What is eating you?
Your thoughts and emotions affect your mental and physical health. The upbringing and environment you grew up in have shaped how you deal with feelings, beliefs, and emotions. You may have heard a statement like don’t cry or feel sad. These statements may sound harmless, but they affect how you deal with these emotions when they come up. Everyone experiences emotions, and it is important to express them healthily. What I mean to say is that your thoughts and experiences are valid despite how others respond and react to your experiences. Sometimes you are compared to others’ experiences or compare yourself to someone else’s experience. You might feel like your experience is not valid or not bad enough. Have you ever reflected on how you truly feel without labeling an emotion "good" or "bad"?
My personal experience is to show you how unexpressed emotions affected my relationship with food. As a child, I didn’t express my emotions, and they would build up until I reached my breaking point. You may have experienced it and decided enough is enough. The suppression of emotions leads to emotional issues like low mood and low self-esteem. This seemed to be my case until I was in my late teens. The teenage years are challenging when you are navigating your path and want to fit in. The comments from family members about my body affected how I felt about my body after puberty. I thought my body had to be perfect. What is "perfect"? Is it a model-like body with a thigh gap and a toned body? I decided to eat healthily and work out at age 16. This has escalated to the development of food issues as a way to cope with life and my feelings. Unfortunately, eating disorders have a reputation for being about vanity. In reality, it is a coping mechanism to feel in control of your life and inner world to regain control. The physical aspect of unexpressed emotions is having gut health issues in the form of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) as well as other health issues. The media does affect body image perception, but it’s not the primary cause of triggering an unhealthy relationship with food. The moral of this story is that unexpressed emotions can manifest physically and emotionally and that they have to be dealt with on an emotional level. Medicinal and professional help have their place in the healing process, but it all starts with dealing with yourself and your thoughts. It may be uncomfortable, as being honest with yourself takes courage. You just have to believe in yourself that you are capable of healing yourself from the inside out.
Emotions are connected to your physical and mental wellness. The energy of emotions can cause physical and emotional ailments. Emotions are feelings in motion, which means they are temporary. The frequency of different emotions has different influences on your health, like anger versus optimism. Sadness and anger have been proven to reduce your immunity and susceptibility to illnesses as well as poor mental health and physical health outcomes like depression and gut health issues. Optimism feels different in the body, and it gives you vitality and energy to fulfill your purpose. Physical ailments can manifest in chronic and non-chronic conditions like diabetes, cancer, or digestive issues. Emotional ailments include irritability, anger, anxiety, and low mood. The key to wellness is learning to balance both the physical and mental aspects of your health.
The identification of emotions is important as it is the starting point of your healing journey. So how can you start?
Firstly, identify the emotion you are feeling, either by journaling or saying it out loud. Try to journal freestyle without judging what you have written. If you would like to take a step further, underline sentences with statements like "I feel," "I am," "I feel like," "I want," and "I wish."
Secondly, sit with the feeling, whether it's mediation or being present in the moment. This step may be uncomfortable, so I advise prime safety by saying, "I am safe to feel this and experience this." Some discomfort is needed for growth. Just remind yourself that it will pass.
Lastly, write down action steps that can help deal with this emotion better. Let’s take anxiety as an example. An action step to dealing with anxiety is to know where the source is and regulate your nervous system through deep diaphragm breathing.
For emotions to move, movement can help. Movement is any movement that feels good for your body. I understand that some emotions make it hard, especially amid low moods. We often underestimate the power of a short walk to get some fresh air to improve your state of mind. I advise you to do any movement your body feels like doing. Yoga is great if you are looking for gentle movement to balance your body and mind. Jogging is beneficial for managing emotions like anger and frustration.
Nutrition is another way to move your emotions, as living foods have energy. Living foods are foods that originate from nature with minimal processing. The food you eat communicates to your brain in terms of nourishment. Food nutrients, such as antioxidants, provide nourishment, as does inner nourishment. Inner nourishment means having food that nourishes your soul. Some foods can affect you, like caffeine and sugar. For some people, caffeine can trigger anxiety and nervousness. Sugar intake can affect your mood as excess sugar triggers inflammation. It triggers inflammation as the brain is connected to the gut through the gut-brain axis. Inflammation in the gut and brain are connected, so inflammation in the gut can trigger inflammation in the brain. Inflammation in the gut is linked to poor mental health as 70% of serotonin is produced in the gut. Some people might be sensitive to foods such as gluten and dairy. For a week or so, you can experiment with cutting out the suspected food that is causing digestive distress for you. Then, reintroduce the food and note your observations. If there is any negative reaction, this food is not suitable for you. The support of a dietitian with a functional nutrition background can help to identify the foods causing digestive distress. You can do it through trial and error.
Lifestyle modifications are important to address the emotions that need to be released. Stress reduction strategies, like meditation, breath work, or journaling can help to address the root cause of stress. I encourage you to explore holistic approaches like energy healing and reiki that balance you on an energetic level. If the issue feels like a lot to deal with, reach out to a professional for help and support.
To conclude, small changes in your day-to-day habits can improve your health. The foundation of sustainable and long-term goals is the key, as it builds a foundation for a healthy mind and body. If there is anything I have learned over the years, it is that health is wealth! The takeaway is to look after your emotional health to feel healthy on the inside and outside.
Reach out to me if you need any support or have any questions. You can book a free health history consultation through this link.