How You Doin'?

I go on and on about the effect of bad diet and no exercise in terms of chronic illnesses. I want to be clear that avoiding chronic illness as much as possible - while important - is not the only or even the main thing I am attempting to communicate to you.

The immediate effects of healthy eating and exercise are every bit as important and maybe more important because we all want that instant gratification. The thing I have failed to point out enough is the effect of diet and exercise on MOOD.

Wouldn't it be nice to have your mood more even? We all have those things that make us mad, but we also have things that we instantly regret once they happen - snapping at your kids or spouse for something that wasn't really worth the trouble.

Properly feeding your brain and providing it enough blood flow can be a huge help to evening your mood out.  In order for your brain to communicate with your body, it needs chemicals called neurotransmitters to conduct electrical impulses, or brain waves. Some of these neurotransmitters are dopamine, endorphins, glutamine and serotonin. Your body has to manufacture these chemicals and it uses the enzymes, amino acids, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, proteins and carbohydrates in the foods that you eat to do that. If you're not eating enough - or enough of the right foods - for your body to manufacture sufficient amounts of these chemicals, depression or anxiety can be the result.

So if you are eating bad or not drinking enough water or not exercising then you can't manage what your brain needs to properly do it's job. I have mentioned here before that a kale salad gets me all jacked up and the same with other foods that have great nutrition. No wonder! They give the brain the right stuff to release the happy feelings that make us good humans.

I'm leaving out the clearing of your skin, the strength and flexibility of your nails and a bunch of other stuff that happens within weeks of making these changes. We can force ourselves to think good thoughts or pretend to be happy or we can actually feel that way! I think feeling that way is the right way.

I don't plan to get any exercise today after my walk and weeding yesterday and with a 10+ mile hike tomorrow so I will register as Guilty today.

Get back to what you were doing.

Be well and more soon....