Lightness of Being Holistics

04/09/2021

The mind-gut connection.

Emotions are felt in the gut. When we are nervous or anxious, where do we feel it first? I feel it in my gut. The sensation of fluttering in our stomach when something happens, such as a first date, or the first day of a new job, or a near miss while driving. What about the feeling in your stomach just before you take a big test, or just a “feeling” you may have about something? This is the mind-gut connection in action.

The enteric nervous system governs the function of the gut. It links our brain and gut via hormonal, neural, and immunological pathways. They are termed the gut-brain axis. We have a large nerve, called the vagus nerve, that serves as a superhighway between the brain and the internal organs. It is one of our biggest nerves and connects from the base of our brains to our stomach. The vagus nerve controls the body’s response in times of rest relaxation and influences the immune system as well as oversees other bodily functions such as mood, digestion, and heart rate.

Our gut microbiome causes changes in how our brains react. Many other neurotransmitters such as dopamine, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, and GABA, which are critical for anxiety, mood, reward, concentration, and motivation, are produced in the gut.

Feelings like anger, sadness, anxiety, and elation can trigger the stomach and intestines to release hormones and chemicals. They enter your digestive tract, where they interfere with digestion and gut flora as well as decrease antibody production. When we are upset, the first physical feeling is in our gut.

The healthier our gut, the more stable our emotions. We need a healthy gut to help support and regulate our emotions. In today’s world, we need all the natural defenses we can get. Remember to eat fresh foods and prepare meals from scratch without any processed ingredients. Healthy belly, happy mind, and vice versa

04/09/2021

Emotional Eating and Your Weight.

Emotional eating is using food to make yourself feel better in the moment. Many of us reach for food to soothe and suppress negative feelings. Emotions such as boredom, fear, stress, anger, sadness, and loneliness can make us reach for and justify poor food choices.

Major life events, or maybe just the stresses of everyday life can trigger emotional eating. This can derail your diet and disrupt your weight loss efforts. After indulging in something unhealthy as the result of a crisis, the original emotional issue remains, followed by guilt or shame.

Emotional eating can become a real problem for some, causing binge eating and weight gain. It is a habit that, for me, was hard to break without outside help. Talking about my eating patterns with someone else helped me to see areas where work needed to be done.

We know what a diet of processed foods can do to our physical health. Too much fat, salt, and sugar can cause a series of health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and addiction.

Eating emotionally increases our serotonin levels. Serotonin is a brain chemical that elevates mood. When we eat emotionally, we feel calmer and more relaxed. What we eat can affect the way we feel. Eating processed food can make us feel bad physically, as well as affect our emotions. Who hasn’t felt bloated and depressed after eating too much of something they shouldn’t be eating in the first place?

People who eat a poor-quality diet high in full-fat dairy, processed meats, refined cereals, fried foods, and sweet desserts are more likely to report symptoms of depression than those who eat a healthy diet.

The mind-gut connection.

We all have felt the sensation of fluttering in our stomach when something happens, such as a first date, or the first day of a new job, or the instant feeling of upset if you have a near miss while driving. What about the feeling in your gut just before you take a big test, or just a “feeling” you may have about something? This is the mind-gut connection in action.

The vagus nerve serves as a superhighway between the brain and the internal organs. It is one of our biggest nerves and connects from the base of our brains to our stomach. The vagus nerve controls the body’s response in times of rest relaxation and influences the immune system as well as oversees other bodily functions such as mood, digestion, and heart rate.

Feelings like anger, sadness, anxiety, and elation can trigger the stomach and intestines to release hormones and chemicals. They enter your digestive tract, where they interfere with digestion and gut flora as well as decrease antibody production. When we are upset, the first physical feeling is in our gut.

You are what you eat, right?

The saying “You are what you eat” is literally true. Each cell in our body is replaced in about seven years. The new cells are made from the food we eat. What is on your plate will be a part of you soon after you consume it. It is very important to consider what you eat. Many of us seem to have a disconnect between what we eat and what it does to our bodies.

“You are what you eat” refers to the idea that food can control a person’s health positively and negatively. Eat a well-balanced diet and feel good. Feel energetic and focused with happy digestion. Eat processed junk and feel bad. Feel bloated, have brain fog, indigestion, and mood swings.

I read a literary definition that said, “To simply put it, food defines your physical and mental character.” The health of your gastrointestinal tract affects the quality of the messaging from mind to gut. An unhappy gut can result in psychological and cognitive problems such as ADD/ADHD, depression or mood disorders, anxiety, and brain fog.

The kinds of food we eat can affect our emotions. For me, eating processed, high sugar-starch foods, makes me feel anxious and angry, and then I want more. Most of our serotonin is produced in our GI tract. Our GI tract is also lined with a hundred million neurons and the function of these neurons, and the production of serotonin is determined by the billions of good bacteria in our intestinal microbiome.

A poor GI tract could lead to trouble controlling weight, kidney problems, asthma and allergies, migraines, heart disease, arthritis, and joint inflammation, or autoimmune disorders.
The better quality of food we eat, the happier our digestive tract, the more serotonin we produce, the happier we feel.

You are what you think you are.
Can you think yourself thin? Absolutely! Can you think yourself fat? I did. Every negative thought I had fed my obesity. I never had a kind word for myself and would eat junk food as a punishment. Once I turned that around, the extra weight came off on its own.

Studies have shown that people lost weight at a faster rate who felt supported and had a more positive and “healthy” attitude. As women, we can be so very critical of our bodies. We constantly compare ourselves to others and find fault where there is beauty. These are just bad habits that need to be broken.

Think yourself thin. Tell yourself positive things. Think about what a healthy body needs to stay that way and begin doing those things. After so many years of inner negativity, try inner positivity. Say nice things to yourself and ditch the critical voice.

Healthy emotional eating?
Can I eat emotionally in a healthy way? Of course! Controlling emotional eating by resolving the root cause is ideal, but if you do run for the kitchen when something comes at you, chose foods that will improve your mood.

Instead of eating junk food, try eating oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and high-fiber grains like whole-wheat pasta to help your body release serotonin. Eggs provide protein that helps stabilize blood sugar. The yolks contain B vitamins, which can lessen the severity of symptoms of depression.
Nuts, especially walnuts, contain high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, which support brain health. Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds contain magnesium which has been shown to boost levels of serotonin. Cold-water fish also contain omega-3 fatty acids. Low-fat dairy contains vitamin D, and calcium and both contain peptides that promote feelings of well-being and relaxation.

I keep healthy ingredients on hand and have a list of things that I can whip up in a hurry if I feel I need to eat to self-soothe. Eating because of an emotional event can be the lesser of evils when I consider the alternatives. Life can throw some hard balls. Dealing with them can be different for everyone.

Emotional eating can be friend or foe depending on how you use it. Fighting it may lead to poor judgment and embracing emotional eating may only enable it. So, enable it if you must, but make better choices when shopping. Do not allow processed foods in your home! Have real foods on hand to prepare something that will satisfy any mood and not wreak havoc on your physical and mental health.

Next time you turn to food as a panacea, try preparing something for yourself that will satisfy your needs and help improve your mood. Preparing something to eat can also be a distraction from the situation. If you can, eat mindfully. Focus on food as medicine.

Understanding the cause and effect of emotional eating may help you to control it. Instead of fighting the need to comfort yourself with food after a stressful event, embrace it. Remember the mind-gut connection and that our emotions are tied to our digestive system.

Consider the foods you eat and how they affect your body. If we make good choices, food can be nourishing and help us to feel good, with no lasting effects other than good health. If we make poor choices, it can satisfy us now, followed by lasting effects on our physical and mental health.

Negative thoughts should not perpetuate eating to soothe. If this is a coping mechanism for you, use it in a way that is the least harmful to yourself. Last week, my new computer died. I lost what I was working on, which was a big deal, and now I must ship it off to be repaired. Who knows how long it will take for me to get it back?

Instead of jumping in my car and rushing to the nearest gas station for powdered sugar donuts, I made and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which made me feel better and calmer with no after-effects like guilt, indigestion, or shame.

It really is all in your head. You are what you think. Try thinking yourself thin by coming up with alternative ways to handle situations where you may use food to cope, and if you do use food to soothe, choose healthy food. Eat foods that will help lift your emotions, keep you healthy, and provide you with the comfort you are seeking. There are ways to self-soothe that do not involve ingesting things. Let’s discover them.

21/08/2021

Why do we eat the way we do? We know we eat healthy foods to be healthy. Do we intentionally eat junk food to make ourselves feel bad, or do we have a maddening craving that must be satisfied? When I crave potato chips, a single chip can become three bags of three different flavors and maybe some onion dip. I have to be careful.
My gateway drugs are sugar and salt. I became a chef and eating fast food (which is rampant in professional kitchens by the way) was done secretly, like in the car. I was baffled by my cravings. I was a classicly trained chef. I could cook prepare anything and what I wanted was fast food. Mostly tacos. Food companies have engineered processed foods to hit our reward circuitry fast and hard. The mere touch of sugar on the tongue will travel to our brain in half of a second. There is sugar in breast milk and baby formula. We are hardwired to crave it. The speed at which it excites the brain and the faster it hits our reward circuitry, the stronger its impact. If we eat bad foods compulsively, we can create an addiction.
In the early 1980s, Phillip Morris bought Kraft and General Mills and began applying the same tactics to sell food as they did to sell ci******es. Then, the big food companies began buying the diet companies. It’s all one big scam. Investigate your cravings and know that they are not your fault. Deal with them in the same way as you would an addiction. Use distractions, like taking a walk, journaling, or being accountable to someone. Withdrawal symptoms and cravings will fade away as you continue to eat healthy foods.

18/08/2021

The saying “You are what you eat” is literally true. Each cell in our body is replaced in about seven years. The new cells are made from the food we eat. What is on your plate will be a part of you soon after you consume it. It is very important to consider what you eat. Many of us seem to have a disconnect between what we eat and what it does to our bodies.
“You are what you eat” refers to the idea that food control’s a person’s health. If you eat healthily, you will feel healthy and if you eat junk, you will feel like junk. Sugar rushes followed by fatigue. And then there’s bloating, indigestion, and weight gain.
You are what you eat and if you are overweight, it is clear to you and those around you that something in your diet is making you that way, or maybe you have a medical problem. Some people blame their extra weight on things like medications and genetics. While those things can promote weight gain, for most of us, we simply eat too much.
Food defines your physical and mental character. A well-known saying by French lawyer and gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin says, “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.” He understood the relationship between man and the food he eats. How we prepare and consume food varies widely amongst countries and cultures. In America, it seems we do everything we can to destroy food, put it back together and then package it for sale. Then we purchase and eat that food assuming it is good for us because it claims to be.
Eat only fresh foods. Cook from scratch. Shop only the perimeter of the market and avoid cans, boxes, and processed foods. Your body will thank you.

15/08/2021

Every journey towards achieving a healthy weight is unique. Some people have been on several weight loss journeys that always end the same, with them back at their original weight (or more). There are many different reasons people choose to lose weight. Some may have had a medical diagnosis, such as diabetes and their doctor is recommending weight loss. Some may want to look and feel better. And, some may have finally had enough of the rollercoaster and decided to approach weight loss from a different angle.
There are many different ways to lose weight. Just check out the diet section of a book store. So many different styles of eating and plans to create weight loss. Increasing exercise will help you to lose weight. Following a medical diet and taking weight loss medication is another way to lose weight. Bariatric surgery, a lap band, weight loss camps, fasting, hypnosis, the list goes on.
Before setting off on another journey, try thinking it out first. Make a plan. Start with small goals. You may want to lose say, 50 pounds, so set a goal of 10 pounds and see how you feel when you get there. If you are doing well, keep going and try for another 10 pounds. Breaking weight loss into smaller amounts makes it more achievable.
For me, nothing changed until I changed. When that happened, the real journey began. One without a shiny cover, or restrictive meal plan. I simply recognized patterns in my life that needed to change and I changed them. That’s where the work was. My diet fell into place once I eliminated the things that were driving me to eat.
Try journaling about your journey. Recording how you feel along the way can be supporting. Only you know what you are feeling. Find an online support group, or follow nutrition blogs, something to connect you with others who may share their own experiences.

14/08/2021

Change your mind, change your weight. When trying to lose weight, mindset matters. Focusing on positivity, and practicing mindfulness could help you lose more weight than dieting alone. Why are you dieting? Has your doctor recommended that you shed some pounds? Are you losing weight for yourself or someone else? I was always trying to lose weight for reasons other than my health.
If I feel bad for overeating or making a poor choice, I begin to feel less than and use poor food choices to cope and punishment of sorts. Over the years, one diet followed another. My weight went up and down and never stayed steady for more than a few months.
My self-talk was very negative and my positive talk sounded like, “When I am a size 8, I will be happy. Everything in my life will be better.” Well, it wasn’t, I was unwell and very weak. My cravings and triggers to overeat were still intense. Every day was a battle. I believed losing weight was just about diet and exercise, which lead to failure again, and again.
Then, I changed my mind. Suddenly, I knew what the problem was, everything! I committed myself to take back my power. As I slowly worked on different areas of my life, my perspective towards food changed.
The reasons for overeating were going away. I lost weight as well as most of the long-time cravings. I changed my reasons for eating. I eat for myself now. I do not eat at anyone or anything. My triggers are still there but have dulled to almost nothing. I easily maintain a weight I never thought possible.
According to WebMD, there are 8 ways to think thin:
1. Picture yourself thin.
2. Have realistic expectations.
3. Set small goals.
4. Get support.
5. Create a detailed action plan.
6. Reward yourself.
7. Ditch old habits.
8. Keep track.
Try simply thinking and visualizing yourself thin and see what happens.

While there's no getting around the need to exercise and eat healthier, long-term weight loss starts in your head. Experts say that having the right attitude can help you think yourself thin.