These days everybody seems to be feeling stress. Between the economy and all the uncertainty swirling around us, it’s enough to make any sane person head straight to the nearest candy shop. Stress seems to be getting a lot of unwanted attention lately. I can see it by the amount of questions asked of me on how stress impacts on our lives — from the foods we eat, to the reaction on our bodies. How does stress affect our diet, and — are there any foods that will make stress easier to handle.

There is no question that stress can affect how and what you eat. Some people eat more and some people eat less. And it’s no accident that we call certain foods comfort foods — they really have that effect for some.

The fact is stress is real and there really is no diet that will make it go away. But there are some things you can do to manage your eating habits through stressful times. Here are some tips:

- Start your day with a healthy breakfast. It will set you up for the rest of the day. If you are hungry, if your blood sugar is low (after a night of fasting), if there is no fuel in your body, you will have a harder time coping with stress and may find it harder to think well and make good decisions.

- Eat slowly and eat mindfully. Read more

Maintaining a healthy and balance diet is not a simple task. Also ensuring that your body has the essential amount of nutrients to survive is very crucial. Ensuring that you give you body what it needs, it is important that you do not skip this VERY important meal of the day. It is almost certain that your mom has always told you to make sure that you eat breakfast and you have probably heard a million times that âÃ�‚¬Å“breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

Not only is breakfast the most important meal of the day, but it is also consumed during the time of the day when your body is most vulnerable. In the mornings as you awaken from a long night’s rest your body is essentially dehydrated, your blood sugar is low, you have little energy, and you are trying to complete a million tasks to start a new day. These tasks range from hurrying the children off to school, daily grooming, ironing, packing lunches, checking your daily schedule, or trying to complete that last minute presentation for work. To ensure that this meal is not skipped, we will introduce to you quick and simple ways to have a balanced breakfast without the time consumption.

Besides, eating breakfast actually helps you lose weight. Read more

The economic downturn was the hot topic among entrepreneurs attending the fifth China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Expo, here in the southern Guangxi Province city. Many voiced an urgent need for building a common Asian market as a way to cope with the ongoing financial turmoil, which initially broke out on Wall Street, swept through Europe, and was now being felt globally.

BUSINESS WITH EUROPE, U.S. SHRINKS ON LARGE SCALE

“Our business has kept on declining since the end of 2007, with the sales lowered by at least 70 percent,” said Weilong Nong, a Malaysian timber merchant whose major target market used to be Europe.

One blessing he has is his timber export business to the Middle East and South Asia has yet to be affected. This meant there was no immediate survival concerns for his business.

“I am now at a stage better than that in the 19Ɂ Asian financial crisis,” said the Kuala Lumpur native, who was still haunted by the memory that his company’s chain of funding was cut off as a result of the bank credit contraction, which almost led to his bankruptcy.

For Nong, his company’s exports were affected greatly by the slack U.S. and European markets. Read more

Depression in pregnancy not only causes mom to suffer it can also pose health risks to the baby. Research published today in the journal Human Reproduction found that women with symptoms of depression were more likely to experience a preterm birth. The greater the severity of depression symptoms, the greater the likelihood of early delivery. This research adds “strong evidence that depression during pregnancy is bad for the fetus,” says lead study author De-Kun Li, reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., “This should not be dismissed anymore.” Preterm birth, write the study authors, is the leading cause of infant mortality and medical expenditures for newborns.

Contrary to the belief that all expectant moms are buoyed by their own joyous anticipation, the reality is that pregnancy offers no protection against depression. A woman’s overall risk of depression peaks during childbearing years, and “roughly 12 to 14 percent of mothers will experience depression during pregnancy,” says Cindy-Lee Dennis, researcher at the University of Toronto and associate professor of nursing with an appointment in the psychiatry department. The biggest risk factor for symptoms while pregnant, Dennis explains, is a previous history of depression. Read more