You won’t be surprised to learn that dinner time is one of the most stressful times of the day for today’s parents. Finding healthy ways to meet everyone’s mealtime needs while juggling busy schedules, work commitments and picky eaters is enough to drive anyone insane.
Living with a restricted diet during the holidays can create frustration, disappointment and even loneliness. Discover new ways to indulge mindfully and create a new definition of holiday joy.
Stress. Anxiety. Overindulging. Depression. Lack of sleep. The latest virus. Weight gain. These are just a few of the exciting things often waiting for us as we catapult into the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years. But with a few practical changes, you can minimize the holiday health madness and maybe even come out feeling healthier on the other side!
“Mindless autopilot” is the state that researcher Brian Wansink of Cornell University has used to describe the state most of us are in when we make more than 200 food and beverage-related decisions each day. Every bite we eat includes decisions about what we are eating, how much to eat, how to eat it and when. And we are making these choices mindlessly and distracted by working, texting, feeling, socializing, etc.
There is an ugly truth that hides among even the most accomplished, intelligent, inspiring women that you know. Some pretty nasty little voices have taken root inside their heads telling them they aren’t attractive enough, that they should look a certain way and that make them feel uncomfortable about their bodies.
Women all too regularly consume an average of 22 teaspoons of added sugar each day in spite of the recommendations of the American Heart Association that we consume no more than 6 teaspoons. Clearly, we have gone beyond the occasional indulgence and into obsession territory.
Is there a "right" way to jumpstart your health journey? With the arrival of the new year, many of us with resolutions or not are doing our darnedest to eat more healthfully but very often we feel stuck in negative health patterns. We may feel overwhelmed because we feel we have to “fix” everything about us and just don’t know where to start.
Like a birthday, this special moment in time presents a unique lens with which to gaze at the year ahead and plant a seed or two for any change we would like to nurture in the world, in our families, in ourselves or in our communities. Let the new year give us that edge, that conviction, to give root to these seeds and be supported in our new beginnings.
Stress plus unmanaged blood sugar can create a perfect holiday storm of excessive fatigue, disrupted sleep, mood swings, brain fog, gut problems and that unwanted holiday weight gain.
Tea can be an essential part of letting your body recover and heal from the damage that living this go-go lifestyle can create.
As one of the 40 million adults in the United States who suffer from anxiety, I am keenly aware of how disruptive the chronic worry and stress can be to your everyday life and how depleted and week anxious episodes leave you. To make it worse, during bouts of anxiety, we often turn to comfort foods high in refined carbohydrates to make us feel better but which often leave us with mood swings and low energy.
With winter upon us, we welcome cozy afternoons by the fire, warm soups and hot toddies, snuggly boots and scarves…. but unfortunately for many women the colder months can bring an increase in the blues. Fortunately, one of the best natural strategies for helping boost your mood are essential oils.