Jackie Frangeskakis
Let’s play a game of “Have You Ever…”
- Have you ever snapped and become irrationally cranky at someone, to then realise you have not eaten all day and your “hangry?”
- Have you ever been so tired, eaten a meal, then felt better and filled with energy?
- Have you ever eaten a drive thru take away meal (e.g. McDonalds), really enjoyed it, then, about half an hour later, felt sick and sluggish and filled with regret?
- Have you ever been sad, eaten some food, then it has made you feel better emotionally?
Did you answer all 4 with a YES?
Then you WIN!
And your prize is…. *drumroll*
…Realising that food has a HUGE impact on how we feel, think, move, act, be and everything in between.
Food is FUEL for the mind, body and soul. Food brings us enjoyment and happiness. Food helps create connection and can bring people together.
Now, let’s get down to the nitty gritty and figure out WHY food has this impact on us.
Your body is filled with TRILLIONS of cells. At any one moment, there are trillions of biochemical reactions going on between these cells. This is how we exist.
Let’s take just ONE of these reactions and explain how food plays such a pivotal role.
I will give you an example:
Reaction 1
You eat food (protein, carbs, fats)
↓
Your body breaks it down to get nutrients (vitamins & minerals), in particular B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, Magnesium, Iron etc just to name a few ↓↓↓↓↓
↓
These nutrients assist your body into making cellular energy (ATP)
↓
We now have adequate energy and feel great
Reaction 2
You eat food (proteins carbs and fats)
↓
Your body breaks it down to get nutrients (vitamins & minerals), in particular B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, Magnesium, Iron etc just to name a few
↓
These nutrients assist in the creation of serotonin: our happy hormone, which further converts to melatonin: our sleepy hormone
↓
We are now happier and can sleep better, which makes you happier again.
Now at the end of the day, your body is geared for survival. All it wants to do is survive; breath, beat its heart and have a functioning brain.
So if we look at the two reactions above, which one takes priority?
Making energy, right?
You literally need energy to survive, like petrol needs a car to run. Without energy, we do not exist.
However, we can still exist and not be happy. We do not need serotonin making us happy to survive.
So how does this relate to food?
As you can see, a LOT of the same micronutrients are ESSENTIAL for the synthesis of either energy or serotonin.
So, if we are depriving ourselves of food, not eating enough, eating mostly poor quality foods, and so on, then we will barely be receiving our minimum requirements of these nutrients.
If we are barely getting what is required, then the body has to choose to send the majority of the nutrients to the most necessary job…
…and if the body’s priority is to survive, where do the most nutrients go?
ENERGY.
Our poor little serotonin pathway does not receive what it needs, our happiness suffers.
This is simply ONE pathway that can be affected by poor nutrition. One of trillions that occur every second, of every day, of every year.
This is why it is so crucial to eat mostly nutritious, wholesome foods.
This is why you answered yes to those questions above.
Food is important for so many reasons, yet sometimes we forget how crucial it is. A lot of the time, it is not until we are sick or symptomatic that we realise this.
Start nourishing yourself from the inside out. When you do, so much more of your life simply falls into place.
Our health is everything.
Without it, we literally have nothing.
Author
Jackie Frangeskakis
Adaptive Health