Fullmetal Alchemist Nutrition: Extra Edition - 'Stand up and walk, keep moving forward'

Equivalent exchange to move your 'legs' when you are in the depths of despair

When you have lost something precious and no longer know what you are living for.

Even if your heart won't move, our 'legs'—in other words, our physical bodies—seek the nutrition necessary to live and continue to renew our cells.

Fuel to move your 'sturdy legs': The relationship between glycogen and endurance

'You have sturdy legs, don't you?'

If we interpret Ed's words through nutrition, it means 'Your muscles still have the energy stored to keep fighting.'.

'Muscle glycogen' stored in the muscles is the immediate fuel we need to take a step forward.

Even if your heart feels like it's breaking, consuming carbohydrates properly and replenishing your fuel is the first alchemy for physically 'moving forward.'

The boundary between automail and flesh: Restoring nerve transmission

Ed replaced his lost legs with automail, but it is his own peripheral nerves that move them.

It is B-complex vitamins and lecithin that smooth out nerve repair and transmission.

'My legs won't move' might not be because your heart is weak, but simply because the transmission efficiency of your nerve circuits has dropped.

If you maintain your circuits with proper nutrition, your 'legs' should be able to carry you to where you want to go once again.

'Better to do a hypocritical good than no good at all': Start by getting the form right

'I'll eat once I feel better mentally' is actually a difficult order to follow.

'I don't feel great, but I'll take in protein and vitamins for now'—this act that seems like just going through the motions (hypocritical care) is what, in the end, regulates your brain chemicals and leads to the 'good' that moves your heart forward.

Just as Ed kept walking through the mud with his mechanical legs, let us also, even if we have to drag our imperfect bodies, first win the right to move forward by 'eating.'

Summary: A prescription for the reader: To you who have forgotten how to stand up

Ed forbade Rose, whom he met in the town of Liore, from 'clinging to others.'

That is a cheer for you to believe in the potential of your own body, which is 'one (all).'

Your legs are made of what you have eaten.

Today's meal will be the strength that moves you a few centimeters forward tomorrow.

It doesn't have to be a perfect life.

Start with just one bite, and deliver the ingredients for equivalent exchange to your cells. With just that, you have already started to look ahead and walk forward.