Feeling Low Spirited?

Do you ever wake up feeling anxious, frustrated, maybe even a little bit angry, but for no good reason? Today I woke up and was experiencing all of these feelings but with no legitamite inciting factor. It could be a multitude of reasons, whether it be dreams, hormones, or some deeper subconscious factor that has yet to be revealed. Or, it can very well be attributed to my diet. Un-surprisingly, I just got back from a series of weekend trips. First San Diego where I literally ate tacos for 3 days straight. The second weekend was Las Vegas. No other words needed. This past weekend I went on a trip to San Francisco where I explored giant sandwiches, giant plates of thai food, giant waffles... With almost 3 weeks straight of eating big, rich meals that aren't the best for the digestive tract, plus coffee throughout my trips to stay energized, things aren't looking so good.

Exhibit A: here I am today, the high of traveling coming to a close. With nothing great to look forward to in the immediate future I instantly blame my near depression to the lack of excitement in my life. But, with further self-consulation, I believe there is a bigger, greasier, caffeinated explanation. My body is in withdrawwal from eating out and I have little to no energy in return.

Right now the only thought that makes me feel happy is the thought of eating out or grabbing a cup of joe. But I just spent $90.00 at the grocery store last night to make up for even higher eating out costs which serves as a sort of nicotine patch for the foodie.

I packed a reasonable lunch: salad with ginger dressing, a nut mixture, and apple sauce. I had a big bowl of hearty cereal this morning with a cup of green tea. I should be feeling okay, right?

Currently I am considering ramming my car into oncoming traffic and feel as though I am starving to death. Man, withdrawal can be rough.

For the next week I have decided to fight the depression and get back onto a normal eating pattern. It won't be easy. I am going to eat small portions. No more coffee and no eating out for at least 2 weeks. This weekend I am going to complete a "cleanse" prescribed by Dr. Deepak Chopra from his book "Perfect Health." It includes eating a light meal Friday night, then basically only consuming small amounts of juice on Saturday with little to no exercise or movement. Then Sunday you are alloweed to slowly re-introduce a more normal diet, still eating very light foods. It's supposed to "re-start" your digestive tract. Right now I feel like I need to re-start my life.

I'm hoping this allows my body to be able to use energy not given artifically by foods with high salt, sugar, fat and caffeine contents. Eating out and traveling is fun but it definitely should be done in moderation. The ability to find happiness and energy in the everyday is what I'm working towards. I don't want my life to be a series of waiting for the fun to come to me. I want to learn to make the fun for myself at all times of the day and all days of the week. Plus withdrawal sucks.

I'll let you know how I'm doing in a week from now. Hopefully I can stay clean for the time being...

Gluten Intolerant? What happened to Our Sh*t?!

So what is the deal with all this Gluten woo-hee-haw. Recently I felt I had/have a possible intolerance to Gluten products. Specfically this idea came about after becoming aware of certain digestive issues. And digestive issues, unfortunately, are the first step to more serious things like disease and sickness. So if you are facing digestive issues, I would not turn the other way. In fact I do suggest turning down more often so you may be more aware of your digestive health...

The more research I did, the more I found that I certainly am not alone on this gluten fiasco. It seems as though everyone is starting to form a gluten intolerance in their body and switching to eating every corn, rice, soy product out there (soy is another topic I can talk about for hours... to come later).

But why?

We have been eating wheat for thousands of years and all of a sudden we can't digest the stuff? It was, and still is in some places, the staple of a diet. Are humans just plain evolving poorly? Maybe. Or maybe it's how the wheat is being grown...

With the amount of chemicals used in the farming process, it's hard to be sure what long term effects they are having on food. Was there always this much backlash to new technology in farming? But there are lots of humans to feed and the structure of cities does not leave much space for growing enough of your own food to feed your immediate family. Plus I don't think the majority of people really care where their food comes from but this is, again, another topic of discussion. My point is to try not to jump on the bandwagon too quickly. Organic food products is not the end all be all to our food problems. And even eating entirely locally is not the end all be all.

Let's look at a BIG picture:

A cow is being fed antibiotics on a big cow factory. Whether or not you eat the cow, the cow sh*ts, and that sh*t will end up back in the earth, eventually. Even quicker than that, when the rain comes it will wash all the residual antibiotics back into our water system, which may very well be used to sprinkle our beloved wheat products later that year. SO, my idea here is that maybe the mass amounts of antibiotics that are being poured into our eco system, and quickly draining into well um, every product grown under the sun, may have an effect on how our body can or cannnot digest well.



Like I stated on my first post, I am no expert. I like to stress this point because I do not intend on being another lofty pretentious opinion floating through the internet that has no real backing. I don't have real backing aside from having a good set of eyes and ears (yeah I RULE). My point is to merely raise questions concerning food issues. Certainly I love bread and beer and cheeseburgers for that matter and gosh darnit wheat is in everything! The idea that I may be intolerant of those foods is hard to swallow (ba dum CHING).

So for now I will continue introducing organic Ezekiel bread into the diet, hoping those sprouted grains were unaffected by the cow's sh*t. So in turn, well, I can, umm... go to the bathroom.

My Daddy always said, "what goes in, must come out." These, my friends, are words to live by.