WEEK 03: Nutrition and Wellness
Week 3 focussed on examining one’s nutrition in regards to how it relates to one’s wellness. Here are my answers to this week’s exploration questions:
"Smile ☺, laughter and smiling have been shown to reduce inflammation." How do you feel when you smile or laugh? Do you feel happier? Less stressed? (NUTRITION - PART 2)
Like the exercise that was done in class, where people were asked on the spot to smile and laugh, I’m trying to smile right now as I stand here under an eavestrough with the rain hammering down as a small water pump works to pull water away from our crawl space door. It’s really dark too, at around 9:15pm on Thursday, November 25. American Thanksgiving, as I endure the second atmospheric river to fall on Metro Vancouver in less than two weeks.
I try smiling again, it feels forced. I’m tired, and cold, the hat on my head is soaked. I then try laughing, and it feels fake at first, because I’m trying, but then I feel a heightened joy in the back of my throat. A sensation spreads from the spot, partly down my spine and partly up it. It loosens my tension and I wonder if the laughter is because I’m trying to laugh or because I realize how ridiculous this entire moment feels. It’s probably a bit of both.
But overall, in life, when I do smile and laugh, I feel good. Whether it’s with friends, sharing a story, or going to a movie or watching a comedian do a set - all of these help to ease tension and stress when I feel them.
What specific steps can you take this week to practice healthy nutrition? (NUTRITION- PART 3)
Last year, I took part in a three day water fast, and during the fast I cleaned out my cupboards and got rid of the junk and started being more mindful about my nutrition. I also worked half way through a Udemy course called Mindful Eating by Katherine Hood. But the good habits I started to develop fell away earlier this year as my depression came back again and again. When I’m depressed I tend to binge eat and I am not at all mindful about what I eat.
The most important thing I can do in the week ahead when it comes to my eating and nutrition is to ask myself why I’m choosing a certain food when I want to eat something, to decide if I really need to eat it and why. How will a food make me feel if I like it? I can put a note on my fridge and cupboard to remind me about these questions when I have a craving. I will also cleanup my cupboards again, to get rid of stuff I don’t need to be eating. Also, when I shop, I will work to shop mindfully, again asking how I will feel if I have access to that particular food. Finally, I’ll start to work through the mindful eating course again.
What is your take home message from this week’s topic?
“So when you get up in the morning, you probably feel pretty free to choose what you’re going to do. My guess, is that the first thing you do, is reach for one of these (holds up her smart phone). My cell phone. It gives me continuous access to an online, all you can eat buffet. I can enter a virtual gambling casino, get hooked on a little app, or a game, or shop till I drop. I got to be honest with you: I cannot not look at this thing when it pings with a new text message. And I am one of the 78% of Americans who can’t get up out of bed in the morning without checking this thing first. Sometimes I don’t even notice I’m reaching for it. I just do it.”
- Laura Schmidt, from her TEDmed Talk, “Why we can’t stop eating sugary foods”
I loved this quote. Schmidt does an excellent job in her video, describing several relatable scenarios like this one about smart phones, and how these situations circle back to the realm of unhealthy addictions. Schmidt also does a phenomenal job of describing how our food choices can be impacted by the world around us, by food production companies who invest a lot of money into:
designing food products that include ingredients that are known to encourage the formation of desires which lead us to consume those products again and again, ideally by becoming addicted to those foods; as well as
influencing the choices we make when we shop in our local grocery stores through various product packaging designs, promotional strategies, and product placement strategies.
Her talk really help remind me about the importance of mindfulness when shopping. Although she didn’t speak directly to it, her video did remind me of the importance of planning meals, so I go shopping with more of a plan and a list of things I would need to eat. This would help keep me focussed and less likely to buy more unhealthy things. Schmidt’s discussion of navigating the grocery store by mainly sticking to its perimeter was a very good one to remember - as most of the unhealthy food items are contained in the middle of the store. To that end, I do want to try and get back to the mindfulness I had when I did my three day fast in fall 2020. I cleaned out my cupboards, and started to plan towards a life when I pay more attention to what I consume, and more importantly - why I consume things. Why am I attracted to eating cookies over say apples or bananas? Can I find balance or a direction where even if I chose something like a cookie, can it be something I’ve made at home with alternative flours and other ingredients that are more healthy for me?
I started 2022 strong - I started using the Simple App for helping me to start doing intermittent fasting. I’m also using the Noom app which also uses a psychological based approach to change the habits that many of us have formed over time when it comes to what we eat and how we approach exercise, etc. I was walking 10k daily for the first ten days or so of the year, before I hurt my heels, cutting them up badly in a pair of new winter boots. I tried walking in my older shoes with the heals bandaged up for a few more days, but that just made the pain worse. So I had to stop to let them heal. But I think I’ll be ready to go again for February 1st. I was inspired by my friend Mohammad Kallas, who ran 5km everyday in 2021. I’m not in the shape where I could do that, he was, but I know I could walk 10km a day. So that’s what I’m hoping to do for the spring, and come summer, I would like to break out my bike and do more cycling. With walking, I like that I can also use the time to catch Pokémon, and listen to audio books and courses, and even take photographs. I also try to just be cool, and unplug - and just walk, which helps me tap into being present with my thoughts, taking in the world around me.