Hi friends. It’s been one year since I gave up processed foods, sugar, flour and any word on an ingredient list I couldn’t pronounce or immediately recognize. I have good days and bad days just like anyone else. It’s been almost 2 years since I started figuring out what triggers my “flare ups” and mood swings. I still don’t have it down to a science the way I want to. For example, yesterday my children and I made a gluten-free eggnog cake. Sounds delicious huh? It was. I have everything on Pinterest:) Anyway, after eating it and drinking my tea, I began to feel weird. I got a bad headache and my throat started hurting…signs there was something that was triggering an autoimmune reaction. Later, bloating. When I woke up today, red eyes that were sticky. If you have been following me for a while, you might recall when I started putting all this together.
I was doing research on neurotransmitters and the brain…but more specifically how food triggers reactions in the stomach to the brain thus causing depression and/or mood swings that come out of no where. Anyway, that was last year and you can find it by searching for “New Year, New Brain?” over there on the side search thing a ma jig. I can’t stop researching. I probably can…but I haven’t yet. So a friend suggested a while back that I get a light box to help with my moods during the winter as it’s harder on me. Fibromyalgia flares up in the cold, there are people making things I can’t eat, and after 38 years of basically eating whatever anyone put in front of me, including sushi, it’s difficult for someone who loves food to be able to cope with what my body is doing to me. It doesn’t help that every single time we go out, no matter how hard my dad tries, he passes me the bread when we get it and I say no thank you and he keeps saying “I’m so sorry. I forgot.”
So I came across this interesting talk, and I wanted to put it out there as a reminder that there really are things we can still control without pharmaceuticals. I know that I am the rare person trying to reverse this without “drugs”, but more and more people are thinking about this I hope. So here it is, Brain Chemistry Life-hacks:
My husband was just shaking his head at me as I listened to this “guy”, you know a clinical neuroscientist, because he tells me to move more. I know exercise is important. I do. I get it. That’s why I go to yoga, but I don’t go enough. So I need to change that. I need to go at least 3 times a week. It can be 2 yoga days and 1 walking day, but it does matter. I have GOT to do better…at something I used to like doing. The mind is very powerful and we have to learn how to control it as I believe it’s the key to helping people like me fight off the diseases. Once my body is brought back into fully functioning mode, I have to take care of it better. So if you are like me, you have autoimmune diseases, fibromyalgia or anything that causes flares/pain, pay attention to what you are doing. Eating. Putting into your body. Stay away, far far away, from sugar. Do not feel bad you are not putting “cocaine” as Steve Ilardi calls it into your body…he gets to that at around 8 minutes in. Listen (as a side note, I use only coconut palm sugar or pure maple now as it breaks down differently. I also take Omega-3 supplements, mine, so see the tab Vitalize You for how to purchase what I use. Everything I take is all-natural, with no additives, and is phytotherapy or plant based.)
This is only 10 minutes and if you are having a hard time during the Holiday season, really pay attention. You can help your own moods, depression, and life. You can. So my gift to you is to think about happy thoughts, get a light box if needed, take care of yourself, go to yoga or exercise, grab a buddy, and don’t ruminate on those negatives in your head. Don’t. Experience changes the brain. Change your thoughts.
