You Are What You Eat (And Drink)

Last week, we talked about making healthy choices a habit, which I will be the first to admit can be quite challenging. This week, I want to delve a little deeper by talking about our eating and drinking habits, because they can have a lot to do with not just your physical health, but your mental health as well.

For me, I know I developed plenty of bad habits when I was in law school. Short on time? I’ll grab whatever is quick and easy to eat. Even better, grab whatever free food I can find from law school clubs I am involved with. My focus, like so many law students and lawyers, was on the work I needed to do, not on the way I fueled myself through that work.

Since leaving law school, my diet habits have gotten slightly better, but now that I am not carrying a water bottle with me from class to class, I am always trying to remember to drink enough water, even buying a ridiculously large water bottle that is supposed to hold all the water I a m supposed to drink in a day so that I can see how far I need to go. Spoiler alert, I rarely drink all of it.

And so sometimes, it isn’t depression that has me feeling sluggish. It is whatever I put in my body while hurrying about my day. And of course, when I am also going through a bad depressive episode, that poor-diet sluggishness merely compounds the issue.

However, there are so many options and apps out there to help you get your eating back on track. Because that is the great thing, like most things in life, getting back into healthy eating and drinking habits is something you can always start again if you find you’ve gotten off track.

It is the little things that help. Starting your day with a glass of water alongside that morning cup of coffee. Actually taking a lunch break and enjoying healthy food. Or, like me, you can buy ridiculously large water bottles that remind you to drink more water. However you do it, I think you’ll be surprised by the benefits your diet and hydration can provide.