You are what you eat, you’ve likely heard the phrase before. Ever given it much thought?
Ghandi once said “There are men in this world so hungry that god cannot appear in any form except bread“. Both powerful and true, the hungrier we get the more things looks like food. This is basic survival instinct that has carried our species through many generations of feast and famine. Given a choice you likely have preferences based upon one of two things; taste or nutrition. As you may guess I fall into the later category. Life has a way of changing over time, when placing your attention upon improvement.
While I was exposed to eating for nutrition early on it wasn’t until later than I began to gravitate towards the idea. This is not to say that taste does not have its place, taste is one of a few sets of senses we have to experience the world with and I like to feed my senses a healthy variety. Primarily sweet fruits, with textures and flavors of all kinds being mixed in over time.
Why nutrition? Seems strange to adopt the idea of eating to live, until you consider the alternative is living to eat? Do you pay much attention to the causes and effects of the world around you? Have you considered the relationships apply within you?
One way to experiment, visit your local grocer, watch the people around you. Look at what is in their carts and how they appear, who do you see that looks happy, how about healthy? You can do this with people of any age, though it seems more pronounced in those that appear older. I practice not judging people, I also notice relationships.
Another way to look at it, how often do you get sick? Have any ailments that your doctor said must be treated with drugs, not mechanical things (broken/replacement bones, etc…) so much as imbalances. Diabetes, cancer, depression, arthritis, etc… with a bit of research, and the willingness to adopt some new [eating] habits you can probably cure your dis-ease? If you don’t believe me take a look at Google and spend a bit of time searching, ignore the theories, look for repeatable science and patterns in personal stories. They are all over the place, if you have trouble finding any please leave a comment on this article. I am not claiming that changing what you eat will cure [any|every]thing, for [any|every]one, closer to 80%. That still leaves a fair chance that your suffering can be alleviated.
“Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food.” Hippocrates
Though there will be side effects, depending upon what changes you adopt, in most cases the biggest negative is that others will make comments about “eating rabbit food”, if you practice non-judgement this will be great. The benefits… for now I’ll focus on just one. Mental clarity.
Oddly enough your brain is a part of your body. Your brain just like the rest of your body has a direct relationship between how well it functions what what kind of fuel it has. Yes, you can become smarter by changing what you eat. How much depends upon how far you decide to stray from the normal empty calorie junk food.
Over time I have tried a number of experiments and encourage you to do the same. One of my prefered methods is the
30 day trial. This can be eliminating a single thing from your diet, changing what you eat for a meal each day, or whatever you come up with. For your own sake, when attempting any personal experimentation, keep a journal, it’s not difficult to remember what you had for breakfast yesterday, remembering everything you ate last Tuesday is a bit more of a challenge. Also remember the brain likes what is familiar, if you are used to doing things a certain way anything different will seem strange, for a little while.
Suggestions for what to keep track of; what you eat, how much effort it takes to concentrate, how much sleep you need to feel rested, how easy is it to remember new and old information, how many times do you wander into a room with a purpose and forget why you are there, or how much effort it takes you to comprehend.
Becoming smarter may not seem like such a big deal, to make a quick list of changes I have noticed both in myself and others that have made improvements in their diet include increased; emotional wellbeing (overall happiness), physical agility and endurance, libido, overall health (not getting sick)… This list could go on for a while, because you really are what you eat.
