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Did you know that how certain food we choose could have adverse impact on our relationships with the people around us?
We make many choices in our lives without ever questioning “why?” A choice like what we eat is one of them. Perhaps we simply continue to eat in the way we were raised; perhaps we automatically adopt our parents’ choices. Or, perhaps we go against how we were raised: our parents made one choice, so we will make the opposite. In either
case, we rarely take the time to truly see why we are eating what we eat.
We already know what we eat affects our physical health. If we continue to eat a healthy, balanced, low-fat, low-sugar diet, we will have leaner bodies, less disease, and longer life as a general rule. Likewise if we continue to eat a diet high in fat, sugar and chemical additives, we will have overweight bodies, more disease, more visits to doctor, shorter life so on and so forth. This is not true for all people, but on the average it is common knowledge. But what I am going to talk about is an indirect connection between our food habits and relationships with people around us.
The connection is:
a) Our food choices can affect our emotional state;
b) Our emotional state influences our actions;
c) Our actions affect our relationship;
d) Our relationships affect our physical and emotional state;
e) Our emotional state and physical health can affect our food choices.
Our Food Choices Affect Our Emotional State
Many factors play a role in our emotional state. Our family history, health history, job status, and relationships all affect our emotional state. But one factor we generally overlook is the food that can affect our emotional state, our moods. My own experience demonstrates that when I eat certain foods, various emotional states tend to follow on a consistent basis. While this may not be the case for you, it’s worth considering.
Let’s look at depression as an example. Many people who suffer from depression do so because of a chemical imbalance or because of specific circumstances in their lives. But let’s say continuous poor food choices have led to weight gain or illnesses that result in isolation or irritability. And that, in turn, has perhaps contributed to a poor self-image. It is very possible, then, that these factors may make a person depressed. When talking about personal experience, ice creams and chocolates has always been great elevated mood of my wife and mine. The reverse may also be true.
People who make healthy food choices and have a strong self-image will most likely be more joyful. This may even be true if they have a tendency toward depression. Foods high in fat, sugar, and chemical additives may contribute to a host of negative emotions, while foods rich in nutrients—fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, and lean meats—may contribute to positive emotions. Studies of shown the emotional state of herbivores and carnivores animals and their eating habits.
Our Emotional State influence Our Actions
Perhaps this next step in the connection is as obvious to you as it was to me. What we don’t know is that food had contributed to those emotions.
These emotions drive our thoughts and eventually our actions. Thoughts and emotions are so mixed that they drive our actions, by instinct, and in an unconscious way. If I am in a confused state, my thinking would be affected and I would think and act differently.
So our emotions can provide us with information about ourselves, and about our behavior and about the behavior of others
If we are generally ruled by joy, peace, patience, and a positive attitude, our actions would be benevolent, friendly, helpful and understanding. On the other hand, if we
harbor negative emotions, bad temper, depression, then we exhibit uncontrolled anger, pessimism, anxiety, or bad moods on a regular basis.
Again, this information is probably not surprising. What is a surprise is that the foods you eat may indirectly be affecting the way think and act.
Our Actions Affects Our Relationships
Obviously the behaviors driven by negative emotion are bound to make adverse affect on their relationships. People with these emotional traits will be more likely to have conflicts with their spouses, children, and even coworkers. Similarly, people with positive emotional state don’t have to try harder for keeping the relation stronger.
Again, this information is probably not surprising. What is a surprise is that the foods you eat may indirectly be affecting the way you get along with the people you love.
Our Relationships Affect Our Physical Health and Emotional state
Numerous studies released in the past few years prove that people with poor and/or limited relationships and social connections are more likely to have poor physical health. Similarly, people with strong and/or numerous relationships and social connections are more likely to have good physical health.
How does this relate to the connection between food and love? It works like this: Foods affect our emotions, emotions affect our actions, actions affect our relationships, and relationships affect our physical health and emotions. Therefore, the food choices we make—whether good or bad—may very well play a role in our relationships, as well as our physical health and emotional state.
Our Emotional and Physical Health Affect Our Food Choices
That brings us to concluding piece of the connection. Our emotion and physical health affect our food choices. Let me give you a picture of how this looks.
So food choices affect our emotions; our emotions affect our actions; our actions affect our relationships; our relationships affect our physical health and emotions; and our emotions and physical health affect our food choices.
When people suffer from poor emotional and physical health, they don’t love themselves nor love their body. Most people find other ways to recuperate. They often turn to quick-and-easy substitutes. But Food and Love are one of them.
If we choose healthy foods, we are in the best possible position to have healthy bodies and healthy relationships. If we choose unhealthy foods, we make ourselves vulnerable to having unhealthy bodies and unhealthy relationships, which can lead us to even more unhealthy food choices.
Most people want to make healthy choices, but as I said earlier we simply continue to live in the way we were raised.
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