Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Wishing you a Brown Christmas so your White Christmas doesn't get Blue ...

During the holidays when even the best of us are prone to deviating a little from our healthy eating regime, information about ‘Sugar Feelings’ might be timely. Being mad, sad, and happy are regular feelings that come up in response to our everyday life. Those of us who are sugar sensitive have had very little experience with regular feelings in the past because we have been wrapped in what Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. of http://www.radiantrecovery.com/ calls "sugar feelings."

Sugar feelings include such feelings as:

1. Feeling overwhelmed
2. Feeling that life is out of control
3. Feeling inadequate
4. Having low self-esteem
5. Not being able to follow directions
6. Being headstrong
7. Feeling victimized
8. Living in la-la land
9. Having a hard time doing your life
10. Overreacting to criticism
11. Being highly impulsive

It may be hard to believe but no amount of spiritual growth, counselling or self talk will change these feelings because they are a function of brain chemistry rather than character. These feelings are a function of a sugar-sensitive brain and body.

DesMaisons affectionately refers to this state of an unbalanced, sugar sensitive brain as "mush brain". “Mush brain” happens when we use sweet foods, eat white things and choose not to eat a healthy breakfast.

I thought for years that that was how my brain...and my body...really was. What a change in my life when I realized that these feelings were not REAL. Now when I go from a high to a low I check on what I’ve been eating because I now know that the types of feelings listed above change when my food changes. If I’m going to give myself permission to indulge a little, I remind myself that the ‘woe is me’ will pass as I clear the sugars and whites out of my system.

And that, my dear readers, is how a White Christmas becomes a Blue Christmas. So, I wish you a Brown Christmas. It doesn't have quite the same ring to it, and you probably won't hear rewrites of the old Christmas carols anytime soon...but there it is!

10 comments:

  1. OK, now I am dreaming of a Brown Christmas!! This is a great book, I have read it. I am amazed that certain foods can have such a huge impact on our feelings, and how we function. We have discovered brown rice - tortillas, pasta, bread, everything! And almond milk!! So much better for us than what we used to eat.
    No more mush brain!! Well, at least I will be consciously choosing a mush brain if I so desire. Thanks for the excellent post.
    www.bvictorious.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, there are some great brown rice pastas out now! And I have brown rice krispies for cereal. I have not seen brown rice tortillas though...but then I'm not in CA! I do almond milk or goat milk.

    I'm a major mush brain today because of Christmas chocolate hanging around that I indulged in yesterday...got me thinking of this today!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my . . . I've been mush-brained for the past few days and munching on cookies from the exchange! I tend to forget this . . . thanks for the reminder!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for stopping by, Susan. :) Make sure that you have all those cookies eaten before I get there, k?!

    ReplyDelete
  5. But I don't eat sugar or sweets much at all, so whats the cause of my mush brain?! lol

    ReplyDelete
  6. AM, remember that it's what you drink (booze) as well and whites like rice, flour...also, when I first started this I too thought that I didn't do many sugars but realized quickly in looking through my fridge and cupboards that almost everything from salad dressings, to ketchup, to salsa and mayo in my fridge had sugars in it. I make most things from scratch now and I've found a great salsa with no sugar.

    Check out the radiantrecovery.com site if you want more info perhaps.

    ReplyDelete
  7. OR, Check out a Natural Nutritional Counselor as there can be other factors involved: http://www.anxietycentre.com/Liliana-Tosic.shtml

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm learning... Thanks for the tips.
    AB

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey AB, this obviously is a brief overview as far as eating since the key thing that I wanted to point out here was the feelings that resulted from improper eating. So for further learning in eating right there are a number of resources available...mentioned here...as well as others.

    Merry Christmas. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. wait .. I have to break up with Sam Adams? Say it isn't so!

    ReplyDelete