Stress

I like to think of myself as a sort of even keeled person. Sometimes I get fake worked up to blow off steam, but usually I'm happy or at the very least indifferent. But, every once in a while everything hits at once and that is when the stress sets in. So, as I navigate finding a new apartment with midterms and a new job I have felt the pressure slowly move in. Into my gut. We know that the brain and the gut are connected, that they share signaling molecules and that they influence one another. And when stress hits I have no choice but to listen to my stomach.

My stomach of course knew I was stressed this week before I did. Slowly, an overwhelming sense of nausea set in. I wasn't really hungry, but I wasn't really full. I just felt icky. Yeah, that's right, icky. And so, all last week, I just ate, well bland crap. Certainly not worth discussing. And that is that.

Or is it? When I'm nauseas, a wonderful category of food presents itself to me. Wet food. Not, dog food soup, which is a weird phenomenon I'm just not hip enough to embrace. Smoothies, applesauce, yogurt, I love it all. But what I really wanted was milk!! MILK!! I love delicious milk. I am, after all, from Wisconsin. And I do love milky milk milk. Yeah, I sweet talk milk- so what?

Unfortunately, milk and I are not on the best of terms. When I was in high school and college (yes, in Wisconsin) I was nonstop sick. With some crazy cough. Ok, it wasn't that big of a deal, but I did whoop it up so much as to get not one, not two, but three anti smoking chats from coaches along the way. And I was diagnosed with milk asthma. Yes, MILD ASTHMA. Can you believe it?

And, when I moved to Oregon, it went away. At this time I was living with some people who turned out to be near VEGANS (eek!) who told me they would prefer it if I not keep milk in the fridge. So, milk made its way out of my life. But about a year ago, I moved up to Seattle and had a lot of alone time. Which always leads to interesting food jags. This time, it was cereal. With milk. Well, what do you know if my cold didn't come back. Of course, it took me about 6 more months (at nutrition school) to come to make the connection. And I switched to almond milk (almost as good).

But, every once in a while, during stressful periods in my life, I go back to milk and my mild asthma symptoms. Call me nostalgic.