Food, alcohol and hormones!
I’ve worked out the reason that marketing ads always show younger people and not those in their middle age. Turns out by the time you hit your 40s most people have developed some kind of intolerance, whether that be to food, alcohol or whingy people. And if we sit by a pool drinking cocktails all night we’re going to be looking and feeling horrible for the next couple of days.
However, knowing what I should do and actually doing it are two different things. The last few years have highlighted that certain food and drinks will inevitably lead to night sweats for me, the most triggering being alcohol. It seems there is something in wine (preservatives, so I’ve been told) that now makes me feel sick to the stomach. Seriously? Hormones, night sweats and now I can’t even enjoy a glass of wine! So I spent a bit of time trying to understand the link between eating and hormones.
Given how much I love sugar, I started by looking at Sarah Wilson’s book I Quit Sugar. Here’s a woman who’s deep dived into the link between sugar and how it affects the human body, and let’s just say it ain’t pretty. This book was the first to really open my eyes to how processed sugar and packaged foods negatively impact our diets.
I then tried a detox (Dr Libby’s Ultimate Health Reset) and gave up caffeine, alcohol and carbs for a month. Now I can admit I looked great, I even felt great, but it doesn’t sit well with me feeling like I’m depriving myself on a regular basis. I totally understand that I can’t eat cake on a daily basis but taking away caffeine was an unnecessary punishment for myself and my family that I don’t plan on doing ever again. However, I did come away with a much better understanding of what to eat and drink to give myself consistent energy and the best time of day to have that much-loved cup of coffee (around 10am when energy naturally drops for the first time in the day).
I followed that up recently by reading I’m so effing Tired by Dr Amy Shah, which looks at the link between gut health and hormones and goes into the benefits of intermittent fasting. This is another option that suits my body, when I can remember to do it, and something health professionals have been raving about for years. Benefits are said to include heart health, weight loss, reduce inflammation and even improve brain function.
Not surprisingly, each of these highlight that the human body functions at its best when we eat as close to natural as possible. Avoiding alcohol and processed foods tops the list, followed by removing any individual intolerances such as dairy.
So I’m trying to find a different kind of balance in life – between what my body wants and what works for my body. It means thinking before I grab something from the kitchen and considering how it’s going to make me feel afterwards. Not as much fun as in my 20s when I could eat and drink what I wanted, but the alternative is feeling sluggish and tired all the time. So now I know what to do, I just have to put it into practice.
Do you know what works well for your body?
