Need a lift – naturally – every day
Are you feeling tired and run down? Have you been working hard lately, or may be burning the midnight oil a little hotter than you should have? Is your life filled with stress, a word that is bandied around in today with great abandon, it is just a case of too little sleep, or that something is missing in your diet? There are a multitude of causes and there are a multitude of mediums to give a little ‘buzz’ back to your life. Some options include charka rebalancing – cleansing of your bodies subtle energy centres, cleansing of your aura or simply selecting your foods more carefully.
Choosing carefully also means that you understand a little about what is in your selection. Carbohydrates (cakes, muffins, coconut pudding, cookies) are one of the quickest ‘pick me up’ because they contain simple sugars. However this quick lift can be a quick fall also, so perhaps not the wisest of moves. Complex carbohydrates (wholegrain breads and pastas) contain chains of sugars that have to be broken down before they can be used, meaning that they provide a more sustainable level of energy that will take longer to dissipate.
Choose foods that provide a sustainable energy level. Wholegrain foods are one of the best ways to go. Brown rice, oats, wholegrain pastas and breads. Vegetables or more specifically, root vegetables area also a good source of carbohydrates - carrots, turnips, potatoes and the English favorite white carrot or parsnip will give you a ‘lift’. Broccoli, cabbage, lentils and soy beans will also do the trick. Other gourmet delights that come into the ‘lift’ category are fresh fruits including bananas and pineapple, and also perhaps a few items that you may think are a little strange in this list, oily fish and even walnuts.
With all of these items as with most things in life, there is a good side and a bad. For now we will be concentrating on the good side. Fresh fruits in addition to carbohydrates also contain good levels of water, are low in fat and high in fibre. If your diet is a little lax in the fibre content, you may not be as ‘regular’ as you should be. Fresh fruits especially with their water and fibre contents can assist with this problem, but fruits also contain a wealth of vitamins and minerals, and are high in antioxidants. To avoid any counter productivity on the health aspect of fruit, always choose organic, if it is available.
Avoid foods which are high in salts, sugars, fats or alcohol as these will only slow you down across the day. If you think about this, you know it only too well. After a ‘heavy’ meal laden with fats, you will often fall asleep, where as if you have a lighter meal filled with raw vegetables, you will come to life. The theory here is simple – ‘dead’ foods leaves you ‘dead’, where as ‘live’ foods will give you life.
So choose fresh salads (without the heavy clawing dressings), lightly steamed (not sautéed or deep-fried) vegetables, wholegrain foods (preferably ones with low refined sugar levels) and avoid those obviously fatty foods. You have been told many times that a baked potato is healthier for you (providing you do not top it with too much butter or sour cream) and it is definitely much lower in fat than the ubiquitous French fry and know you know why. The fat element only serves to slow you down.
This is not to say that you have to eat only raw vegetables, steamed fish and vegetables and leave out the desserts, ice-creams and French fries, but you have to eat everything in moderation. As mentioned earlier, if you eat foods full of life, then you will be too, but if you miss out a little and really need a spoonful of sugar to ‘lift your day’, then go for it, but remember the faster it goes up, the quicker it comes down.
Everything in life is moderation.