You Think What You Eat
We have all heard the expression "you are what you eat." Most people find this idea easy to understand and relate to. If one eats more fatty foods and foods with high sugar contents, then it follows that some percentage of those fats and sugars will find their way into our bodies, not simply pass through us. Maybe some extra weight will be gained, arteries will become clogged or our cholesterol levels will increase. This idea that we become what we eat is now common knowledge and hard to contest. But there is another side of food and its effect on us that is less explored and perhaps more subtle; the way it affects our thoughts and emotions.
Almost everyone can relate to what a sugar buzz or caffeine high feels like. These changes in perception and mood are the direct result of eating or drinking something that has a rapid and noticeable effect on us. But apart from obvious examples like these, what about other foods? Food is our primary source of energy, it is our fuel. This energy is used by and processed within the body in many different ways. Yet all of it is ultimately eliminated from our system in one form or another. Some of it is excreted, perspired or exhaled. Some of it is used on a cellular level or for movement, speaking, laughing etc... However a huge percentage of this energy is used for thought processes and emotional responses. In that sense everything we eat affects our mental and emotional condition and it is the quality of the energy (food) we consume which directly affects the way in which it is eliminated. In terms of mental health another way to express this would be to say that extreme foods and drinks will produce extreme thoughts and emotions.
Extreme foods are hard to balance. Without putting any thought into it, our body's own natural intuition will try to make a crude equilibrium with these types of food. The only problem with this process is that it is easy to create a see-saw, pendulum like swing between extremes. In today's world this tends to be a wide swing between animal food and refined sugars. After eating a steak we tend not to want more steak but instead something sweet or possibly alcoholic; some apple pie and ice cream or perhaps a glass of wine or beer. We don't tend to think much of these simple cravings but what the body is instinctively trying to do is strike some sort of balance between extremes and is reaching for the easiest means to achieve this. This cycle is often perpetuated through a lifetime of eating habits.
In addition to the many physical health problems that can arise from eating this way, mood swings, anxieties, depression and far more severe mental and emotional conditions can result. So what constitutes an extreme food? In a nutshell, the further food is from being whole, unrefined and plant based, the more extreme one could consider it. A way to further break this down would be to look at food in terms of concentration and degree of refinement or processing. Sugar for example is very refined. An entire sugar cane plant will go through a very complex process to produce a pure, white, spoonful of sugar. Sugar is simply lots and lots of just one type of molecule; sucrose. A steak however is very concentrated. A cow requires approximately 16lbs of grass to produce 1lb of meat. In a sense one could say that the cow is simply highly concentrated grass.
So how does one go about navigating the vast array of different foods available to us today and make healthy, balanced choices? Some general guidelines are to eat primarily:
- Vegetable quality food (whole grains, fresh vegetables, beans and sea vegetables)
- Whole foods that are not refined or processed
- Foods that do not contain artificial chemical flavors, colors or preservatives
- Locally grown food (or food that is at least from the same climate zone)
- Organic or non-genetically modified food
Some additional, more specific dietary guidelines can be found in the document below, and many delicious recipes are available on this site:
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