A critical step in adapting to our modern world is to stop seeing stress as an adversary. Yes, life these days can be distressing - big-time.

We have so much to balance constantly, and women especially, juggle more jobs and responsibilities than ever before. The pressure to be everything to everyone can be panic-inducing.

If you feel overwhelmed by it all, under siege, you absolutely have every right to feel that way. It is 100 percent valid and real.

The only ways to protect ourselves from the dangers of our changing world is to change along with it. We have to find a way to cope; it's the only way to stay alive and move forward.

Some people de-stress with exercise, which is beyond a doubt beneficial.

Others turn to meditation and prayer, which I think are so important.

Still other people find success by cutting back in areas where they can afford to devote less attention. That's a great approach, if you can swing it; absolutely, give yourself permission to "work smarter, not harder," to back out of plans as needed, to delegate, to nap when your energy is flagging, and not to check off every item on your to-do list.

Many of us have tried all of the above, though. And much as we'd love to cut back on the obligations we have left, it's impossible. We're already not getting to everything we're supposed to, and we can't avoid many of the situations that come our way, nor can we wish them out of existence. It's the way of the world right now: there's a lot to be done.

When we're feeling thrown off by difficult life events or too much to do, it's common to want to reach for something to eat. It's the brain's way of saying that it could use some support in navigating a challenge.

The key is to know which foods will actually help us. 

Foods That Fight Stress

In my book, Life-Changing Foods, I focus on the unknown attributes of 50 foods with amazing healing benefits. Here I have picked out 6 that combat stress most effectively.

1. Apples

Apples provide precious trace minerals such as manganese and molybdenum, as well as electrolytes and critical mineral salts that help the body rehydrate after exercise or stress of any kind.

Tip: At least once a year, go to an organic orchard that allows you to pick apples yourself. The act of picking fruit is one of the most powerful, grounding meditations that exists.

2. Bananas

Bananas are high in tryptophan so they can help soothe sleep disorders, create calm, reduce anxiety, and alleviate depression. Bananas can also alleviate gastric cramps and stress-related gastrointestinal disorders.They also have stress-assist phytochemicals to get you through your day.

Tip: The optimal stage at which to eat a banana is peak ripeness, the point when its skin is yellow with brown speckles. 

3. Mangoes

Mangoes are a real miracle sleep aid, when you eat mango before bed, phytochemicals from the fruit, along with amino acids such as glycine, glutamine, and cysteine combined with fructose and glucose, travel to the brain and quickly restore depleted neurotransmitters. This allows most insomniacs a chance to finally get some true rest during the night.

Tip: If you're meditating to resolve an issue, try eating a mango beforehand. it will help connect you to the insights you need.

4. Artichokes 

Artichokes are dense with minerals such as magnesium and silica, in addition to those, however, they contain sedation phytochemicals that calm all body systems.

Tip: Enjoying artichokes for dinner helps your liver purge and clean itself in the early hours of the morning, while you sleep.

5. Cucumbers

Cucumbers' traces of the amino acids glycine and glutamine, combined with their extreme and highly active content of enzymes and coenzymes, plus their abundance of more than 50 trace minerals, make them an excellent delivery system for neurotransmitter chemicals. This is great news if you are dealing with anxiety or other neurological conditions.

Tip: When using conventional cucumbers, make sure to peel off the skin before eating to avoid consuming toxic wax coating.

6. Wild Blueberries

Wild blueberries are currently acknowledged by nutrition experts for their sky-high levels of antioxidants. On top of that, these tiny jewels have a plethora of undiscovered qualities. For one, they're armed with polyphenols, anthocyanins, anthocyanidins,dimethyl resveratrol, and as yet unknown cofactor adaptogenic amino acids. When you eat these berries, their innate intelligence reads your body, monitors your stress and toxicity levels, and figures out the best way to heal you - it is the only food that does that.

Tip: Because they are true adaptogens, wild blueberries don't lose their nutritional value when frozen as some fruits and vegetables do. Feel free to stock up from the freezer aisle.

My book, Life-changing Foods, teaches you how to unleash the hidden powers of 50 fruits and vegetables and transform your life in the process.

Another way you can learn to counter adrenaline reactions is energetically, by viewing stress as a messenger.

What's the stress telling you?

If you are stressed out to the max, if you feel up against it, like pressure is coming to you from every direction, then you are on the frontiers of purpose - you have a purpose- plus. 

Purpose-plus means you are engaged on the next level above ordinary living, that you truly touch others with your life. And that demands a lot from you.

Stress is not trying to kill you. It's a master teacher that is trying to communicate with you.

The world is becoming something new and different. You've been recognized as amazingly capable.

Did you ever have that teacher in school who really pushed you and often frustrated you, someone you now look back on as your best teacher? That's what stress is like. Rather than looking at stress as an invader, understand that stress is preparing you to be a master. 

You will move past it, rise above it, succeed it - you'll leave it behind.

When dealing with stress, it's key to remember this impermanence. No matter what, all things change. Nothing will stay the same. In the moment when stress is pushing you past your capacity, when you feel in dire need of relief, remind yourself that yourself that it will not last.

When we recognize stress as impermanent, it doesn't send the same jolt of excess adrenaline through your veins - it doesn't take a toll on your body that it would otherwise.