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D
o you find your energy starting to lag as your stress
rises? You might want to take a look at your diet.
There's a direct correlation between what we ingest
and how stressed we get. The people who know about these
things say the state of our health depends on what foods we
eat on a regular basis. If that's true, I used to be a potato chip.
It seems that every decade, the body gets less and less for-
giving. When you're a teenager, you have an iron stomach and
can make a meal out of Doritos and a Mountain Dew. In col-
lege, my diet was horrific and largely centered around Ramen
noodles. And cereal. Lots of cereal. In my 20s, I'd frequent
"brass and fern" restaurants. The appetizer would be some-
thing like loaded nachos piled sky high. Then came the entrée, which
was usually some sort of combination plate filled with assorted artery-
clogging foodstuffs like deep-fried mushrooms and potato skins.
Everything was smothered in sour cream. If I ate that now, I'd be in
bed for two days with a food hangover. But when you're young, you
don't limit this or avoid that. Your daily caloric intake is based on
taste, and what you eat doesn't affect your energy level at all.
A lot of the food I eat now is basically considered "medicine." Like
salad. And Greek yogurt, which is essentially fermented milk that's
been heated and mixed with two types of live bacteria —
Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. Those
Greeks sure know how to party.
I give an inordinate amount of thought to how much roughage is in
my diet. My brother and I are appalled by how often our conversa-
tions revolve around our regularity. Has it really come to this?
Food for Thought
Stave off the stress of surgery with mindful eating.
Behind Closed Doors
Kay Frances, MBA
