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calmness and to keep the objectivity required to face the daily challenges of navigating this new world
of COVID both at work and outside of work.

For me, these emotions led to stress eating, which, by the way, never satisfied the craving for
food because I was never hungry to begin with. Stress eating never satisfies your urge for food because
your body never really requires it. Ultimately, what happens, is that you develop a pattern of eating
simply out of habit, and often times you’re eating food that is not healthy for you. The unfortunate
thing about many of these unhealthy foods is that they make you "feel good.” Gut bacteria
manufacture about 90 percent of the body's supply of serotonin. Serotonin is a monoamine
neurotransmitter that regulates our mood. Studies have shown that low levels of serotonin are
connected to depression. So, what we eat can and does affect our mood. That’s why ice cream for
example, with its mountain of added sugar, makes us feel good when we eat it.

Did you know that sugar has a similar effect on the brain to drugs, alcohol, and nicotine?
Scary, but true. When you have a high intake of sugar, your blood sugar level spikes and you get a
surge of the feel-good hormone dopamine, which has addictive properties. As the sugar hits your
bloodstream, the pancreas releases the hormone insulin to help manage the blood sugar (Glucose)
levels. The downside of that is the Glucose is rapidly digested and your dopamine level falls quickly;
thus, causing you to crash. Such a crash only amplifies your original mood and quite often induces the
physiological effects of fatigue and sluggishness, further pushing you away from embarking on that
healthy lifestyle. Couple that with the long-term effects of unhealthy eating, and it becomes clear that
the risk far outweighs the reward of such choices.

I work in the physical rehabilitation department of a skilled nursing facility. When I reflect on
all the patients I've treated over the years, I'd have to say that more than 50% of my caseload possessed
ailments, disorders, and or diseases that could all be linked back to poor life choices. Most of those
life choices quite frankly had to do with bad dieting. Choosing that donut over a celery stick may not
have massive consequences right then and there, but 10, 20, or even 30 years from now it might.

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