THIS IS A FILLING, LOW GLYCEMIC, NUTRITIOUSLY DELICIOUS MEAL and I made it up all by myself…oooh, so yummy
1 lb of Soba noodles
1 or 2 lbs baby portabello mushrooms, cubed into bite sizes
2 cups of raw spinach leaves
2 medium yellow onions, diced in bite sizes
2 cloves of garlic
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp allspice
¼ tsp pure ground red chillies or ½ jalapeno pepper
1 ½-2 inches of Fresh ginger, peeled and cut into large cubes
½ cup lemon juice
1 bunch of scallions
½ tsp ground black pepper
¼ cup tamarind sauce
6 oz. Firm Tofu cubed
8 Jumbo shrimp, peeled and cleaned, leave tail on
1 cup Vegetable broth or 3 cubes
1. Mix vegetable broth, ginger, and lemon juice with 6 cups of water and bring to boil.
2. Boil soba noodles for 5 minutes, drain, rinse and place in ice cold water. Let sit.
3. While above is boiling, place garlic and onions into the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. If using the fresh jalapeno instead of ground chillies, add the jalapeno here. Fry until onions are translucent. Place mushrooms into the mix and pour 1/8 tamarind sauce over them and toss in the skillet. Cook mushroom mix for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Place tofu into mushroom mix and pour the remaining tamarind sauce over mix. Add coriander, allspice, and black pepper.
5. Add spinach to mushroom mix. Stir until leaves shrink.
6. Remove mushroom and onion mix from heat and add to the boiling broth water.
7. Drain Soba noodles from ice water and add them to broth.
8. Add scallions and ground chillies (unless you used the jalapeno above) to soup.
9. Add shrimp. Continue to heat soup until shrimp is cooked…approximately 1-2 minutes or until red.
10. optional, add tamarind to your taste. Eat with chopsticks!
Makes 6-8 servings.
A good rest has always been called beauty sleep—but how about a lean body sleep?
Research shows that individuals who are not sleep deprived have an increased capacity to lose weight and keep it off. Sleep reduces stress hormones, important for fat loss and in maintaining good metabolism.
Sufficient rest and recuperation effectively reduces our stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol has many functions. It helps the body use sugar (glucose) and fat for energy (metabolism), and it helps the body manage stress. Cortisol levels can be affected by many conditions, such as physical or emotional stress, strenuous activity, infection, or injury. When we are sleep deprived, cortisol levels rise. Cortisol controls our appetite. When cortisol levels are high, it can often make us feel hungry even when we have eaten enough. It also raises blood sugar and insulin levels and results in increased fat deposition around the abdomen. To further complicate the situation, high cortisol can negatively affect our sleep patterns, making it difficult to fall or stay asleep when we finally do go to bed. This increase in stress hormone also has detrimental effects on other aspects of our endocrine system, like thyroid gland function which governs our metabolism.
Normally, cortisol levels are very low at bedtime and at their highest just after waking. This pattern will change if a person works irregular shifts (such as the night shift) and sleeps at different times of the day. Cortisol levels are also affected by pregnancy, physical and emotional stress, illness, hyperthyroidism and obesity. Certain drugs can also increase levels, particularly oral contraceptives (birth control pills), hydrocortisone (the synthetic form of cortisol), and spironolactone. Adults have slightly higher cortisol levels than children do. Hypothyroidism may decrease cortisol levels. Drugs that may decrease levels include some steroid hormones.
Cortisol production regulates your immune system on a 24-hour cycle. This is why many times congestion or your cold or flu symptoms get worse at night. As cortisol levels drop at night, your immune cells become highly active. The immune cells kill large numbers of bacteria and viruses, causing greater mucous production. As a result, you experience more congestion and coughing as your body attempts to get rid of the mucous.
At daybreak, when cortisol levels rise, the activity of the immune cells tapers off. The immune cells then reset and recondition themselves in preparation for the next nightly cycle.
Problems arise when cortisol levels are out of balance-say, when you fly to a different time zone-thereby compromising the cycle of immune function.
While cortisol is an important and helpful part of the body’s response to stress, it’s important that the body’s relaxation response to be activated so the body’s functions can return to normal following a stressful event. Unfortunately, in our current high-stress culture, the body’s stress response is activated so often that the body doesn’t always have a chance to return to normal, resulting in a state of chronic stress.
To keep cortisol levels healthy and under control, you can learn to relax your body with various stress management techniques.
Sleep is a most valuable and restorative resource that is vital to wellbeing and stress management. Unfortunately, stressed and busy people tend to get less sleep than they need. Overthinking and anxiety can make sleep difficult and wake you up at night. Anxiety keeps your mind busy as you imagine threatening scenarios and become preoccupied with finding solutions. That racing of your mind can rob you of sleep by keeping your levels high, making sleep harder to achieve.
Sleeping problems are almost always involved in mental disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, as well as head injury. And symptoms are strongly influenced by the amount of sleep a person gets. Difficulties may arise from the drugs used to control symptoms of a disorder, or from changes in the brain regions and neurotransmitters that control sleep.
You can make lifestyle changes in order to keep your body from reacting to stress in the first place. Involve yourself in things such as yoga, writing in a journal, exercise, listening to music, dancing, guided imagery, sex, breathing exercises, gardening, cleaning, building, and creating art. All of these things are proven to be helpful in relaxing the body and mind. Experiment and find something that works for you, then DO IT on a REGULAR BASIS. It could be as simple as just taking a walk around the neighborhood for a half an hour a day.
Most of the time, people do not consider what they had to eat that day when they are feeling down, but it really has an impact. Our food choices are so powerful to the way our bodies and mind function. They regulate our blood sugar levels, which affect our moods. Foods that are made of processed and simple carbohydrates such as candy may help someone feel better in the short term, but actually cause the person to “crash” shortly thereafter. Making wise food decisions, especially when your feeling stressed out, or having an afternoon snack, can make a big difference in how you feel the rest of the day.
To help achieve a good mood from your food, keep the following tips in mind:
Reach for complex carbohydrates when your feeling stressed out or want a snack will help boost serotonin levels and give you a nutritional edge.
Foods that help keep you on the path to a good mood include fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, brown rice, and lentils. Reduce the amount of refined and processed foods you consume, which include crackers, bagels, white breads and pastas, soda, fruit juice, cookies and candy. Such foods will not help to keep your blood levels regulated, which can lead to unfavorable changes in your mood. Try to include some form of protein with each meal or snack, which will keep you feeling better for longer. Ideal choices include low-fat yogurt, seafood, tofu, and eggs. Getting enough Omega-3s in your diet can help keep you in the right frame of mind as well. You can get them through walnuts, fish and ground flaxseed.
Other nutrients that help improve mood include folate and vitamin B12. You can get those from whole grain cereals, wheat germ, broccoli, lentils, oatmeal, shellfish, and fortified soy milk.
Reduce the amount of caffeine you consume, especially if its closer to bedtime. Caffeine can have a huge impact on one’s mood, not to mention also prevent you from getting adequate sleep, which definitely impacts your mood. Too much caffeine can make you irritable and quick tempered.
Beyond diet, getting enough exercise, access to sunlight (15 minutes/day), and relaxation also helps to keep you feeling good mentally.
Spend a week tracking how you feel an hour after each meal and you will be surprised to see the impact that food has on your mood. If you want to stay in a positive frame of mind, start with what you are eating each day.
CATEGORY GCI RATING
PASTA
Fettucine, 6 oz 45
Linguine, 6 oz. 52
Macaroni, 5 oz. 47
Ravioli, meat, 4 large 39
Spaghetti, wheat, 1 cup 37
Spaghetti, white, 1 cup 44
Spiral, durum, 1 cup 43
Tortellini, cheese, 8 oz. 50
Vermicelli, 6 oz. 35
Lasagna, beef 47
SNACKS, DESSERTS, and MISCELLANEOUS
Vanilla wafers, 7cookies 77
Sponge cake, plain, 1 slice 46
Snickers candy bar 55
Pretzels, 1 oz. 83
Potato chips, 14 pieces 54
Popcorn, 2 cups 72
Pop tarts, chocolate, 1 tart 70
M&Ms peanut chocolate candy 33
Granola Bar, chewy, 1 oz. 61
Graham crackers, 4 squares 74
Doritos Corn chips, 1 oz. 72
Oatmeal cookie, 1 55
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