How What You Consume Affects the Way You Think and Feel

Being human, you are bound to consume things daily. Be it something as simple as eating your favorite cereal for breakfast to drinking your problems away with your favorite bottle of whiskey. That is why it should not surprise you that what you consume daily will affect how you think and feel. 

Therefore, you should be careful what you eat, drink, and generally consume. After all, depending on your consumption, it may lead to irreversible long-term consequences.

Put Good In, Get Good Out

Depending on what your body consumes, they influence neurotransmitters, which are mood-altering brain chemicals. The foods we eat produce these neurotransmitters, and their concentrations are higher after meals than between meals. Only a few of our body's many neurotransmitters regulate appetite: 

1. Serotonin- When you ingest carbs, you generate serotonin as a neurotransmitter (sugars and starches). It promotes relaxation, enhances mood, and alleviates depression. The amino acid tryptophan is necessary for serotonin production. High serotonin levels reduce hunger and satisfy cravings. 

2. Dopamine and Norepinephrine- are molecules you create after consuming protein (meats, poultry, dairy, legumes). They improve mental focus and alertness. The amino acid tyrosine is the source of these neurotransmitters. 

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that regulates sleep, appetite, emotions, and pain. Because your gastrointestinal tract produces 95 percent of your serotonin and is lined with 100 million nerve cells or neurons, the inner workings of your digestive system help not only with digestion but also with emotional management. 

Furthermore, the billions of "good" bacteria in your gut microbiome influence the activity of these neurons and the creation of neurotransmitters like serotonin. 

These bacteria are critical to human health. They shield the intestinal lining and provide a substantial barrier against toxins and "bad" bacteria; they reduce inflammation; they improve nutrient absorption and stimulate neurological connections between the gut and the brain. 

Eating the wrong thing will, therefore, affect your body negatively. Some of the worst foods that will affect you negatively include chips, non-dairy toppings, doughnuts, sausages, fried chicken, french fries, and fried wontons.

How Intoxicants Negatively Affect Your Body

Food isn’t the only negative thing you can consume, though. Intoxicants like alcohol, marijuana, opioids, stimulants, sedatives, and benzodiazepines also affect your body.  

Although intoxicants can affect any organ in the body, some are more vulnerable to long-term damage than others. Quitting drinking with the help of a professional treatment program is the most effective method to avoid present and future health problems.

Brain

The effects of intoxicants on the brain are immediate. Aside from short-term issues like memory loss and coordination, intoxicants can have long-term and often irreversible consequences. 

Long-term and heavy consumption of intoxicants like alcohol can change brain structure and function. Damage to several brain regions, including the cerebellum, limbic system, and cerebral cortex, can significantly impact the body's communication networks. The cerebellum, for example, is in charge of motor functions.

Heart

The heart is especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of alcohol. Heavy drinking can weaken the heart, reducing oxygen and nutrient delivery to other essential organs. Excessive alcohol use can raise triglyceride levels, which are a kind of fat. Excessive triglyceride levels increase the chance of developing primary conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. 

Some early cardiovascular effects, such as elevated blood pressure and an irregular pulse, may lead to a slew of problems later on. Excessive drinking can lead to cardiomyopathy, stroke, and sudden cardiac death in the long run.

Liver

Heavy drinkers run the danger of developing potentially fatal liver problems. When we consume alcohol, our liver breaks it down and eliminates it from our bloodstream. Excessive alcohol use in a short period, on the other hand, may overload the metabolism and result in fatty liver. Fatty liver is a chronic disorder characterized by the accumulation of harmful lipids in the liver. Obesity is a primary cause of fatty liver. It can also induce liver damage and type 2 diabetes.

High and long-term alcohol intake is linked to fibrosis and cirrhosis, in addition to alcoholic hepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. Although each of these illnesses is curable, a proper medical diagnosis and an active treatment strategy are required.

Pancreas

The pancreas is a digestive organ that regulates blood sugar levels. Long-term alcohol intake can harm the pancreas and produce long-term health problems. Unfortunately, the early symptoms of many pancreatic diseases go unnoticed and are thus ignored. 

Long-term consumption of intoxicants like alcohol can cause an expansion of the blood vessels surrounding the pancreas, which can lead to pancreatitis. This dramatically raises your chances of acquiring pancreatic cancer, a rapidly spreading and lethal cancer. Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, a high heart rate, and fever are all symptoms of an acute pancreatic attack. Although medicines and other treatment options can help manage pancreatitis symptoms, curing the condition is extremely difficult.

Trauma

An early traumatic experience may accelerate the development of substance use disorders. People commonly use alcohol or other substances to alleviate their mental suffering. In the short term, alcohol and drugs may help to erase unpleasant memories, but they can also impede successful rehabilitation and create more significant problems like severe anxiety and PTSD. If this happens, there are PTSD inpatient treatment centers equipped to help you nub this.

Controlling Temptation

Temptation is a great desire or motivation to do something. It usually has a negative meaning because tempting things and activities are regularly regarded as short-term profitable but long-term dangerous. A previous smoker, for example, may be enticed to smoke again. 

Desires and temptation regularly collide, which can be overpowering. Many addicts express emotions of wanting to use drugs or alcohol, although temptation can also present in non-addictive contexts. As a dieter, you may be enticed to eat chocolate, watch television, or buy an expensive piece of apparel that you may or may not be able to afford. 

Understanding the psychology of temptation might help you better understand its origins. Numerous research has been undertaken to determine what makes people vulnerable to temptation, what happens in the brain when a person feels tempted, and what makes it easier to reject temptation. 

According to a rat study, certain rats were more susceptible to temptation than others, and temptation can lead to highly difficult-to-control behavior. When exposed to a signal indicating that it will feed them, some rats mistake the signal for food. Other rats did not demonstrate the same response when given the food signal. When equivalent signals were present, the rats more attracted to the signal were more likely to have problems regulating their behavior (or resisting temptation). 

The temptation is linked to the brain's reward systems. When rats were exposed to a food trigger in the rodent study, those more sensitive to temptation experienced a dopamine rush. These dopamine levels did not rise in rats less prone to succumbing to temptation. While some of this behavior may be inherited, environmental variables have been proven to determine whether a rat is less resistant to temptation. For example, adult rats with early stress were more likely to have difficulty resisting stimuli. 

The longer a person attempts to exercise self-control or self-discipline, the more difficult it is to resist temptation. It becomes more challenging to resist temptation when one's mental energy levels are low. Continuous efforts to resist temptation have also depleted a person's mental energy. 

Although temptation frequently manifests itself in mysterious ways, it is possible to avoid it. If you're having difficulty resisting the urge to engage in self-defeating behavior, speaking with a mental health expert may help you better understand your thoughts and feelings about the activity and develop skills for avoiding it.

Seek Help Early

It can be a significant problem when the long-term consequences of temptation result in the loss of a career, a house, one's health, one's means of livelihood, or a relationship. If you have a strong desire to do something that you know is bad for your health or well-being, seeing a mental health expert can help. A skilled, nonjudgmental therapist can help you explore your emotions and develop healthy coping methods, allowing you to manage them and reduce their allure.