Can clutter actually affect your weight?
I know this sounds crazy, but it’s true and it does make sense.
I was listening to a podcast yesterday, when expert minimalist Heather Aardema (who also happens to be a functional medicine certified health coach) talked about minimizing clutter to improve health and get to that ideal weight.
De-cluttering has been trending, especially with Marie Kondo and her very popular KonMari organizational Method.
Kondo says, “The true goal of tidying is to clear away clutter so you can live the life you want.”
So while we see that de-clutering or “tidying” as Marie Kondo puts it, can be life-changing, it does create physical changes in our bodies that we may not realize.
And it all comes down to stress and our response to stress.
You see. studies have shown that when walking into a room that is messy, cluttered and just seems out-of-order, our brains react in a stressed way as it tries to sort out the environment. The more it has to process and sort out for it to make sense to the brain, the more stress our brains experience.
When our bodies feel stress, our stress hormone, cortisol jumps into action to bring our bodies into a sense of calm.
The problem is when we produce too much cortisol–meaning the response to too much stress.
When our bodies feel threatened, stress, the body brilliantly does what it has to do to survive. And one of those things is to store fat.
This is a protective response in case we are not able to find food while in stressful moments. That way, we always have some “stored fuel” available.
However, when this happens too much, our body keeps storing fat, making it difficult to release the fat it doesn’t need.
Make sense?
So, every time we walk into that messy kitchen or office space or whatever, we get that dose of stress and in comes that cortisol, that just so happens to keep that fat stored instead of using it up as energy.
This leaves our body in a sympathetic, or stressed state.
What we want is for our body to be in a parasympathetic state. That’s when the body is calm and can easily perform all of its functions to stay in balance. In fact, we should be in a parasympathetic (calm) state 80% of the time and sympathetic (stressed) state only 20% of the time.
But in today’s world, that ratio seems to be flipped with us being in that fight-or-flight or sympathetic state 80% of the time while only being in the calm, parasympathetic state 20%!
And an easy way to help us get into that state of calm is by allowing us to view “lighter” things such as cleanliness, organization and minimalist environments.
There was even a study that showed how de-cluttering influenced a choice of healthy/non-healthy foods.
There were 2 groups of people who had to file things for an hour. One group had to file in a very cluttered office, while the other group filed in a very sparse minimalist office. After about an hour, both groups were given a choice of snacks.
Surprisingly (or not!), the group in the minimalist office all chose healthy fruit options, while the other group in the cluttered office chose chips and processed foods.
Our brains do prefer order and it’s amazing how easily it can get unraveled and off track!
So, after listening to the podcast, I came home and right away put away a few things that were cluttering up my kitchen and office.
And I can say is that I felt 100% better. Truly. I felt this sense of calm and inner peace.
I mean, always feel better after I clean my spaces, but after really paying attention to my body, I have to say I really get it. And I will say I certainly was not in the mood to binge or put anything unhealthy in my body. I just felt so good.
How about you? Clean out a space of yours and tell me what you think.
How did it make you feel? Did it make you want to continue feeling “lighter” by eating foods your body was meant to eat? Maybe? Maybe not?
Hit reply and let me know:).
Here’s to lighter living all around.
xo
Love and health,
Jill
“It is our choices that show what we truly are far more than our abilities.”
Live well and love more,
Jill Gordon
CHHC, HHC, CNHP, Digestive Health Specialist
www.JilltheHealthCoach.com
All material in this newsletter is provided for information only and may not be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action or inaction should be taken based solely on the contents of this publication;instead readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being. The information provided has not been approved the Food & Drug Administration and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any illness or disease.
