Jesse Sartain Relaxation Techniques Utilizing Food

Relaxation techniques involve working without stress and menu choices that promote relaxation as a problem solving technique.

Working without Stress -
Jesse Sartains father taught him easy to learn and easy to implement techniques to promote relaxation on the job. In the kitchen, for example, he learned to stand with his feet spread apart with his body relaxed from the neck and shoulders down. Also to focus on relaxed hands and joints, especially the knees. Utilizing relaxation techniques can be coupled with implementing a menu of food choices to bring relaxation and an absence of stress.

Utilizing Food for Relaxation –

What you eat affects your state of mind and your body state. Some foods can act as stimulants, while others may relax you. By understanding these foods and their effect on the body you can use different foods to help you stay alert, gain energy, sleep better at night, and so forth.

We are all aware of the heavy sedated effect of eating turkey or a big bowl of pasta, but we may not know why. Triptophan-containing foods have an amino acid that the body uses to produce seratonin, a neurotransmitter that slows nerve traffic to the brain. Conversely, foods that make triptophan less available to the brain can disturb sleep.

Eating carbohydrates with triptophan-containing foods makes more triptophan available to the brain. Eating a high protein meal with fewer carbohydrates may keep you awake. Here’s how it works:  a high carbohydrate meal stimulates the release of insulin, which clears the bloodstream of those amino acids that compete with triptophan. Another amino acid, tyrosine perks up the brain, so you can eat foods containing both triptophan and tyrosine and the way you combine foods will determine which of these will be more readily released to the brain to produce more or less seratonin or melatonin (both relaxers).

Here’s some tips to make this knowledge work for you:

1.  For students and working adults, high-protein, medium carbohydrate meals are best eaten for breakfast and lunch. For dinner and bedtime snacks you want to eat complex carbohydrates with a small amount of protein that contains just enough triptophan to relax the brain.

2.  An all carbohydrate diet, especially one high in junk sugars will keep you from sleeping. This has the effect of plummeting your blood sugar follwed by the release of stress hormones, which keeps you awake.

3.  Introducing calcium helps the brain use triptophan to produce melatonin. This is why that warm glass of milk is prescribed to help you sleep.

Here is a list of foods and their effects:

Sleep Foods

High in triptophan, the sleep inducing amino acid.

• dairy foods: cottage cheese, cheese, milk and ice cream

• soy products: soy milk, tofu and soybean nuts

• seafood

• meats

• poultry, especially turkey

• whole grains

• beans

• rice

• hummus

• lentils

• hazelnuts or peanuts

• eggs

• sesame seeds or sunflower seeds

Bedtime Snacks

High in carbohydrates and calcium and medium to
low in protein, these foods also induce sleep.

• apple pie and ice cream

• whole grain cereal with milk

• hazelnuts with tofu

• oatmeal and raisin cookies with milk

• peanut butter sandwich with ground sesame seeds

Best Dinners for Sleep

Meals high in carbohydrates and low to medium protein to help you relax and get restful sleep.

• pasta with parmesan cheese

• scrambled eggs with cheese

• tofu stirfry

• hummus with whole wheat pita bread

• seafood pasta and cottage cheese

• meats and poultry with vegetables

• tuna salad sandwich

• chili with beans (not spicy)

• sesame seeds sprinkled over salad with chunky tuna or chicken and whole wheat crackers

Note that lighter meals are more likely to give you a restful night of sleep. High fat meals and large portions prolong what your digestive system needs to do and gas production may also keep you awake. Some people find that garlic, spicy or highly seasoned foods keep them awake, especially if they suffer from heartburn or acid reflux. It sometimes helps to eat your evening meal early so that you don’t go to bed with lots of intestinal, digestive work to do.

Foods to keep you Awake

Caffeine-containing foods and others that promote alertness and wakeful brain activity

• Coffee (fifteen minutes after downing a cup of coffee your level of adrenaline begins to rise, which triggers an increase in heart and breathing rates as well as urinary output and the production of stomach acids)

• Chocolate – contrary to popular belief, chocolate is not high in caffeine, in fact, many chocolate products containing dairy have been found to be relaxing.

• Tea – besides switching to decaffeinated teas, you might try brewing your tea to a milder strength and then recycling the teabag to brew a second, less strong cup.

These food and beverage ideas are guidelines that will help you to keep your mind and body states in a more desirable state. You may also find that trying different foods at certain times of the day will be an enjoyable experience.