Part 5:
Inflammatory Habit 4: Negativity. Did you know that you have around 60,000 thoughts every day? And what’s even more surprising: One Stanford study found that a staggering 90 percent of those thoughts are repetitive. Think about that: Nine out of ten of your thoughts are ones you have over and over again. For many people, these thoughts are not only repetitive but largely negative. Negative thoughts include things you are worried about, critical thoughts about your own appearance or abilities, dread of the future, regret about the past, etc. Negative thoughts fuel stress, and that is damaging to your overall health. Negativity is inflammatory. It’s not easy to change your habitual way of relating to your own world. HOW TO GIVE IT UP: Mindful awareness will help you notice your negativity habit. Proceed slowly, consciously, and rationally. Be the observer of your own thoughts as if you’re watching the thoughts of someone else scroll by. ACTIVITIES TO INCORPORATE: Give these glass-half-full strategies a try. Pay attention. Start noticing your thoughts. When they are negative, question them. Ask yourself: Is that true? Practice positivity. Like any other skill, being more positive takes practice. Purposefully form positive thoughts, especially in response to negative thoughts. Even if you don’t completely believe them, say them to yourself anyway. Fake it till you make it, as they say. Notice your triggers. If you are negative only in certain situations or with specific people, think about why. Can you change the situation? Is the relationship, environment, or situation something that can be fixed, or do you need to move on? Laugh more. Humor can be a good way to defuse negativity. Seek out chances to laugh more—funny friends, funny movies, or a willingness to be amused by the occasional absurdity of life. Hang out with positive people. When all your friends are Negative Nancys or Neds, it’s easy to fall in step. When your friends tend to see the bright side, you are more likely to join in on that behavior. Be patient with yourself. Negativity is a hard habit to break, but be persistent. You may not conquer your negative habits today, but you can choose to make this the first day of the rest of your life when it comes to having a more positive outlook.
Inflammatory Habit 5: Monkey Mind. Monkey mind comes from a Buddhist term (both Chinese and Japanese have versions of it) meaning “unsettled” or “capricious,” and it is used to mean a restless mind that can’t concentrate because it keeps jumping around like a crazy monkey, unable to settle on any subject or engage in any deep thought. This anxious, reactive mind is prevalent in our culture, which is so often focused on sound bites, video clips, advertisements, and other visual and aural stimuli that change constantly to draw and keep our attention. WHY GIVE IT UP (FOR NOW): The result of chronic monkey mind is that we have trouble paying attention to anything for longer than about 30 seconds (or less). Monkey mind also describes that state when you lie awake in bed at night thinking of a million things you need to do or worrying about a long list of things that probably won’t ever happen. WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Detachment from the reactive thinking mind is liberating and calming to your system. You are not your thoughts or your emotions, but the observing presence of them. As you go through the day, become aware of when your mind starts jumping around. Noticing is the first step. When you notice, see if you can detach from the “jumping around” so that you feel like you are looking at it from the outside rather than being in the thick of it. This might feel hard at first, but with practice, you will get better and better. The trick is consistency.
Inflammatory Habit 6: Emotional Eating. Emotional eating, sometimes called stress eating, is a stress response that involves consuming food to relieve stress, distract yourself from unpleasant feelings, or provide a little moment of pleasure in the face of depression or anxiety. In other words, when you feel bad, you eat to feel better. It’s the proverbial pint-of-ice-cream-after-a-breakup scenario. Eating for reasons other than hunger is okay now and then—to celebrate, to socialize. However, if eating for emotional reasons becomes chronic—you do it more than a few times a week, or even daily—then it is a problem and can damage your health. It isn’t about eating for hunger. It is about eating your feelings, and that’s not a healthy physical or emotional practice. When you have emotional “hunger,” food will not fill you. It is only a temporary distraction that will likely leave you feeling even worse later, especially if it causes you to go against the health improvements you’ve been trying so hard to make. The kinds of foods emotional eaters usually crave are high in refined carbs like sugar and white flour or fried like potato chips or French fries or extremely high in fat like cheese, or all of the above, like a doughnut. One intense emotional eating session can derail your good health efforts, so if you are an emotional eater and want to feel better, you will benefit immensely by working through this problem. HOW TO GIVE IT UP: If you are an emotional eater, you probably already know you aren’t going to solve this problem in one day, but you can solve it by gradually increasing your awareness of the cues that make you feel like eating. The point of this exercise is to help you make food about food, and about nothing but food. You can’t get rid of strong emotions, and this isn’t about repressing your feelings or judging your emotions. Emotions come and go. This practice is about disassociating feelings about other things in your life from the food you eat, thus processing your emotions separately from processing your food. WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Negative emotions, especially anxiety, can make you feel compelled to do something, anything, to relieve it. Make a list of five things you like to do that you can do immediately without any preparation. Listen to three favorite songs in a row with headphones. Go for a walk—no need to change clothes, just go. Take 20 slow deep breaths, counting to 5 as you inhale and 10 as you exhale. Take a shower and vigorously scrub all your skin with a brush or washcloth, then moisturize everywhere. Sit down and watch a funny show or movie (no food or cell phone—just be present for the show). Drink 16 ounces of water. Eat four stalks of celery— although it’s food, it’s not a “binge” food, and the crunch can help relieve anxiety. Take a 20-minute catnap. Free-write for 15 minutes without stopping. Write whatever you are feeling without thinking about it or worrying about grammar or how it sounds. No judgment—it’s just for you. Do anything else that relieves the pressure of your immediate in-the-moment feeling that doesn’t involve food.
Inflammatory Habit 7: Social Isolation and/or Social Media Addiction. WHY GIVE IT UP (FOR NOW): Social media keeps people constantly interrupted as they continually stop what they are doing to check their notifications. This keeps them from ever being fully engaged in an activity for an extended period—a skill you can lose if you never practice it. ACTIVITIES TO INCORPORATE: Try these strategies to help you reconnect with actual face-to-face humans again. Have a conversation with a friend or family member who is physically with you. Better yet, spend the day with a real person, in a no-phone zone, talking about your lives. Write a letter using a pen and some paper. Mail it in a real envelope with an actual stamp. Notice whether your other family members have a problem, too—you could make this “social media cleanse” a family affair or challenge, especially since many kids and teens have problems with this issue.
Inflammatory Habit 8: Lack of Higher Purpose. WHY HAVE A HIGHER PURPOSE? Having a higher purpose has been demonstrated to improve health, recovery from illness or surgery, and brain function, including stroke risk. It is deeply connected to your wellbeing. Those who report not having a higher purpose tend to have poorer outcomes after a health crisis, more depression, and less life satisfaction. ACTIVITIES TO INCORPORATE: Here are some things to do to help you discover your higher purpose—they are long-term things, but take just one step toward making at least one of these happen this week: Join a place of worship or a spiritual group or study some spiritual tradition that interests you. Learn something new that you have always wanted to learn, such as how to play the piano, or how to speak Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, or how to do karate or tai chi or yoga, or how to knit or do woodworking. It doesn’t have to be lofty (although it could be). It just has to get you feeling passionate. You can try multiple activities to see what resonates with you. Pick up something you used to love but stopped doing when life got in the way. Maybe you could start planning that trip you’ve been wanting to take, or finish that book you started writing, or finally get that degree. If you used to dance or write poetry or paint landscapes or play the guitar and you loved it, carve out a time to start doing it again. You could volunteer with an organization that helps others—children, animals, the hungry, the poor, whatever it is that catches your heart—and see how service work changes your perspective.
Now that we have gone over your toolboxes and your inflammatory habits you may be wondering what can I eat? Well I am here to tell you some more foods to look out for that may provoke an inflammatory response in your body (but then again, maybe it won’t, you’ll have to see for yourself!)
HIGH-HISTAMINE FOODS Here are the foods with the highest content of histamine, foods that could cause an overload: Alcohol (especially beer and wine), Bone broth, Canned food, Cheese, especially aged cheese, Chocolate, Eggplant, Fermented foods (kefir, kimchi, yogurt, sauerkraut), Legumes (especially fermented soybeans, chickpeas, and peanuts), Mushrooms, Nuts, especially cashews and walnuts, Processed foods, Shellfish, Smoked meat products (bacon, salami, salmon, ham), Spinach, and Vinegar. FOODS THAT RELEASE HISTAMINE These foods are low in histamines but can trigger the release of histamine, thus creating problems for people with histamine intolerance: Avocados, Bananas, Citrus fruits (lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit), Strawberries, and Tomatoes. DIAMINE OXIDASE (DAO) ENZYME BLOCKERS These foods block the enzyme that controls histamine, which can cause higher levels in some people: Alcohol, Energy drinks, and Teas (black, green, yerba maté).
Salicylates: Salicylates are compounds found in pain medications like aspirin as well as in beauty and skin products, but in the context of food, salicylates are naturally found in many plant foods. In certain plant foods, salicylates act as a defense mechanism to protect the plant. The symptoms of salicylate intolerance can be similar to those of histamine intolerance: neurological, digestive, or skin reactions. If you think you might have this intolerance, try eliminating these salicylate-rich foods and see if it helps: Almonds, Apricots, Avocados, Blackberries, Cherries, Coconut oil, Dates, Dried fruits, Endive, Gherkins, Grapes, Green olives, Guavas, Honey, Nightshades (peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes), Olive oil, Oranges, Pineapple, Plums/prunes, Tangelos, Tangerines, and Water chestnuts. You may be tolerant of some FODMAPs but not of others, so it’s good to test these one at a time (or in small groups, since the list is long) to see if your symptoms improve: Artichoke, Asparagus, Bananas, Beets, Cabbage, Cashews, Carob powder, Cauliflower, coconut water, Dairy products, all types from cow’s milk: cheese, milk, cream, ice cream, sour cream, yogurt, Fruit juice of any kind, Garlic, Gluten—all products that contain wheat, barley, rye, or spelt, Green beans, High fructose fruits (all except berries, limes, lemons, and melons), Honey, Legumes, Mushrooms, Onions, all types (including shallots and scallions), Peas, Sauerkraut, Soy, Sugar alcohols (often used in sugar-free sweet products, these include inulin, isomalt, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol). In oxalate-sensitive people, this can drive inflammation in these areas. Foods higher in oxalates include: Beets, Cocoa, Kale, Peanuts, Spinach, Sweet potatoes, and Swiss chard. Reactions can come in many forms. As you begin to test foods through re-introduction after 4-8 weeks, any of the following symptoms count as a reaction and you should record them, even if you aren’t 100 percent sure they came from the food you ate: Any aggravation or recurrence of your past symptoms that went away during the last four or eight weeks, Headaches or migraines, Any digestive symptoms (bloating, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, abdominal pain), Any skin problems (itching, rashes, hives, acne breakouts, sudden appearance of dry flaky skin), Eyes or mouth itching, irritated, or burning, especially right after eating a food, Sudden nasal congestion, itching, or dripping, especially right after eating a food, Increased heart rate: racing heart, palpitations, skipped heartbeats, Joint pain, joint stiffness, especially on both sides of the body at the same time or all over, All-over muscle aches or stiff muscles, Feeling feverish Brain fog symptoms, such as trouble concentrating, focusing, or remembering things, especially if this has abated in the last eight weeks and suddenly comes back or gets noticeably worse, Sudden fatigue, Sudden mood changes—depression, anxiety, panic, nervousness, sense of doom, Retaining water —limbs and face look thicker, rings don’t fit, clothes leave marks in your skin, Sudden weight gain of a pound or two, and Sleep inconsistency or inability to fall or stay asleep. What about “cheating” during this 4-8 week reset? The concept of cheating, as it relates to food, is antithetical to sustainable wellness. I want you to remember that nothing is forbidden. There is a difference between knowing a food is bad for you and choosing not to eat it and forbidding yourself from having a particular food. One is food freedom, and one is food prison.
