Carbohydrates

Nutritionists classify carbohydrates into two groups: simple and complex. The simple carbohydrates are the processed sugars, such as table sugar, and the natural sugar, fructose, found in sweet natural foods, such as fruit. Complex carbohydrates are the starches you find in vegetables, some fruits, cereals, and grains.

The simplest way to elevate blood glucose, which in turn would elevate insulin, with tryptophan to follow, would be to eat glucose. Yuck! Not only would you not want to eat glucose, but the effect would last only a short time as your body would produce insulin in large quantities. Carbohydrate foods can be classified by their ability to produce a reasonably fast response, however, as shown in the following table.

Notice there aren't any vegetables or salad ingredients listed in Table. That is because they're neutral. Their carbohydrate is delivered so slowly they don't count.

Response Times for Carbohydrates

Quick Acting	Candy, cookies, pie, cake, ice cream, soft drinks, sweet syrup, preserves
Long Acting	Bread (including muffins, bagels, and so on), crackers, pasta, potatoes, rice, corn, barley, oatmeal, kasha

Eating a meal that contains both protein and carbohydrate will always power the production of the alertness chemicals. However, once your brain is producing them at its normal, optimum rate, it is not going to produce more. So, an average meal wont produce any obvious change.

In contrast, if you want to slow down and be able to focus more, a meal of pasta with tomato sauce and a side salad should be your choice.

If you want to be very alert for a morning meeting or other activity, a good meal would be a broiled flounder fillet or a piece of chicken breast. Alternatively, drink a couple glasses of skim milk or eat nonfat cottage cheese.

Test yourself Try the obvious variations that come to mind. Eat a high-protein, low-fat breakfast with no carbohydrate foods. See how you respond. Are you more alert? Energetic? When do you run out of energy?

Eat a breakfast of oatmeal with a soy beverage and a bagel. See how you feel during the morning. Are you more relaxed? Focused? As quick to react?

Once you have determined your response level, you can start planning your meals to meet anticipated demands. In addition, if you have a late-night dinner, you might realize it is better to order pasta than steak.

Some people might read this and be tempted to run to the health food store to purchase the amino acids tyrosine and tryptophan in an attempt to bypass the food and cut to the bottom line. It won't work! Not only that, the possible side effects of taking extra amino acids, which include high blood pressure, could spell serious trouble.

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