This is Rodney from the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we explored manhood within Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Sit back, enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network.
This is the Truth Network. Good afternoon. Good afternoon out in the light land. Glad to be here today.
Looking forward to a great episode. As a matter of fact, we have someone that was with us once before. And so I'm looking forward to this conversation. One of the things we talked about, we talked about the five keys a lot, but also I'd gone over some things that I do in one of my classes. When we talk about sometimes people get caught up with how they eat for different reasons.
Excuse me. So one of those things is a lot of times we do do emotional eating. Sometimes we realize that sometimes we don't. But I know sometimes food can be one of those things that that triggers dopamine in our body. So, you know, it makes us feel good.
Just the thought of eating sometimes does that. So I know there's some real bonds that we may have with food. And look, we do celebrations around food. We have, you know, weddings around.
We have funerals. I mean, food is one of the things that almost automatically has an emotional attachment. And then also, you know, just culture, period.
A lot of culture is defined by what types of food we eat. So I'm going to introduce our special guest. I'm going to let her tell a little bit more about herself.
I'm so happy to have her here today. Hi, Michael. How are you doing, Crystal?
Hello, Michael. I'm well. How are you? Awesome. Awesome. It's good to see you.
Good to have you back. And so today we are going to get into an area that's kind of down your down your area of expertise. And that's around mental health and how nutrition may affect that, as well as deal with some of the things that may be involved with emotional eating.
And why that's in the why that may be the case. So if you would, because some people may not have caught us the first time you were on the program, but share a little bit about yourself, your background. Also, you're one of our sponsors of the program and share a little bit about your business as well. So as you said, I am Crystal Nickerson and I'm the director of choice behavioral health. We're a mental health agency that's located in Greensboro. We support people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as mental health diagnoses. Our individuals generally need help with learning adaptive adaptive daily living skills, social skills, coping skills. They need help with areas of employment, learning how to be employable. We also have an arm, a branch of our agency that places people in AFL, what we call alternative family living services. For those who aren't familiar, that's similar to foster care placements.
So we match people with families and for hopefully for lifetime connections or at least long term connections. Okay. Okay. So how did you get into the mental health field and kind of what's your background? Mental health.
I studied psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and then later went on to complete a master's degree in pastoral counseling. But as a young person, I've always had it had an interest in helping people and wanting people to thrive and flourish and begin to recognize that if we can control help, have control over our thoughts and and have self-control that the Bible talks about so much about that we can live a more fulfilling life and we can flourish. So. And then having a sister who's also in the mental health field, an older sister, I was able to glean from her and her experiences. So she definitely impacted me in this way. Okay. Okay. She kind of set the example.
Yes, she did. Yeah, that's good. That's good. So now today we're talking about, of course, you know, this is bodies in health, bodies in Christ, a kingdom health transformation. And one of the things that we're going to talk about, Crystal, is look at, you know, some things as it relates to emotional health. And what is your thought on nutrition and how it affects or does it affect emotional and mental health? Nutrition definitely does affect our mental and emotional health.
Is, for example, if you you will want to, as an individual, put in the foods that have the best quality. So for instance, your vitamins, your minerals, your antioxidants, because these are the foods that are going to drive the processes in your brain. They're going to nourish your brain and then also your gut. So you're going to have better outcomes if you tend towards these kinds of foods. Now, if you go to the other side of it and you're eating refined foods and refined sugars, high processed foods, then that will be counterintuitive to your mental health, your emotions and so forth, as well as your physical health over time. So you definitely want to pay attention to how you're fueling your body, because also what you put in is going to fuel your brain. And if you're putting processed foods in, how much fuel are you going to get from those things?
Similar to gassing up your vehicle, if you put in premium gasoline, you get optimal performance. OK. OK, you go to the low grade, you get lower performance. So just think of it in that way. No, that's that's that's good.
That's a good analogy. So now when you talk about different types of food and I know you in your line of work, you deal with a number of different situations as it relates to to mental health. And I know now in the school systems there, you know, diagnosis that that children get, you know, whether it's ADHD or ADHD or different things like that. And I know some of these families that it may not be anything intentional, but, you know, some of the foods may, may lean towards what you were talking about. Some of the processed foods and some of the, you know, sweets and sugars and things like that. Can you speak to do you think you think that could help if we, you know, had more, let's say, natural whole foods that they that kids were eating growing up? How would how would that affect studies show that processed foods, foods high in fat and high in sugars are going to lead to more depression and other mood disorders.
So also there was a study, there are studies showing that people who engage in a Mediterranean or Japanese diet as opposed to our Western diet, they have 25 to 35 percent less depression. Wow. Wow.
So there is a correlation, a correlation between what we're eating and our mental health. Absolutely. Right.
Right. So now one of the things I talk about when I'm working with, you know, different people and some people that come through my classes and things like that, because a lot of people, one of the outward things of health is weight. So a lot of people are concerned about their weight because, again, you know, when they go to the doctor, the doctors say, hey, you need to lose some weight because it affects your blood pressure, cholesterol, you know, the blood sugar.
A number of those things, you know, the doctor says lose weight. Now, one of the things I talk about in one of the things I help people with is helping them to change their mindset to where they will eat more towards what you were talking about. And I call it really the Genesis 129 way, you know, just just eating according to Genesis 129. But a lot of times people have a problem doing that because of some of the emotional attachments that we have to food. So now in your estimation, in your professional opinion, how much of a role does emotional eating play into kind of what we eat, what we pick up, you know, whether we're feeling a certain way and we, you know, grab, you know, some cake or ice cream or what kind of role does emotional eating play in a lot of our lives? In general, a great role because emotional eating is just stress eating. And so our culture, we're taught, you know, you're stressed, you're angry, you're upset, you're frustrated, find a way to soothe yourself.
And so we go towards, you know, the high fat foods, the high sugar foods. And so what I want to say about that is we will have we need to learn to we need to figure out why are we eating during emotional eating? What's the purpose behind it for each individual? Like, is it to make me feel better? Is it to calm me down?
Is it to reward me after a difficult day? And then we need to be able to acknowledge that that is what's going on. So when we see ourselves in that pattern, we have we we stop it, we stop it, and then we have to learn new skills for dealing with that behavior. Now, one of the things I try to help people and I don't know how easy it is because, you know, sometimes when I'm in the class and we deal with this subject around emotional eating. Now, I'm not a mental health professional. Yes, I'm a certified health coach, but I don't get into, you know, the mental health part of things because that's crossing the line. You know, that's a whole nother area of expertise as well as, you know, like you're a professional. You've studied that area and that's and that's what you do. But a lot of times I try to redirect behavior to see if we can replace what they're eating with something if they're going to eat. Let it be something that's going to be beneficial for them. Right.
But sometimes that's hard to do. Why do these foods that are called comfort foods? Why are they called comfort foods and what make what makes the foods that are not so great for you give you comfort from an emotional standpoint? Because it our brains are stimulated from eating. It brings us excitement.
It brings us joy when we eat certain foods. And so we we have to learn so we could do a technique called cognitive behavioral therapy where we look at what is this behavior? What was that thought? And then what is the behavior? And then how can I replace that thought and behavior with a better thought and a better behavior? And so but we have to recognize that that's what's going on.
And then we're able to address it. So it's even from a standpoint of thinking about my approach, trying to get them to eat something different. I hear what you're saying is, OK, let's think about what thoughts you're having.
OK, so so what are you thinking that causes you to even want to go towards something to give you comfort and then replace that thought as opposed to, you know, dealing with the the outward side of it, which is the food. That's that's awesome. That's that's OK. OK.
I see why you are the professional. But you just broke it down very well. OK, OK. But yeah, we're going to get back into some more of this. I have some other questions for you and we're going to look at some some things in detail here in a minute.
But yeah, this is this has been good so far. Just really understand the correlation between mental health, nutrition and then the emotional side of things like, you know, why are we eating emotionally? Not only looking at that, but then, OK, not just replacing what we eat, but replacing that thought. What are we thinking about identifying what we're thinking?
And Michael, too, a lot of times we will instruct people to to go to a different activity as opposed to looking at food. OK, awesome. All right.
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Visit them and experience the difference. Call 336-373-8344 and online at CrawfordChiro.com. If you or your loved one are facing challenges of intellectual development of disabilities or mental health diagnosis, Choice Behavioral Health and Consultative Services understand and they're here for you. Crystal Nickerson, owner and director, has been called by God into the role of pastoral counseling. She believes that the right relationship with God can transform lives, fostering right relationships with one another. Call her today at 336-218-5176 where faith meets compassionate care. All right. All right.
So we're back. This is this is so exciting and so much good information, and I'm thankful that we have Crystal Nickerson here with us today and sharing, because it's important to understand the correlation between the mental and emotional as it relates to food and as it relates to eating. And she just shared some great information before we went to break just on. I was talking about one of the ways that, you know, in my classes, I try to help people to, OK, never to kind of navigate towards something that's better for them when they're feeling a certain way. But Crystal jumped in and share with us, no, not necessarily, you know, not not correct me in that sense, but just saying that it's it's one of the things they look at as a mental health professional is the thought.
Yeah. Can you elaborate just just how you go about really helping them identify what they're thinking and then how to think something different? Well, and so we we look back a lot of times they was the individuals will say, well, something from my childhood that taught me this or I was a certain situation occurred. I was it was I was directed towards food to help me soothe and take care of myself in that way. So then, you know, I always want to deal with what's what's at the root of what you do, not just the behavior, but what's at the root of.
How is it? What's manifesting? Yeah. OK, so now when it comes to nutrition, which we spoke on this a little bit earlier. Now, do you feel like and I know you touched on this, but how can proper nutrition and I know we talked about a little bit earlier, but how can proper nutrition benefit our mental health? Not someone that's in necessarily a crisis, but just in general.
Yes. So on an ongoing basis, you will want to consider what you're eating day to day, looking at your choices, not just during stressful moments, but in general, building those healthy lifestyles, eating well and getting your nutrients and your minerals and so on that I addressed earlier. But you would it's a lifestyle and that's the key thing. It's not just going for your fads and your diets. It's not so much about how we look. It's not just about how we look, but it's also how we're feeling. How are our moods? Are we having mood swings?
What's at the root of that mood swing? Is it because we just binged on a pack of Oreo cookies and so we ate the Oreos. Now we got to worry about weight gain and then it becomes a vicious cycle. We're eating to feel better, but now we're gaining 10 pounds so we feel bad again. So let me eat a little more.
Let me have some ice cream. And so you just get into that cycle. So now that that's a great point because that does you know, that does happen and that and that's real. So how would you help someone to kind of break? How would you help someone to break that cycle? So good ways to build and increase our emotional health because it all ties what we're doing ties into our emotions.
So we we often talk with people about making sure they fortified their connections and relationships with others. That's always helpful. Exercise 30 minutes of exercise at least a day.
And you can break those up into small increments. Do 10 minutes or 15 minutes at a time. How is your sleep? Making sure we are getting good quality sleep. Stand on schedule with sleep and making sure our sleeping environment is conducive to sleep.
And so, you know, those are some of the key things that we look at and and helping people build their build good emotional health. Yeah, that's sleeping. Is it? That's a big one. And I need to do better with my I need to do better with my sleeping habits. I really do, because and we see a difference in our behaviors and our thoughts when we're when we have better quality of sleep. Wow.
Wow. So, yeah, that's something I definitely need to work on. Now, I know one of the things we talked about and you mentioned you have your your masters in pastoral counseling. And so, you know, with of course, we're we're on a Christian radio station.
And, you know, what I do and teach is is geared towards a biblically based. Program, as far as eating, as far as health and everything else and scriptural base. But now from a pastoral counseling standpoint, how does someone benefit if they're struggling with emotional eating? How can they benefit from like pastoral counseling around something like that?
Yep. So we tie in the typical counseling strategies, but we build in biblical strategies and we point people to the word for solving their their issues in life. So, for instance, with this emotional eating, resistance will become a good friend of yours. And so in the Bible, it speaks of there's a scripture that says, resist the devil and he will flee. And so we we have to take the word at its word and apply it. And so there is another scripture like, for example, I would use in this instance.
And it says, behold, I give you power to tread over snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. So that lets the person know, no, you have power over this. Like, you don't have to be passive and lie down and accept this. OK, you have power inside of you and it's given to you by God, the creator.
OK, OK. So what I'm getting here, Crystal, is basically a person would get the best of both worlds. You're getting the clinical counseling that comes from.
And then also you're getting the scripture that speaks to the spirit man. Exactly. And we always say, how was your life looking when you were managing well in this area?
Has there been a day, a week or a time when this was happening and you were when you weren't struggling with emotional eating? What did that day look like? And then we want to see you build more of that kind of day into your life. Oh, that's good.
That's good. So now this is what I want to do. I'm going to give you a little time, too, because, you know, this is great information. And if someone is struggling with emotional eating or some other areas and they feel like, yes, pastoral counseling is what I would like. How can they get in touch with you? Share with the with the listening audience how to get in touch with you. Thank you. You can reach me at via email at choice behavioral health 60 at Yahoo dot com.
Also, email our website is choice behavioral health dot com. And office number is three three six two one eight five one seven six. Awesome. Awesome. So, Crystal, again, you know, this has been this has been great. You know, really.
And, you know, again, we may have you on again in the near future there. But but this is good because, you know, one of the biggest things when it comes to, you know, coaching people in the area of wellness and health. And like I said, weight loss is something people are conscious of because, you know, that's the outer appearance. But what I try to focus on is helping people to really build from the cells up. You know what I mean? But then also it can be challenging because there are things that, you know, and reasons why people eat what they eat.
And a lot of it is connected to some emotional things that, you know, sometimes we may need a professional to step in and help with. So we have about 20 more seconds here. Is there anything else you'd like to share before we before we head off? Michael, I just wanted to make a correction. You mentioned you direct redirect people to make better food choices. That is excellent.
But what I was adding is that sometimes we direct them to do different activities to get their minds off of the thought about eating. Awesome. All right. Listen, we thank you for tuning in today. And remember, the best is yet to come.
