In the Mood for Food!

I was reading through some teaching notes I'd taken while listening to a bible teacher on TBN years ago named Aiko Hormann. She was a lovely Asian woman who at the time was in her 60's. However, she didn't look a day over 40. She had such a peace and serenity about her. She was a scientist and I took copious notes on her teaching on the connection of our emotions to our physical health, which I found fascinating.

How many times do we sit down to a meal when we've just had an argument or feel angry or stressed? We don't think twice about sitting down in that emotional state and eating. Some of us use food in that instance as a comforter. But those emotions are very powerful and they powerfully affect our digestion and our health. I want to share some of the examples she taught about because they illustrate the need to be aware of our emotions and take control over them.

She explained it is critical to know what state of mind you are in while you eat. When you are angry, stressed or fearful, those emotions cause biochemical changes in your body. Different hormones and chemicals are released into your bloodstream. Those negative emotions stimulate the part of the brain called the amygdala. In fact if you were to be hooked up to a diagnostic machine, that part of your brain would actually be lit up on the screen because those emotions had activated it. The amygdala is directly connected to the stomach. Therefore, any emotion that affects that part of your brain, also affects your digestion.

It certainly makes sense - think how you feel when you are upset and sit down and eat anyway. It feels like you swallowed a rock! Another interesting thing she shared was that when you generate a toxic emotional response by activating your amygdala through fear, anger or anxiety, those chemicals remain in your bloodstream for 72 hours - 3 days - unless you neutralize them.

No wonder God's Word in Proverbs 17:1 tells us: Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife. The Message Translation says it this way: A meal of bread and water in contented peace is better than a banquet spiced with quarrels. She said a blood sample from an angry person was injected into a guinea pig and it died. She also related a woman who was breastfeeding her child became extremely furious with her husband and breastfed her baby in that emotional state and the baby died. Now, I cannot verify that those examples are literally true, although that is the way she presented them.

A study was done with smokers and non-smokers. Both groups ate the same number of eggs. Cholesterol levels rose rapidly in the smokers because smoking stresses the body and stress will cause cholesterol to rise rapidly regardless of the amount or type of food eaten.

So what to do when you find yourself upset and you just want to sit down and stuff your face? Her suggestion makes sense to me. She related that when people purposely changed their thoughts from anger, fear or anxiety to God's love and goodness, the change in their brain chemistry could be recorded. The amygdala, which had been activated by the negative emotions was switched off. Now the ceptum, which is directly connected to the physical heart, was immediately lit up and began dissipating those emotional toxins. Not only does it neutralize the effects of negative emotions on your digestion, it promotes a healthy heart as well.

It may not be easy to switch off those negative emotions in the moment - but with practice I'm sure it gets easier and easier, just like anything else. The point is to be aware and in control of our emotions instead of the other way around.

Never, Never, Never Give Up!!!

I got an email from a close friend of almost 20 years today. The first line of her message was in huge, bold letters: I'M SICK!! She was ecstatic that she'd finally found a doctor who took her symptoms seriously, despite prior test results that were "within normal limits." Not too many people are happy when the doctor confirms that they are sick - but she is and with good reason.

This has been going on for years - not one or two - but six! In 2002 she was a beautiful (still is), healthy, energetic 125-pound 40-something woman. Her dad died and being executor of his estate put her under an enormous amount of stress. The first and most upsetting symptom was weight gain - regardless of how carefully (or how little) she ate or how much she exercised. The weight gain continued and with it came new, alarming symptoms - heart pain and palpitations, inability to sleep more than a few hours a night, joint and muscle pain and tenderness, memory loss and brain fog, shortness of breath and fatigue.

Because I am a health coach and have informally "coached" her for years I suggested a thyroid problem (despite the test results) and adrenal fatigue as a result of the unremitting stress. She saw numerous doctors - holistic, naturopathic, mainstream, specialists - you name it, she saw them. Their responses ranged from diagnosing and prescribing thyroid meds (and in the process nearly killing her - literally); to trying all types of supplements and diets; to telling her she was either "just eating too many calories" or that at her age (42) gaining weight and feeling lousy are "normal." The most distressing response was just treating her as if this was all in her imagination and discounting everything she said.

To her credit and by the grace of God, she was led to a doctor who actually listened, took her seriously, did testing that was different from what had already been done and is now taking steps to address the very real root causes of the symptoms she's been experiencing.

Doctors are simply well-educated, trained people - they are not God. They simply don't have all the answers. Who does? We have to stop thinking that just because a doctor tells us we're fine, despite how we feel, if we know in our hearts that something is wrong, we have to keep searching for the answer. Jesus Himself tells us to ask and keep asking and we will receive - seek and keep seeking and we will find and to knock and keep on knocking and it will be opened to us. God gave us our instincts and intuition for a reason - we need to listen to that still, small voice.

So today I rejoice with my friend and encourage each and every one of you to never, never, never give up!