Hello! Thanks for reaching out and sharing your experience of improvement with CYBCYL! I’m so happy to hear that you’ve had such a positive shift in mood and clarity of thinking.

The experience you are having is more common than you might think. It sounds like you are describing something similar to orthorexia, which is the experience of being hyper-focused on eating healthy (read: “right”) foods and a fear of eating unhealthy (read: “wrong”) foods. Your fears around eating may have many contributing variables, including our steady media exposure to the superfood or worst food of the day, and rampant confusion about what is healthy and what isn’t. There’s a lot of conflicting and confusing information out there, so it can make us feel that any food could be ‘wrong’ somehow. You might find that working with a therapist who specializes in relationship with food or getting yourself a workbook that helps you explore this could be really helpful.

From a nutritional perspective, I would encourage you to remind yourself of the basics:  food is the fuel that our bodies (bones included) rely on to survive and thrive! We need a variety of minerals, vitamins, phytonutrients, protein, healthy fats, and fiber to supply all of our organs and systems in order for them to operate optimally. We don’t have to be perfect with this, but often our physical symptoms will give us great information about whether we are in the general ballpark of getting what we need. I think the digestive tract can be especially helpful if you are having a hard time with appetite, or lack of interest in food.

For example, zinc, HCl, and digestive enzymes can often make eating much more appealing if digestion in the stomach is limited (this might result in feeling ‘sick’ as you mentioned instead of hungry) as our digestive tract slows down as we age, sometimes requiring a bit of support, or food allergies/sensitivities can make us scared to eat the ‘wrong’ thing because we end up with digestive upset or feeling tired after a meal as you mentioned. These are just a couple of examples of how our relationship with food can be complicated, or connected directly, to physical symptoms we might be trying to manage. Have you explored digestion with your dietician or other practitioner as a potential point of intervention that could be helpful?