What’s Food Got To Do With It?

What’s food got to do with it? Perhaps nothing. Or does it?

The recent school shootings in Connecticut have left the world reeling with emotions ranging from anger to sadness to compassion and everything in between. And it has also stirred a commitment in our hearts to honor the lives of the children and their teachers and use this recent tragedy to change the world for the better.

As a result, there is currently much talk about the need for better gun control laws, better psychiatric support, and some are even making a connection between the mind-altering psychotropic drugs that are so readily prescribed these days. While I believe that these are all worthy of consideration, it’s a complex issue with many facets and I don’t believe that all of the answers will be found in any one place.

When I look at it through the lens of “you are what you eat,” I feel that diet is another aspect to some of the aggressive and erratic behavior we’ve been witnessing and that it also merits further investigation.  If you’ve ever seen a young child bouncing off the walls after eating sugary foods, and then witnessed the “crash” that happens afterwards, you’ll understand where I’m going with this. Personality changes that can include behaviors like hyperactivity and even aggression often happen after exposure to toxic ingredients. Some of the more common offenders that you may have heard of are artificial food dyes, aspartame, and MSG, which is considered an excitotoxin.

Food sensitivities can be another commonly mistaken cause of “troublesome” behavior. Even if it’s considered a healthy food, it is important to note that what’s good for one person may be toxic to another and that any amount of toxicity has the ability to contribute to some type of unusual, as in out of the ordinary, behavior. And it goes way beyond food, factoring in common environmental allergens such as mold and pesticides, for example. If you’d like to explore this further, Doris Rapp, M.D., a board-certified environmental medical specialist and pediatric allergist, has written extensively on this topic in her book, Is This Your Child? Although the book focuses on children, the information it contains is pertinent to adults as well.

Alcohol consumption is another situation where this connection often becomes evident. How many of us have seen Uncle John down one too many beers at the family holiday gathering, only to then pick a fight with some of the other family members. It can be fascinating to watch, as long as you don’t find yourself sucked into the drama.

The connection between food and mood is the awareness I would like to offer here. If this is a new concept to you, begin by noticing how you yourself feel after eating certain foods. Do you feel enlivened or drained? Does your heart beat faster? Do you break out in a rash? Does your head feel fuzzy? And if you have young children in your care, do you notice anything unusual about their behavior soon after eating or being exposed to some other known or unknown toxin?

In a nutshell, I firmly believe that if we paid more attention to what we are eating we would see a huge shift in overall health, well-being, and behavior. I have seen this time and time again with myself, my family and those with whom I have worked.

If you discover that you have a need or a desire to change your eating habits and don’t know where to begin, I am happy to assist you. Contact me for a complimentary thirty-minute discovery session where, together, we can best determine your needs moving forward.