How the 3 M’s in the VICTUS Method merge into a delicious recipe for your mental health! MMM!

If you’ve read my prior posts, you’ll notice this overarching theme:

The desire to unify our Self, to be whole and bring synergy and success to everything that we do.

But what is synergy?

In this story, I describe how my definition of synergy extends beyond what’s in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

To me, finding synergy’s a practice.

And it’s worth it. When you apply what works for you in one area of life to another, you can achieve success in everything you do.

But, finding synergy is not always concrete or easy to spot.

Still, sometimes you HAVE TO.

Because, if you don’t, you suffer.

Emotionally.

Professionally.

Spiritually.

It doesn’t have to be that way, though.

You Can Transform Your Flow in Food, to Flow in Mood

Do you have a baseline mood?

Are you a naturally chipper, upbeat and happy person?

If you are, you’re lucky.

Very lucky.

I’m not.

Which I think would surprise most everyone I know.

Because in the past decade, I’ve transformed myself from someone who loved to sleep in, to a certifiable “Morning Person.”

I’m now a lark, who wakes up eager to start the day.

I wake up every morning at 5 a.m., ready to write and start working.

And I’m the first person to greet other people. Friends. Strangers, who are really just friends-in-waiting. Wherever, whenever.

But, that’s a relatively new development.

I was NOT born that way.

As a child, I was naturally shy.

“Reserved,” some might call it.

But, really, I was just not familiar with socializing.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve made the unfamiliar familiar.

I love to socialize now.

But it has to be with the right people:

Kind people. People who make me feel better when I am with them.

People who make me feel so comfortable, I can be the real me, and enjoy supporting them, too.

At this stage in my life, I simply have no time or space for anyone who’s going to bring me down. Or, worse, for anyone who’s toxic, narcissistic, or unnecessarily competitive, no matter the context.

For people like that? Buh-bye!

I crave deep, fulfilling conversations about topics that matter.

And, fun!

But, I digress…

The point is, I’m NOT a naturally positive person, because my thoughts are not naturally positive.

Perhaps it’s because I’m a recovering Perfectionist.

Because achievement was stressed to me as a child.

And when you couple achievement with gains — both professional and monetary — it’s a potent combination.

Problem is: When your mental dialogue’s continually scrutinizing how you do things, and assessing how you could do them better, your emotional bandwidth starts to give way.

Your mindset begins to suffer.

Which is precisely why I guard my morning routine like my life depends on it.

Because I’ve structured my mornings to not only achieve my writing, art, music, and other lifelong goals outside of work, but also to lift my mood with the right mindset.

It’s become the CURE to ensuring my moods have a more even-keeled, steady state.

It saves me from getting seasick, from the tumultuous waves of a fluctuating mood.

A Steady Diet of HEALTHY EMOTION is Critical to Happiness and Success

But what’s the recipe for “Healthy Emotion”?

There are many recipes to choose from.

Today’s recipe has only 3 ingredients:

INGREDIENT #1: Mindset

INGREDIENT #2: Meditation

INGREDIENT #3: Measurements

How the 3 M’s in the VICTUS Method merge into a delicious recipe for your mental health! MMM!

INGREDIENT #1: Mindset

Before I begin my day writing, I start with a Mindset Reset.

Since I see myself as a Lifelong Learner, and life’s filled with so many wonderful experts in every imaginable field, I curate my curriculum, and I watch and read a daily dose of something inspiring.

Without fail, I find something new to learn or uplift, and that Daily Mindset Reset is what gives me the fuel to push forward in whatever I am working on for the day.

INGREDIENT #2: Meditation

Meditation is the bedrock of my life.

I was raised to meditate from a very young age, but I never restrict myself to sitting lotus style on a cushion.

Meditation’s the ever-present companion in everything I do, no matter what I am doing.

I meditate while I work. While I exercise. While I clean. While I do any number of things. It’s an ever-present awareness that’s become one with me.

But, it’s done so much more than help me calm myself. Or help me to rev up when I need to.

It’s made me acutely aware of the ebb and flow of my emotions, not just in some ephemeral, felt sense — like the literal sensation of the emotions passing through my body — but also the pattern of my emotions, across time.

Meditation made me realize…

THE MIND + BODY ACT AND REACT TO EACH OTHER LIKE A CLOSED LOOP

Mindset (Emotions) ➡️ Action (Eating)

We’re all familiar with the concept of Emotional Eating.

You work a long day at a stressful job, so you have a bottle of beer.

You got stood up by that asshole, who didn’t even have the courtesy to call, so you pig out on some decadent chocolate cake.

It’s the opening scene to many a comedy and we all make light of it and, at its worst, it can lead to serious disordered eating, like anorexia or bulimia.

But, even for those of us who do NOT suffer from disordered eating…

What we eat affects us more than we realize, because the food we eat affects our gut.

And that impacts more than our digestion.

Every day, there’s more and more evidence that the microbes in our intestines — the “gut microbiome” — interacts with our mind.

Yes, gut bacteria’s been linked to any number of mental ailments, including depression and anxiety.

And, there’s also the “gut-brain axis” — which is near, but separate from the gut microbiome, because the gut itself has its own sensory cells that can detect what’s coming through the digestive tract and communicate that information directly with the brain. There are also gut endocrine (“enteroendocrine”) cells, that release hormones, when they sense the chemicals in the food that’s passing through and being broken down inside the digestive tract.

For a long time, scientists believed that this is how the gut would indirectly interact with our body’s nervous system via these hormones. The hormones would be released into our blood stream, and impact other organs and the brain through the endocrine system.

But, since 2015, scientists realized that the gut can contact the nervous system directly, as well. It turns out, there are some enteroendocrine cells that have an arm-like extension called a “neuropod” that’s capable of forging a direct connection to pass information to the nervous system.

What’s the practical impact?

What I eat has a direct impact on how I feel emotionally.

But how did I discover this to be true, for myself?

Did I know the science to support this already?

No.

I discovered this gut-brain connection inadvertently, via…

INGREDIENT #3: Measurements

Why take measurements?

As Management Consultant Peter F. Druker said in his book “The Effective Executive,” you can’t improve what you don’t measure.

And, one day, I realized that if I ever wanted to reach my fitness goals, I had to take measurements.

Why?

Because my fitness journey’s been marked by many trials and errors.

I didn’t grow up seeing myself as someone “athletic,” although I loved to dance.

I didn’t lift.

I wasn’t a sports star.

I liked karate but, aside from a few classes here and there, I hadn’t done it regularly since I was a teen.

But then, I changed.

I began a weekly mix of lifting, karate, pilates, barre, yoga, and dance, and kept it up for the past decade.

Even so, I couldn’t maintain the set point I wanted for my weight.

And, I had two kids.

Going through two pregnancies does a doozy on any woman’s body.

And after the birth of my second child, who had to be delivered via emergency c-section, I ended up with significant diastases recti (ab separation) and an umbilical hernia that required surgery (and, no, the doctors couldn’t repair the ab separation while they were in there anyway — trust me, I asked).

Enter Physical Therapy. About half a year of it.

With 0 results.

And lackluster “advice” from the Doctor of Physical Therapy, who rather plainly suggested that I “just accept” the mom-bod facing me in the mirror.

Uh, no. No, thank you.

I could see where she was coming from. She was a mom herself and she had the “mommy pooch.”

I know, I know. All bodies are beautiful.

But I’m young. I didn’t want to live out the rest of my years…with that.

So I refused to think that there was nothing I could do to rectify the situation.

And, thankfully, I didn’t give up.

I created my own protocol for ab exercises and figured out a way to repair the ab separation.

And I’m happy to report I’ve got defined abs now. Not a six-pack by any means, but I can rock a bikini if I want to. And, back then, that would have been a long-gone impossibility to me.

So, I got myself out of the pickle I was in, and now I weigh the same as I did in high school. But, it’s not “skinny fat.” It’s way better because I have muscle tone and I’m strong. It’s the real deal in fitness, the way I envisioned it to be.

But, it wasn’t only because of the many ab exercises I tried, or the favorites I found.

It was through nutrition.

And understanding the effect that certain foods had on me.

So what measurements did I take?

I didn’t figure it out by counting calories or macros. (I tried that once and I absolutely hated the tedium and time it took to do.)

So, instead, I decided to practice the VICTUS Method, adopt the Identity of a “Scientist of my Self” (I’m the N=1), and committed myself to taking 2 Daily Measurements:

1.) Logging my weight — I weigh myself every day (yes, Every. Single. Day.) Since I see myself as a Scientist now, the scale’s no longer something I dread because of the insights I’ve gained, below.

2.) Logging my meals — I make a simple list of what I eat.

These 2 simple measurements have made me realize some wonderfully insightful things:

On the Macro: My Overall Eating Habits

• I feel great (in my body and my mind) when I eat a lot of protein and vegetables.

• Eating food types in a certain order helps to regulate my blood glucose level and avoid glucose spikes.

• I can feel free to let loose on occasion and enjoy less-than-healthy food because I know exactly what to eat to lose any weight gained, all in just a day or two.

• Eating Buffet is a great way to avoid a diet that’s too restrictive. It prevents me from lowering my metabolism. And, I can enjoy all my favorite food, without going backward, if I focus on protein, steer clear of the carbs, and I can enjoy my favorite desserts, as well.

• Ultimately, the daily weigh-ins help me to tweak my meal choices so it’s easy to maintain the set point I want for my body type and fitness needs.

• Hallelujah! There is a path to a fun, flexible eating routine! What gets measured does get improved!

On the Micro: My Specific Meal Choices

• I can LOSE WEIGHT even while I eat carbs. (In moderation.)

• I can actually drink milk and enjoy cheese. (I’m not lactose intolerant, after all!)

• I can even lose or maintain my weight while eating Popeyes fried chicken! (I love the drums! If you hear me ordering, it’s all drums for me!)

I was particularly excited about this last one: a sustainable way to enjoy Fast Food, without affecting my weight?!

It sounds awesome! (And it tasted awesome, too!)

But, is it — really?

’Cause I’ve recently noticed something even more important to me:

The Mind-Body Is a Closed Circuit, and When It Loops Back, What I Eat Affects Me Emotionally

Action (Eating) ➡️Mindset (Emotions)

Take this week, for example. I had a great day.

I didn’t wake up feeling fantastic, but my Daily Mindset Reset and Morning Routine got me there, to that wonderful, productive feeling.

And I’d had a few days of my normal healthy eating — with lots of protein and baby spinach — so I decided to enjoy a dinner of not-so-healthy eats:

• Popeyes fried chicken

• Mashed potatoes with gravy

And the kiddos wanted Taco Bell, so we went and, when I saw it on the menu, I had to have it:

• Mexican Pizza! They finally brought it back!

And, last but not least, the meal ended with:

• A gloriously puffy, flaky cinnamon apple pie!

By now you’re probably thinking, “My god, Marisa, that’s a LOT!” It was…and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

And, the next morning, I was surprised to see that I’d managed to lose weight after eating all that, too.

What wasn’t so pleasant was this:

My Tummy Might’ve Enjoyed It, But My Mind — Not So Much

That same morning, I’d woken up about two hours too early.

That’s unusual for me. And I had a hard time going back to sleep.

But, most interesting of all, I felt worse — WAY WORSE — than usual, even on a less than stellar day.

And it wasn’t an ick in my body that bothered me.

It was the ick in my brain.

I felt down.

Not to the level of “depressed.”

But feeling like, “Oh, I can’t” do this or that.

Or thinking, “It won’t work.”

And it’s been SO LONG since I’ve had any thoughts like that.

So I researched. And learned all about the gut microbiome and gut-brain axis.

It’s not a lot of data to go by, and I don’t know precisely which hormones were released to impact my mood, but I do know I’ve noticed this pattern a few times in the past.

And it makes sense. On some level, fast food is Frankenfood. It’s not the real deal. Not whole food. Not nutritious. Not what nature intended.

Fast food is delicious, but it seems I do pay a price.

Is it worth it?

Maybe. Nothing beats the crispiness of freshly fried chicken.

And, I have a super sweet tooth, so there’s no escaping that.

I just don’t think I want to get into the habit of eating highly-processed food frequently.

My mind (and gut) would probably thank me.

What about you?

Have you ever noticed that a particular food has an effect on on your thoughts and emotions?

I wish you well on your own health and fitness journey.

The Mind-&-Gut Health Nut in me honors and respects the Mind-&-Gut Health Nut in you,

Marisa

🎤 📺 🎤

If you would like to hear or see me succeed (or flop 😂) as I practice in public, and you’d love to learn about the science of self-improvement, please Subscribe to my new YouTube Channel and signup for my free Substack Newsletter.

Together, we’ll explore all the ways that we can 10x our life — mind, body, & soul.

We’ll learn the scientific, physiological, and psychological reasons why we are the way that we are, and combine that understanding with simple, active practices that will:

• Enliven our emotions & creativity;

• Enhance our efficiency & productivity;

• Foster a greater depth of Self;

• Build the Secure Attachment that we need to develop a Growth Mindset; and,

• Reprogram our minds to pivot from the Sympathetic Nervous System to the Parasympathetic Nervous System when we need it to, more often than not.

I’ve planned so many exciting & fun things to share with you (in addition to music!) and I can’t wait for you to get all the FREE goodies I’ve prepared for you.

We CAN do this, TOGETHER!

Marisa