Food and Anxiety

About a year ago, I started accepting the fact that something was up, that how I was feeling didn't fall within a "normal" (for lack of a better word) emotional spectrum. I started going to therapy and after a few sessions, I asked my therapist what she thought of me. She told me I definitely have anxiety. She said I am very tightly wound.

A few of my friends had started making some major changes in their diet for one reason or another. As I was talking to one of them she said that she did an in depth study of the Word of Wisdom and got some very clear instruction for how she needed to change her family's diet. That got me thinking, and praying. You know the phrase "you are what you eat"? Well, as I thought about things, I felt like the food I put into my body probably has a lot more to do with how I feel than I was giving credit for. I started lightly researching food and emotional health, with not much luck. So then I felt like I needed to study the Word of Wisdom, like my friend had.

As I studied, I also received specific instruction for what I needed to change in my eating habits. Mainly, I needed to add more variety and increase my consumption of vegetables. I jumped in with both feet and it lasted for about a month. But I was pregnant and we were on a grad student budget. Once I saw how much it cost to eat that way, I went back to the way we ate before with the idea that we would jump back in when we started our post-doc and I was no longer pregnant.

We started eating more veggie-heavy meals after Aveya was born, and have been ever since. I didn't put the two together, but my anxiety was also pretty low. Well, we went on vacation for 5 weeks and my diet drastically changed. By the end of the trip I was an emotional mess, and this week (the first full week we've been back) I've been one big ball of anxiety and nerves.

Again, I didn't put the two together till maybe yesterday. But I think I have received a confirmation that I am what I eat, and I can attest to the fact that I feel better when I eat better. For me, it comes out in my emotional health, for some others it may come out in energy or something else.

So here's to healthy eating, and getting back into the swing of eating better.