{"id":7999,"date":"2016-03-10T18:04:52","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T18:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fxnutrition.com\/?p=7999"},"modified":"2025-08-28T15:17:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T15:17:48","slug":"whats-mood-got-to-do-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fxnutrition.com\/blog\/whats-mood-got-to-do-with-it","title":{"rendered":"what's "mood" got to do with it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a couple of weeks we’ve been looking at the evidence\u2026
\n\u2026the evidence of how your body is doing, as revealed in the simple details of your food (intake) and your poop (output).
\nOur Food\/Mood\/Poop Challenge<\/a> has raised great questions,
\nif not an eyebrow or two!
\nDocumenting your food is easy.
\nEat it. Write it down!
\n<\/em>
\nReporting on your poop isn’t so hard, once you remember to look before you flush.
\nThe Bristol Stool chart we shared on the Facebook page<\/a> helps keep your reporting “clean”. (And I posted some of my charting reports to help you get in the swing.)<\/em><\/p>\n

But what’s “mood” got to do with it?<\/h3>\n

And why the heck do I keep putting “mood” in quotes?
\n(Are those air quotes, by the way? Yup. They are!)
\n<\/em>
\nThe “mood” portion of the Food\/Mood\/Poop Tracker is my favorite.
\nWhen I say “mood”, I don’t just mean how your feel emotionally. I mean how you feel up and down, inside and out, and in all parts of your body.
\nIf you think it, track it.<\/strong>
\naches
\npains
\nsleepy
\ngains
\nbloating
\ngas
\nfeeling like everyone around you is a pain in the a** (ie. irritable)
\nIf you feel it, reveal it!<\/strong>
\nheadaches
\ncramps
\nsore throat
\nitchy skin
\nforgetfulness
\nswollen fingers
\nsore feet
\nYou get the picture right?
\n<\/strong>
\nThe reason I love this area so much is that it helps me to get in tune, not only with the subtleties of how I’m feeling, but also where I might be able to shift my behaviors to alleviate some of the not-so-welcome “feelings” in my body or brain.
\nLet me present myself as a case study\u2026
\n<\/strong>
\nLately, I’ve been on the road a lot!<\/em>
\nA week in California.
\nA quick stop in Denver.
\nAnd back to California.
\n(Repeat.)
\nAll this followed by a weekend where I had to take a final exam and attend an event at my son’s school (an awesome event, but, nonetheless, taking me away from home)!
\nMy weekdays are packed pretty solid, so there’s no room for a pretend weekend day hidden in there.
\nAnd, I typically need to support myself with good food, good rest, and some time to “drink from my own pool”, to replenish<\/strong>. Nothing fancy, just a pause. (If it helps to know, I’m a Cancer, and also like my “shell”, my home time.)
\nThese past few days I’ve been noticing that I’m more tired than usual.
\nMore cold than usual.
\nAnd one of my old telltale signs (swollen and painful breasts at not any time of the month that would seem logical), was cropping up with some steady consistency.
\nTracking these “mood” swings on my Food\/Mood\/Poop Tracker<\/a> made me sit up and take notice.
\nAre these niggling signs and symptoms taking me down?
\nNo.<\/em>
\nMight I otherwise just plow ahead and “suffer” the consequences as an annoyance?
\nYes.<\/em>
\nBut not this week!
\nThis week I took note of those things and stopped for a moment, getting curious\u2026
\nWhat’s my food been like?
\n<\/strong>
\nWell, in all honesty, with all the travel, there had been a few more drifts into the “bike lane” or “shoulder” as my east coast friends like to call it.<\/em>
\nWhat’s my poop been like?
\n<\/strong>
\nCome to think of it, I’ve been out of Magnesium for a few days. It’s likely time for a refill!
\n<\/em>
\nPlus, based on my “mood” (or signs and symptoms), I took the steps to make a few other changes, or upgrades, if you will, in my daily routine:<\/p>\n