The Food Mood Connection
Have you noticed that consuming too much sugar gives you an automatic zip of energy but after a short while you are ready for a nap? What about eating a slice of Grandma’s apple pie and the feeling of comfort, warmth and love that encircles your senses. We all know that eating too fast will cause digestive upsets. But did you take into account that eating particular foods might also have the same consequence for you? Our energy throughout the day should be fairly consistent but dips and spurts could be an indication that there are blood sugar imbalances. These imbalances may be easily resolved through the investigation of your dietary habits.
Unfortunately the vast majority of us go through the motions of eating without ever taking a few moments to make these important yet often neglected connections. A simple exercise to build awareness around how food affects our mood is to keep a food-mood diary.
A food diary denotes the items that you consume throughout the day. A mood diary denotes the feelings that come up for you throughout the day. Put them together and you’ve got a food-mood diary!
You will probably will not notice anything in particular while you are eating a certain food. That is why it is crucial to check into your body several hours after a meal, snack or even beverage. We all know that those energy drinks give us a quick-fix. It’s the heart palpitations that come later which clue us in to the disturbances taking place in our body from the drink consumed earlier in the day.
Making these connections might be instantaneous but there may be grayer areas that need to be explored with a nutritionist like myself who has experience working with individuals and seeing these patterns on a constant basis. Certain foods will deplete the body of key nutrients and this can often be missed. Foods eaten on a consistent basis may build up a sensitivity within the body. Other foods consumed in large qualities might be so contractive that they produce a lot of anger within your emotional state. While the opposite can occur when food are too expansive. They might produce a spacey feeling where you have difficulty concentrating.
A food-mood diary will get you started in the right direction. Most people find themselves eating healthier when they keep track of their dietary intake. Water consumption may seem high but once you track it on paper, it is lower than you thought. Then a light bulb goes off and you realize why those headaches are now something of the past!
To Your Health!
Alison Held
Nutritional Consultant and Health Coach
www.healthfuldirection.com