Listening To Your Body
learning to detect bad foods and more
With the basics of macro-nutrients covered, here now are some practical steps to eating healthy. As you begin adding these principles of eating into your life, you must pay attention to one very important component: listening to your body. The body is always adapting to and resisting stress. Food is often a stress. That is because people’s food choices are not always the best. Listening to your body simply means becoming aware of any changes that occur while under stress, or after eating food. These signals indicate that something is wrong.
Food has several purposes. One of these is to reinvigorate us. In other words, we should notice a surge of energy immediately after eating healthy food. If this is not so, it may be a clue. Keep in mind no single food is perfect for everyone. It is not uncommon for foods, even “healthy” foods, to cause problems in different people. It is important therefore, to discern between those foods that react well with your body and those that do not.
The technique is simple. Think about how your body feels before you eat. Are you currently experiencing any of the problems in the list below? If the answer is yes, put that information in your memory bank, then go ahead and eat.
After you have eaten and within the next hour or so, analyze yourself again. Do you now experience any of the above symptoms? Did the ones you had before get any worse? If so, you can be sure that your body has a problem with one or more of the foods you just ate.
This technique will get easier the longer you eat healthfully. Practice is also important. The more you practice this technique, the easier it is to “hear” the right information. Unfortunately, most people have ignored their body’s responses for so long that they have lost the ability to recognize the warning signals. For instance, if you just finished eating a double fudge brownie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and feel just fine, chances are you’ve lost some ability to hear. With time, you will get the hang of it. Due to the low nutrient and high chemical content of most store bought and restaurant foods, you might be surprised at just how many foods your body finds offensive.
Food has several purposes. One of these is to reinvigorate us. In other words, we should notice a surge of energy immediately after eating healthy food. If this is not so, it may be a clue. Keep in mind no single food is perfect for everyone. It is not uncommon for foods, even “healthy” foods, to cause problems in different people. It is important therefore, to discern between those foods that react well with your body and those that do not.
The technique is simple. Think about how your body feels before you eat. Are you currently experiencing any of the problems in the list below? If the answer is yes, put that information in your memory bank, then go ahead and eat.
- Bloating
- Burping (the food you taste is probably the provocative one)
- Dizziness
- Fatigue / sleepiness
- Gas
- Headache
- Increased heart rate
- Intestinal gurgling
- Lightheadedness
- Mucous in the throat
- Stiff muscles
- Stuffiness in the head or sinuses
- Tight joints
- Weakness
After you have eaten and within the next hour or so, analyze yourself again. Do you now experience any of the above symptoms? Did the ones you had before get any worse? If so, you can be sure that your body has a problem with one or more of the foods you just ate.
This technique will get easier the longer you eat healthfully. Practice is also important. The more you practice this technique, the easier it is to “hear” the right information. Unfortunately, most people have ignored their body’s responses for so long that they have lost the ability to recognize the warning signals. For instance, if you just finished eating a double fudge brownie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and feel just fine, chances are you’ve lost some ability to hear. With time, you will get the hang of it. Due to the low nutrient and high chemical content of most store bought and restaurant foods, you might be surprised at just how many foods your body finds offensive.