I promise you, hand on the bible, that if you try harder to cut sugar and just eat better overall (more nutrients...maybe invest in a good men's vitamin), you will feel like a million bucks. It will cut BIG TIME into the bad thoughts. The more I research depression, the more I understand chemistry and how they keep pumping preservatives, sugar, and other chemicals into our foods. If you list out each one, most cause depression. They cause people to be lethargic. It's messing with their brain and body chemistry.
Just going outside, in nature, every single day and getting fresh air helps. Practicing breathing techniques and using that to help you get out of a panic or trigger attack. It has helped me a lot to relax when I just take deep breathes and tell myself everything is okay. Exercise will help work toxins out of your muscles and through your sweat. If you're not sweating, you're not trying hard enough.
To burn more calories and just be stronger overall, men should be eating more lean proteins and lifting weights. It doesn't have to be bodybuilding or anything. Just get a few 20 pound weights or even a few gallons of water and keep working out the muscles.
I just told someone this the other day, so I'm sorry if it was you. But the body needs energy to run. Everything we do, from breathing to blinking to talking and moving requires fuel, like a car. But our bodies only know two fuel sources: sugar or fat. When we're getting a low dose of sugar, the body easily processes it. But in our modern diets, there's sugar in EVERYTHING. Even stuff you wouldn't realize sugar would be hiding. Potato chips are addictive. You can open a bad and just scarf the whole thing down without a thought.
That's because of the chemistry. We're addicted to the feel-good feelings we get when we eat it. It's comfort for us. Because we're getting an abundance of sugar, we have more in our systems than our bodies can handle and can be processed, our bodies think like the farmer who had a large crop, more than he needs.
Back in the old times, it was feast or famine. People didn't have supermarkets stuffed with food 12 months out of the year, and if the crops failed, it was tough on everyone. So, the body knows, when there's an abundance, store some of it up for later. That excess sugar gets turned into fat, expecting to be used later. But, in modern times, we're not out in the fields working anymore. We're not on our feet most of the day like we used to be. We're behind computer screens or on the couch most of the time.
We're eating more food, bad food, and exercising less. Voila, obesity epidemic. People can't lose weight because they are literally addicted to the sugar in their food. Everything breaks down into sugar if it's carbs, breads, pastas, etc. Again, potatoes and breads were good back in the day when we would burn it off easy. But today, that access is turned into sugar and then stored as fat.
What people are finding out today is, the other fuel source the body can use instead of sugar, is fat. When you starve the body of sugar, you'll withdraw for a few days, maybe even up to a week. That week might be torture and it feels like you're having a flu. But, when you get rid of the sugar, your body goes into ketosis. That means it switches from using sugar as a fuel source, to fat. All the fat that the body has stored up starts to become the fuel. And the engines start revving and the fat falls FAST.
The Keto diet (for ketosis) has really been the best for me. I felt like a million bucks emotionally. I had a ton of energy and life was great. The brain fog was gone. I was losing weight. I got off the diet because eating more proteins is more expensive than buying a case of Ramen when times got tough.
As you know, my knee is still pretty bad off, so I haven't really been exercising this year. This is what I've done specifically.
1) I skip breakfast. It's not difficult for me to wait until noon to eat my first meal of the day. They call that intermittent fasting. Some people do it differently, but I've heard others say that by prolonging your fast (you're technically fasting at night when you sleep), it helps your body process more of that sugar without more being added. It saves you those calories. You can still eat a bigger meal at night.
2) Switched to Coke zero when I need a soda. I know how difficult it is to kick pop. I realized it wasn't the sugar for me, but the fizzy goodness of it. Carbonated water tastes like carbonated water. That's like watered down water. Bleh. Anyway, people complain at me all the time about other stuff in the diet sodas, but it's only temporary. Not shocking your body and giving up everything all at once. The sugar is the #1 enemy, so focusing on that first is a huge help.
3) I eat a lot of eggs. They are like a superfood and have so many nutrients. A lot of what they think about cholesterol is wrong, and the keto diet explains it. But it's a great source of vitamins, minerals, and protein.
4) I tweaked things. My body easily gets used to what I'm doing, so I found out what my weak points are and tweaked them. I would try removing another bad habit. Maybe I would try different types of foods. Don't get stagnant and then bored with your diet. Have fun trying new things with it.
If you want to change your life, it's going to be difficult and you must commit to it 100%. It's okay to make mistakes, but keep jumping right back on and keep trying.
