Do you think eating sugar, candies and pastries can make you stressed? I'm sure you've noticed the connection, but if you haven't, please be informed that the 'pickup' you think you'll feel from a candy bar really gives you a big-time low. If you feel a pick up, feel it quickly because soon you will be thinking, “Wow, what happened to me? I feel sooo tired?”
Eating the right kind of carbohydrates not only gives you real energy-it supplies the kind that doesn't create depression or stress. It actually supplies nutrients that result in a mental and emotional pickup as well as a physical one. The right kind of carbohydrates is grown by nature. Have you ever picked, in any garden, a piece of cake or a candy bar? Of course not! You can, however pick fruits, vegetables, and whole grains which are filled with nature’s energizing complex carbohydrates
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, veggies, whole grains, nuts and seeds. On the whole, they are high complex carbohydrate, low fat and low 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 the muscles, for about three hours. When you feel tired, you've probably hit the wall physically and mentally because you’ve used what you've eaten and it's time to replenish yourself.
When you eat nature’s food the way nature grew it, you become energized instead of stressed. Look at what you are eating. Does it remotely resemble the way it was picked? Is it a potato that looks like a potato-or is it in the form of a French fry? Does it look like a whole grain-or is it in the shape of a wet noodle? Have you ever picked a piece of pasta? No, because nature doesn’t grow pasta any more than it grows a French fry. I call it paste-a since that is what pasta really is – white flour and water. If you attended preschool a few years ago, you would know it makes excellent paste. When you eat pasta, it’s like paste in the bowels which can clog up your system. When you eat whole grains which are prepared properly, they provide complex carbohydrates and are a excellent nutritional support to the body.
You can actually control your stress and your moods by making wise choices about the foods you give your physical body. One way is to eat breakfast! You wouldn't ask your car to take you very far if it didn't have any fuel. The least you can do is to treat your body as good as your car. Eat several small meals throughout the day to supply your body with steady nutrients. This will maintain a healthy metabolism.
Another thing to remember in eating to keep the stress away is to put a rainbow on your plate by serving different colored foods. Research shows that the very pigments that give fruits and vegetables their vibrant colors are disease fighters. Scientists now say that the actual color compounds themselves, not only the foods that contain them, are among the best things you can put in your body. Several years ago, scientists didn’t know most of these phyto (plant) chemicals existed. Now we know that certain colored foods benefit specific organs and system.
Nature made your body. Eat the foods grown by nature to nourish your body!
