What Happens To Your Body When You Eat Unhealthy (Again)

If you are anything like me, you value a healthy diet. But you often find yourself reverting back to your old eating habits, even if it's only for a short time. I know. It really is a struggle. But there is something that helps me get back on track.

There are so many articles and videos on the web about what happens to your body when you start to eat healthy. It's important to educate yourself on this and use it as motivation to make good food choices. However, whenever I fall "off the wagon", I notice a lot of changes in my body. Feelings that I never noticed when in the past when my diet was consistently poor.

To be honest, it's hard to see the positive changes in your body until it's taken away. That's why I want to share with you what happens to my body when I eat poorly for a weeks or even days. I use these adverse feelings as motivation to make the best choices I can with regards to food.

1. Constipation Hurts

I know. TMI. But early in my life when I never gave food much thought, I was chronically constipated. I knew that but it never really bothered me because I never felt pain from it. Boy has that changed. If I have a few days or more of poor eating, guaranteed I won't be able to use the bathroom which now gives me serious stomach aches.

2. You Can Get Food Drunk

I had several weeks of eating a primarily raw vegan diet. I ended up "relapsing" and had a few days of eating a lot of processed, sugary, fatty foods and you know what? I got drunk. Food drunk. I had those warm fuzzy feelings alcohol tends to give us. It felt good. I never noticed that sensation before. I remember understanding at that moment why people find junk food so hard to give up.

3. Junk Food Depresses Us

I think this is tied to the previous point. But after several heavy, fatty meals, I noticed I felt a little sedated. I actually told the person I was with that I was "numbed by food". The scary thing was that I liked the sensation. I never noticed it in the past, but food is a drug. More specifically, a depressant.

4. Food Affects Our Sleep Cycle

I'm generally an early (ish) riser. I often wake up before my alarm ready to face the day. However, if I ate junk food the day before, especially after 4-5 p.m., I will be able to sleep around the clock the next day. And I always thought that me staying in bed until noon was just teenage hormones. Maybe not quite, or at least not exclusively.

5. Junk Food Contributes To Further Cravings

Growing up, I always thought that I had a sweet tooth or a big appetite. I realize now that when I eat well my cravings are kept at bay as I feel satisfied.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be controlled by food. I don't want it to make me sick, tired, and numb and cause cravings to perpetuate the cycle. That's why I don't feel terribly distressed when I I fall off my healthy diet. I use the experience as fuel to get back on my healthy lifestyle.

So don't get discouraged if you fall of your healthy eating journey. It make take several efforts for your brain and body to detox from the old in order to make a new association between good food and feeling your best.

Keep trying. You (and I) will get there.

Ang