It’s a holiday (you thought) but the boss has called in for a meeting for which you’re anything but prepared. The children are crowding around you for help with the next day’s exam. You’d promised to pick up your wife and mother from the airport and you haven’t time for lunch. In addition to everything, you’re a little faint. So you slap together a Dagwood of a sandwich composed of butter, mayonnaise, egg, ham, bacon and cheese and bolt it before whizzing out the door.

Whoa, whoa, watch it. It’s true that food soothes. But when life’s stresses add up to an anxiety attack, you need to make sure that what you eat is not contributing to your panicky state. As stress naturally increases cellular activity and reduces the effectiveness of the digestive system, it leads to nutritional deficiencies and therefore a diet of nutrient-dense foods needs to be followed. “You should aim to include foods with a variety of colours,” says Nina Singh, chief dietician at Woodlands Hospital, Calcutta, “to ensure it contains all the stress and disease-fighting nutrients”.

Dieticians usually recommend a diet full of fresh fruit and vegetables which not only supply valuable vitamins and minerals but are also rich in anti-oxidants called flavanoids (found in legumes, grains, certain vegetables, fruits and nuts), which help to counteract stress. “People under stress tend to eat too little or too much, that too of the wrong thing,” says Dr Sudeshna Roy, a GP attached to the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission. The key nutrients to combat stress are those that aid the adrenal glands like magnesium (best taken in the evening), and all the B vitamins (in particular Vitamin B5). Other nutrients include phenylalanine (found in meat, fish, eggs), an amino acid that helps to elevate mood, and vitamin E to counteract cholesterol damage.

What to take

• Fresh vegetable juices, particularly green juices containing chlorophyll, and soups are ideal as well as alfalfa, garlic and ginger to support the immune system, and kelp and watercress to aid the functioning of the thyroid gland.

• Lots of water to prevent dehydration. Kombucha tea as it is revitalising and detoxifying.

• Complex carbs which act as tranquillisers by increasing the amount of serotonin in your brain.

• Tryptophan which has a calming effect on the body. Milk products contain tryptophan.

• A multivitamin supplement that includes B and B6. Even undetectable malnutrition can lead to feelings of anxiety.

What to avoid

Processed foods, artificial sweeteners, carbon- ated drinks, chocolate, fried food, red meat, sugar, white flour products, preservatives and additives, alcohol and caffeine.

Stress-reducing menu

Use this sample menu to de-stress your body, with foods that release the calming hormone, serotonin

BREAKFAST

Option 1

• Two pieces of wholemeal toast topped with peanut butter/ porridge or oat-based cereal with bananas and a sprinkling of raisins and walnuts (raisins are high in B6, and walnuts in omega-3)

• Calcium-fortified orange juice

• Camomile tea

• A good multivitamin and mineral supplement

Option 2

• A bowl of muesli

• A handful each of tropical, dried fruit and sunflower seeds

• A glass of fortified soya milk

• A glass of vegetable juice (carrots, tomato and celery with a crush of ginger)

Option 3

• Make a smoothie using a banana, several large chunks of fresh pineapple and the juice of a large orange. Blend until smooth.

LUNCH

Option 1

• Tuck into a freshly made pasta salad, which can be made the night before and stored in a plastic container. Cook some penne or twists, about 75g, in boiling water, drain and while still warm, drizzle with a light lemon vinaigrette made with fresh lemon juice and olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. Fold in a small piece of tuna, a handful of baby spinach leaves and half a diced red pepper.

Option 2

• Bite into the goodness of a medium-sized missi roti (made with equal amounts of wheat flour and besan) with a sabzi made of spinach (or any green leafy vegetables). Accompanied by a sprouted moong and cucumber salad. You can also add some chopped cabbage to it.

DINNER

Option 1

• Barley and vegetables pulao

Fry a small chopped onion and two crushed garlic cloves in one tablespoon of olive oil. Then add one chopped courgette and cook for five minutes. Next, add 150 ml chicken stock, bring to a boil, add three ripe tomatoes and cook for about three minutes. Finally, add 110 gm cooked pearl barley, 110g toasted pine nuts, a handful of chopped coriander leaves, add a pinch cayenne pepper and salt and pepper to taste.

Option 2

• Sweet potato and mackerel salad

Stress depletes the body of vitamin C and both sweet and new potatoes are excellent sources of this essential vitamin. Peel four or five small sweet potatoes and one regular-size white potato and cut into 2 cm chunks. Drizzle with a little olive oil, sea salt and pepper and roast in a 200C oven for 45-50 minutes. Wrap one or two fresh mackerel in foil parcels with a few slices of lemon in the cavity and scatter with sprigs of fresh parsley. Place in the oven 15 minutes before the potatoes are done. Oily fish such as mackerel and tuna contain polyunsaturated fats called omega-3 fatty acids. They can help stop blood from clotting, hence lowering the risk of heart disease, an ailment often associated with stress. Serve with some steamed broccoli — another vegetable high in vitamin C — sprinkled with sesame seeds, which provide calcium, which is important for a healthy cardiovascular system.

SNACKS

(choose two a day)

• Mixed dried fruit and nuts

• Small portion yoghurt (made with skimmed milk) topped with fresh berries and chopped walnuts

• Wholewheat crackers

• A papaya

• A glass of carrot or tomato juice

• A handful of litchis.