First everyone said Dairy was the culprit of all inflammation in our body. So food manufacturers began making dairy free cheeses and yogurts, meanwhile everyone began to go dairy free.
Then, we heard that was Gluten was the cause of inflammation. If you are experiencing any sickness, disease, or pain – just get rid of gluten.
Now, we have all these conflicting studies on Soy… And to be completely honest, most of the research is flawed. No one is talking about the demographics of where they are studying soy (because of course Asian kids who grow up eating soy do better with it than a 40 year old man who just introduces it).
So where does that leave us?
Well, I can tell you where it left me. And left so many others…
With a laundry list of foods you cannot eat because you don’t want them to make you sick.
Over 12 years ago I began experiencing health and digestive issues… I went to a doctor, and they suspected gluten was the root cause.
Come to find out, I was celiac, and eliminating gluten did help a TON! (But, see this post for the true story behind gluten).
Until it didn’t.
I began to develop more “unknown/unsolvable” health issues, and every doctor had a new food that they believed was the root of all my issues. And when I say I heard it all, I mean, it ALL.
- Gluten
- Dairy
- Soy
- Lectins
- GMO’s
- Sugar
- Grains
- Fruits
- Processed food
- Beans
- Corn
- Red meat
- Saturated fats
- Unsaturated fats
- Brassicas
- FODMAPS
So I find that typically at this point, people go one of two ways…
- They say, “ There is NO way that I can keep up with this, and I am going to eat whatever I want since it’s all bad for me anyway”
or
- They say, “I’m so determined to find the cause of my health concerns, that I am just going to eliminate it ALL.”
I went with the latter.
I eliminated anything that I thought could make me sick, and was left with a small list of a few foods that I believed would not make me sick.
Fast-forward a few years, I had an eating disorder and was deathly afraid of every food and every calorie, and seeking to find control in every area of my life, because I have now exhausted my control of food.
I’ll never forget going to in-patient treatment, showing them my list of “cannot eat foods” and sitting down the first day to gluten free pasta covered in unknown sauces with a high calorie drink on the side.
Just looking at that pasta gave me a panic attack.
I was so programed to think that carbs (even gluten free ones), non-organic, covered in some “mystery oil”, with hidden fats, containing night shades, and a drink filled with sugar, probably GMO, and most likely containing some form of corn syrup and processed ingredients were going to kill me.
I quickly learned that they didn’t.
And more importantly, I quickly learned that in reality, it wasn’t even really about the food…
Here’s the thing friends,
You can eat as HEALTHY as you want. You can sit down with an organic kale salad and if you truly believe that it will make you sick, it will.
I had grown to believe that food, no matter what it was, would make me ill and would make me fat. The fear I was carrying within my body, was actually the real root to my stomach pains. Aka a common form of STRESS.
It’s interesting, because instinctually, our bodies know.
Some of us are better off staying away from gluten, or dairy. But what I see too often, is we are giving our power away.
We are giving our power away to doctors, assuming that THEY have the answer for us. They will help us find the bad food, the magic pill, or the miracle cure.
But they don’t address the underlying stress.
So when it comes down to it, the #1 thing causing us to actually experience inflammation in our bodies, is STRESS.
And this is why so many people are not finding true healing…
We believe that the doctor has the cure but when we leave our appointment, we go back to our daily hectic and chaotic lives. Because while the doctor may lead you to the cure, at the end of the day, it comes down to us.
What I learned during my journey was I had to release my control. I had to learn to see Food as Medicine, even if it wasn’t something I personally would have chosen. To express love, and gratitude for something I did have in my life, and place that on to my meal.
Seeing Food, as chemical or toxin laden as it may be, as love.
As medicine.
As healing.
This is how we heal.
Releasing stress, as we acknowledge that it is not serving us.
We live in a world where we consume food in the car on the way to work, eat when we are depressed/sad/fighting with our partner, and skip meals so that we get so hungry we can’t help but binge on everything in site.
Sound familiar?
ALL of these acts initiate a stress response in our body.
Our body cannot properly digest food in this state. We’ve all heard of our “rest and digest” and “fight or flight” aka the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system.
If we are in our flight or flight (sympathetic) state, a few things happen:
- We store fat
- We get an upset stomach, bloat, diarrhea, constipation, etc.
- We don’t absorb our nutrients – thus leading to nutritional deficiencies, weight gain, and inflammation in our body
SO many of us have nutritional deficiencies in today’s world, and so while I advocate Food as Medicine, if we aren’t absorbing the nutrients from our food, all of that food and nutrition is going right through us without much benefit.
And I’ll tell you right now – simply shoving vitamins into your body is not the solution.
Our bodies know, and won’t put up with that. Nor should they.
Many of us have heard by now about the gut-brain axis, which has helped researchers understand just how psychological or social stress causes digestive problems. What they found, is that when the body is stressed, digestion slows, or even stops, so that the body can use that energy for the perceived threat.
However, what happens over time when the stress levels stay elevated, is we develop:
- Inflammation
- Food allergies
- Skin conditions
- Adrenal fatigue
- Thyroid imbalances
- Hormone imbalances
- Insulin sensitivity and diabetes
- And so much more…
We have got to put an end to the stress.
So how do we do it you ask?
Stay tuned for part two: My Personal Tips for Managing Stress that actually work
