Maybe that sounds really weird to you! I can understand, especially if I am standing in the cereal aisle at the grocery store, not too many vegetables there! Several years ago, I attended a short training at a therapeutic nutrition school on how nutrition can impact our mental health. I remember the presenter saying that when she ate a hamburger and a salad for breakfast, that she did not have cravings for carbs and sugar during the day. Huh, I never thought of that. I learned this during a time when I was aware of what I ate, was trying to figure out what my body needed and was trying to raise my kids with healthy food. But, I still didn’t have it working quite right for me and felt tired a lot- not just from the kids!
So, I started with sauteing some spinach in the morning and cooking an egg, instead of a protein powder, fruit and dairy based smoothie. It helped, I felt less hungry. Over the years, my health journey has evolved with more awareness of my body’s needs. I now do a smoothie with kale, spinach, avocado, cabbage (yes, cabbage!), carrots, beet powder and a smaller amount of berries and some lemon juice. And I eat more protein and eat more overall for breakfast. It works for me, I notice a big difference.
The point of this is not to tell you what to eat, I am not a nutritionist. I am a therapist trained in the food mood connection and huge believer in how very important food is to our overall well being. More importantly, I am a believer in how changing a small thing in our daily routines can change how we feel physically and emotionally and how we feel about ourselves. Pretty big things, right?
So many people are stuck with food- what should I be eating, how do I motivate to do it, how do I have time to cook. The noise is loud here, the overwhelm is real and perhaps there is more, deeper work to do here to understand how you relate to food and perhaps use it to soothe yourself. But I really wonder what would happen if you ate a vegetable at the beginning of your day? I am really curious.
Here are some possibilities:
- You would be doing an important thing first thing in the morning- not putting it off until dinner.
- You may have more energy, so that you don’t overeat later when you are tired.
- Your inner critic may be more quiet during the day, so who knows what you may accomplish?
- Your immune system may have some of the tools it needs to keep you from getting that cold that is going around.
- Maybe you would sleep better.
- You will be challenging this notion that we have to do what we always have done or what the world says we should do and starting to create a new ‘think outside the box’ kind of mental stance.
- You would be learning to attune to yourself and mindfully noticing what your body needs.
And I know you would be strengthening the neural pathway in your brain that says- I can do small things to take care of myself. THAT is powerful. THAT is the building block of a new relationship with yourself. THAT is the point of me writing this. So, again, I really wonder what would happen if… you ate a vegetable for breakfast?
Be well!