Anger as Motivation

 

I was diagnosed with IBD in 2016.  I struggled with constant symptoms, and deteriorating health.  Right from the start, I was resistant to taking lifelong medications.

But I was also resistant to making any drastic changes to my life.  I simply did not have the will power, or ‘care factor’ to make the changes necessary to heal myself.

It wasn’t until 2020 that I became motivated enough to make dietary and lifestyle changes that would heal me.

And it wasn’t until 2022 that I found the IBD-AID diet that provided me with the dietary guidelines that I needed to get into remission.

There are two major factors that changed my motivation levels. 

 

• My health issues forced me to make changes

 

• I became angry with the situation I was in

 

This is a two part series, on what motivated me to make the changes necessary to get into remission.  And hopefully stay there long term.

This article is on the anger that has motivated me to make the changes necessary to heal my body.

 

Anger as a Motivation

 

Anger is usually viewed as a negative emotion.  I know that it is not an emotion that I value very highly.

But I am the first to admit that anger is what led me to my healing journey.

We will discuss

 

• What am I angry about?

 

• How did anger motivate me

 

• How can you use anger to motivate yourself?

 

The willpower to make the changes necessary is often the biggest hurdle for many people, in their healing journey.  Society has been built to tempt us, and lead us astray. 

 

What Am I Angry About?

It all started with refined sugar. In 2020, after my abscess surgery  I decided to cut refined sugar from my diet completely.  I made this decision based on sugars’ refined status, and the fact that it is a highly inflammatory food.

It wasn’t until I cut out refined sugar, that I realized how many of our food items contain refined sugar.  I realized that cutting out refined sugar was going to be harder than cutting out dairy, and gluten.  Because it is in everything. 

It basically meant that I could no longer buy most packaged items from the grocery store. I found that almost all items, from canned tomatoes, to frozen vegetables, contained refined sugar.

In a study of 18 developed countries, adult diets were analyzed.  It was found that 25% of energy (calories) consumed per day were from sugar. 

And this knowledge pissed me off.  How could our government, and all major food companies.  Allow such a known inflammatory food to be in almost all food items sold at the grocery store?

If you try two brands of canned tomatoes, and like the taste of one of them better.  You are much more likely to continue buying that brand.  You know what makes canned tomatoes taste better? 

Sugar.

So sugar is added to many food items, to make the taste better.  And to make them more competitive against other brands.

 

Then I decided to cut out food additives.  Items I like to call ‘nasties’.  These are preservatives, stabilizers, emulsifiers, numbered ingredients.  And other chemicals added to our food and household products.

I soon realized that these items were in almost all food items, just like refined sugar. 

 

Chemicals have been added to almost all foods found in the grocery store.

 

And all of these additives have been approved by a government body.  As safe for human consumption, within specific limited quantities.

But what happens when these ingredients are in almost everything that we eat?  

I could not believe it.  I was literally shocked.

I was now pretty mad about the state of the food available to us.

And the reason for these items being in our food is obvious.  So that large companies can make more money, and we become more sick as a result.

As for all of the nasties being added to our foods, the uses are varied.

Their uses range from increasing shelf life, to increasing food texture enjoyment.  These nasties provide customers with the food appearance they have become used to.  They provide the colours, textures, and shapes we have become used to.  They enhance flavour, smell, and food experience.  And allow companies to mass produce their products.

These nasties provide a whole host of uses for food companies.

But in the end, both sugar, and food nasties are added because they increase profit for the companies.

Profit at the detriment to the consumers health.

 

How Did This Motivate Me?

I knew that I did not want to participate in that.

It actually pissed me off.  I felt that I was never even given the choice in whether I wanted to participate in that or not.

It made me so angry that there is pretty much no way that the government does not know about this.  There is so much research about sugar and inflammation.  And inflammation and disease.  But there are no restrictions on how much sugar can be put into food items.

And sugary items are often marketed at children.

And added nasties have a huge range of health concerns attached to them.  But the government has allowed them to be in so many food items.  I think that if a food as a hidden nasty in it.  Then it should have to be labeled on the front of the package so consumers are aware.

I felt like the wool was being pulled over my eyes, so that I continued to be a good consuming customer.  A sick customer who creates big profit, for big companies.

I really do not think that the average consumer knows exactly what they are eating.  Or what they are purchasing.

And I no longer wanted to be the average consumer

I began reading food labels.  I now read the ingredients list of every single food item that I buy.

I began to actively seek out natural food items.  And avoid foods with any additives that I was not 100% comfortable with. (Hint: I am not comfortable with any food additives).

This forced me into making more things from scratch.  Including sauces, pasta sauce, baked goods, and milk alternatives. 

 

How Can You Use This to Motivate Yourself?

 

Get angry with me!

You should be mad about this. 

Governments and large companies are allowing sugar, food additives and other harmful chemicals into our foods to increase their profits.

Your health is being sacrificed so that some million dollar company can make even more money.

And who pays the ultimate price?  You do.  The consumers are the ones who end up with heart disease, cancer, and IBD.

They are the ones who pay for hospital visits.  They have their lives ruined, and spend countless hours dealing with health issues.

They are the ones who gain weight, lose control of their bodies, and wonder what is happening to them.

Do some research into these topics and educate yourself. 

 

Here are a few great resources to get you started:

 

Click here, to read about food additives and intestinal tight junction permeability (leaky gut syndrome).  It explains the connection between the rise in food additives.  And the rise in autoimmune conditions.

 

Click here to read about sugar and increased inflammatory markers.

 

Click here to read about how refined sugar causes chronic inflammation.

 

Click here to read about how food additives cause leaky gut, chronic inflammation, and chronic disease.

 

I hope that you can see that anger can be a great motivator for change.  It provided me with the willpower to make the changes necessary to get my IBD into remission. 

And the willpower to do anything necessary to stay in remission for as much of my life as possible.

I will never go back to how I used to be.  I will never sacrifice my own health, life, and well being so that someone else can make more profit.

 

No way.