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So, remember how yesterday I said I was feeling good about things, I felt like I was over the "detox" period, and I was feeling positive??? Today - I'm not in such a positive place. Maybe it's PMS? Maybe it's the weather/barometric pressure change? (we had a major snow storm blow in on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning). Maybe it's just regular hormonal ups and downs or my regular depressive ups and downs... I don't know, but I do know that tonight I am in the kind of mood where it is best to just steer clear of me!
I am feeling irritable, tired, unappreciated, overworked, and impatient. Not a great place to be. I am going to choose to hope that it is a natural process that my body is going through. I've been watching a video today by Dr. Frank Sabet, about overcoming food addictions. He talks in detail about the release of pleasure hormones (serotonin & dopamine) and the neuroreceptors in the brain. He explains how food manufacturers scientifically worked to figure out how to increased the "bliss point" of processed foods to create highly addictive foods. These calorie dense, high in Sugar, Oils, and Salt, processed foods, cause a drastically increased release of serotonin & dopamine. Because there is such a high amount of those hormones, the body reacts by thinking, "oh we have too much, we need to reduce the amount of those hormones and decrease the amount of receptors that are available to receive them. Our physical ability to feel pleasure is actually reduced. The body then has to receive MORE quantities of whatever it is that we are receiving pleasure from in order to feel good. (this is the same pattern you will see with any addictions, drugs, alcohol, technology, pornography, etc...) Going back to specific food addictions - Then when you try to reduce the Sugar Oils and Salts in our body, the cravings are HUGE and the withdrawal effects are intense. I am going to trust that either I am PMS'ing, in which case it isn't my fault that I'm feeling like a witch right now, OR I am doing a good thing by cutting out the C.R.A.P. foods (Calorie Rich And Processed) and my body is struggling to find and feel pleasure as it works to rebalance itself. Yes, the brain will eventually re-regulate the levels of serotonin and dopamine that are released, and the nerves can rebuild the necessary receptors to receive them, but that will take time. I have to be in it for the long haul. I have to push past each low, and trust that my body can and will heal itself if I continue to give it the nutrition it needs. I didn't do fabulously in pushing through the lows today... Because I was in such a foul mood, I ate some chocolate. it was all dark chocolate, so lower sugar levels, but I still probably should have tried to be stronger and resisted the temptation to self medicate with the chocolate. It really is an addiction... a powerful one.
Food Log:
Today for breakfast I had steel cut oats with cranberries, unsweetened coconut flakes, almonds, almond milk, and a squirt of date syrup.
For lunch I went out to eat and got a "buddha bowl" at Ginger's cafe. it was OK - but there was something in it that tasted a bit "off." I could never quite figure out what it was. Then again, it was all on a bed of greens, like arugula and other bitter greens, so maybe that was it.
For dinner I made homemade veggie burgers with sweet potato "chips." The burgers tasted pretty good. (I topped mine with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and avocado) For the chips, I just sliced the sweet potatoes, salted them, then cooked them in the air fryer. It was a bit of an experiment and I burned about 1/2 of them... whoops. the ones that worked tasted pretty good. I think I'll keep trying to figure out how to make that work better.
Here's my Buddha bowl lunch: beets, quinoa, carrots, black beans, & avocado on a bed of healthy greens. It was supposed to come with a citrus dressing, but they were out of that, so I tried the sesame dressing.
