You Are What You Eat
Let Me Ask, Do We Know How What We Eat Is Affecting Us?
Brain Health
Did you know that your brain uses more energy than any other organ!
Did you also know that what we eat affects how we feel and who we are, especially our emotions and lifestyle, like depression, anxiety, and our memory functions like dementia for example.
Many foods can affect our brain function, even in their most simple form. An additive which we are all aware of, is MSG, Monosodium Glutamate. Myself especially, as you will by now know, I am a Migraineur, and as such, MSG is my nemesis! Why is this? It is actually a poison, a toxin which acts on the nervous system, which in turn encourages nerve cells to fire more rapidly and more frequently. Basically, the brain cells are overstimulated, and all this rapid firing means a migraine may result. In children this could mean an emotional outburst perhaps, which is where ADHD comes in.
However, as with many things in food these days, these ingredients are very difficult to identify as they come in all different guises.
What should we do?
Bottom line is we want to protect our brain and brain health so we need to eat more protein. Protein breaks down into amino acids, and in turn makes a key neurotransmitter called dopamine which is incredibly important for focus and memory.
In addition, the brain is approx. 65% fat, so good fats, omega 3 especially, are very good for our brains, so we need to support this by eating good healthy fats. Egg yolks are perfect for our brains, as well as nutty butters and avocados.
Gut Health
“Death begins in the colon“ - Élie Metchnikoff
Extensive research shows that Children with brain, immune and gut disorders which are interlinked, are also being affected with disorders such as ADHD, allergies, depression, delays in learning, behaviour problems, and some chronic illnesses. There is no surprise then, that these groups are also found to have a poor diet, low in nutritional values.
I have to admit, I have seen on many occasions scenes such as a young child mis-behaving with the parent struggling to keep control and though the child is very young, they are drinking ‘liquid candy’ as I like to call it, a sweet fizzy drink, and I have seen very young toddlers in pushchairs eating crisps and sweets. Is it really no surprise then that obesity hit an all time high among 10 and 11 year olds in 2019, over 20% being obese, when we are conditioning our very young children to these very high in sugar treats? What are we doing to our children?
What If We Set Ourselves A Task?
The next time you talk to a young person, ask them what they ate last, it’ll give you an idea of what is going on and, if you would like to go a step further, quiz them on some foods, I guarantee they’ll not know what you’re talking about. It’s very sad, and we need to determine what our priorities are, I think as a nation we focus on all the wrong things.
What does it all mean?
What it comes down to it, what you put in, is what you get out - the basic philosophy for everything. When we load our bodies full of carbohydrates which are high in starch and high in sugars, it makes us sluggish and tired, and eventually too much of these bad carbohydrates, turn into sugars which in turn cause us to be fat.
Fats, good healthy fats, don’t cause us to be fat. Sugars cause us to be fat. A high intake of bad carbohydrates, and especially sugar, will weaken our immune function too, and now more than ever we need to ensure our immune systems are functioning at their optimum levels.
It is my opinion that we should eat everything in moderation. Good carbs, like fruit and veg are good for us, and even the breads and the pastas can provide energy for the body. We will know when we’re not burning the sugar into energy and it’s getting turned instead into body fat as it will sit in the tummy area, as this is where the problem will first start. Our bodies not using those carbohydrates as they should leads to obesity, because it means we are not using the insulin hormone efficiently, leading to insulin resistance, therefore leading to obesity.
It’s not difficult to follow a good healthy lifestyle and its not boring at all. In fact it is absolutely scrumptious (can I use that word and still keep my credibility?) - the problem is discipline actually. If we don’t get ourselves into a good enough cycle, eating the right foods at the right times then we crave the wrong foods. Our body, brain chemicals quite literally crave sugar and encourage us to grab the nearest junk food we can get our hands on for energy and satisfaction. That’s when we look for that food, buy it, and eat it as usually this is a quick fix alternative.
The good thing about protein is it keeps us fuller for longer and stops us from craving those high sugar foods throughout the day.
So if we are what we eat then we need to seriously start to think more about the foods we are putting into our bodies because the food industry are too slow to act for us, so we need to take ownership.
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