Page 78 - TA Magazine Winter 2022

The benefits of a holistic diet, by Dr. Ramsey
mental
feed your

health

How do we commit to real

change in our lives?
22 Transformation is the crux of my work as a 22
Y ANDERSON WINTER 20 change happen to us? feel oriented and alive—and the pan- Y ANDERSON WINTER 20
psychiatrist, and I believe it’s one of the vir-
tues that connects us to Tracy Anderson.

of self-efficacy. When we plan, execute,
and accomplish things in our lives, we
72 Change happens, but how does plan and execute because of the power 73
For all our studying of habits and willpower, committing demic has robbed us of that. And even
when we feel some sense of control and
like to ignore. Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole and
loved one, those plans are shaky at best.
meeting a variety of strange characters, change is terrify-
C to changes in our self-care involves aspects of change we start to plan a trip or make plans to see a mitting entirely to the notion that the What wisdom ambitions for the new year should be C
TRA ing and disorienting. While we imagine control and ac- Like you, sometimes I have wondered changes that I need to happen are com- can we bring to this grounded in the new science of feeding TRA
complishment, especially when we set goals for ourselves, when we will emerge from the rabbit ing. Change isn’t just about willpower year? your mental health.
change can be the opposite of how it’s initially visualized. hole. Pandemic life has us all questioning and discipline. Change is filled with un-
our reality—the digital and virtual—and certainty, fear, and loss. For what we can control, we create chang- The key food categories for your men-
sifting through what we have lost, what es in our lives via our mind. If your brain tal health, like leafy greens, seafood, and
And these two aspects of our lives are especially shaky right now after we need, and the ever-changing land- So how can we commit to is not mentally committed to a new habit fermented foods, contain the highest
two years of a global pandemic. scape of what seems possible. real food change or the embrace of changes, they can’t hap- concentrations of the nutrients that your
pen. What strikes me about Alice is how
brain thrives on—and brains that are
The limits of our control is one of the major psychological hurdles we Let’s start by this year? she teaches us about process. She really growing and thriving are always chang-
all face. I witness my patients planning and canceling their weddings declaring that anything We need the full power of our brains— doesn’t have any idea how to get back or ing. Seeking these nutrients, the “brain
and baby plans, college careers turn upside down, and marriages reeling but that might present us with a bit of how to shift her reality; she just does what foods” that contain them, and the stance
from the loss of the little control we can muster. I asked Josh Gordon, is possible. a problem right now. All aspects of our she has to. She cries a pool of tears. She of joyfulness that is missing for so many,
MD, the director of the National Institute of Health, about the start The new year presents an opportunity brains are being overworked and our shrinks. She grows. She finds her voice. is at the center of any meaningful change.
of our mental health last week and he emphasized the need for us to for new goals around our growth. On emotional and spiritual health is being
tough days, that may seem absurd, but challenged like never before. As a nutritional psychiatrist, I see Alice’s Like Alice, our way out will involve
even I’ve seen myself making a lot of safe process and yours, as an energetic vortex many tears, feelings of disorientation,
choices trying to control what I can for I suspect after Alice was shrinking and of oxygen combined with the nutrients and fear—and it will happen one bite at
my family. growing, she felt much the same way. in the food you eat. These are the two a time. As we shrink and grow, focusing
most basic ingredients of your conscious
on the mindful embrace of our process is
How did Alice get out after being stuck
For me, making safe choices has meant VEGEFOX.COM in a Wonderland filled with strange process and the root of all change. This the only way to commit the changes that
focusing on things I can control and sub- creatures asking challenging questions? is why focusing your food goals and are already happening to you. TA