I've had a nice productive admin morning so I felt it was time to sit back and reflect for a moment.
Recently I've been reading and researching around the link between our bodies and our mind. I don't pretend to know nearly enough on this so please don't take my word as gospel! I have been having a few minor physical health problems and it started to make me look at the effect of food on my body.
After researching online I decided to make some changes as an experiment. I decided to cut caffeine, refined sugar, gluten, dairy (with exception of natural yoghurt) and alcohol. Now, this was really hard and I didn't keep it up longer than 2 weeks! I just love chocolate too much.... Throughout this time I also exercised regularly by running and doing strength training.
The first day was hard, I felt very tired and that I was lacking in energy. I'm a fairly healthy eater in general and seemed to settle into the diet in a few days. Over the next week I noticed something really interesting. I became so much more energetic and alert and these levels stayed consistent throughout the day. Also I found myself just so much more at peace with things, stresses were put on me but they didn't affect me like they did previously.
I recently found a new podcast 'The C method' and was drawn to a particular episode about anxiety (link at bottom of the post). In this podcast Sam Taylor talks about how she beat her anxiety not through medication but from a more holistic approach (please don't stop medication abruptly and ensure you follow your Doctors advise before trying anything!).
She believes there are '5 pillars' that will help you beat anxiety; exercise, sleep, nutrition, meditation, self care. This podcast seemed to come at the right time for me, I thought nutrition could play a role on mental health but I didn't realise to what extent. My few weeks of eating well massively effected my mental health, I felt clearer in my mind, calm and content. Others around me noticed that I seemed brighter and less effected by stress.
I'm back on the healthy eating and plan to keep it up long term (not fully restrictive as cant live without chocolate!) and just be more mindful about whether I'm eating things for my health or maybe overindulging. If anxiety is dominating your life, it might be worth looking at things holistically, have a listen to the podcast and think about maybe how you could incorporate some of these things into your life.
The C method Podcast (available on Spotify):
https://www.thecmethod.com/podcast/standoutgetnoticed/beat-anxiety-good-238/