Healthy Mind

A healthy mind is essential to overall health. Without a healthy mind, your life will feel out of balance.

Just how many nutrients does your brain consume?

Most of us don’t realize just how many nutrients a healthy brain consumes each day.

Did you know that about half of all nutrients you eat in a day is actually feeding your brain?  Crazy, right?!

So, during times of extreme stress and trauma, your brain’s nutritional goes up dramatically.

During these times of stress, without additional nutrients your brain and body will likely begin to weaken. 

Homeostasis is a fancy word for how the body stays balanced. Stress is what happens when the body is out of homeostasis or balance. Because your body needs homeostasis to survive, your body & especially your brain is amazingly equipped to quickly to bring it’s self back into balance.

This isn’t an easy job for the body, and often it runs out of the needed building blocks for this huge task.  When it runs low, it sends signals to the brain telling you to eat this or that.  This is where hunger and food cravings come from. 

But, let’s go one step further. What would happen if your body didn’t get the right building blocks?

Well, your body would then start to rob other, non-essential body systems of nutrients.

For example, have you ever been really sick with the flu. Days go by without being able to keep food in.  You feel terrible and weak, but your still alive!  The following week, you’re feeling good and you hit the gym only to find that you’ve lost a lot more muscle mass than usual after skipping a week at the gym.

That’s because while your body was under attack, it took nutrients from your bones, fat and muscles to keep you alive. The miracle of your body’s perfection can’t be understated. It’s magnificent in it’s operation and design!  Not only did this sickness flush it of harmful toxins, it also destroyed the offending army of germs, & managed to keep your body functioning as close to homeostasis as possible. 

Now, think of a time when you were extra stressed.  Perhaps it was a major life event like moving away from friends, a marriage or divorce, loss of a loved one, or even something smaller like a new job, a big presentation or test.  

It’s at these times your brain’s nutritional needs are at an all time high. You begin craving sweet, salty & fatty foods.  Then, the big day comes, you wake-up feeling a little sick, maybe a sore throat and a runny nose.

Darn… your body didn’t have the nutrition it needed to maintain homeostasis.  

For whatever reason, your body didn’t have the proper tools it needed to maintain balance in your body.

My clients and I have observed that when our brain is deprived of the vital nutrition it needs to stay balanced, emotional healing is almost impossible to achieve.  Without the proper brain nutrition, instead of waking up to a sore throat, you may wake up to depression or anxiety. You might have feelings of hopelessness or what I like to call loopy brain syndrome.  You might get caught in a horrible thought pattern that keep a certain fearful thought resurfacing over & over. 

The good news –  with proper time, nurturing, and nutrition, your brain will heal and be better than ever!