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Why 'comfort foods' make us feel worse
By Wu Jiayin |
November 7, 2009, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MANY people respond to stress by eating sugary or starchy, high-carbohydrate snacks, but sometimes what are intended as "comfort foods" make them feel worse.
That's because those snacks often cause nutritional stress, thus adding to the strain, vegetarian and professional tri-athlete Brendan Brazier writes in "The Thrive Diet".
Nutritional stress is the stress non-nutritious foods cause to the digestive system.
They often require more energy to digest than they provide, keeping people in a constant state of energy deficiency and resulting in fatigue.
Brazier recommends a whole-food-based "thrive diet."
It consists mainly of natural and healthy foods that are easily digestible and nutrition-dense. The book is a helpful guide to improving diet.
Acknowledging the difficulty of giving up unhealthy eating habits once and for all, Brazier suggests a daily eating plan that's easy to follow and brings about gradual change.
According to Brazier, the basic principle is to choose foods providing high net-gain nutrition. They must provide more energy than they require to digest and assimilate.
To help readers understand, Brazier has prepared a Thrive Diet food pyramid, classifying foods into several value categories.
The base of the diet pyramid is comprised of all kinds of fresh vegetables.
The second level are protein foods, which cover legumes (beans, peas, lentils and so on), "pseudo-grains" (amaranth and wild rice), seeds, sprouts as well as simple carbohydrate fruits that are rich in antioxidants (apples and bananas).
The third level is comprised of foods providing fatty acids, essential to body and brain function, such as nuts, unrefined or raw cold-pressed oils, especially olive oil, and so on.
The fourth and last category is comprised of foods to avoid, including potatoes, squash and whole grains.
This last category is debatable since many other healthy diets emphasize whole grains and squash.
The Thrive Diet's basic concept is to provide the body with simple carbohydrates that the body easily converts to energy, since "when the body is properly hydrated, the blood is at the proper consistency, enabling its efficient distribution throughout the body."
To facilitate digestion, Brazier suggests that most foods should be either eaten raw or cooked at low heat.
High temperatures destroy valuable nutrients and promote inflammation. Use as few ingredients as possible in each dish.
High net-gain foods do more than provide energy and help reduce stress. They provide fewer calories, making calorie-counting less important.
"Regular consumption of nutrient-dense whole foods supports cellular regeneration, which rebuilds new tissues," Brazier says.
In other words, with proper diets, people can keep fit, stay healthy and even retard the aging process without the need for a lot of exercise, though regular, moderate exercise is important.
That's because those snacks often cause nutritional stress, thus adding to the strain, vegetarian and professional tri-athlete Brendan Brazier writes in "The Thrive Diet".
Nutritional stress is the stress non-nutritious foods cause to the digestive system.
They often require more energy to digest than they provide, keeping people in a constant state of energy deficiency and resulting in fatigue.
Brazier recommends a whole-food-based "thrive diet."
It consists mainly of natural and healthy foods that are easily digestible and nutrition-dense. The book is a helpful guide to improving diet.
Acknowledging the difficulty of giving up unhealthy eating habits once and for all, Brazier suggests a daily eating plan that's easy to follow and brings about gradual change.
According to Brazier, the basic principle is to choose foods providing high net-gain nutrition. They must provide more energy than they require to digest and assimilate.
To help readers understand, Brazier has prepared a Thrive Diet food pyramid, classifying foods into several value categories.
The base of the diet pyramid is comprised of all kinds of fresh vegetables.
The second level are protein foods, which cover legumes (beans, peas, lentils and so on), "pseudo-grains" (amaranth and wild rice), seeds, sprouts as well as simple carbohydrate fruits that are rich in antioxidants (apples and bananas).
The third level is comprised of foods providing fatty acids, essential to body and brain function, such as nuts, unrefined or raw cold-pressed oils, especially olive oil, and so on.
The fourth and last category is comprised of foods to avoid, including potatoes, squash and whole grains.
This last category is debatable since many other healthy diets emphasize whole grains and squash.
The Thrive Diet's basic concept is to provide the body with simple carbohydrates that the body easily converts to energy, since "when the body is properly hydrated, the blood is at the proper consistency, enabling its efficient distribution throughout the body."
To facilitate digestion, Brazier suggests that most foods should be either eaten raw or cooked at low heat.
High temperatures destroy valuable nutrients and promote inflammation. Use as few ingredients as possible in each dish.
High net-gain foods do more than provide energy and help reduce stress. They provide fewer calories, making calorie-counting less important.
"Regular consumption of nutrient-dense whole foods supports cellular regeneration, which rebuilds new tissues," Brazier says.
In other words, with proper diets, people can keep fit, stay healthy and even retard the aging process without the need for a lot of exercise, though regular, moderate exercise is important.
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