Eating the right foods, getting plenty of exercise, facilitating proper detoxification, and sufficient sleep are some very important parts of reaching goals when we are facing health challenges. If you are doing everything you can to make sure your body is getting everything it needs to heal, yet your goals still feel out of reach, it may be important to dig a little deeper to make sure that you have cleared the emotional clutter as well.
In addition to physical responses to our environment, we are constantly responding to our environment, and generating emotions from within. Having a negative emotion to process can feel like eating a bad meal. There is also a physiological chemical reaction that goes along with it.
Unprocessed emotions can show up as unwanted conditions in the body in the form of pain, gastric distress, or impact your digestion, leading to insufficient absorption of nutrients. Over time, this can to deficiency disease, or impact the body’s ability to perform metabolic processes.
Mood influences the food choices that we make, often unhealthy in content and portion.
Negative emotions are like junk food, having a negative impact on health. We are not bad for having negative emotions. The goal is not to stop having them, but more about giving them more power than they deserve. It is important to acknowledge the emotion such as “rejection hurts”, find a way to work through the emotion and release it. This is much like the way we digest the food we eat.
Here are a few suggestions:
- Talk to a friend
- Write in a journal
- Spend time meditating, allowing feelings to pass through, and releasing the energy in whatever manner feels right:
- Crying
- Shouting
- Stomping on the floor
- Writing a letter to someone that you will or will not send
- Imagining that you are sitting with someone who has hurt you and talking with them, anything that helps you to acknowledge and release the emotion to free yourself
- Explore bodywork or other modality to release energy
- If the emotion springs from a deep wound, seek the help of a qualified counselor to assist you in working through it.
The mind, the body, and the spirit are all connected. All deserve equal attention when the goal is optimal health.
If you have any questions or comments about this topic or would like a nutrition assessment, please contact us.
Be your best health!
Jill,
Certified Nutritional Counselor, Lifestyle Educator and Eating Psychology Coach
