By Leigh Belanger

There's no way to avoid stress.

Throughout the course of your day or week, dozens of stressful situations have the potential to arise. A traffic jam makes you late for a big presentation, or your computer crashes right before an important deadline. And while some stress can be good for you, demands at work, from your spouse and children, and in everyday life, can be overwhelming and stress-provoking.

Everyone faces it, but we don't all cope with it or manage it well.

Stress is a physiological response to external challenges. Acute stress, the short-term type, occurs when your body faces an immediate threat and readies itself to deal with it by stimulating its systems-the immune and digestive systems, the lung and brains, the heart and blood vessels-to prepare to meet the threat.

Chronic stress is long-term, and to cope over time, the body suppresses the "fight or flight" urge. Chronic stress results from persistent stressful situations, like financial problems, dissatisfaction with work and career, or unhealthy personal relationships, and can lead to larger health issues.

One of the ways people cope with stress is with food.

In busy, stressful times, one of the first things to suffer is diet. For example, if you're having a busy work week, you might find no time to prepare healthy meals and fuel yourself instead with high-sugar, high-fat foods, as well as caffeine. To unwind, you might drink less moderately than usual, or seek "comfort foods," which are typically high in fat and calories.

"A lot of it is psychological," says Phoenix nutritionist Melinda Johnson. "When we're stressed, we reach for what we know is enjoyable."

Eating certain foods-and some say the act of eating itself-increases our bodies' production of serotonin, the neurotransmitter that's known to bring on feelings of well-being. While eating comforting foods might help soothe moods temporarily, typically this mood lift is "very short-lived," says Johnson. "It sets you up for a high, and then a low," she says.

In fact, consuming excess fat, salt, sugar, caffeine, and alcohol to cope with stress compromises our bodies' ability to manage stress. Alcohol is a depressant, and too much fat can make you feel lethargic and cause weight gain.

Caffeine makes you feel stressed even when you might not be, and too much sodium can contribute to high blood pressure. Excess sugar can deplete certain vitamins, and simple sugars and carbohydrates can cause blood sugar to shoot up and then crash, resulting in irritability and fatigue. None of these outcomes helps us cope effectively with stress.

Instead, maintaining a well-balanced diet, even during stressful periods, sets your body up to successfully adapt to stressful situations. Complex carbohydrates, in the form of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes, are filled with the fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that we need to maintain physical and emotional well-being.

Fiber, for example, helps regulate the speed that energy is released into the bloodstream, resulting in steady blood sugar levels and longer periods of satiety - and fewer mood swings.

A diet full of the vitamins and minerals found in whole, unprocessed foods can ensure that during stressful times, these essential nutrients won't be depleted. Antioxidants and other phytochemicals will strengthen your immune system, your blood vessels and heart, your brain, and so on.

But turning to food in times of stress, no matter how healthy, is not recommended.

"Eating is never a good reaction to stress," Johnson says. "It's not calories we need, it's a mental break."

Johnson suggests taking a few moments away from a stressful situation to breathe and calm down, allowing the active hormones that are racing to return to normal. Physical activity can help release nervous energy, and exercise is also known to positively affect biochemistry. It also thought to stimulate production of endorphins, the pain-relieving, mood-lifting compound.

Other pieces of a balanced lifestyle-regularly getting a full night's sleep, maintaining strong ties with family and friends-can help us cope with stress more effectively. You can't make stress go away, but you can find ways to manage it well, and a healthy, well-balanced diet is a big part of the solution.