By Lisa Brick
Divorce is stress season, no matter when it is occurring. While you can’t make someone who is out the door stay or stay when everything in you is pushing you out the door, you can choose to strategically reinforce your body’s capabilities of handling stress through your choices of which foods to consume.
What You Eat Impacts How You Think Feel and Act! How to Eat Consciously During Divorce
When I walked out on a long term relationship I did not know this. The food choices I made, while effective in shutting down my thinking and feeling, left me awakening tired, depressed, and bloated. Feeling lousy was no magic pill for moving on. In fact, eating and feeling this way kept me digging a deeper and deeper hole. I hated how I felt and looked, and since I was feeding my depression, the situation felt hopeless. I came upon a book, Sugar Blues by William Duffy, now a classic in the modern health movement, that opened my mind to the possibility that what I consumed via my mouth was impacting how I was thinking, feeling, and acting!
There has been an immense amount of research in the field of nutrition and mood since Sugar Blues was published in 1986 which leads to some simple easy to use guidelines in how to eat to feel your best under any circumstances, divorce included.
5 ways to support your mind and body during the upset of divorce
1. Choose, cook, and eat foods close to how they looked when they were harvested. This means ingredients that are fresh, whole or minimally processed (ex. Scotch oats or granola rather than processed breakfast cereals), and lightly prepared (ex. stir fry fresh chicken rather than microwave frozen breaded chicken nuggets, etc.) Fresh whole foods have the most flavor and offer you the most nutritional value.
2. Eat a minimum of four (4) ozs of protein a day, more if you are experiencing extreme stress. Protein in necessary for your immune system and to repair the damage that occurs during high stress periods. Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, nuts, seed, and beans are all high protein rich foods.
3. Fill your plate with a rainbow of colors. Each of the phytonutrients in the vegetable kingdom offers different benefits. By eating salads with green, red, and yellow peppers as well as a variety of lettuces, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, etc. you are ingesting a cornucopia of nutrients. You’ll receive similar benefits by consuming cooked dishes with a variety of vegetables (stir fry, meat or bean burritos with salsa, guacamole, lettuce, and cilantro, soups with lots of veggies,, etc.)
4. Drink lots and lots of water every day, at least four eight oz. glasses. Water flushes out toxins from the system in a way that other beverages can not.
5. Significantly reduce or eliminate, at least for now, foods and substances that irritate the nervous system like refined sugar and white flour, caffeine, and liquor. If you desire a sweet, wine, or beer, splurge on quality not quantity. Buy yourself the very best out there, savor the flavor in each bite or sip, and appreciate that you are treating yourself well and kindly.
While Much Is Not Within Your Control during Divorce, Choosing To Nourish Yourself IS
Going through a divorce is rough, very rough. The process is an emotional seesaw. While you can impact it by your choices, you can not control it. Coming to a divorce settlement is neither direct nor predictable. The legal costs are significant. You will appreciate every resource you can muster, from emotional, financial, and legal support to how you nourish yourself.
Change up your food choices at home and dining out. Take on the five recommendations above for a single week and notice how differently you feel. No one is telling you what to do. This one is up to you, what makes you feel best in mind, body, and spirit.
Our coaches at Journey Beyond Divorce are here, ready, willing, and able to support you in navigating your passage through in the healthiest most beneficial way possible. You can emerge from divorce a stronger, clearer, capable and happier human being.
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Lisa Brick, Journey Beyond Partner
Our team of coaches at JBD is passionate about helping men and women navigate the emotional difficulties of relationships, breakups and divorce. We work together with you to open the possibility that your current relationship challenges can lead to a rewarding voyage of self-discovery and an immensely more pleasing life experience. Together we create a path to clarity. Find out if Coaching is right for you, and accept my gift of one FREE session.
