In America, or at least the majority of America, we live in a fast-paced society that focuses more on what is happening externally rather than internally.  I think many of us feel guilty if we are not constantly busy and taking care of everyone else.  When we are stressed and overworked, we don’t take the time to listen to our body and take care of its needs.  Stress-induced eating can be dangerous and have a negative impact on your health, emotions and even mental clarity.

 Food can be one of the most negative influences on our life.  It can also be the most positive.  I think we all can believe in the idea that eating negative food, that is food that has no to low nutritional value, can result in negative emotions, which in turn gives you distressed focus and mental clarity.  The cycle is a vicious one, in which a mind can learn to react to negative events or outside stresses by demanding food that it is associating with pleasure to balance that impending stress.  If you’ve always been eating low to negative energy foods such as cheeseburgers, french fries, sugary sodas, and other fried, dead, and processed foods, your body will actually demand more of them partly due to the chemicals added to the foods that cause your body to crave more, which only creates more frustration, impatience, and a reduction to total depletion of good sustained energy.

How can we begin to break the cycle of always leaning on negative to low energy foods, some of which we have been eating since childhood?  The first step is to learn to recognize the panic mode button when it goes off, triggering your body to demand a pleasure balance to the negative stress.  When you are in a panic or stress mode, try to take deep breaths and clear your mind.  If you can slow your breathing down to 10 breaths per minute, you can eliminate various stresses and emotions, and gain the temporary focus to make a positive energy choice.  This is the point where it is crucial to have positive energy foods readily available.  This is easier when you are at home, and have your kitchen, but this becomes challenging if you are in an office, car, airport, or on the go.  Train yourself to carry portable and functional foods with you at all times.  It is true that most of us will always eat what is readily available.  So, keep it simple, and carry positive energy foods wherever you go such as raw nuts, fruit, dehydrated cookies/crackers, healthy sandwiches/wraps, green drinks, raw veggies, sprouted toast with almond butter, etc.  You can plan ahead what you eat, just like you plan ahead what you are going to wear or do.

 Once you catch your breath and gain your focus, and feel the craving for pleasure, find the good positive foods that you have readily available, take a few bites, and discover how the process will create a new and much healthier cycle to replace the old one.  Your mind will now associate positive energy foods as being a solution for stress and negativity.  You will now be in a cycle towards a more healthy body and mind.   Start out by practicing your own method of calming yourself before you start eating.  Practice, practice, practice, and eventually, your body will be trained to make the choices that will lead to a continuous cycle of positive energy.

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