Protein Pick-Me-Ups
I am reading more and more about the importance of healthy snacking. If you haven’t tried it, do! I use to try to eat enough for breakfast to “hold me” until lunch and then a good lunch to “hold me” until dinner. I actually tried NOT to snack as I didn’t want the extra calories. All of that has changed and I feel better and have lost weight because of snacking. I now pack my healthy snacks (hard boiled egg, celery with peanut butter and some fruit) into baggies and then into my snack pack……Icepops by Cool-it Caddy. These bags have an integrated coolant that you pop into your freezer until frozen and then ‘grab and go’. Your healthy snacks (or any heat sensitive items such as makeup or medications) are protected and kept icy cool while on the go. The bags are small enough to fit into a tote, backpack, tennis bag, golf bag, etc.
Here is an article by Jordan Rubin, author of The Maker’s Diet about the importance of protein.
Lead researcher Dr. Denis Burdakov of the Department of Pharmacology and Institute of Metabolic Science, says, “Electrical impulses emitted by orexin cells stimulate wakefulness and tell the body to burn calories. We wondered whether dietary nutrients alter those impulses.”
Healthy Snacking courtesy of listotic.com
Their curiosity led to actions. Orexin cells were somewhat elusive, but the scientists were able to target the cells in mouse brains—and then introduced different nutrients, while tracking the orexin cell impulses. They found that amino acids stimulate orexin cells, which could very well shed light on previous observations indicating that protein meals can make people more alert than carbohydrate meals can.
Interestingly, they also found (in an earlier study) that glucose blocks orexin cells, but that amino acids stop glucose from blocking orexin cells. Simply put, this leads them to believe that protein negates the effects of sugar on the cells.
Dr. Burdakov adds, “What is exciting is to have a rational way to ‘tune’ select brain cells to be more or less active by deciding what food to eat. Not all brain cells are simply turned on by all nutrients, [so] dietary composition is critical.”
Another positive attribute of protein is that, because of its amino acids, it doesn’t have much sugar in it and will, therefore, not adversely mess with blood sugar levels. Most carbohydrates, on the other hand, are what will raise blood sugar levels much more than protein does. And when your blood sugar is stable, then your energy levels can remain stoked.
Now that’s a one-two, pick-me-up punch for protein.
Start smart snacking and feel better physically and have better mental acuity. Heading into that board meeting? Better feed your brain! Take your healthy snacks to go in your Icepops or Cool-it Caddy. coolitcaddy
