If you haven't considered the idea that what you eat can interfere with your emotional & physical capacities this might be your season to learn about it.
By the mid 1980's I had begun to understand how refined sugar caused me distress, both in my body in general as well as confusion in my thinking. Then I read Sugar Blues, which shocked me, but validated my concern. I switched from sugar to honey while cutting back on consumption.
I had already begun changing my diet. I felt too much stress, all the time, & I wanted to know why. Today I think it was a gift from God to guide me into healthy eating to stabilize my body in preparation for the hard work ahead in healing my broken emotions.
As I cleaned up my eating habits, moving away from some processed foods to eating more salads, steamed vegies, rice, & whole grains, I noticed how bad I felt from drinking alcohol. By 1986 I realized I was an alcoholic & entered into treatment after spending a year trying to stop drinking.
Over the next few years I learned just how much I was disconnected from reality & had been for a long time. Many things I thought were true about life turned out to be completely wrong. Concepts that I thought were solid, were foolishness. I went through a long season of depression, feeling hopeless was normal, which I realized was a problem. What I ate made a significant difference in my ability to cope with life, might even cause me to take my life. That fear gave me the motivation to make some life-changing choices with the primary one becoming clean & sober & only eating basic, healthy food that was minimally processed.
The basic conclusion I had realized is that: ingesting alcohol, drugs, or heavily processed foods tipped over my body's healthy functioning which caused misfiring in the synapses in my brain--I couldn't trust what I thought nor could I tell what was making me upset. I also could not tell whose voice was in my head (me, God, Satan?): could be the drugs-alcohol; could be the sugar-caffeine-chemicals in the food, etc.; could be alter personalities from a personality disorder. I wanted to know, I wanted to be in my right mind.
Today my journey continues, particularly finding out that my body does not work with gluten. Somehow, during all these past years, even ingesting some gluten, I ate enough live, healthy food that I was able to restore my life from dyfunctional, disconnected, dangerous habits, to a life of joy, rest, creativity, & connection in loving & healing community.
Today, the disruption from eating junk is so immediate I do very little of it. Even eating too much ice cream can send my mind into fragmentation, my body into irritation which results in my acting irritable & rude. While eating calming, delicious foods my body loves gives me rest, controlled energy, & clarity. When I eat well I know who is speaking in my mind, heart, spirit. Because of the years of eating well I know when something is wrong inside me, it was the guiding factor in more research & willingness to take this next step to go Gluten Free. And, I was able to discern an immediate increase in my body's functioning.
I hear people say that eating organic, clean, unprocessed food is too expensive, which is evidence of minds being negatively affected by what they are eating-perhaps their food is an addiction. I disagree with this. If you cut out the junk you will have enough money to eat the best foods grown on this planet, what an amazing truth! There are no excuses for eating junk, so get over it & understand that if you want to make a huge difference in this life; if you feel called to make a difference while you are here, it starts with cleaning up your own house first--your own temple.
Furthermore, I would not have thought that in my lifetime our culture would offer such healthy choices as we have today in America. We love to eat, cook, share, explore new tastes. It is a healthy, enjoyable way to share community.
As I say in the intro on this page: you are what you eat; garbage in-garbage out. Excellent, life-giving, delicious food in, excellense, clarity, joy goes out! Hope you'll check this out and find out what makes your body thrive!