The genesis of this blog stems from my use of food as a coping mechanism for life experiences. When I was feeling dejected, low energy/unmotivated, stressed [insert any negative emotion that sounds befitting], I would turn to food. Conversely, I would also use food as a reward where eating that reward would give me something to look forward to.
My sweet tooth-loving palate is not remotely sophisticated. I always gravitated toward packaged/processed carbs like cereal, pop tarts, and cookies. Oh, how I love cereal. And maybe this sounds odd, but I always loved to eat it dry! I don’t discriminate either – I love it all – from Bran Flakes to Cap’n Crunch. None of these foods, however, were remotely satiating. The first few bites would taste divine (Cap’n Crunch lovers you know what I’m talking about!) but never satisfying. So, of course, I would eat more and delude myself into thinking I could be disciplined enough to stop eating after I consumed a moderate amount. That never happened.
I never suffered from eating disorders, but I think my experience is relatable to many. Years ago, I started making a concerted effort to clean up my diet because I was tired of using food, in my case cereal, as a crutch. Spoiler alert – I did not quickly transform into some uber paragon of health who is determined to life hack my way to 200 years old. I still kept my crutches, but tried to limit the amount of times I would indulge.
CHANGING HABITS
Fast forward to this blog. 2020 has been a challenging year for us all and it has certainly kicked my ass. I experienced an unexpected job setback and my food crutches came out in full force. When I indulged in my favorite snacks, I would feel calm and satisfied for a brief moment but would fully pay for it in the aftereffects. By that I mean mentally. If my mental/emotional states were graphed out, I would hit my lowest troughs on the days after I indulged.
(my piddling attempt at graphic design in constructing the cereal/happiness index)
Call it a “come to Jesus moment” or whatever you will, but on one particular day when I felt particularly sad and completely unmotivated, I realized that if I want to do anything worthwhile in this life and enjoy it then using food to fuel me in that effort was a huge factor I had to get right.
EATING TO FEEL GOOD ON ALL LEVELS
Recall my years-long effort in cleaning up my diet, but still unwilling to let go of my food crutches. I knew that when I cut back on those processed carbs, I felt more consistent energy and was in a better mood. This system of periodic indulgences was acceptable to me when everything else in my life was running smoothly, however, when I faced my job setback and felt overwhelmed by the stress and uncertainty of my situation, turning to those crutches only served to amplify the negative feelings. It made me realize that even though those foods offered a brief reprieve, they were not the solution I was actually seeking. What I’m seeking is a diet that’s satisfying – because I want it to be sustainable – and healthy in a way that supports my work, fitness, and overall mental/emotional state. I’ve figured out that a diet high in fat and low in carbs is optimal for me and I’m committed to sticking to this approach for however long it works best for me.
It took years of experimenting with different diet approaches, learning about nutrition, and generally remaining aware of how I felt after I ate certain foods to recognize what foods make me feel the best. I want to take my understanding and experience to provide a resource on different diets and approaches to meal plans to show how they may be useful to you.
I hope this blog provides some fodder for thought and potentially give you some ideas on changes you may want to make to your diet to optimize how you feel.
Healthy Food Better Mood 