Last week in class, we were discussing stress and how it can affect our balance, and the importance of being in our parasympathetic nervous system (rest & digest) not our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight).
But, did you know that what we eat can also affect whether we are in our parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) or sympathetic nervous system (SNS)?
Wow, that is worth pausing and thinking about….
We already know that if we eat foods such as refined sugar/bad fats, i.e. inflammatory foods, these spike our insulin and make us hungrier and crave even more of them……
But did you realise that consuming these foods actually contributes to us being in our SNS (fight or flight mode)? The raised cortisol and adrenaline, poor balance, poor spatial awareness etc that we talked about last week?
Let’s not forget how addictive refined sugar is, add it to bad fats and you have one of the most addictive combinations to man!
Have you noticed that once you start eating these types of food, you just keep wanting more and more?
Have you also noticed that when you are feeling stressed, you reach for these addictive foods, and after a very brief high they just make us feel worse?
But we crave more and more, keeping us in that cycle of a high level of stress.
The food industry has known for years how addictive refined sugar and bad fats are: that’s why they are in almost all processed foods!
Makes sense for them to keep us all addicted and buying more and more of these products!
How do we think our bodies can cope with being in a constant state of stress, permanently operating from SNS???
They can’t!
Most of us are aware of how stress has such a detrimental effect on our bodies, but have you ever thought of how it affects the mind?
When we are stressed, we operate from a negative/fixed mindset – anger, cynical, intensely emotional and reactionary, comparative, envy, overly analytical, judgemental, worry, poor decision making etc etc.
High refined sugar and bad fats have a terrible consequence for our bodies and minds.
If you wrote down how much refined sugar you consumed in a week, you would be shocked: it’s in everything! Tinned veg, baked beans, tinned pulses, sauces, ready meals, healthy snacks (!), bread, anything low fat, not to mention the obvious biscuits, cakes, chocolate and alcohol.
So, if you seriously want to reduce your stress and start being in your PNS, then you have to reduce your refined sugar intake. Remember it is highly addictive, so start with one small achievable step and build from there.
Why not decide to stop eating chocolate for a week, use raw honey and fruit to give you some natural sweetness. Then cut out biscuits as well the following week, cakes the week after etc etc.
If you manage a month without refined sugar you will be amazed at how great your body feels, ow clear your mind is, and you might have even lost a few pounds along the way 🙂
Go on, give it a go – you’ll love being in your parasympathetic nervous system – it feels fabulous 🙂