Salad Days - Eating for Calm

A wonderful insight today : the way I eat is often anti-calm. 

Whether I am working at home, on site with a client or facilitating a training session I tend to eat with one hand while continuing to work holding a document or typing with the other hand. My mind is not on my food, it is on my work.

Often I eat poorly - grabbing a quick snack instead of a decent midday meal. Lunch is such an important meal. I'd rather eat well during the day and very lightly at night. That just seems to be good common sense. Plus I am sure it is calming.

Breakfast is important too and frequently I don't get that happening until a couple of hours after I get up. 

There is absolutely no question that low blood sugar is a major enemy of calm. Stress hormones are triggered and it can take a while to notice. Then we tend to grab a sugar hit which makes things better for the short term but much worse for the longer term.
The Oprah site has a great summary of how to eat for good moods.

Eating well and eating often are calm promoters for me.

Lisa from Emerald made this similar salad

So, today I made a great salad that I love making and eating (a rare combination for me, I am no candidate for Masterchef!). Better yet I sat down to eat it at the dining table without work documents or a laptop in front of me and I noticed what I was eating. It was yummy. I feel so recharged now.

Easy peasy recipe. Make a cup of cous cous as per directions on pack. Take a cup of well-rinsed vegies cut up tiny - I use green beans, broccoli, and beetroot but you can also use zucchini, cauliflower, peas, carrots. Steam them and keep them crisp not mushy. Cut up half a cup of dried cranberries and raisins. Take a handful of pine nuts and toast them lightly in a fry pan to a light golden brown. Take care: Once they get cooking they burn very fast.
Put it all in a bowl and toss lightly. I love to mix in herbs and for this recipe my recommendation is fresh coriander. You may like to use parsley - the milder flat leaf may work best? Some people like a dressing - maybe a little olive oil and a splash of lemon... If you prefer, replace the pine nuts with macadamia or pecan nuts. Up to you :) 


Calm Coaching Tips: 

1. Sit down and just Eat. 
2. Do not eat at a desk or when driving/walking or multi-tasking with any other activity. 
3. Notice the flavour, aroma and texture. 
4. Chew your food well and slowly - this will help calm your digestive tract! 
5. Eat less food of better quality.