(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
This is the Real Food Good Mood Podcast, where I'm helping you regain control of your mood through real food nutrition. Hi, I'm Amy, a therapist who has personally experienced the difference real food can make, and now I'm on a mission to help you do the same. You can get started today with my free 30 quick good mood breakfasts by clicking the link in the show notes.
Simple life sounds really great, doesn't it? Tell me, what's your idea of a simple life? For some people, it might mean being able to have the freedom to go wherever you want or do whatever you want each day. For others, it might mean slow days of having very few things on the schedule. And for some, it might be working a job you love with flexibility to homeschool your kids and grow a garden.
In this episode, we're going to dig into what simplicity really is and what that means for feeding our bodies well to give us what we need to flourish in our lives. When we think of simplicity and living a simple life, it usually brings up thoughts about what's happening around us, the busy schedules we want to simplify or decluttering our homes or no-drama relationships. We equate simple with ease.
We see it as things flowing well and not coming up against any real barriers that complicate things. And, I mean, that sounds really great, doesn't it? Thing is, living a life of true simplicity doesn't actually have a lot to do with what's happening around us, at least not to start. Because the truth is, there are a lot of things that happen around us that we just can't control.
Not many people who are juggling caring for a child with special needs and an aging parent would say their life is easy or simple because the truth is that it's really quite complex. To try to keep things easy would require us to tune out the reality of what's happening around us. But just because things are busy or even chaotic in our lives doesn't mean there's no hope for embracing a posture of simplicity in the midst of it.
The perfect picture of living a life of simplicity is found in the life of Jesus. His life was not easy or one where he just made a quiet home for himself, shutting out everything that disrupted his calm. He dealt with real struggles both personally and with people around him while at the same time remaining steady in his purpose and his mission.
He cared for people's hearts and their needs without getting overwhelmed or being rushed or caring about what people thought of him. Matthew 9 is a great example where he is on his way to heal a dying girl and stops on the way to take time to talk with the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and to heal her, then after that continuing on to heal the first girl. He was not so rushed that he missed someone who needed him in the moment and he knew he was not behind in getting to the girl who was dying.
He knew the power he held and didn't let the worries of this world overshadow that. He also didn't worry about where his next meal was coming from and told us not to worry about that either. Simplicity does not come from having a perfectly organized schedule in order to have an uncomplicated life.
It comes from a refinement of having that inner calm like Jesus, which results in a natural outflow of the peace and simplicity that the Good News of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit gives us. So how does this play out in real life? Rather than an external life of ease, it's an internal embodiment of the grace we've received and the freedom that comes with it. In John 16, 33, Jesus tells us that we're going to have trouble in this world, but to take heart because he has overcome the world.
So let's break that down. When we're going through stress and hard times, we have problem number one. That's the trouble we have in this world.
Then when we start to feel upset and scared and worried, we're giving ourselves a second problem, which is how we think and feel about problem number one. And a lot of times the second problem is the one that brings us the most grief and that's the one we actually have control over. This is where Jesus tells us to take heart because he has overcome the world.
In my life, this happened a lot in the past with my anxiety. I would notice my heart rate going up, my breathing feeling off, being unable to focus. And as I noticed these things, I started worrying that I might pass out or something.
So then I was focused on what I was afraid might happen. The fear and worry about what I felt in my body was creating a second problem that actually prevented me from being able to calmly address the first problem of what was actually happening in my body. Once I was able to separate the two, solving the first problem became so much simpler.
I could slow my breathing, eat something nourishing and calm my body down. Learning to separate the two problems, which is the main problem from how we think and feel about it, not only helps us problem solve better in the moment, it also gives us the opportunity to proactively address the problems we're having so that we can make it less of a problem. So for me, when I could let go of the fears and worries about what I felt in my body, the anxiety went from feeling like it was something that was happening to me to being something I wanted to get to the root cause of and do something about.
It gave me the opportunity to take back control of my mind and body. So releasing ourselves from this second problem is where the life of simplicity comes in. We can stay calm while addressing the problem in front of us, which means we'll be intentional and strategic instead of reactive.
Our reactions are often where we make our troubles even more complicated than they started out as. This is true for all areas of life, including our relationship with food. When God created everything, he called it good.
The same God who made us made the food we need to be healthy and alive. And he didn't just make it so we could stay alive. He made a plethora of different kinds of foods that are delicious and enjoyable to eat.
Just the other day, I was eating a juicy slice of watermelon and thinking about the ways that God blesses us that are so easy to miss, like this refreshing watermelon that hits peak season right smack in the middle of the hottest days of summer. I believe he gets pleasure out of seeing us enjoy things like that in his creation, just like it says in First Corinthians 1031. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Eating is an act of worship. The thing is, we get so many messages about food that we lose the ability to simply enjoy our food with gratitude and listen to our body about what it needs. Because this person is telling us we need less carbs and that person is telling us we need to stop eating gluten.
And then we need to keep track of our macros and we better count our calories and stay within a certain limit. The problem goes from simply being that our body needs food and nutrients to survive to being something that is completely confusing and overwhelming and leaves us searching for more knowledge and more information and more research. When what many of us would actually benefit from is just learning to trust our ability to feed ourselves well.
Because we can trust that the food God created for us to eat will give us the nutrients we need. It's when we start messing with the good thing that things go from simple to complicated for no reason other than to profit those who make money off of addictive foods and our poor health. What we eat and how we eat directly affects our nervous system.
And this happens through our gut, through the amino acids and proteins that are essential for the development of serotonin and dopamine, and through food that either protects or exacerbates inflammation. And this is huge for being able to live with simplicity. Because if we're operating from a well-functioning nervous system, we can trust that our body is telling us about what is happening around us.
When we need to act quickly, we can, and when we have a moment to rest, we can do that. And we're not reacting as if we're being chased by a bear when the boss calls us in for a meeting or even when we're just laying on the couch. But we don't actually need to know all the details about which nutrients do what and get a PhD in food science just to know what to eat.
We can rest in the simplicity of trusting that God created the right foods with the right nutrients our bodies need and by paying attention to how different foods make us feel. Living in the peace of the gospel, trusting God, and giving our body what it needs all go hand in hand with being able to live with an inner simplicity that keeps us grounded and in control of our mood and our reactions instead of feeling controlled by them and being controlled by the things that are happening around us. We tend to make things so much more complicated than they need to be, and our food is no exception.
We rely way too much on what other people tell us we should be eating instead of just learning to listen to our bodies and how certain foods make us feel. As I said in the last episode, the research and knowledge do give us a starting point and perhaps a reason why behind our decisions around food, but the knowledge will only get us so far because the reality is you are unique and an article or a book or even a research finding isn't going to tell you how your body specifically will respond to something. And I know the whole premise here with this podcast and my program is to tell you to eat more real food, so it's not lost on me that I'm kind of telling you what to eat.
But again, that's your starting point. I want you to be able to read your body's signals and know which foods help you feel good and which ones don't. And then eat more of those that do and less of those that don't help you feel good rather than getting all caught up in the latest food frenzy.
When you eat real food for the sake of giving your body what it needs, it takes away the need for calorie counting, measuring and tracking portions, and trying to find that one magic diet that will solve all of your problems. Again, this is the simplicity of it all, but that doesn't mean it's easy, especially if you're not used to thinking about food in this way or eating this way. It all starts with just one small step.
What is one thing you can do today that will take you in the direction of eating more real whole foods and noticing how you feel after you eat? In the next episode, I'll be talking more about what real food even means. So no worries if you're wondering what counts as quote-unquote real food. For today though, just start with breakfast.
Eating a breakfast with protein from real food, not these protein powders or other trendy protein products, even just an egg with your toast or yogurt with your fruit, will help you start to balance your blood sugar and cortisol from the start, with the benefits lasting throughout your whole day. To make it super easy, I have 30 quick, protein-rich, good mood breakfast ideas for you. Download it for free by clicking the link in the show notes.
These breakfast ideas include simple options, as well as some that might get you a little out of your comfort zone, and that might be just fun to try when you're feeling more adventurous. As we finish up this second episode of the Real Food Good Mood Podcast, I would love to get your input for what you want to hear on this show. So there's a link for a short survey in the show notes where you can help guide the direction of this podcast to make it what would be most interesting and helpful for you.
So please go fill that out. Just remember to keep a heart and mind of simplicity, because there's a freedom there that no one can take from you, no matter what else is happening around you. So hit subscribe and join me here next week to talk all things real food for a good mood.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)