The pandemic, exposure of racial injustice, and the protests turned violent have traumatized an entire generation. Everyone is on their own journey of listening, processing, understanding, trying to find meaning, coping, changing and also feeling shocked, sad, defeated, hopeful, enlightened or much more. Yes, this episode is happening in our lifetime and on our watch, we are collectively trying to figure it out. This event will go down in history e-books and your children and grandchildren will ask you to tell stories about it. Can you find meaning in this experience? Will you be able to share with them, a story of resilience?
Resilience is being able to bounce back after a traumatic event or adversity. Humans have an intrinsic capacity and cellular memory to heal when nurtured with the optimal ingredients. You don’t have to be “strong” or a “tough cookie” to be resilient, you can achieve this by simply “liberating yourself from stress” and by stopping the addictive cycle of stress in a mindful way.
A simple but powerful #selfcare habit is just to eat an apple. The human brain needs an enriched environment of bioactive nutrients to repair the depressive effects of stress. Your mood is directly linked to what you eat; in other words, eat it to feel it. A study done in Japan found that people on a diet comprised of fruits, vegetables, soy products, potatoes, seaweed, mushroom, and fish had a decreased risk of suicide by more than 50%. No change in the risk of suicide was seen in those on a Western (meat, dairy, processed bread) or Japanese (seafood) diet. This evidence is staggering and sheds light on the importance of nutrition for your mind.
Vibrant, wholesome, and predominantly plant foods have nutrients such as flavonoids (apples, berries, cocoa, green tea) that increase the brain’s neuronal shelf-life by increasing the neurotrophin BDNF. A high-fat diet on the other hand, has the same detrimental effect on the human brain as stress because both increase corticosterone levels. Hence, foods rich in bioactive vitamins and minerals can help you bounce back from stress and rise with resilience.
So from this science, what can you derive? When faced with adversity, how will you survive? Isn’t this your opportunity to THRIVE?
You can start with just an apple a day.
