Eat What You Want to Feel
It’s true what they say, “you are what you eat”. But, have you ever really stopped to think about it? I think most of us relate food to our body weight and how we look, but do we ever actually stop to think about how food makes us feel? Because for me, my biggest concern is how I feel and that, my friend, is what drives me to daily make the right choices when it comes to the food I eat.
So, yeah, we can talk all day about calories, and weight, and “all food is not created equal based on how it affects your metabolism and therefore weight”. And, I know that many of us aren’t happy with the way we look and are striving to get to a lower weight. But, can we stop that never ending dialogue for just a moment and have a conversation about how food makes us feel?
Let’s start the conversation here. Several years back, when I was going through a particularly dark time, I had somewhat of an epiphany. An “aha” moment if you will. I was in Rehobeth Beach, DE with a close friend, my mom, and some of her friends, and we were prepping to do a Polar Bear Plunge. The day before the event we were meandering through the quaint shops and boutiques in town and happened upon a book store. After a few moments of being in the store, I shifted my gaze and it fell upon a book that was on display. This may sound ridiculous and melodramatic, but, it was like a light was shining down from heaven on that book and a melodious angelic chorus of “ahhhhh!” was in the air. I was completely drawn to it. For what reason, I didn’t know. The book was Grain Brain by Dr. David Perlmutter. I picked it up and after skimming it for a moment, I made my way to the cashier to purchase what seemed to be a gift from heaven above.
In the days that followed, I completely devoured that book and I am not embellishing when I say it was a game changer for me. This book is all about how different foods, more specifically grains and gluten, affect your brain, and thus your emotional health. Now, up to this time in my life, I considered myself a pretty healthy eater. I shied away from gluten for the most part, save a bread crumb coated something or hidden ingredient here or there. But, I was eating a bunch of gluten free CRAP. That’s right, I said it, CRAP. In my mind, I thought eating gluten free made it healthy. Turned out, just because something is labeled gluten free doesn’t make it healthy, and often the ingredients used in gluten free products, corn for example, cross react like gluten in the body and still wreak havoc on your health. Now hold on for a sec, I still haven’t gotten to the most important part of the story.
See for years I had been focused on eating the right foods to keep my weight off and to keep my tummy feeling good- especially in my 20’s and even early 30’s. Sometimes that meant really crap food, but food that had little to no calories. I even limited gluten because of the potential issues it could cause in my digestive system. After reading Grain Brain though, I finally began to understand that the food we eat not only affects our weight and our digestive system, but it also directly affects our brain and emotional health. This is all about food and the inflammation it can cause in your body. Simply put, if you eat garbage you will feel like garbage.
Inflammation is the root or starting point of all health issues in the body. It will lead to “dis-ease” faster than anything else. Now, most of us think of inflammation and equate it with our joints, like swollen knees or ankles. We may even take it a step further and consider our stomach or gut being inflamed. But have you ever thought about the fact that your brain can become inflamed too? And, every time you eat a food that is inflammatory for your body you run the risk of inflaming your brain and setting yourself up for emotional issues. Make sense? Ok, good. So back to my story.
Once again, Grain Brain changed the way I looked at food and so it changed me. After that book, I got serious about eliminating all gluten from my diet. I now read all ingredients and I ask my server about food preparation and options when I’m at a restaurant. I also don’t eat gluten free garbage anymore. A sugar cookie is still sugary and full of empty calories even if it’s gluten free. If you want to enjoy the cookie, then enjoy the cookie, but please don’t think that if it’s gluten free it gives you some sort of pass, like a cookie with gluten free in the name is suddenly a health food. I digress. Listen. I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, that since I removed gluten from my diet, I have not once struggled with depression like I did previously. To be clear, not all of my emotional issues went completely away, but the biggest needle mover for me when cleaning up my diet even more was no longer suffering from bouts of depression. Even my husband (the biggest skeptic there is) noticed and he now goes out of his way when we’re out to eat to make sure I’m not being served any gluten.
Being rid of the dark cloud of depression has been one of the biggest blessings in my life. Frankly, removing gluten and other things from my diet has been a very small price to pay. I view my body as a temple and I intend to treat it that way. I don’t want to waste any time feeling like garbage, so I’m not going to eat garbage. The bonus is, when you adopt the lifestyle of “eat what you want to feel”, you’ll be surprised at how it affects your weight and physical appearance too.
With much love,
Dr. Brooke