The Weekly Fill: Your Mind on Minerals
POP QUIZ:
Does your mind create your physical outcome?
Or does your physical health determine your mindset?
If you feel like I'm tricking you, I'm not.
I was wrong about this for years. I thought the egg came before the chicken. But it's not one or the other. It's an endless cycle.
Your mind determines your physiology, but your physiology also determines your mind.
Getting healthy requires both.
That's why you can't just think yourself healthy, just like you can't eat yourself there.
Health is not a tug-of-war match.
You can't work tirelessly to change your diet while also hurling harmful insults at yourself when you look in the mirror.
You can't change your biology while neglecting your mindset because your mind and body are connected.
I completely missed this in the equation.
I spent most of my life trying to beat my body into submission, restricting food and working out more, all while hating myself and the process of getting healthy.
When that didn't work, I decided I just needed to change my thinking. So I went to therapy.
I believed all I needed was the secret hacks to get myself to think more positively. I believed if I changed my thinking, I could change my body.
At first, I tried all of the tips to convince myself to be a positive person.
I practiced gratitude.
I practiced writing a new story.
I practiced positive self-talk.
In the brief moments I was practicing these things, I felt them. But I couldn't get myself to build new patterns. I couldn't get it to become my story, no matter how much I tried.
No amount of positive thinking helped me become a positive person.
Not until I realized it wasn't because I couldn't change but because my mind didn't have the resources it needed to change.
My mind was lacking nourishment, just like my biology was. My thinking would change my biology, but only if it had the resources it needed to do so.
You can't change your mind without minerals.
One of the most critical elements of healthy mind function is minerals, specifically electrolytes.
Unsurprisingly, they also happen to be the area in which people are most deficient.
Partially because our food doesn't contain the minerals it used to, and we don't get outside and get dirty. But also because stress eats up most of the minerals inside our biology.
All of this leaves us trying to swim in the middle of a raging storm without a life raft.
That life raft you need is a healthy supply of electrolytes and minerals.
Electrolyte Lesson:
Electrolytes carry electrical charges between cells. They are responsible for transmitting nerve impulses that power the communication pathways throughout the body.
Thoughts are not just invisible ideas floating around in your skull. Every thought engages your brain to create a cascade of neurons to fire. The firing of these nerve impulses and the way they communicate happens because of electrolytes.
When you don't have adequate nourishment and electrolytes, communication gets compromised.
It gets fuzzy. It gets weak. It gets chaotic, leaving you with no other option but to function in the same old patterns you have been.
It keeps you stuck in old patterns and old cycles.
Without adequate nourishment, everything downregulates, not only making for fuzzy communication but conserving energy in the process.
Positive thinking can only take you as far as the nourishment you have available.
That's why health requires a whole approach, nourishing the mind just as you nourish the body and soul.
And without minerals, your negative thinking is allowed to run wild.
What your body is communicating changes your thoughts and your physiology.
Break the negative cycle:
You can break the cycle by supplying the nutrients needed to heal the communication pathways.
Can you imagine what could change if you got rid of the static in your mind and reconnected your mind and body?
You need minerals, whether you eat them or work to keep them in the body.
Here are a few diet and lifestyle tips to help boost minerals in your body.
Eat seasonally (your body absorbs the nutrients in food better when seasonal).
Practice circadian feeding, eating the majority of your food earlier in the day when your digestive system is primed and ready to work.
Get outside and let your hands and feet get dirty.
Take Epsom salt baths.
Add a pinch of salt and fresh citrus juice to your water.
Stay hydrated (hydration is different than fluid consumption).
For most people, I recommend mineral and electrolyte supplements
I don't take very many supplements, and most are sporadic. But the most consistent supplements I consume are minerals and electrolytes.
MY MIND REQUIRES IT, and my family thanks me for remembering.
#nomoremoodymom
LMNT is my go-to electrolyte supplement. I've been taking it for roughly eight months and can tell you it's part of why I've experienced new heights of healing this year. I crave it. I want it, and I can feel the difference.
If you're not taking a mineral supplement, I recommend you give it a trial run. You can try it out for ten days using their free sample pack. I promise, ten days is enough to feel the difference and see if it is right for you.
GET THE FREE SAMPLE PACK HERE.
Plus, it's less than $1.00 a day!
Girl math | Nutritionist math:
If I do some nutrition math (similar to girl math), supporting your nervous system will regulate your emotions, making you less likely to need the fast food ($6.50) when you're having a bad day or the extra cup of Starbucks ($4.50) to help you make it through the day.
If my math is correct, you'll save a ton of money by mineralizing your body!
Minerals are essential. Do something to boost them, and I promise you'll notice it in your mind!
By the way, LMNT just released their seasonal flavor, chocolate caramel. Just saying!
