Today’s blog is more of an open discussion and I’d love for you to comment. This way we can get to know our bodies better. We can recognize and understand that our bodies manifest a multitude of signals to let you know what you just ate caused a visceral reaction. I know people can have many different physical reactions. With Thanksgiving behind us and the rest of the year filled with holidays, it all means FOOD! So, let’s open the topic today about how these foods make our bodies feel from the inside out.
Let’s start with me. I was so looking forward to having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with most of the fixings. For some reason, I had glorified stuffing in my mind. I must have had it once and it was the be-all-end-all but Thursday night I put a hefty mouthful and immediately felt nauseous!!! It was so strange! I took another bite of stuffing a few minutes later after turkey and potatoes and again experienced nausea. It was my body’s way of telling me this was way too rich for me. There was nothing wrong with the actual stuffing everyone else ate it and had no reaction, it was just me.
The next day was my boyfriend’s sister’s birthday and we took her out to dinner. She ate greasy potato skins with cheese and bacon, a “salad” topped with deep-fried chicken and she came home and got sick! (I have her permission to tell you this)
The reality is that food is energy, nutritious, and delicious. Food can also be also heavy, dense, and overpowering. Experiences like this are lessons on how we can stay in homeostasis most of the time by putting foods into our bodies that make us feel energized and pleasantly full. Signals from our very smart bodies come in many forms. I’ve experienced stomach aches, bloating, gassiness, sleepiness, and now nausea. I think the important thing to know is that these feelings are temporary and paying attention to these signals is what is going to keep you feeling good most of the time.
Now I know that maybe stuffing isn’t my best choice for my body or maybe it was the combination of the stuffing, potatoes, and chocolate cake! I can decide next year if I’m going to try it again or not. That’s the beauty of knowing and trusting my body, I have choices on what I eat.
We can now ask ourselves why we do this to ourselves every year around this time? Do we feel restricted all year long and then the holidays arrive, and we allow ourselves to eat, eat and eat? Do we feel the need to make our families happy and eat foods we really don’t like or know that these foods won’t make us feel our best? Or are you simply experimenting with different foods than you normally eat? How did you discover a particular food didn’t work with you? What are some of the thoughts you have about holiday eating? Do you look forward to the holidays or do you dread them? There are no wrong answers and I’m excited to hear about some of your experiences.
Happy Eating!
Rachel