Once upon a time, in an invincible hangover far away… Friday’s made me mad. I know. How? Well, I worked in a restaurant. One where I felt so sincerely undervalued. Our busiest time of the week kicked off on Friday and I was mad about it. I felt the whole world sigh with relief at 4:45pm and then they came for us. They’re were gonna party and we were going to sweat and be poorly compensated for it. First it was happy hour and then dinner service marched on until midnight or so. That’s when the cleaning started. Yuck. We would be spent, I would never get the smell of everyone else’s dinner out of my hair and I couldn’t wait to clock out and run to the bar to drink as much as possible before last call. Which usually meant as many rounds of shots we could convince a bartender to serve us in a 45 minute window. Then it was time to pay up and head home alone only to wake up feeling like trash and do it again. Weekends sucked and yeah it was my own fault but … I was mad about it. That anger became a completely normal way to exist and it was exhausting. It was wore me down and effected my health. Later I would come to learn that anger is an emotion associated with the liver. At the time my liver and my heart were the butt of many self deprecating jokes. My poor liver. Between being laughed at and forced to work overtime due to my binge drinking it had every right to be mad. This kind of aggravation, fury and lingering rage can be hard to own up to. When asked if I was mad I would get defensive, then full on angry and deny everything. So, self abandonment mixed on many levels, resulting in lots of anger.. this combo can cause us to drink more. Hoping it will help us relax or to subconsciously provide us an avenue to express our anger and an excuse for it too. It is a viscous cycle that never helps us heal the underlying cause and on top of that - experiencing these emotions with any regularity can further damage our liver. Are you mad, bro? Going sober can help cool you off, obviously but what we eat can help too. Your liver really likes green things. Sprouts, avocados, cabbage and peas. Zucchini, alfalfa, bell pepper and mung beans. You might get tired of hearing it but.. processed emotions and unprocessed food. That’s the recipe, man. You can start on the inside or the outside but either way both things will have to addressed. Talk to someone about how you feel AND switch up your diet. Or if you feel overwhelmed start with your diet and see if that helps you to be vulnerable and open about what has you pissed off. Eating this way, with mindful intention, let’s your body know that you’re not abandoning yourself anymore. That you care and are available to face your feelings.

Day 256: Wondershowzen! Bananas, spinach, hemp protein, almond butter and rice milk. I like to treat myself once a week with a smoothie. It’s green, it’s delicious and I don’t have to do dishes.
…. Jesus. What’s up with the rhyming today? Have y’all noticed this? I am almost afraid I’ll burst into song later. Oh well. Not mad about it.