Don’t ask me why but for some reason the internet is filled with potatoes, I mean I like potato chips as much as the next, but come on. According to urban dictionary it is a way to describe something of low quality like a microphone, as in, “This sounds so bad it’s like it was recorded on a potato,” or something/someone stupid, as in, “Duh… I can count all the way up to potato.”
By ZooFari (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
So, why do I even mention potatoes? Well as you may have guessed from the title today I am going to be talking about how potatoes and bananas can help relieve stress instantly.
Actually it doesn’t have to be potatoes or bananas; it just has to be something rich in potassium.
Steve Hopson, www.stevehopson.com [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons
When we’re stressed our blood pressure rises but potassium helps our body regulate its blood pressure and heart rate which can help towards calming us down. Potassium (and sodium) is also a necessary chemical used by your kidneys to filter the water you drink. You can learn more about potassium and blood pressure from this article called, “Why potassium helps to lower blood pressure,” posted on bloodpressureuk.org.
Of course there is also such a thing as too much potassium especially in older individuals. Too much potassium affects the balance of fluids in our body and as we get older it becomes more difficult for our kidneys to get rid of potassium. An excess of potassium in the body can lead to changes in your heart rhythm which can be deadly. So you need to be careful with how much potassium you take, you want be happier, you don’t want a bad heart.
Now let’s look a little more into the two foods written in the title, first the banana.
Research shows that bananas are rich in B vitamins which helps soothe our nervous system, and magnesium which is another chemical known for lifting your mood. Bananas also have other health benefits like:
- It helps sustain your blood sugar
- It helps reduce PMS symptoms
- It reduces swelling
- It protects us against stroke
There are lot more benefits to eating bananas, if you want to learn more about these benefits you can check out these two articles where I got my information from.
- “25 Powerful Reasons to Eat Bananas,” posted on foodmatters.com.
- “What Are Bananas Good For?”posted on foodfacts.mercola.com.
Now the potato; like bananas, potatoes are rich in vitamin B6 which boost cellular renewal and help the body create various hormones that help fight stress, like GABA (Gamma Amino Butyric Acid). And like bananas they have other benefits:
- They improve brain functions
- They alleviate kidney stones
- They are high in fibre
- They are good for your skin
If you want to learn more benefits that potatoes have, then you can check out this article where I got all this information from, “10 Health Benefits of Potatoes You Didn’t Know About,” written by DASH EVA and posted on lifehack.org.
So that’s the end of this post, go ahead and eat some more bananas (that includes banana splits) and eat more potatoes (chips, mashed potatoes, etc.) just be mindful with it, you don’t want to gain too much weight, that’s another stressor altogether. Eat your bananas, eat your potatoes and make yourself more relaxed, less stressed and happy!
Alternative Yoga 