Jason Steed Certified Primal Health Coach
Convenience: The Enemy of Longevity
What if...
Good food + Low stress = Stability/Control (i.e. No more yo-yo)?
Why are the right things hard and the wrong things easy? We resist hard things because hard things stress us out. But "hard" is only stressful if you think it shouldn't be hard. What if it's supposed to be hard? What if "hard" is a necessary part of your wellness plan? Then your brain would be more on board and could spend less time stressing and resisting and more time taking cues from your body. Think of it this way: If your brain never knew "easy" then "hard" would seem...easy. Please read on:
If your brain never knew "easy" then "hard" would seem...easy.
November 3, 2019
Formula for Avoiding the Yo-Yo Diet Experience (8:31)
Reduce calories without promoting a fight/flight stress response.
How about a couple more math equations:
- What if: Expensive + Complicated + Time-consuming = Progress/Potential?
- What if: Cheap + Easy + Fast = Regress/Forfeit?
I've dug deep these last few years, really deep. I've been hoping to find cases when health and wholeness aren't expensive, complicated and time consuming. And then it dawned on me in late February of this year, "What if health and wholeness are actually meant to be all those not-so-fun things?" I don't for sure know that this is the case. But as much as my brain and I have experimented over the past few years, we just can't seem to find lasting healthy outcomes from those attractive/magnetic alternatives: Cheap, easy and fast. Maybe you've found shortcuts that stick? I genuinely hope so, because anything that makes both your brain and body happy is a great thing. In the meantime I've been working hard to get my brain on board with what my body actually craves: Expensive, complicated and time-consuming. Are you willing to be okay with that for a few weeks? Are you willing to let your brain follow your body's lead? Here are some stress-perspective tools that will hopefully help you...and me.
Two Types of Stress
Unhealthy eating is a major stress to our bodies. I cringe as I type that sentence because reading it can induce stress. ;-] There are 2 types of stress:
- Useful stress—stress that moves you through something. It presents right-now solutions. It helps you take action and deal with situations of a variety of levels.
- Unuseful stress—stress about situations we have no control over. This not-so-useful stress is pervasive because our brain will constantly loop through its "resolve it now" toolset, but it cannot be resolved. This kind of futile stress is perpetual and exhausting.
Food Stress and Hormones
To tie things back in, stress from unhealthy food is of the not-so-useful type. We're not talking about "stress eating," though we'll tackle that at a later time. The stress from unhealthy eating gets resolved over days, weeks or even months, though our brains will try to resolve it right now. Signs of this looping and unresolvable stress take the form of cravings, fatigue, insomnia, systemic inflammation, skin disorders, brain fog, feeling hangry, and more. Interestingly, these symptoms all have direct ties to mixed hormonal signals. What if these same hormones were not stressed all the time?
"Hey, Brain: We're Onto You!"
If you're reading this, then you're one more step ahead because you've just told your brain what it's doing. "We're on to you, brain! You can also frame the disorders I listed above as having a cause and a correlation. You now have an exit strategy...better food. That's something you can breathe easier about. (insert slow, deep breath here).
PS. Hugs can squeeze unuseful stress out of you too. Go get one!
