Whether we're feeling blue, working against the clock or cooking up a little romance, food considerations ineviably come into play. Everyday, we make dozens of decisions regarding"what to eat," based not so much on what we're hungry for, but on what will "do the trick".
Here are some cases in point - food prescriptions for special situations that can tip the balance in how you feel or perform.
Make a chocolate shake, It will set you back 320 calories but amazingly, only five per cent of those calories come from fat.
You've just finished a course of antibiotic treatment - Replenish the good bacteria in your gut with yogurt. For best results, be sure the yogurt contains active Lactobacillus acidophillus cultures, check the label.
You're ravenously hungry. Began your meal with minestrone soup. A lot of research over the years suggests that soup can help tame an out-of-control appetite.
Researchers speculate that, with all its liquid, soup takes up a larger volume of space in the stomach. Also, most of soup's calories come from carbohydrates are more satisfying.
You're rocking on a boat. Suck on crystallised ginger. |Ginger is an important agent in combating nausea.
NOTE: Eating ginger candy may be inadvisable if you are pregnant; check with your physician.
You feel a migraine coming on. Have a couple cups of coffee. Coffee "addicts" can get clobbered with caffeine-withdrawal headaches when they quit cold turkey. But for those who take it in moderation, a strong cup or two can abort a migraine in the making.
Migraines are usually caused by the dilation of blood vessels, and caffeine constricts blood vessels. For best results, swallow an aspirin or other mild analgesic along with a caffeine-laced drink.
You crave potato chips. Switch to lightly salted pretzel chips. They're crunchy like potato chips, but that's where the similarity ends. Potato chips get about 60 per cents of their calories from fat, pretzel chips are only about 15 per cent fat.
You've been struck by Montezuma's revenge. Whip up a banana-orange blender drink. Getting the runs is no fun.. But your condition could deteriorate even further if you don't replenish lost fluids and important nutrients.
From this standpoint, orange juice has it all - water, vitamins,minerals and calories. To make a good drink even better, blend in a ripe banana. Banana are are an excellent source of potassium, which diarrhoea often depletes from the body. Plus they contain pectin, a form of fibre which absorbs water like a sponge.
Your growling stomach won't let you fall asleep. Peel into a banana. It's guaranteed to satisfy, yet it's easier to digest than many foods.
You're giving a keynote address. Sip a tall glass of water. According to Dr George I Blackburn, chief of the nutrition/metabolism laboratory at New England Deaconness Hospital, Boston, water is one of the best remedies for stress. Drinking water can help prevent dehydration, counter-acting the dry mouth, sweaty palms and heart palpitations that accompany high anxiety.
You've got a three-alarm fire raging in your mouth. Swish your mouth with milk. Contrary to popular practice, water won't squelch a hot-pepper burn. Capsaicin, the chemical component that gives red chillies their bite, is actually dispersed by water, so flushing your mouth with it is likely to spread the fire. Whole milk makes a better fire extinguisher because the milk fat absorbs the capsaicin.
You've got a cold Take out an order of Chinese bot-and-sour- soup. Chicken soup, researchers tell us, is a powerful expectorant; that is, it promotes mucus flow, which eases congestion. They speculate that breathing the vapours helps open clogged nasal passages and consuming the liquid thins the mucus so it readily drains.
You're really hot. Spring for some spicy hot chilli. Eating spicy foods helps dilate blood vessels, making you sweat. Ans sweating is part of nature's body-cooling mechanism; as perspiration evaporates, your skin temperature drops.
You're rushing from the office to the gym for a 7pm workout. Pre-treat with a sports drink. After a long day at work, your stomach may say "eat". But eating too much before you work out can cause stomach cramps. So drink something instead. Drinking a good sports deink right before exercising can provide some carbohydrates for energy, plus lots of liquid and some minerals that you're likely to lose in sweat.
Keep in mind too, that once you start working up that sweat, your appetite will naturally wane due to increased blood circulation.
You're feeling blue. Curl up with a cup of your favourite tea or frozen yogurt, then take a walk. You can't binge away the blues. But unfortunately. many people think they can. This is the bad time to give to your cravings because you can overeat and end up feeling more depressed than when you started.
It takes about 10 to 20 minutes for the carbohydrates in the yogurt to enter your bloodstream. So by the time you return from your walk, your desire to binge will be purged.
You're snack-happy. Seek out a street vendor selling roasted chestnuts. With about eight per cent of their calories from fat (compared with over 70 per cent for most other nuts), chestnuts make a deliciously healthy, high-energy snack.
You're breast-feeding a finicky baby. Indulge in a garlic-lovers' feast and maybe a side order of garlic bread. According to a recent study, babies actually suckle longer at the breasts of mothers who consume garlic, which contains highly detectable sulphur compounds.
You want to gain some weight. Lunch on peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches (on whole-grain bread). You can gainweight eating ice cream, chocolate bars, potato chips - all the foods that are taboo if your cholestrol level will shoop up faster that your weight does.
For healthy weight gain, focus instead on foods that are naturally high in calories and fibre but low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
Bananas are calorically dense and contain virtually no fat. Peanuts are also leaded with calories. Although most of them are fat calories, the fat is mono-unsaturated, which appears to be heart-healthy when eaten in moderation.
You overslept and don't have time for breakfast. Whip up an instant fruit 'n' oatmeal smoothie. For brain power, weight control and all-day energy, there's no meal more important than breakfast, nutritionists insist. So don't shortchange it; just shortcut it.
Always keep a few peeled banana halves along with an assortment of other fruit in the freezer. Then if you hit a daybreak time crunch, toss a frozen banana half, one-half of a frozen ripe persimmon, abo
ut a half cup of frozen berries or other frozen into a blender. Add a cup of low-fat or non-fat milk and two tablespoons rolled oats. Whirl until frothy; pour into a tall glass, and dust with cinnamon or nutmeg. Voila: a high-fibre, high-energy breakfast.
You're planning a little romance after dinner. Dine on grilled shrimp with wild rice. A candlelight dinner sounds like a romantic notion. But too often the dinner can kil the romance. The onions give you gas, the garlic fouls your breath and the wine puts you to sleep. Instead, complex carbohydrates, like rice, can provide the energy to keep you going till that last good-night kiss.
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