Mallory Kennedy's Blog, page 4

MOVIE NIGHT: What's With Wheat

In the beginning of my Nutritional Exorcism, much of my time was spent on researching, relearning and trying to carve a path back to true health by sorting through lots of online studies and watching educational documentaries. 

One of the first documentaries that made a significant impact on me, and helped shape my personal health plan was the film “What’s With Wheat?” --which does not demonize wheat, but takes an in-depth look at the state of wheat today, exploring how modern commercial production practices have altered the crop nutritionally, and why it seems to affect us in a more negative way than say 50 years ago. 

Recently I went to Baton Rouge to visit family, and my Mom and I watched the film again. The re-watch certainly served as a helpful refresher on how gluten overload can affect our minds and bodies, especially during the holiday season when tempting treats abound around every corner. 

For me, I tend to experience gluten-overload in my skin first, with increased roughness and dryness, and then begin to see swelling in my tissues as overall bodily inflammation increases, followed by digestive disruption.

Giving up or reducing your gluten intake can seem daunting in the beginning, but as with anything, once you know the truth about what modern wheat is doing to us, its very hard to ignore. I highly recommend this doc to anyone who may be experiencing any sort of digestive distress, abdominal pain, joint pain, skin condition, anxiety, fatigue or brain fog.

What's With Wheat can be rented online on Amazon Prime Video, Vimeo and viewed for FREE on Documentary Mania

-Mallory

Life and "Gotcha Game" Theory

Did you know that you were playing a game when you woke up this morning?

Believe it or not you were, and you still are. This game happens all day --everyday --and I call this the “Gotcha Game.”

It's pretty simple, and it's all about how we respond to stimuli, people and various situations that we encounter as we go about our daily lives. For example:

Did spilling your coffee this morning cause you to cuss? GOTCHA!

Did your co-worker say something fussy, and you rolled your eyes? GOTCHA!

Did you get angry sitting in standstill traffic? GOTCHA!

Did you respond poorly when your child asked you the same question for the 15th time? GOTCHA!

The list goes on and on and on, and it’s easy to see how we can get “Gotcha’d” many times in just one 24 hour period when we allow things, people and life in general to push our buttons, whether knowingly or unknowingly. --and each time we get “Gotcha’d” and allow our reactionary tendencies to flare, this exacerbates our internal stress levels, and takes away from our state of wellness.

Not only does letting the Gotcha Game get the best of us take a toll on our emotional and mental health, allowing the Gotcha Game to win also takes a toll on our physical bodies, as when our mind is stressed and frustrated, our body immediately follows suit.

When the body is stressed, our muscles naturally tense up, as muscle tension is a reflex reaction, and is our body’s way of guarding against injury and pain. --and with sudden onsets of stress, our muscles tense up all at once, only releasing their tension when the stress has passed. --but what if the stress never actually fully passes? If we are continually responding to life with a stressful mindset --all day, everyday-- this causes the muscles in the body to be in a more or less constant state of guardedness, and when muscles are taut and tense continually or multiple times a day, this triggers an overproduction of stress-hormones in the body, and leads to stress-related disorders.

As an example, both tension headaches and migraine headaches are associated with stress and chronic muscle tension in the area of the shoulders, neck and head. Musculoskeletal pain in the low back and upper extremities is also linked to stress, as well as a slew of issues involving the blood, brain, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, endocrine system, reproductive system, gastrointestinal system, and nervous system. Literally every part of us is ill-affected by stress --top to bottom-- due to muscle tension, heightened levels of stress-hormones that flood the body, glucose levels and blood pressure fluctuations that occur when we succumb to the grips of the Gotcha Game.

So how are you faring in the Gotcha Game? Are you winning, or are you losing? --and where can we be more mindful in our reactions so that we can begin to win back our wellness? 

Luckily, half of the battle is knowing that this game exists, and once we are able to realize that the game is happening, whether we want to play or not, it becomes easier to recognize our own negative reaction tendencies more clearly so that we can work to overcome them, and alleviate stress’ control over our lives and health.  

So what can we do to overcome the “Gotcha’s?” 

The first thing we can do to help lighten our stress-load is to put things into perspective, especially with the little things like spilled coffee. Are small instances of “oops” or even forgetfulness really worth stressing yourself out over to the detriment of your health? The answer is no, and if we are able to let go of our negative-reactions within even just this category of circumstances we will find our daily mental states greatly improved.The next thing is to be realistic. Traffic happens. --having to wait in slow lines at the Post Office happens --and getting upset and frustrated over things like this isn't going to make it better, it will always make it seem worse.  So be realistic, and use the opportunity to practice the cultivation of patience, and realize too that we are not the only one’s being affected by these situations. When dealing with people, children and even animals, it is important to remember that they are being subjected to this game at all times too, and maybe they don’t yet have the luxury of knowing it. We must learn and strive to be more sympathetic and patient with each other, as life is tough on us all, and everyone is ultimately looking to be happy and to feel loved. . . And on the flipside, we must also take the time to honestly determine where we ourselves may be pushing buttons, and contributing negatively to others' experiences inside the Gotcha Game.With larger issues, like when things don't go my way or don't go as planned, I always try to look for the silver-lining. I focus on finding the positive, and ask myself “is this upheaval in plan leading me toward something better that I didn’t recognize was an option before?” --or, “is there a lesson that I can learn here that will better me in the future?” Learning to ask ourselves these types of questions helps us to cope with disappointments and heartache, and assists us in breaking reactionary habits while improving our overall outlook on life. 

Once we are able to change our outlook, change our minds, these stressors lose their power over us, they seem small, and are no longer able to “get our goat” like they were able to do before. You’ll even likely find that it becomes pretty comical just how hard the Gotcha Game tries to get you, which leads us to laughter. --sometimes all you can do is have a laugh, and move on. 

So cheers to the power of laughter, and overcoming the “Gotcha’s”😆

-Mallory

What Are You Willing to Know?

It's quite a loaded question-- ”What are you willing to know?”--and it's very different from “what do you want to know?”

I use to adhere to the philosophy of “don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.” I’d say this over and over when dealing with unsavory work situations or personal affairs, but I now understand that to embark upon real change, in all facets of life, we must be willing to know and accept hard truths regardless of if that particular truth isn't exactly pretty, or pleasant, or in line with what we want to be true.

I don’t like that arsenic is poisonous. I don't want arsenic to be poisonous, but my personal desire doesn't change the fact that it is indeed poisonous. --and if I consume that poison, there will be consequences to ignoring or being ignorant of the facts.

When undergoing a Nutritional Exorcism there is no doubt that one will be immediately exposed to very unpleasant truths that none of us want to be true per se. --but it is important to understand and accept this fact early on in order to avoid fear of new information, fear of new truths and the fearful negative-ego from swooping in to sabotage the process of reeducation which is necessary for any degree of upward growth and improvement.

Many times, our negative-ego will play tricks on us, automatically rejecting accurate information that is contrary to what we have believed or held true in the past, and this leads directly to self-sabotage. Recognizing the ego in action, and putting effort towards consciously and continuously shifting ourselves out of these automatic thought-patterns of rejection rewires our brain to be able to properly discern information, and moves us past these hurdles of fear and pride. Overcoming these mind-slides of automatic dismissal is a must, and you’ll likely find that this will be your first major hurdle on the road to real wellness.

To move forward toward well-being requires being honest with oneself as an act of humility and courage in accepting that, through no fault of our own, we have not been given all of the tools and information required to be truly healthy, and we must be willing to relearn. --forgoing all negative-ego roadblocks, and stepping into a mindset that is teachable. 

Are you teachable?

One of the most helpful questions I learned to ask myself when faced with tough-truths or new methods during my Nutritional Exorcism is “what’s your teachability level?” --am I being open? --am I teachable in this moment of meeting new knowledge? --or am I automatically shutting down information simply because it is uncomfortable or unnerving, and I ultimately don’t want it to be true?

To evolve, we all must consciously surrender to the fact that we do not know everything. --and we need to be willing to get out of our own way in order to open our minds fully to new schools of thought, de-programming ourselves and becoming students of Truth. --even when the truth is not pretty.

So again, ask yourself, “what are you willing to know?”

-Mallory

Change Your Mind, Change Your Life

What are you willing to give up? This is a question we must face when embarking upon the attainment of any goal, but especially when it comes to achieving true health and well-being. 

Whether we have been ill or are just not as healthy as we could be, the only way to achieve improvement is to change. “--to go beyond what already is.” 

Are you willing to change? --long term? Are you willing to change what you eat? Are you willing to change what you spend your time, energy and money on? Are you willing to change your views and beliefs? Are you willing to give up your negative attitude and ego? --willing to change the way you think and act?

When performing your own Nutritional Exorcism, the answer to these questions must be “yes” or else let's face it, you won’t get very far. If you continue to do what you’ve always done, you’ll continue to get what you’ve always gotten. So, if you want different results, you’ve got to be willing to change. --and that change starts in the mind.

No one can change your mind for you. --I can’t. --your family can’t. --doctors can’t. --a nutritionist can’t. --medicine or diet supplements can’t. We are on our own here. We must walk the path ourselves. --and the first step in walking that path is deciding for yourself that you whole-heartedly can and will put in the necessary time and dedicated effort to implement a change towards positivity and true health everyday.

Unfortunately, we as a society are bombarded non-stop with countless examples of fake “health” in the media and on social platforms that intend to dishearten us while spreading an inaccurate picture of wellness. Muscular bodies and thin figures do not equate real health. True health means natural wellness of the mind, body and spirit, and it is not dictated by a particular body type, pants size or number on a scale. 

True health encompasses physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, as one can not be truly healthy unless each of these aspects are brought into well-being and balance. These elements of the Self work together as a system, and they must be addressed as a whole. If the mind is unhealthy, the body and the spirit will follow suit, as poor health, poor nutrition and poor behavior go hand-in-hand, with one ultimately leading us to the other in a destructive and costly cycle.

Once we grasp this concept of whole-self wellness or true health, we can come to understand and see exactly why we may have fallen short in the past when addressing health as a purely physical journey or dietary change, when in actuality we must also be willing to change our minds and behavior too. This involves rejecting negative-ego thought-patterns, including superior or inferior thinking, and practicing virtuous living. 

When I committed to changing my mind, got my reactionary tendencies in check and banished negative thoughts from stressing me out, my body began to change and streamline naturally. —and sometimes, it miraculously seemed to do so overnight. 

It’s doing this inner work that allows our body to exist in a more peaceful environment, freeing ourselves of unnecessary stress and inner-struggles, and enabling us to be able to refine our physical form and improve our overall-health more easily. 

Change your mind for the better, and everything changes. --mind, body, and spirit.

-Mallory