Restrictive Eating Leads to Less Resilient Mindset

My journey in healing from numerous health issues

Hello lovelies,

Back to the normal schedule, which is every Friday again.

How has your week been? If you’re still on early Friday morning, are you excited for the weekend?

Well, the questions above might have properly worked only for those who work from Monday to Friday. This world never lacks people who have different schedules. And all of you are welcome in this space. Feel free to use this post as a break from the routine.

Today’s post is about increasing resilience, which I will connect to another lesson learned in my healing journey.

I came across this post when I was browsing for the answer to why my foot bruises occurred more severely last winter, but not so pronounced this summer.

Reddit ELI5 Why everything hurts more when you're cold

Due to the combo of Raynaud’s and vasculitis which are my secondary autoimmune manifestations, I developed terrible chilblains and ulcers. Raynaud’s syndrome is characterised by a sensitivity towards cold. However, when I was browsing about it months ago, I mistakenly thought that what I had was probably different.

If you look up image search on Raynaud’s, it only shows white, red, or purple digits, which I had as well, but it’s hard to discern from the image that its possible complication is chilblains, a different level of pain. I thought the colours were just a normal reaction to cold, although later I learned that not everyone has that reaction. So I was confused as to why Raynaud’s could develop into a painful mess in my extremities.

Chilblains are swollen and painful red lumps on the fingers and toes. Perhaps, it starts as itches. But then the swollen digits become more painful and tender, sensitive to touches. Left untreated for a long since I didn’t know how to treat it anyway, the skin on my fingers ruptured and open wounds (ulcers) developed. To prevent infection, I had to wear plasters every day and dabbed a little ointment. It was super impractical and painful everywhere.

But what I didn’t understand was the bruises on my feet. Before chilblains attacked my toes, I suffered from bruises just from walking in my winter boots. They were comfortable boots, and even the bruises happened when I changed into my white sneakers which didn’t cause any problems when I wore them in summer/autumn.

That Reddit thread explained better than my search results. Now that the weather is warmer, I don’t have many issues with bruises. But it’s also probably because of the medication and my better diet.

Enough talking about injuries, let’s talk about my current diet, which is yummier.

Resilience in Foods Signals the Mind and Body Resilience in Adversities

When I went back home to my parents’ place, they were aware of my injuries and suggested that I start eating animal proteins again. At first, I didn’t budge.

But after a fortnight at home, I started craving eggs, a craving that I didn’t know where it came from. Since Mum kept some eggs in the fridge, I tried boiling one. It was that night, past 10 pm, when I couldn’t sleep until I tried the egg, not sure why.

Day by day, I introduced more animal proteins such as dairy and fish.

I started eating chicken again.

And after another fortnight, I had my period back. That was awesome. It was a feeling I could remember for the rest of my life, to know that for once, what I did for my health was surely working.

My dad explained that my mind probably recognised my rigidity in selecting my food categories and eliminating some food groups as food scarcity. This idea aligned with what I understood from my hypothalamic amenorrhea journey.

It blew my mind at first at how a seemingly unrelated choice determined my physical resilience. Truly, mind and body are connected. They are one.

I used to ask my immunologist and therapist about how to be more mentally and physically resilient. But ultimately it’s about the non-restrictive mindset: to be mindful for what the body needs and not let my ego dictate about what I should or should not eat.

The mental stress of being fearful of certain foods might be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I recognised this before it gradually spiralled down and stopped the thoughts, by challenging myself to have little to moderate intake. For example, I eat beef 2-3 portions per month.

Moreover, it seems that my bruises heal faster if I eat an adequate amount of animal proteins.

Physical rigidity influences mental state and vice versa.

Now, two months into my omnivore journey, I feel much better. I still find red meat my fear foods, due to my fear of cholesterol or lipid panel results showing bad numbers, so I still keep limiting my red meat intake. My daily animal protein comes from fish, eggs, and occasionally dairy, as I’m still working on my dairy tolerance.

My lunch or dinner, now has animal protein

And matcha with real milk tastes way better than with plant milk.

Parting Words

Lovelies,

It’s intriguing that even seemingly unrelated choices between diet and mental resilience are related on a deeper level. 

By making my food choices more diverse, it seems that I can adapt better to diverse life situations as well.

It doesn’t mean that all are rainbows and butterflies after eating animal proteins. Life still has its ups and downs, but I hope health issues due to my restrictive eating pattern are out of the way, so I can focus on things that do matter.

As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments.

And I wish you a lovely weekend ahead.

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Until next time,