Nutrition for Troubled Times

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Nutrition for Troubled Times

By Angela Starks

http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/home/home_a.html

 

Focusing on your diet at a time like this, when families have lost loved ones,

and when the threat of terrorist attacks hangs heavy in the air, may seem like

the last thing you would want to do. It seems petty and irrelevant, or indeed it

may not occur to you at all. But ironically, in the midst of stressful times, a

little consideration about what you eat can make a profound difference to your

state of mind and your ability to cope, from lifting your spirits during the day

to helping you sleep better at night. As a nutritional counselor, I see food not

just as something to enjoy, but as a powerful medicinal tool. After all, food

contains chemicals just like drugs do, and with just a little basic knowledge we

can tap into nature’s own Prozac.

 

When we are anxious or depressed, our relationship with food usually takes a

detour to one extreme or the other. Either we tend to binge on comfort foods

(note: your ice cream may be ‘tofu’ and your chocolate ‘organic’ but that

doesn’t make them healthy) which does us no good in the long run and may prolong

our misery due to the destabilizing effect on our brain chemistry and blood

sugar levels; or else we may lose our appetite altogether and thereby miss out

on valuable nutrients that would otherwise have a therapeutic effect. The middle

ground between bingeing and complete fasting is simply to eat wisely, choosing

foods for their nutritional content rather than their fleeting tastes and

habitual associations.

 

Eating food in its natural, raw (i.e. uncooked) state is the best—and in some

cases the only—way to benefit from its full complement of nutrients and

life-giving properties. (When Hippocrates said “Let food be your medicine and

medicine be your food,” he wasn’t talking about potato chips.) But not everyone

is going to make it to 100 percent raw foodism, or even veganism, in this

lifetime. Dietary improvement is usually quite a long-term process with

long-term solutions. Having said that, there’s nothing to stop even the hardened

junk-foodie from benefiting from some raw quick-fixes at times of stress. With

these considerations in mind, I’d like to share with you a few of my favorite

remedies.

 

For stress or anxiety, juice five leaves of kale, half a head of green cabbage,

and half a head of romaine lettuce. Drink immediately, to help calm the nerves

or to cut through a dull, stress-induced headache. This drink is also a great

preventative measure; consume 30 minutes before any event that you anticipate to

be nerve-wracking. If your anxiety is persistent, drink this green cocktail each

morning to start your day and each evening to prepare for sleep. Kale, green

cabbage and lettuce together provide a sodium-potassium balance which keeps us

centered. All three contain an abundance of alkaline minerals, especially

calcium and magnesium, which have a tranquilizing effect on the body and mind.

(Many seeds and nuts are high in calcium and magnesium too.) Lettuce has a

particularly soporific quality and can even induce sleep when taken in large

quantities. Raw green leaves also have the same effect as alkaloid substances,

such as those found in marijuana—except that their more

gentle, healthy high lasts much longer. For this reason, they lift the spirits

as well as calm the nerves. If you don’t have access to a juicer or a juice bar,

try to at least eat a large green salad once or twice a day. Include plenty of

avocado and/or olives, whose fat content has a grounding effect.

 

It is especially important to maintain potassium levels in the body during times

of stress. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the food categories with the highest

potassium and lowest sodium contents, especially avocados, bananas, tomatoes,

and peaches.

 

To break a bout of the blues, eat one melon—or more if you can handle it—every

morning for breakfast. For proper digestion and assimilation, eat them on an

empty stomach and avoid other foods until lunch time. Melons are rich in the

B-complex vitamins, which bolster the nerves at times of depression and yet also

calm the nerves during high arousal states like anxiety. Basically, they have a

balancing effect, and will take you in whichever direction you need to go.

 

Spells of depression are often associated with moments of low sugar levels, so

any type of fruit can be eaten throughout the day to keep the blood sugar up.

Avoid cooked or refined carbohydrates, such as baked potatoes, French fries,

breads, cakes, and cookies, which can cause erratic blood sugar fluctuations.

The ability to use the body’s glucose stores (the form of sugar that results

from the metabolism of dietary carbohydrates) depends on the presence of a whole

host of micronutrients, especially vitamins B3 and B6, chromium, zinc and

manganese, which are present in higher quantities in food that has not been

cooked. (The B vitamins are especially delicate, water-soluble, and heat

sensitive.) Virtually any nutrient deficiency can exacerbate or even cause

depression, from a lack of vitamin C (another heat-sensitive nutrient) that may

result in lassitude and even hysteria, to lack of a B-vitamin, known as folic

acid, which may cause symptoms from insomnia to, at the extreme,

delusions. Obtain vitamin C from fresh, organic fruits—especially kiwis, citrus

fruits and berries—and folic acid from spinach, broccoli, wheatgerm, sesame

seeds and avocados.

 

We can’t talk about stress without a mention of the adrenals, those small

endocrine glands that lie just above the kidneys. The inner portion of each

adrenal gland—the medulla—is functionally related to the sympathetic nervous

system and secretes adrenaline and noradrenaline. These hormones stimulate many

body processes related to the “fight or flight” response, as well as maintain

control over numerous involuntary bodily functions, including the rate and depth

of breathing and the beat of the heart. An abnormal adrenal response, either

deficient or excessive hormone secretion, significantly alters an individual’s

response to stress. Often the adrenals become exhausted as a result of the

constant demands placed upon them. An individual with adrenal exhaustion may

feel stressed out, tired and prone to allergies, while an individual with

excessive adrenal activity is likely to have high blood pressure, anxiety,

depression, and elevated blood sugar levels (the latter can also cause

depression, thus a vicious cycle can ensue). It is therefore important to

support your adrenal glands to help them support you, and for this the key

nutrients are vitamin C, magnesium, and the B-vitamins, especially pantothenic

acid (vitamin B5). Sources of pantothenic acid include cauliflower, broccoli,

and tomatoes.

 

Last but not least: oxygen is a food too, and a potent mind-changer. So remember

to breathe. Get out into a park or take a trip to the countryside if you can,

and take some long, deep breaths. While you’re out there, engage in some gentle

aerobic exercise—actually prescribed for depression by some forward-thinking

doctors nowadays. From vitamin B6 to element O2, nature is a cornucopia of free

remedies.

 

Angela Starks is a certified nutritional counselor, specializing in cleansing

and raw foods. She practices in Manhattan and New Paltz and can be contacted at

(845) 255-7978 or nyretreats.

_________________

JoAnn Guest

mrsjoguest

DietaryTipsForHBP

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

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