Self Care During Grief-A Look At Eating

We are exploring our self care series and today we are going to take a look at our eating habits during grief.

One of the most common things that people report experiencing during grief is a significant loss of appetite. Your body is in shock and your brain is wrestling with the task of trying to make sense of all that has happened. Somehow eating doesn’t typically make it to the top of the list of priorities, crazy right?!?. Here me loud and clear…..you need to eat. Regularly. Make a note to yourself. Recruit a friend to remind you if needed. You desperately need the nutrition to deal with the trauma that your brain and body are experiencing, so even if it is just a little bit here and there, force yourself to eat.

What's happening in your body when you experience grief and loss is that your hormones and your neurological systems are overwhelmed. I always try to say imagine, as if you were in a severe accident or had a really big surgery, your body has experienced trauma to that kind of level. So everything we want to do in this series is to help restore balance hormonally, neurologically, emotionally to your body. So while it might be tempting to want to binge on sugar, or processed foods or even alcohol during this time, that really is sabotaging the overall goal, which is to restore harmony and balance to your system.

Try to eat whole foods. Eat a lot of vegetables and meat in their natural form. Again, if you're eating highly processed foods, especially foods with a lot of sodium that's going to just compounded the physical effects that you're already feeling. People may want to offer to make meals for you and absolutely take them up on that offer. It not only gives your friends and family something to do to feel like they're helping, but it also takes the burden of needing to think about what to eat off of your plate. Encourage them to make healthy wholesome meals for you.

Chances are you're feeling fatigued, and if you've been crying, you're going to be dehydrated and getting headaches from that. Drink lots and lots of water to keep yourself hydrated and to help flush out toxins. Did you know that experiencing toxic emotions leaves a physical mark on your body? While you can’t always control the painful emotions from coming, you can do your best to flush out the physical effects as soon as possible. Drinking tea is a great hydration option as tea is known to have a soothing and healing properties.

Whether you are making meals for yourself or are receiving food from friends and family, it’s a great idea to freeze several mesals. That way you have things on hand and ready to go that can really help when you have a tough day. That way the decision is already made for you, no heavy thinking involved. Just pull it out of the freezer and reheat for a quick and easy meal.

Above all, give yourself some patience and grace. This is not the time to be tough on yourself. Be good to yourself and use food to do it. Eat foods that nourish your body, restore balance to your mind, and feel good to your soul.

Much Love,

Kelli