These foods can help you regulate your moods in a natural way.
Sorrow and grief: Reach for cauliflower, turnips and asparagus. These foods resonate with the immunity system, lungs and large intestine organs which in the Chinese medicine system are associated with processing emotional grief.
Asparagus naturally supports healthy bronchial tissues to open up the lungs when grief is causing you to feel like you just cannot take a deep breath. The turnips and cauliflower help to support your immunity system so that the process of living with and healing grief does not leave you vulnerable to developing colds, flu and bacterial infections. It can be challenging enough just dealing with the emotional impact grief without the added stress of becoming physically ill. So, try these foods to help protect your health during a process of grieving.
Affirm as you eat these foods: I am breathing deeply and strong in immunity.
Anxiety: Reach for yellow/orange foods such as pineapple, cantaloupe, and sweet potato (great for quelling carb cravings-and yes, you can microwave the potato for a quick snack although I don’t recommend microwaving in general). Also, cinnamon and ginger teas will help to quell anxiety.
Similarly, a cup of butternut squash soup can also soothe anxiety. Look for varieties that are low in sugar.
In Chinese medicine, the foods that impact anxiety resonate with the stomach and spleen energies, or “earth” energies. Thus, they help a person come back to center when feelings are strong, which can also support processing other feelings such as grief, sadness, disappointment, anger, and fears.
Affirm as you eat these food: I am centered and strong.
Fear: Reach for deep water fish such as salmon or tuna. If you are vegan, reach for seaweed such as nori, wakame and kombu.
These foods resonate with the kidneys and bladder in the Chinese medicine system which we associate with the “water” element, which rules courage or fears.
Sometimes fear can exist in response to situations all by itself, or it may be a secondary emotional reaction to other emotional states. You may feel deeply sad, then fear may emerge around thoughts such as, “I’m really scared that I may not ever feel joy again.”
Foods from the sea can help to take the edge of fear and connect us back into states of courage by supporting our adrenal glands which can go into overload with the fight or flight response when we feel strong feelings.
As you eat these foods affirm: I am courageous and strong.
Anger: Reach for any green leafy vegetables such as spinach, mustard or collard greens, romaine lettuce or kale. Reach for spirulina, cucumber, green vegetable juices with small amounts of carbohydrates.
Anger in the Chinese medicine system resides with the “wood” organs of the liver and gallbladder. When we support the health of these organs with the foods listed, we empower ourselves to access our sense of peace and calm even when things are occurring that are naturally frustrating or irritable. These foods will enable you to access your natural patience and compassion even when you are feeling angry. Drink a bottle of a juice like Suja uber greens which is low in calories (and no I don’t get paid to plug that product-I actually drink that juice) when you are in the midst of feeling angry. Or juice cucumbers, cilantro kale, lemon, green apple and peppermint yourself.
It is amazing how much calmer you will feel when you take a moment to detoxify the liver and gallbladder with healing foods.
Affirm as you eat these foods: Compassion and patience are overcoming anger and frustration.
Nervous stress/excitement: Reach for almonds, sesame oil or seeds and spinach.
These foods help to specifically calm the heart energies associated with fast moving energy and that hyped up feeling that won’t let you sleep, rest or get focused in your thoughts. Think of a flame going in many directions.
Affirm this as you eat these foods: I am calming the flame of my excitement.