A few years ago I started gaining a lot of weight without any change to my diet or exercise level.
Around this same time my constant nausea spiked higher than I had ever experienced before (I have suffered with what can only be described as "morning sickness" for about 10 years now, it doesn't effect my life too much as I've learned how to deal with it but occasionally you will find me throwing up in to the nearest public trash can...I love that for me.)
I love eating, and I'm pretty good at it in a social capacity. If I'm out and about with friends or family, it is most commonly around a table, eating. If someone else controls the food, I'm happily eating, but when I'm in control things tend to go a little obscure.
For starters, I only tend to eat once a day. To make matters worse, on a typical work day this isn't until about 9pm and it tends to be something I've ordered because those New York City cliches I picked up run deep!I am constantly running on empty and because I have done this for so many years now, my metabolism feels pretty much nonexistent and I am never hungry. I have lost count of the number of instances coworkers have pointed out that they have never seen me eat.
A doctor a few years back was obviously very distressed by this. She informed me that this was the reason I was gaining weight, my body was constantly starving and holding on to every single pound. This didn't make much sense to me at the time, but I do notice that when I force myself to eat breakfast for a span of a few days or weeks I start to drop the weight quite constantly.
I digress.
This post isn't about weight.
This post is about my brain.
Recently I've been reading a lot of blogs and articles about the idea of food truly being the fuel our bodies need. As mentioned a few posts back, I suffer from anxiety. I constantly feel like my body is working against me, and I want to trial the idea of using food to help combat this.
Today I decide to base my grocery list around foods that were recommended to help combat anxiety. These items are pretty aligned with a that of a typical healthy diet (vegetables, fruits, fatty fish....you know, all the stuff we have been told for years and years is the key to health, groundbreaking) but there are also some items I wouldn't normally purchase. Things like Brazil nuts (rich in Selenium, which is a supplement I used to take a few years back), pumpkin seeds (A good source of mineral zinc), dark chocolate (can I become that person who only eats a small square a day to reduce stress, let's find out!) and kimchi (fermented food is apparently great for the brain, who knew!)
I plan to combine all these items with a commitment to eat more regularly and pay closer attention to keeping my body fueled. Fingers crossed these two combined will help me find that extra gear I've been swiveling around blindly looking for.
A few years back Kylie Jenner was mocked pretty mercilessly for branding the upcoming year her year for "realizing stuff." She pointed out that everyone around her was spending 2016 figuring shit out. Well I turn 26 this week, and I've decided to channel some Kylie energy and brand my 26th year (Technically 27th year, but you get the idea) my year of realizing stuff.
Let's see how this goes.
