Stress has become a part of our culture, and undoubtedly you may have experienced a sense of being overwhelmed quite often. For some, stress eating or stress drinking alcohol are enormous saboteurs on the path to health and wellness. It’s not just the excess calories that nudge you away from your goal. Here are four factors that people struggle with during stressful times:

1. Alcohol Backfires on Your Well-Being

Stress drinking cocktails or a few beers after a hectic day at work is what some see as a ritual to unwind, but this can backfire later. Alcohol prevents the brain from entering deep sleep leaving you unrested and stressed the next morning. Alcohol also dehydrates you. If you do drink, keep it to one drink a night. That means five ounces of wine or one shot of liquor… not an over-sized glass with a mixed drink.

Do you remember that episode of Magic School Bus where the kids on the bus fly into their classmate’s mouth and learn about the inner workings of digestion? Information simple enough for elementary school children, right? So, why are so many Americans struggling with knowledge about food choices and their reactions as your body breaks it down?

Without digestion, you won’t be able to get the essential nutrients you need. As your body breaks down food and it travels through the intestines, all those components of food are caught and stored. Everything you decided to put in your mouth, be it an apple or a Snickers bar, will play a role in your digestion.

Flax seed oil and chia seeds are filled with nutritional benefits that are essential to your overall health. They are filled with both omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids that our bodies cannot make, so we have to get them from food sources.

There are some cautions to consider with flax seed oil, however. Because it is a fat, it can go rancid, and you must take the necessary precautions to avoid that. You need to make sure that exposure to heat, air and light are all minimal or avoided.

It’s not a shocker to say, but most fast food is not good for you. Rarely do you see fruits, veggies, beans, and whole grains. But life throws us curve balls, and sometimes we either pick up some fast food or battle a blood sugar nose dive. In this blog post, I’ll help you make the best of the fast food choices.

You can make smart choices and I’ve picked some of the best options. As a general rule, to avoid excessive fat and calories, skip the fried foods and opt for grilled. Get your sauce on the side, go without extra cheese, and get the smallest size possible. The only advantage of “super sizing” is if you plan to share the meal with someone else. Don’t drink any calories. That means no sweet tea, soda, or other sweetened beverages. Go for water, low-fat milk, a 4-ounce 100% juice, or a sugar-free diet beverage.

For many people, snacking has achieved ‘four letter word’ status as a diet buster. Parents tell their children: “No snacking before dinner!” Dieters tell themselves “No snacking, period!” But snacking isn’t a bad thing… it’s what (and how much) you snack on that matters.

Problems with Snacking

In recent years snacking has become super-sized. Packaged foods, like a single serving bag of pretzels, actually have 2-3 servings. Snacks like these aren’t so harmless and can harbor half of your suggested sodium intake for a day. Sweet snacks like cinnamon rolls from vending machines have 460 calories, 22 grams of fat (two tablespoons of plain butter!), and 32 grams of sugar (about 15 teaspoons almost twice the daily limit). Snacking on foods devoid of nutrients and multiple servings is not the kind of snacking you want to do on a regular basis.