Tuesday, August 19, 2014

What You Eat = How You Feel

The older I get, the more I make the connection between how I feel based on what I eat. When I was younger, I was aware of calories and the nutritional value in foods, and I tried to eat “pretty healthy.” However, I didn’t make as much of a connection between how what I ate made me feel and that there are overall healthy foods that do not work for my body.

I’ve always known that eating a big, fresh salad “felt good” and that when I ate other foods, for example bread or eggs, I didn’t feel so good. Yet, for some reason I didn’t investigate how individual foods made me feel until I did my first Conscious Cleanse almost two years ago. I also never considered not eating the foods that made me feel not so great. Why I didn’t even consider stop eating foods that made me feel bad is still a mystery to me today…

When I visited my family in July, I made some food choices that were not so good for me (even though I ate overall healthy foods with plenty of vegetables and just an occasional “treat food.”). I drank some coffee, wine, and ate a bit more sugar than usual. And those foods and beverages certainly had an effect on how I felt. Coffee makes me feel on edge and makes my natural tendency to worry worse. Wine contributes to mood swings and more often than not makes me feel somewhat “down” or sad the next day. Sugar, even “natural” sugar in fruits, makes me feel always hungry – a feeling I truly don’t like.

When I came back from my trip, I had some eggs, which my body can’t digest and was left with a tummy ache. Yet, I had eggs on more than one occasion. I also know that small amounts of gluten snuck into my diet. Gluten not only gives me a stomach ache but also contributes to “brain fog” and a general feeling of not being well.

It took me feeling really terrible to decide that it was time to truly clean things up again because not feeling as well as I can is just not an option. Plus, if I don’t feel well, I’m sure it’s not good for the insides of my body either.

So it’s back to warm lemon water, green smoothies, big, colorful salads, grilled fish, and grass-fed beef. Plus, there will be a bit of cheese. Feeling as good as possible sure tastes great!

Here is an example of a recent, simple, delicious lunch that left me feeling good: Portobello mushroom, spinach salad, and Caprese salad.

Feel Good Lunch

Questions: Do you actively investigate how what you eat makes you feel? Do you sometimes eat/drink things that don’t make you feel your best? Why or why not?
 
Be well,
Andrea