How We Should Eat

So far we have covered the various food groups.  We now understood the benefit of eating whole, unprocessed, organic foods as much as is possible. In a previous lesson we also briefly explored digestion. How we eat is as important as what we eat. Digestion is under the control of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). Without getting getting into all the details, the PNS opposes the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) which is involved in flight or fight. When the SNS is active digestion is turned off because digesting food is not a priority when one is faced with an emergency that could result in lost of life.  If we are living chronically stressed then we live in a state where the SNS is dominant.  Chronic stress for a kid is not the same as chronic stress for an adult.  Some things that may stress a child include: peer pressure, bullying, domestic  violence, poverty, low-self esteem, sexual abuse, difficulty in school without the necessary support, authoritarian parenting, food insecurity, and the changes associated with the global pandemic.  While these things are not the focus of this particular course, they are relevant because their on-going and un-mitigated presence prevents proper digestion.  Simply put, they factor largely into how we are (relaxed or stressed) when we eat. It is against this back drop that we will now explore some strategies that may help.