Photo credit: Lauren Giuliani
Last week I was scrolling the gram when I came across a post by the Holistic Psychologist,
also known as Dr. Nicole Lepera. Dr. Lepera shared a post discussing how the rising cost of food is a mental health issue.
While I can agree with part of her sentiment, I have something to add to that.
The health and wellness space including the nutrition world online often contains information such as how much healthier organic food is, how much more nutrient-dense grass-fed and finished beef is. How we should only consume foods grown within regenerative agriculture practices. This list could go on forever……
While this is true….. not everyone can easily relate to information like this.
Not everyone will resonate with learning about more nutritious food versus the standard things they are used to like pasta, bagels and cereal.
I keep hearing people talk about how overwhelming it is, especially at first to try and buy all the right things.
I see people struggle the most when they try to change everything they eat all in one shopping trip rather than over time.
They skip the part where they learn about their body’s individual needs.
What foods help them feel their best.
The macro ratios that work best for them.
They just think that radical change is the answer.
It’s not always the case.
The problem here is that as soon as the average human being feels overwhelmed with “shoulds” and “have-to’s” they are more likely to shut down, not changing a thing.
In this case, they will continue to eat the same processed foods that are making them tired, sick and unmotivated.
Perpetuating the cycle…….
All of this to say that the overwhelming amount of nutrition information on the web can also be contributing to a mental health issue.
If you have ever felt bad about not buying the organic produce, chicken and eggs. About feeding your kids conventional dairy products. Over not buying the grass-fed steak then you may understand WHY this is a problem.
I feel the need to stand up and say it….. Do the best you can with what you have.
Even before I began NTP school I started learning bits and pieces of nutrition information and making changes as I was able.
It definitely was NOT all at once.
And yes, it was quite overwhelming to learn that while I thought certain foods were healthy they were in fact absolute garbage.
The more I learned, the better I did.
The more I learned the more changes I made over time as I felt comfortable.
If you follow along on social media you may have even heard me talk about eggs before.
Eggs were like my gateway drug into whole foods and nutrient-dense eating.
I forgot how, but I learned the profound difference between conventional eggs and pastured eggs and I was shocked!
I couldn’t believe there was such a big difference in the nutrition in a conventional egg versus a pastured egg.
What gives?!?!?
This is a lot of info and will have to be it’s own separate post, but for context I will say a pastured egg is when the chickens are roaming the grass and land and eating their natural diet, not the grains that they are so often force-fed to rapidly produce eggs for sale. Eating their natural diet and in their natural habitat rather than a constricted cage leads to healthier chickens and therefore healthier eggs.
Back to the actual point here, (lol! I do get sidetracked easy!) what I hope you take away from reading this article is that it’s ok if you feel overwhelmed with the amount of information out there.
It’s ok to feel a bit stressed and to take a step back.
I have noticed that some people think they must change every single thing about their diet and lifestyle all at once resulting in mental health issues.
Even food anxiety is potentially a mental health issue, if you weren’t aware.
I can definitely see how a person could become anxious over what they are eating or not eating after they have listened to all the videos about food.
Take a step back if you need to. Do what you need to do so you can feel empowered around your food choices.
Come back to learning about nutrition when you are ready.
This is not a race to the finish here. Taking care of your health is a daily practice, it’s not perfection.
You do NOT have to keep up with all the influencers out there.
Just for the record….. I’m sure many people talking about food or wellness online have no business doing so!
Some steps you can take today to help ease that feeling of overwhelm around food:
1.Take a step back. Seriously, take a couple days, a week or however long you need to feel better around food anxiety. When you are ready to learn more about nutrition and eating well to support your body’s needs, come back to learning, slowly. Understand that you don’t have to do all the things and learn all the things right this minute.
2. Evaluate your priorities around your health. Why do you want to learn how to eat better?
In what ways do you feel you will benefit from changing what you eat?
How do you plan to go about changing your meals in a way that feels good to you?
3. Reject the idea of restricted eating. Seriously. In the year 2024 food restriction is out and balance is in. Nobody benefits when you restrict your diet and are miserable and cranky.
**Fun fact here, many studies have shown that when a person goes on a very strict diet and exercise regimen to lose weight that they tend to gain that weight right back after stopping the diet and then some. In other words rapid weight loss can result in re-gaining the lost weight and more, thus leading to feeling bad about one’s self. Prevent this by aiming for sustainability and daily habits rather than crash diets.
4. Pay attention to how different foods cause you to feel. How do certain foods affect your energy? Your mood? Your motivation? Consider starting a food diary to gain insight into which foods help you feel your best versus which foods make you feel sick. Make changes accordingly. You can go more in depth on this topic in Food First.
5. Evaluate your thoughts around what you eat. It’s been proven over and over that persistent negative thoughts lead to negative results. The house-plant example for instance: A researcher had 3 house plants and each day he would say either a negative thing, a positive thing or ignore it. The house plant that was told the positive things thrived and the others not so much.
If you are constantly telling yourself how unhealthy you are or how it’s no wonder you’re fat because of what you eat, then just imagine what would happen if you did the opposite?
Make sure you’re following along on all the socials for even more learning opportunities. @Cherisabbhealth
Thank you so much for reading, I wish you all the best!
Cheri
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