The 4 Things to Stop Eating
Guest Post By Alissa Frazier
Alissa Frazier of LissMS
{Hi! My name is Alissa and I am the founder of LissMS. I started LissMS originally as a personal blog back in the day after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, but now it has expanded into so much more than that. I work with people who are ready for a change in their current state of wellbeing, whether that is through fitness, nutrition or getting their mind in the right place (sometimes it can be all three!). I especially enjoy working with individuals who are diagnosed with chronic illness. I utilize a holistic approach in my work and give them tools to get exactly what they want out of life, which is to be feeling their best and thriving, when that has been such a challenge in the past.}
If you do a quick google search for ‘things never to eat’ you’ll get over 7 MILLION results. 7 MILLION! Let that sink in for a minute. That many people have weighed in on the topic about what YOU should (or shouldn’t) be eating. How crazy is that?? One says eat a banana when hungry, another says don’t come within 5 feet of a banana, or else! Seriously? I don’t need that obnoxiousness in my life, and neither do you.
Yes, sometimes meal plans can be great, and sometimes needed. Heck, I’ve needed them in the past! I’m not knocking the idea of structure and order, if that’s your jam. But I want you to like the idea of structure and order. I am busting the idea of abiding by ‘rules’ that are made up by Joe Shmo (like eat the banana), only to discover his cousin Jake Shmake a week later saying the exact opposite (like run from said banana) and then bouncing back and forth, until you have no idea what’s going on!
Sound familiar?
It totally did for me at one point in my life.
I was going from diet guru to diet guru hoping and praying they had THE ANSWER for me. But really, they just had a bunch of junk to talk about. Just because they all believed they had the one magic answer, we all did too. In reality, you know who has the magic answer for you? You probably guessed it. It’s you. In reality, there is no one magic answer. There is no one size fits all diet or way of eating. There are many answers that can give you many bits of information that help you decide how to continue.
So what about those answers, the tiny bits of information, where do they come from? Listening to and learning from your body in all sorts of situations. Someone may react to dairy where another does not. Someone may need more carbohydrates to sustain energy throughout the day and another needs less. This nutrition thing is a big game of trial and error, experimentation and being in tune with your body. These four categories of foods are a great place to start learning about yourself, your body and how it responds to the foods you eat. It’s also a great jumping off point for getting your mind in check too!
- Food that you don’t like. Why waste time on eating food that isn’t pleasing to your palate? Life is short, focus on eating foods that you actually enjoy eating and that make you feel good. This may seem like it is a small one, but in reality it’s a huge part of the puzzle. There’s a saying that I believe in wholeheartedly that goes something like ‘If you’re miserable eating the healthiest of foods, how healthy can it be?’ Yes, the nutritious value will still be there, but it won’t be nurturing to you and your mind. If you’re pushing (or punishing) yourself, and eating chicken and broccoli for lunch every day, and you HATE chicken and broccoli, STOP IT! There’s plenty of other healthy options that exist that TASTE good, and also FEEL good.
- Food that makes you lose control. Banana chips. That’s mine. I can’t have those in the house or else the entire container is gone. We all have those foods, the ones that are like Pringles, ‘once you pop you can’t stop’. Many times it’s the candy, chips, sugar filled things. Those actually do become addicting! First things first, think about what these foods are for you. Are they chips? chocolate? almond butter? Then, get them out of the house. Not necessarily forever, just not right now.
- Food that makes you feel gross. I’m not talking about the ate too much on Thanksgiving dinner gross, I’m talking about the “this food and your body do not get along” gross. This can pop up in a bunch of different ways, which is why it’s so hard to discover food sensitivities, but anything that makes your stomach hurt, feel bloated, your joints ache, gives you a headache, gives you brain fog or makes your skin break out, to name a few reactions. If any food gives you these or other negative symptoms, cut it out for a period of time, at least 30 days. Then reintroduce it, for a day, and see how you feel. Sometimes you’ll feel better, sometimes you won’t. For that process you need patience and honesty with yourself.
- Food that isn’t food. This is a big one that I personally believe in. Under this category falls all of the syrups, modified starches, artificial and “natural” flavorings and all those ingredients you can’t pronounce, among others. These are things added to your food. They are not helpful to your body at all, and, in fact, are harmful to it, as many of these ingredients are inflammatory. I believe that we should be eating food from reputable sources, preferably local ones that we know. Do we have to buy everything organic? No. Should we try for somethings? Sure, if possible. (Check out the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 lists for more info here). If people gave up this category of food, the health of our country would skyrocket.
These are suggestions, let’s say guidelines. I’m not telling you to go out and switch to Paleo all of a sudden and totally ditch your current lifestyle. I’m saying think about these four ideas, and how the food you are eating makes you feel, before, during and after you eat it. That’s the first step to awareness, and possible change–listening to your body and all of the tiny bits of information it gives you.
If you’d like to connect with me more, my website is www.liss-ms.com, I’m on Instagram @liss.ms, Facebook/AlissaMS, Twitter @lissms1.
You can also sign up for my LissMS Community and get weekly emails from me about thriving at life http://bit.ly/LissMS
I’d love for you to say hi and to hear from you about if this resonated with you! Talk to you soon!
