IQ-28: Eating “Healthy” Is Different Than Most People Realize

Welcome to Heal Yourself, Change Your Life. My name is Brandy Gillmore. And after recovering from my own life-changing injury, it has become my mission to share with others the same discoveries I made that changed my health and my entire life. Our minds are truly incredible. The placebo is proof of this.

Each week, I will take this simple awareness to a whole new level. I will even coach live callers to free themselves of physical pain using only their mind. And then I’ll provide you with a combination of practical and spiritual insights that you can use to master your mind, your emotions, and your energy to help you heal your health, yourself, and your life. Let’s begin.

Hello and welcome. It is so wonderful to connect with you. Welcome to this week’s quick IQ episode where we talk about insights and questions. And on today’s episode, I’m going to take a listener question that I just love, and I feel like it’s divine timing for a few reasons.

If I read her email, she says: “Hi Brandy, I love your podcast for a million reasons. It makes me happy and expands my mind beyond anything I have experienced. Thank you for everything you do.” And she goes on and on, so I’ll skip that part — but thank you!

And then she gets to the actual question. She writes: “Also, I wanted to see if you would be able to answer a question for me. It’s a bit of a debate between me and my friends. We’re wondering if diet really even matters when you are working with your mind for healing.”

So that’s the core part of the question. She goes on a bit more, but that’s really the heart of it. And I love this question for a few reasons — primarily because it’s different than a lot of people realize. Some of the things we’re going to touch on are more logical and maybe things you’ve heard before. And some of the reasons that diet can actually impact your health are a lot different than people realize.

How Diet Affects Mood and Healing

If we start with the most obvious reasons, we can see that part of the reason diet can impact your healing — and your ability to work with your mind — is simply because diet can affect your mood.

I mean, if you look at one of the most obvious examples, you can see where somebody has waited way too long to eat before… and then they get a bit hangry. I don’t know if that’s you, or if you’ve seen that in a spouse before, but you know what I mean — hungry and angry at the same time.

So if somebody is upset or irritable, it can make it really hard to work with your mind, be positive, focus, and make a transformation. It can make it almost impossible in some cases.

And that’s the extreme example. But even if you look at nutritional deficiencies — people who have ongoing deficiencies can also feel irritable in the nervous system.

For example, if somebody is lacking even water and they’re normally dehydrated, that can make it harder to focus, harder to concentrate, and can also create an underlying irritability — which, of course, makes it harder to work with your mind and feel happy, positive, and transform your mindset and energy.

Energy, Biophotons, and Living Foods

Speaking of transforming your energy and supporting your energy, you want to think in terms of the body’s energetic output. Every living organism emits biophotons — particles of light, if you will.

We could call it the “aura” or we could call it the technical term: biophotons. But basically, they are little particles of light. When a person has thoughts and neurons fire, that emits biophotons.

And every living organism emits them — including foods. Living foods like lettuce and vegetables have positive biophotons — positive, beneficial energy.

So eating living, healthy foods adds positive energetic support to the body. That’s another way diet affects you, beyond nutrition — through energetic nourishment.

The Gut-Brain Connection

Secondly, we can look at the biochemistry of the body. Up to 90% of serotonin is created in your gut. So if you’re eating unhealthy foods, it can create an imbalance in the gut flora and not create a supportive environment for serotonin production.

For that reason, you obviously won’t want to eat a ton of junk food — because it’s not supportive of the body’s biochemistry.

And I say that knowing that the “stress-eating loop” is a real thing. A person is stressed → they eat junk food → the junk food makes them feel worse → which makes it harder to work with the mind. And the loop continues.

Transforming your mindset is so important. That can help with the biochemistry of your body.

My Own Journey With Nutrition, Mindset, and Pain

By the way, this is actually part of how I started working with my mind even more deeply for healing. It came from my research on the biochemistry of the body and neurotransmitters.

If you’ve heard my story, you know one factor was looking at the placebo — saying: “Wait a second, if the placebo works, then there has to be something going on in the mind.”

Another part was reading about endorphins — the body’s natural painkillers — and thinking, “Okay, how do I get more endorphins?”

That’s when I began experimenting with amino acids, nootropics, DLPA, and other supplements to try to increase serotonin and endorphins.

But no matter how many supplements I tried, it didn’t get rid of my pain.

What it did do was make me realize I needed to work not just with my mind — but even more deeply with my emotions.

Misconceptions About the Placebo and the Mind

Initially, I thought the placebo was all about believing you were already healed. But that’s a misconception many people have.

Because we also know about the open-label placebo — where both the doctor and patient know it’s a fake pill, and it still works.

So obviously it’s not all about belief. There are deeper emotional and energetic components.

So, point being, the more I saw these misconceptions about working with the mind, the more I began looking at the energy of the body, the emotions, the energy from emotions, and all of these things. There were so many reasons — I was literally researching everything I could find, making conclusions, and then working from that. These different insights kept pointing me toward the mind and emotions.

Either way, food can affect your mood and your biochemistry. And in most cases, I don’t see food being “everything,” but it can absolutely be important.

Think about it for a moment: you wouldn’t give a kid a bunch of sugar and coffee and then try to ask them to sit down and focus. That just wouldn’t happen. And a lot of people eat stimulants, lots of sugar, or foods that make it harder to focus — or even harder to be happy.

So for all of these reasons, having a healthy diet can definitely support your mood, your happiness, and help you on this journey of creating transformation in your life and your energy.

Does Diet Matter for Mind-Based Healing?

So yes, to answer the question specifically, a healthy diet can be very helpful — and having a poor diet can make it more challenging.

Now, I do want to add an extra element to it, because as I mentioned, food can impact your mood and biochemistry. But even beyond mood, there are other ways food can influence your mindset.

How Food Can Shift Identity and Emotions

For example, I have seen people who became vegetarian and, by doing so, suddenly started to feel like they were a good person — like they were doing something good for humanity and for the world.

And in feeling like a good person, that emotional shift was what they needed to start healing.

Of course, there are plenty of people who become vegetarian and feel simply that they’re “eating more vegetables” — and that does not create the same emotional shift as the person who walks around feeling, “I’m saving the planet and saving animals.”

For some people, that identity shift is profound.

But I’ve also seen plenty of cases where someone becomes vegetarian, feels like a good person because of it, but after a few months — 6 months, a year — the novelty wears off. And maybe they don’t feel like such a good person anymore. That emotional boost fades.

Or, if somebody has had a lifelong pattern of feeling like a bad person, they may get a temporary emotional shift from food identity changes — but then that old pattern appears in another area of life later.

Misattributing Healing to Food Alone

This can be tricky because people will often link their emotional shift to the diet itself.

For example, someone changes their diet and feels more energized. Maybe their pain goes away temporarily. So they conclude: “Oh my God, when I switched to being vegetarian, everything got better.”

But then, months later, the benefits fade — because the emotional pattern underneath it wasn’t healed. And that deeper pattern eventually resurfaces.

I saw this all the time when I used to work with a doctor in an office — working with nutrition but also the mind. People would change their diet, feel an emotional boost, but then their old patterns would kick back in.

This is why the best combination is:

• A healthy diet that feels good emotionally
• Working with your mind to transform deeper patterns

Diet Should Not Create Stress or Disconnection

When I say to have a good diet that’s not stressful, that is important.

We know from the “failure to thrive” research that infants who don’t receive enough love can actually die even when they’re getting proper nutrition. So love and emotional connection matter deeply.

What I’ve seen is the opposite problem: people forcing themselves to eat healthy — but feeling emotionally disconnected.

Sometimes they feel like they can’t connect with others unless they compromise their diet. Or they feel like everyone else “gets to enjoy food,” and they don’t.

That emotional disconnection can negatively impact healing — even when someone is eating a perfectly “healthy” diet.

Ultimately, you want a diet that is healthy and emotionally supportive.

Most restaurants offer at least one healthy option — so it shouldn’t be a disconnector. But people often make it one in their minds.

The Emotional Connection You Have With Food Matters

I’ve seen people who feel guilty when they eat — and that creates another problem for healing.

If someone is regularly experiencing guilt around food, that emotional energy makes it hard to transform.

Diet can influence your mood in negative ways (like irritation, guilt, resentment), or positive ways (like feeling good, special, energized), or ways related to connection and disconnection from others.

Another example: someone might have a pattern of resentment that is tied to their health issues. Then they’re forced into a certain diet by a spouse — and suddenly they feel even more resentment. And instead of helping, the “healthy diet” worsens the emotional pattern driving the illness.

I’ve seen that countless times.

So, I encourage you to look at the bigger picture: How does your food make you feel? Connected? Disconnected? Guilty? Special? Energized?

You’ll want to really make sure you have a positive relationship with food — one that supports happiness, connection, and emotional well-being.

Seasonal Mood Changes and Vitamin D

There’s one more thing I want to discuss, and it’s this: we’re going into the winter months — at least for some of us. I know we’re now in over 93 countries, so part of the world is heading into fall and winter.

During these months, it’s common for people to feel a bit more sad, melancholy, or depressed simply because they’re not getting as much sunshine.

So as we go into the fall and winter months, I want to remind you to make sure you’re getting enough vitamin D. Keeping vitamin D levels up can help your mood — especially after COVID, when so many people were inside more than usual.

Most people in general tend to be a bit deficient in vitamin D, and staying indoors for long periods can make that worse. So if you’re someone who might have lower vitamin D levels, I just want to send a reminder to make sure you’re getting enough of it. It can be really helpful for staying happy through the winter months.

And by the way, people often ask me what supplement I recommend. Typically, I always say to follow up with your doctor — because I’m not doing blood work on every single person, and that matters.

If you are someone who needs a vitamin D supplement, I do have a friend who owns a very clean supplement company. He and his wife have gone to every extent to make sure the line is clean and doesn’t contain things like magnesium stearate, fillers, or unnecessary additives. And the prices are very reasonable.

If you need vitamin D, I’ll have my team leave that link in the chat so it’s available to you.

The Bigger Picture of Food and Emotional Well-Being

Bringing this back to the bigger picture: food can impact your mood in so many different ways. And that’s ultimately what I want to leave you with from today’s episode — two specific things.

1. Look at whether your diet supports your mood

First, I would recommend taking a look at your diet and evaluating it a bit. Are you getting enough water? Enough nutrients? Are you skipping meals or going too long without eating? These things can directly impact your mood, your focus, your happiness, and your energy.

If there are any deficiencies you’ve been overlooking, addressing them could be really supportive of your happiness and your ability to transform.

2. Notice your emotional connection with food

Second, I invite you to notice what your emotional connection with food is. Are your feelings around food positive? Relaxed? Supportive? Or do they feel stressful, guilty, isolating, or frustrating?

If they’re not the feelings you want, what would you like them to be?

Identify how you’d like to feel moving forward — and begin consciously getting your mind on board with this new emotional relationship with food.

If you’ve been stressed about your diet, maybe it’s about creating more balance. I know during my injury, there was a time when I was stressing to eat healthy — and once I understood the power of the mind, I realized: “Wait a second — I’m stressing to eat healthy. This isn’t good.”

I had to dial that back and create a healthier, more balanced connection with food — one that felt positive instead of stressful.

Whatever that looks like for you, I strongly recommend evaluating it. Especially if food has been a sensitive area in your life. Make sure you are supporting yourself for optimal health, happiness, and transformation.

Sharing the Message

As always, if you know someone who could benefit from this episode, please share it. The more people who are empowered, happy, healthy, and loving life, the better the world becomes for all of us — and that is a beautiful thing.

Thank you for being someone who is here, expanding your mind and consciousness, and increasing your health and happiness. I have so much respect for you. It has been such a pleasure connecting with you.

I look forward to connecting with you on the next episode. We’ll see you there.

Podcast Closing

Thank you for listening to Heal Yourself, Change Your Life. All of the time, people reach out and say how much these episodes have given them hope, touched their heart, helped them stay positive in hard times, or even woken them up to a completely new level of awareness of how amazing we all really are.

If today’s episode touched your heart or expanded your mind in any way, please do me a favor and share it with those you care about — or those you know who really need it. As more people become empowered, it truly will change our world for the better.

That is the point and the power of these demonstrations — to create a radical shift in our consciousness by showing everyone what we are all capable of.

And of course, each volunteer will need to follow through to reinforce their programming and maintain their results. But the point is for you to see that you really can create rapid results in your health and your life if you truly understand how to use your mind. You are incredible.

I do want to be clear, though: most people will not get results this fast on their own. I make it look very easy because of the discoveries I made. But you’ll want to remember that there is so much more going on in our minds, at a deeper level, than people realize.

That said, if you want to send me any questions or comments, come visit me on my website at brandygillmore.com. And if you’re currently experiencing physical pain and would like to be a volunteer on the show, you can sign up there as well.

Lastly, please remember: if you do have any health issues, don’t avoid your doctors. Instead, continue seeing them — and make it your goal to blow their minds with what you are capable of with your mind.

Thank you.