How Superfoods Stimulate Forgiveness

Karla Ilicic
3 min readDec 9, 2019

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Karla Tafra

It can be so hard to forgive someone, understand their actions, and logically comprehend why they made those choices in the first place. It can be even harder forgiving ourselves when we do something we regret or feel terrible about. Many times we decide to punish ourselves for our mistakes. Some ways we may choose to punish ourselves are restricting food, participating in a grueling exercise, or simply fueling our body the wrong way because we think we’re not “worthy” of feeling good or receiving forgiveness.

Realizing we made a mistake is a huge step towards dealing with it and forgiving ourselves for it. Getting to the bottom of why we made a mistake in the first place is a harder task, but the only way we can do so is by letting go of our judgment, and acknowledging that making mistakes is a part of life and that every one of us is bound to make some bigger ones throughout the years. In order for us to get to that state, we need to lower our stress response and open up our hearts to feeling our emotions and processing every part of it. Luckily, there are some super foods that can help you do so, and by adding them into our diet, you can actively start working on mending your relationship with yourself.

Rhodiola and Ashwagandha are adaptogenic herbs that help our bodies adapt to stress in a much better way, without raising our cortisol levels too high and making our anxiety flare up. They’re great to enjoy before meditation or whatever self care time you’ve carved out for yourself, as they’ll calm your mind and let you analyze your situation more clearly. You can get both Rhodiola and Ashwagandha in various forms, from pills and powder to tea mixtures, whichever works best for you.

CBD oil is the next superfood, or more like super oil, I want to touch on. It’s a buzzy word surrounded by a lot of hype, but it’s important to look at what the research says about its effects. Pure and clean CBD oil has been a part of thousands of studies that have proven its incredible power of reducing anxiety, lowering inflammation, and calming our nerves. Some people enjoy it in their morning latte, but you might enjoy it in a glass of water, or even on its own. Some suggest taking it early in the morning before you’ve had a chance to start your day on a bad note, but for others it works best before bedtime since that’s when those negative thoughts usually start creeping in, we start blaming ourselves, or we cry ourselves to sleep.

Another great superfood that has an incredibly calming effect on the body and mind is cacao. Its high antioxidant levels, ability to fight off free radicals, lower stress levels, and promoting longevity, already prove its worth, but did you know that it also elevates your happiness hormone serotonin? When this hormone increases, negative thoughts start wearing off and we start seeing things from a brighter perspective and that helps us start being a bit kinder to ourselves.

I know it’s not easy to forgive others, and especially yourself, and that sometimes it takes a long time, but you can make the process less stressful for yourself if you take the time to care for your mind and body first.

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Karla Ilicic

Freelance writer, yoga teacher, nutritionist, and content creator with a strong passion for health, wellness, fitness, travel, relationships, and good food :)