How to Eat Your Way to Happier

Donuts are not required (unfortunately).

When I say that I have “trauma” from cutting weight in wrestling and martial arts, it’s not really a joke.

For the longest time, even just the thought of dieting or weight loss was enough to trigger nausea, anger, and even physical sensations of fear and anxiety. I spent so much time cutting weight in high school that as a young adult, the thought of having to “watch my diet” made me physically angry. “Nutrition” was a trigger for me.

However, in recent months, I’ve been forced to confront my “hunger demon” head-on in preparation for my next Jiu-Jitsu tournament, where I’m dropping down to a weight class (169.5 pounds) that I haven’t been near in years.

I’ve had to watch my diet, avoid foods that make me “happy”, and I’ve also done fasts for up to 20 hours in my effort to drop down from 187 pounds (where I was just a few weeks ago) to meet the weight limit for my upcoming matches.

The results on my mental health have been surprising, to say the least.

This is what I’ve learned in the first month of my new diet experiment.

Most people in the first world don't have an undereating problem, most people have an “overeating the wrong things problem”.

I don’t know anyone who is binging on celery sticks.

Even for me, as an athlete who works out 2–3 times per day, my bad habits in the kitchen have never been “not getting enough calories”. My problems have stemmed from the fact that I’d rather eat ice cream and cake than salads and fruits any day of the week, especially if I’m stressed out.

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