you are what you eat

Or so it would seem. The more reading and research I do the more often I see things indicating just how much what you eat affects all aspects of your life. It's more than just being good or bad for you, fattening or sugary. It's how those foods affect your mood, your mind, your hunger, even sex drive.

I guess this is one of those things that I've always known but never really paid any attention to. An example; I've frequently wondered why it is that I'm tired all day and then, when laying in bed to sleep I can't. It would seem that is directly related to  my diet. Specifically intake of protein during dinner. Protein consumption causes dopamine and norepinephrine production in the brain, the two chemicals that create energy.

Protein contains amino acids tyrosine, responsible for dopamine production, and phenylalanine, responsible for norepinephrine production. So, if you (meaning me) eat a dinner mostly consisting of a protein source as most of us do, about the time your body starts to use it is about the time you go to bed. What's the result? INSOMNIA.

A few times over the years I've tracked what I eat and how I feel after. Now, looking at the recommendations for a "kapha" diet it's quite simple to draw direct correlations between what it says to not eat and having felt like crap after eating it. I'm going to start logging my mood and food again to see what is the same and what has changed.

The more I study why I am the way I am the more I understand why I am the way I am. Seems almost a redundant statement but I'm finding that it's not. Knowing something and actually understanding and accepting something are totally separate from each other. To finally have some understanding is fabulous. For instance.

I have tried many diets over the years. They've all failed. I always wondered why. What was wrong with me that I couldn't control myself. Why did I lack self control that so many others seemed to have. I beet myself up about it and then buried my sorrow in food for comfort. I know, silly. It never occurred to me that the problem wasn't with me but with the diets.

So many diets come out with poor research, if any. They often use pseudo-science in place of any actual fact or scientific method. Many are based simply on opinion. And it's a wonder none of them worked for me. So I am now going to work on creating an eating plan that fits me. It's not for anyone else. It's not to make money. It's to be based entirely on what works for me. What I need, what I can't eat or stay away from. Me. I have nothing to lose.

My goal is to better not only my body but my mind as well. Modern science and doctors have failed me, doing nothing but suggesting surgery and pills. So I am going to turn to those things that predate modern science by a couple thousand years.