety are signs of an addictive food that has toxic after-effects. So how can you eat to create some calm in your life?

A recipe for stress

If you wish to feel calm, what you choose not to eat is as important as what you choose to eat. Processed foods are fragmented and create mixed messages in your body, confusing your body’s signals. All foods create chemical reactions in the body, just like drugs, some subtle, some more powerful.

A simple example is when you are on the sugar high-low roller coaster. If you have the sweet food that sends your blood sugar soaring then you will want the salty food to balance the overly sweet sensation and maybe some protein to even out the blood sugar levels. Choosing natural whole versions of these foods is less problematic but, as they are increasingly processed and have other chemicals added, the chain of reactions is complex and unbalancing to the body. A food may give you a false sense of calm moment while providing a hit that makes your body feel good, only to be followed by a negative fall-out effect.

A characteristic of these stress-inducing foods is that they have no intrinsic value for the human body as most of their nutrients have been removed. Their denatured form creates havoc and imbalance in the body and even strips nutrients that may be present. They are also highly addictive.

The primary ingredients of the “lethal recipe” are refined sugars, oils/fats, salts, grains, excessive dairy and synthetic chemicals. As you remove them or moderate them in your diet you will observe a measurable change in all bodily functions, increased energy levels and ability to concentrate as well as feeling less disturbed and less prone to strong emotional reactions that seemingly come out of nowhere.

Know your constitution

Developing an understanding of how your body works is valuable in discovering what foods work best for you. Foods that are calming for some can have the opposite effect for others. The Ayurvedic tridosha system is a good place to start to explore your personal body and mind constitution. The Ayurvedic system was developed more than 5000 years ago and is simply the science of daily living. There are comprehensive tests you can take as well as online versions to give you an idea of your dominant constitution and what foods can bring about balance and imbalance in your body.