"I feel awful since I stopped smoking."

A person said to me yesterday, "I feel awful since I stopped smoking." This got me to thinking; life can be like that can't it? Sometimes we don't always feel good when we start taking care of our bodies.

And the reverse can be true as well- we sometimes feel good doing things that are not in our bodies' best interests.

Why is this? Well simply said, our bodies adapt. Our bodies are designed to adapt. If you do something for a long enough period of time, your body will begin to work under these new conditions.

In effect, you can create a new normal for your body. After years of smoking cigarettes, your body incorporates the habit as "the new normal" whether it is healthy or not. Any deviation away from this habit will cause a stress response.

Like a child who has become accustomed to playing with a particular toy and has it suddenly taken away from them, the body may kick and scream as you start a new healthy habit- regardless if it is healthy or not. The simple fact that the body is in a state of TRANSITION means that things may feel unsettling to say the least.

I wish that we always felt good every time we started a new healthy habit, but that's just not how the body works. Sometimes (i.e. almost always) TRANSITION is hard work and sometimes feels uncomfortable.

Tomorrow, I am starting a cleanse. If you see me and I am grumpy, tired, frustrated and on edge, please be patient with me: I'm in a state of transition.

-excusing myself from socially acceptable politeness over the next couple of days,

Dr. J