If My Plate Could Talk: “Nourishing The Nervous System”

Conscious fear. Here we are together. Another opportunity. Welcome back to if youf Plate Could Talk. Those of you who are familiar and comfortable, you know what to do. Come in. Let me know where you are. How's your week going? Rate your week 1 to 10. One meaning it has been the pits. You're struggling and not a part of things. 10 meaning you feel like you are crushing the week based on the context of your life. I was about to say, as always, I'm here in Charlotte, North Carolina. But we actually know that that's not true because I often travel a lot.

But I am here in Charlotte, my home city, and excited about being here with all of you. I wish you could feel my heartbeat before we start these sessions. I'm like, okay, it's almost time. Let me also say, if this is your first time in alive, welcome. I'm so glad that you chose to come. I'm Dr. Charisse Johnson, a licensed clinical mental health therapist, mindfulness practitioner, and author. And I come into this space twice a week, if all is well in the world of travel and jet lag, to be with you and to encourage.

I saw someone that said, oh, point five. Oh, my goodness. Oh, I'm so glad that you found alive, Margie. 5. That happens sometimes. You could even give yourself a 0 if that's what you need to do. But you're in the right place because my hope is that something that I will say, some feeling that you will get through the screen from me to you, will kind of, you know, move you up just a little bit. Dr. Teresa, thank you so much for the sweet comment. Hello, Georgia. I think that's all I've seen so far.

Oh, hello, Dallas. What's up, Dallas? Last time we were together, we unpacked the heavy burden of expectations and how we often push ourselves with standards and we ignore our current season. I hope that some of you took some of the tools that we talked about last time and you really started paying attention to yourself and asking, am I giving myself enough compassion and grace based on everything that is happening, and if you realize you're not, that is okay. But today I want us to take the next step, which means how do we move?

Hello, Marilyn. From pressure to peace and use our plate as a way to nourish our nervous system, not punish our body. I don't know that I've said this in a while. I need to make sure that I stay consistent on this. Anytime that we're together on a Sunday night, I always Want us looking at both plates. We look at our metaphorical plate, everything that we're carrying, everything that we're managing, our worries, our concerns, our achievements. And you take time, create a circle and you write them down.

But I also want us looking at what are we eating, what's on our plate in terms of the way we are nourishing ourselves or under nourishing ourselves because of the stressors that are in our life. Because there's often going to be a parallel between our nutritional habits, our emotions and our eating and the things that we are carrying in our life. Healing the way that you eat begins with healing the way you live. So what you consume emotionally is just as important as what you consume physically.

Tough question, but I know you can handle it. If you had to be really honest with yourself. And we're all about leaning into honesty. You can put your response in the chat, you can put it off to the side. What are you noticing about what you're emotionally consuming? In other words, are you overwhelmed with taking in things that are stressful to you, or do you feel like there's things on your plate that you didn't ask for that that won't go away? Are you in a season where you feel like you're fighting to keep the emotions of other people away from you or within boundaries?

Or you can also be in a season where you feel like, hey, I'm doing a lot of work, and you feel like your emotional consumption is actually balanced and better than ever because you are putting in some significant boundaries. But take a moment and pop a little bit in the chat because I love having an idea of where you really are. And as I come before, paired with content, how I can continue to tailor that for you so that you have something that you can feast on. So what does the nervous system have to do with eating since a big part of what you know.

We always are going to talk about a little bit of neuroscience. So let's start with the simple truth. You cannot heal a dysregulated nervous system with a dysregulated approach to food. So I always want you to realize those things are intertwined. There's a bidirectional, conversational that's always happening from your gut to your heart and your nervous system. Even though your nervous system goes throughout your body, this is a core central area to your mind. They're always talking to each other, and that's why I'm a huge proponent of talking about them.

So from a neuroscience perspective, your autonomic nervous system, your ans is going to play a major role in your eating behavior. You have sympathetic activation, which is your fight or flight, and that's going to be linked to emotional eating, mindless eating, or food avoidance. And then you have parasympathetic activation, which is what we want. That's rest and digest. That's going to support mindful eating, proper digestion and interoceptive awareness. Big word. That just means your ability to feel without it throwing you off.

Yeah, you're s littleish. You're talking 27 about struggling with change and lots of changes ahead. That is something that will naturally dysregulate us. And then we can easily find that sleep is chaotic, meals are chaotic, and meals can be chaotic. Not because you're making choices that aren't in line with your values, but you may find that your appetite is over or under the harmony and the balance where you want it to be. So when your system is under constant stress from grief, trauma, shame, unmet expectations, your brain is always going to prioritize survival.

And that's going to affect your hunger and fullness signals. So they get muted. Your cravings are going to intensify, and then emotional decision making will always override logic. So if your plate could talk in a dysregulated state, it might say things like, I'm not hungry or I'm overwhelmed or I don't want food, I want safety. But let me say, whether you feel like you're over nourishing or undernourishing, both are places we don't want you to exist. What does nourishment really mean? It's a word that I love to use.

I think it's more encompassing than just eating. So we're often taught that nourishment is about macros and meal plans and eating clean. But true nourishment is rooted in regulation. It's about giving your body and your brain what they need to feel safe, to feel supported and feel sustainable. So it's like, here's the reframe. Nourishment equals nervous system plus nutrition plus narrative nervous system. Are you eating in a state of calm or chaos? Everyone tell me that when you think about the meals that you've taken in or the food that you consumed over the last week, would you say that it's rooted in a state of calm or chaos?

And remember, there's no judgment. If I also kind of incorporated my thoughts here, man, it's almost tough because of how I respond. I feel like this is a week where I have been under nourishing so for me, a nervous system that is calm could also be blunted. So I have to be really careful about that. My chaotic nervous system can move towards a very calm state, which is a little bit opposite. So yeah, it can be both at any given point, but I have to be careful because my body can swing. And so if both of you, if you definitely feel like both, that's real.

Hello Vegas nutrition. The question I want you to consider is, are your meals supporting your energy, your brain health and your hormone balance? Because sometimes we are just eating to stay awake or eating to manage stress and we're not thinking about how it might disrupt our hormones. And again, regardless of your gender, we all have hormones and narrative. Are you feeding yourself with criticism or compassion? And that's a big one. Love to hear that you're pushing people off of your plate. I'm a huge proponent of pushing people off of your plate, especially when it feels like too much.

A few tangible tips for how you can move from all the different things that are happening in your life from pressure to peace. 1. Do a pre meal pause. So regulate first each second. That means before you eat, take three slow deep breaths and ask yourself, am I present in my body or running from something? That is one of my absolute favorite questions. This when you ask yourself this question, and I love asking it to yourself out loud, this calms the vagus nerve and helps reset your parasympathetic state.

Think parachute which comes in and saves you. So I'll say it again before you eat, take three slow deep breaths and then ask, am I present in my body or running from something? Second tip. Build a regulating plate. So that means incorporate foods that support your nervous system balance. Magnesium rich foods like dark leafy greens, seeds, avocado. Make sure you're getting some omega 3 fatty acids like salmon, walnuts, chia. And then know that stable blood sugar is always going to be important for both hormones and emotions.

So you want to have a mix of protein, fiber and healthy fat. So pay attention if you notice that you're pouring is all geared towards one end of the spectrum. Stable blood sugar helps keep your cortisol levels balanced and it reduces emotional spikes. Cortisol is that hormone that spikes. It's your stress hormone. And then three Narrate instead of judge. So when cravings or patterns show up, narrate instead of criticize. For example, you might say I'm reaching for this because I'm tired and undernourished.

And then you're just reaching for the first thing that is in front of you. I had that happen the other night. It was almost 10 o' clock and I realized, girl, you have not eaten enough. You're not going to sleep well if you don't eat enough. And literally just grabbed for the first thing in front of me. And because it had been too long since I'd eaten, my body was like, eat a lot. And I'm okay with that because I knew that that was what my body needed. But I also recognized it and I was able to acknowledge, I am really hungry because I've been too busy today.

Instead of beating myself up and saying, what's wrong with me? Or it's too late, I can't eat. That is not true. Make sure that you are nourished, because if you're undernourished, it will impact your sleep. Last thing that I want to say is you don't need to necessarily always worry about fixing your plate, but you do want to listen to it, regulate your system, and reframe what nourishment really means. Nourish is just this rich, beautiful word that reminds us that we need to be cared for, not just robotically moving through life.

Because this journey isn't about being perfect with your food. It's about creating emotional and biological safety so your body doesn't have to scream for. For attention. I want to leave you with this final thought. When you stop feeding yourself fear and start feeding yourself presence healing begins not just in your mind, but in your metabolism, your memory, and your mood. So if your plate could talk today, I hope it says you're finally feeding all of you, not just the parts of you you think deserve it.

Okay, for those of you who are having a tough week, my heart goes out to you. I want to remind you that tough moments do pass. Sometimes they don't feel like they pass fast enough. Sometimes it's difficult for us to see how it's going to get better and when. And it can even feel a little hopeless. But I want you to think back to the last time you felt that way and then remind yourself that it didn't stay that way forever. So remain as hopeful as you possibly can. Come back to this space. Come back to us whenever you need to, and remind yourself you're not alone.

I want you to have a great week. I want you to nourish all of you. I want you to be compassionate with yourself. There's a lot going on right now in life and in the world, and you don't have to be perfect. All right, I'll see you guys Wednesday morning. Have a good one.