Your ultimate guide to beating stress

Change your diet

To deal with stress, your body needs to be properly nourished - both prior to and during periods of tension. A well-nourished person will cope better than a poorly nourished one, and so a healthy diet is a must.

Stress increases the requirement for certain vitamins and minerals - particularly vitamin C, magnesium and zinc. Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, especially citrus fruits, kiwi and red peppers, will boost vitamin C levels. Nuts, seeds, beans, pulses, brown rice and green leafy vegetables provide good amounts of magnesium. Prawns, liver, wheat germ, nuts, seeds, red meat and poultry are all rich sources of zinc.

Base your meals and snacks around foods rich in complex carbohydrates, such as wholemeal bread, pasta, rice and potatoes, to encourage the brain to produce the neurotransmitter serotonin - which has a calming effect.

A sample stress-busting menu:

● Breakfast: Porridge with soya milk; a glass of hot water with lemon juice.

● Mid-morning snack: Handful of nuts, such as almonds; a fruit tea.

● Lunch: Jacket potato with cottage cheese; or a wholemeal pitta with houmous and tuna. Fruit salad of strawberries, kiwi, melon and oranges.

● Mid-afternoon snack: Two oatcakes with houmous or peanut butter.

● Dinner: Organic trout or organic chicken, with brown rice and steamed broccoli and watercress.

● Evening snack: A banana.