"STRESSED" is DESSERTS spelled backwards
Do you think that eating sugar, sweets and cakes can stress you out? I’m sure you’ve noticed the connection, but if you haven’t, keep in mind that the “recovery” you think you’ll feel from a candy bar really gets you low. If you feel an increase, feel it quickly because soon you’ll be thinking, “Wow, what happened to me? I feel so tired.”
Eating the right kind of carbs not only gives you real energy, it gives you the kind that doesn’t create depression or stress. It actually provides nutrients that result in mental and emotional as well as physical recovery. The right kind of carbohydrates are cultivated by nature. Have you ever picked up a piece of cake or a bar of chocolate in a garden? Of course not! However, you can choose fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that are packed with energizing complex carbohydrates from nature.
Nature made your body, so let’s take a trip to the garden to see what nature grows as food for your body. There are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. In general, they are high in complex carbohydrates, low in fat, and low in protein. Nature must know something. That something is that complex carbohydrates are the fuel for your muscles and your brain. Carbohydrates provide glycogen, fuel for the brain and muscles, for about three hours. When you feel tired, you’ve probably hit a wall physically and mentally because you’ve used up what you’ve eaten and it’s time to replenish.
When you eat nature’s foods the way nature grew them, you’ll be energized instead of stressed. Watch what you’re eating. Does it look remotely like the way it was cast? Is it a potato that looks like a potato or is it shaped like a potato chip? Does it look like a whole grain or is it shaped like a wet noodle? Have you ever picked a piece of pasta? No, because nature doesn’t make pasta any more than it does French fries. I call it paste-a because that’s what pasta really is: white flour and water. If you attended preschool a few years ago, you would know that it makes excellent pasta. When you eat pasta, it’s like pasta in the bowls that can clog your system. When you eat well-prepared whole grains, they provide complex carbohydrates and are excellent nutritional support for the body.
In fact, you can manage your stress and mood by making wise choices about the food you feed your physical body. One way is to have breakfast! You wouldn’t ask your car to take you very far if it ran out of fuel. The least you can do is treat your body as well as your car. Eat several small meals throughout the day to provide your body with constant nutrients. This will maintain a healthy metabolism.
Another thing to remember when eating to keep stress away is to put a rainbow on your plate by serving different colored foods. Research shows that the same pigments that give fruits and vegetables their vibrant colors fight disease. Scientists now say that the actual color compounds themselves, not just the foods that contain them, are among the best things you can put in your body. Several years ago, scientists did not know that most of these phytochemicals (plants) existed. We now know that certain colored foods benefit specific organs and systems.
Nature made your body. Eat the foods grown by nature to nourish your body!