News, diet plan tips, recipes and the latest research
to help improve your health, nutrition and well-being.
Being a guest has it’s challenges as well. You need to be sensitive to the ways of other households, you don’t have your usual comforts of home and familiarity, and you may not have access to the foods that make you feel good and that you are choosing to eat these days. And your host may insist you eat everything served especially those who spend countless hours shopping and preparing the food.
There is a growing (pardon the pun) perception that gardening, especially community gardens, may have an important benefit on general well-being, and specifically on elevating depressed mood.
Achieving a goal, like losing weight, following your meal and exercise plan, earning a degree while you’re working, or raising money for a cause you believe in, can feel euphoric, especially when you’ve overcome significant challenging obstacles to get there. We know logically that it’s hard to make the changes required to reach a goal. So why, then, when the going gets tough, are we unprepared and wonder why the journey is not pain-free? Part of it has to do with our desire to avoid pain, seek pleasure, and take the path of least resistance. Being aware of this triad can help you better accept, and tolerate, the obstacles you’ll face.
We care for others, willingly and with love, such as being there for your children, friends, work colleagues, and community. At the same time, doing so can bring unexpected and ever-changing demands that at times can feel depleting, overwhelming, and frustrating. Taking care of yourself – and making sure your needs are met – while caring for others is vital, especially when caring for elderly parents, a spouse, child, or other family member with a chronic condition.
An enduring problem associated with strategies aimed to reduce obesity, or at least to make the obese healthier, is the “one size fits all” approach. It is rarely cost effective to work with an individual patient to figure out why weight was gained or perhaps regained. It takes time to figure out how lifestyle may contribute to overeating. Does the patient get enough sleep, or eat to stay awake? Is the patient overwhelmed by work or caregiving, perhaps for an elderly parent or disabled spouse? Is the overeating a response to depression, anxiety, social isolation, marital, financial, or other problems — or simply loneliness? Could intuitive eating work for everyone? The reasons for weight gain are not intuitive; nor, it seems, is the solution.
Fortunately, the increase in emotional comfort and decrease in stress experienced after eating carbohydrates is not dependent on changing food choices or new foods entering the supermarket. Carbohydrates will elicit a positive mood, regardless of whether the food was also eaten by one’s grandparents or is new to the contemporary eater. After eating pasta or quinoa, oatmeal or farro, or orange or purple sweet potatoes, relief from feeling down or anxious or tense.
Using imagery to formulate a specific action in response to a specific obstacle can give you clarity about what actions will support your goal, confidence to follow through, and, ultimately, the success you’re aiming for.
By eating healthy, low fat carbohydrate options like sweet potatoes and whole grain crackers rather than candy, you’ll eat less, have the benefit of nutritious foods, your cravings will be satisfied sooner, and you’ll be more likely to avoid unwanted weight gain due to SAD.
The type of fat you eat matters. The reason is twofold: to get the health and nutrient benefit of healthy fats, and to avoid the negative effects of unhealthy fats.
Aim for omega-3 fatty acids and organic and grass-fed foods, and avoid processed and trans fats.
You are as worthy as everything and everyone else you care about. The key is to balance how you spend your time so that you are at least on equal par with other things and people that matter to you in your life.
We might overlook the pleasure that our taking pleasure in something (or someone) gives others. A shared laugh, story, or experience, even with a stranger, improves the moods of everyone. And often, if we hold onto the memory of the fun experience, watching a parade of ducks or meeting an old acquaintance while going about the mundane experiences of the day, it makes the stress of those less fun encounters so much more bearable.
Recently published archeological research demonstrates that ancient man ate starchy carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are important for brain development and overall health.
