"Food," and "Mood" not only sound similar, but have a lot in common: they influence and rely on each other to tell our body how we are feeling, nutritionally and mentally. However, I don't usually think about how often the two overlap, unless I am asked point-blank, "Hey, how are you feeling?" or "What have you eaten today?"
Luckily for me, being required to keep a food and mood journal for three weeks as a class assignment made me ask myself these questions everyday. Here is what I learned about myself in the process, some of these you might even notice in your daily food and mood habits:
1. I eat the same things a LOT
Eating the same thing for breakfast every day is a universal concept. It's basically a part of humanity that we all accept. Subconsciously, I have also accepted that it's easier to eat the same thing for dinner because I can make a lot of it on Sunday.
Plus, I can snag the same thing for lunch because I have things to do before my next class and it is already prepped. But, after a few time of this I started to notice how many times the phrase "half a whole wheat bagel" showed up in my journal.
2. Drinking water is something I ignore
Oh, man. I drink my weight in coffee. But who doesn't right? It's not great for me to drink so much. According to the FDA, 4 to 7 cups are too many. Shhh, don't let them know I usually drink 8 in the course of a day. Drinking water on the other hand...the numbers didn't lie. I can't deny my lack of water-drinking after keeping track of my coffee to water ratio.
#SpoonTip: Check out this article on how to spruce up your water intake.
3. Hanging out with my friends improves my mood significantly
This might seem like an obvious statement but my introvert pride was baffled by this. But, the stats don't lie. Multiple days, I was feeling some sort of negative emotion around the middle of the day, and at my 8:30 PM check-in I'd be pleasantly surprised when my mood turned on its head. Coincidentally, I had hung out with my friends a few hours ago.
4. I hate counting calories
I've done this before, and it's not fun. Looking at what I put in my body holistically is interesting in a much healthier way. I didn't just see ways I was "bad" at eating, I saw that I do a decent job eating fruit.
5. My body deserves to be taken care of
Looking at how food correlates with my mood was a wonderful reminder that food is necessary fuel. A few days I would look at my journal, think about how tired I was, and decide to eat some almonds because it was four in the afternoon and I wanted to go to bed. In a half hour or so, I would have the energy to do homework. It was like magic. but because I paid attention to my body, I learned how to help it get through the day.
So the moral of my food and mood journal is, if you pay attention to your body, you can learn what's best for it. If you want to keep a food and mood journal, I would highly encourage it!