Food & Feelings: Why Your Vibe Check Starts with Your Plate 🍽️
Part of working with your therapist involves creating tools for coping, celebrating, and managing life's challenges. This heavy mental lifting requires reliable, quality energy and can be an uphill battle on an empty stomach.
It takes serious brain power to be present in therapy and to use the tools you build outside of those sessions. Your body needs a consistent source of energy to make this all happen, which means regular meals and snacks (lookin’ at you, breakfast skippers!!). Your brain's absolute favorite fuel source is carbohydrates (think bread, pasta, rice, sweets, and fruit).
When our intake of energy, especially from carbohydrates, is low, we are seriously sabotaging our ability to perform daily tasks, including thinking clearly and balancing our emotions.
Imagine pushing a car up a steep hill because we ran out of gas. It requires so much more frustration and effort to get to the top of that hill when you’re running on empty. That next cup of coffee is only going to get you so far, friend.
Making sure you’re meeting your nutritional needs is a great way to rule out whether undernutrition is intensifying your symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns. We aren’t trying to “fix” ourselves or our emotions with nutrition, but we can make sure that the lack of nutrition isn’t actually making our mental health worse. For example, low vitamin D can mimic some symptoms of depression, and low iron intake can make us more irritable and affect sleep. Eating below our needs negatively impacts every aspect of our health.
But what happens when your body is sending you subtle signals that you might not be recognizing as hunger?
One of those signals is often called food noise. This can show up as constant thoughts about food, powerful cravings, and being unable to stop eating once you start. This can actually be your body telling you: "Hey, I need a refill ASAP!" We often only recognize hunger as a classic stomach rumble, but food noise can be your body trying to get nourishment when your tank is getting low.
Your In-the-Moment Vibe Check In a moment where big emotions start to feel physical, like sweating, shaking, or trouble focusing, try running through this simple checklist:
“When was my last substantial meal?”
“Did I intentionally or accidentally restrict any food groups at my meals today?”
“Do I consistently skip meal periods altogether?”
If you haven’t eaten a meal in 4-5 hours or a snack in 2-3 hours, try having something (seriously, anything at this point) and see how you feel 15 minutes later. When we’re nourished, we’re able to think clearly, be more present, and make sure our system is running on fuel, not frustration.
Working with a registered dietitian can help you learn how to nourish your body consistently so you can stop running on fumes and start focusing on your life.
Want more info? Check out our friends at My 3 Meals