By Marilyn Tam
It's been a tough year. Many of us turn to food to soothe our spirits. Specifically, calorie laden, fat, sugar, salt and carbo heavy foods. These gut bombs give us momentary solace and then upset our stomachs, pack on the pounds and generally makes us sorry we ate them later. It’s natural to search for relief from stress in small and big ways. How do we ease the tension and anxiety without making ourselves feel worse? Food seems to be a natural. And it can be if we adjust our behavior and the ingredients in our comfort foods, giving our physical, sentimental and emotional selves, relief while nurturing our bodies with nutrients. It’s doable when you keep a few points in mind. 1. Pause before you reach. Impulse buying and eating of fast foods, takeaways, salted and high fat/sugar snacks and heavy use of ready-made sauces and mixes in cooking is closely correlated to when a person is stressed, feeling pressured and/or hungry. The National Institute of Health has shown that we do not make the best decisions when we are preoccupied, tense or famished. Recognizing this, pause what you are doing when you sense rising anxiety, frustration or hunger. Take the time to do what you need to destress, breathe deeply, center yourself, and/or find some nourishing snacks (nuts, a smoothie, fruit, cut up vegetables, hummus etc.) to replenish yourself before the urge to grab the unhealthy food takes over. Sharing food and ideas of what’s delcious and nutritious helps you support each other. 2. Make friends with your food. When we eat mindlessly, we tend to overeat and also not really taste what we are eating. Savor your food as you would a friend or something precious. How shiny is that apple, how well-made is your sandwich, and colorful is the salad? What about the texture when you bite into it? The taste and mouth feel? When you eat consciously you enjoy what you are eating, and your body has a chance to register nourishment is entering your system. You will feel satiated sooner and will be ready to stop before you are over full. 3. Switch out negatives. As we do in other aspects of our lives, learn how to replace the negative with something good for you; switch out nutritionally unhealthy ingredients with nutrient dense ones. We can still have fries, burgers and desserts when we exchange the unhealthy ones with better ones for our health. Air fries, plant-based burgers, naturally sweetened desserts with no hydrogenated oils etc. are delicious and nutritionally superior. 4. Taste and savor. Or avoid completely. If you have a food craving for something that you know is not beneficial for your wellbeing, enjoy small amounts. Relish to the full the tastes and memories the food brings up for you. Then push it away after a small taste. Acknowledge that you indulged in the nostalgic pleasures of eating memories and now you are satisfied and back in the present. For some, it is easier to never purchase or approach the unhealthy food(s) again. Completely eliminating certain item(s) is often simpler than trying to regulate the quantity consumed. You know your personality, choose the option that suits you. 5. Move your body. The next time you want to reach for some unhealthy food, move your body instead. Stretch, do jumping jacks, go for a walk, dance, sing…. When you give your body new interesting input, the desire to appease that food craving will lessen and it may go away for the while. Have healthy easy to snack on foods available so that you can easily satisfy any genuine hunger and nourishment needs. Create fun, special and memorable occasions with your friends and family cooking and sharing healthy food together. 6. Create new food memories. Develop new experiences with healthy food. Explore and create new dishes and snacks that are delicious and healthy. Share and cultivate interest in food and recipes with family, new and old friends who like healthy foods. Make friends and new memories by creating new recipes, rituals and bonding over nutritious food. 7. Be kind to yourself. When you are under stress you are vulnerable to making less than the best food choices, give yourself some grace. Recognize that the strain is weighing on you and you have strayed from choosing the best way to nourish yourself. Stop the behavior and use the experience to help you refrain from repeating less wise choice again. After a few times you may notice that you catch yourself sooner and the healthy choice becomes easier. Give yourself credit for each improvement you make. You are learning new skills and forming new habits. It takes time. Most of all, many studies show that eating well is nourishing you and providing you with the nutrients that help balance your hormones and moods. The highs and lows that come from eating sugar and fat laden junk foods are gone. Your mood swings and depression will be moderated, and you may find that you are enjoying your new habits more and more! Share your interest and enthusiasm with others, you could become the new food expert! Experiment and create, you may find that you have a knack for making food good and good for you! Happy eating. Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success!
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By Marilyn Tam
Life as we knew it pre-Covid-19 is no more. The changes and disruptions have wrecked many people’s mental and emotional stability along with their finances and careers. There are steps you can take manage your stress, anxiety, emotional and physical balance to give you the grounding to move forward gracefully. A longtime friend of mine is in the eye of the storm. She is the community outreach nurse manager in the area’s largest hospital group, dealing daily with general hospital issues, constant adjustments due to the fluctuating caseloads of Covid-19 patients and the increasing demands from the community at large. One of her siblings died suddenly and another one was misdiagnosed with the Virus. In addition, her husband had a freak accident which resulted in second and third degree burns to over 10% of his body. Then she fell ill with a severe sore throat which triggered Virus alarms; fortunately, she recovered with a clean bill of health. All this happened in the last three months. To say that she is under stress would be an understatement. How does she handle such an intense and potentially draining time? Having shared and supported her through this and many other challenging times, I like to share with you the tools we used to alleviate the tension, anxiety and regain some stability amidst apparent chaos. It’s easy to lose perspective when you are personally involved in a crisis and forget some of the fundamental steps to managing the situation. 1. Pause. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Take another deep breath. Inhabit your total body instead of just your mind. Your instinctive reaction to crisis is to fight or flight. Since you are generally dealing with something less than instant loss of life, hold on, gather your thoughts and regain balance before you jump into action. 2. Do something physical. Physical action will give your an outlet for stress, anxiety and depression — Mayo Clinic guidelines recommends physical movement to reduce stress, improve mental and emotional wellbeing, sleep, boost feel good endorphins and to reduce pain. Walk, jog, hike, exercise, dance, swim, cycle, do yoga, aerobics, etc. Release internal tension by doing physical activities that stretch the tightness in you. 3. Spend time in nature. Whether it’s a garden, park, mountains, ocean, lake or river, nature heals. The European Centre for Environment & Human Health at the University of Exeter did a study with 20,000 people that showed just spending two hours a week or more in nature provide physical, mental and emotional benefits for everyone. You can even spend a few shorter sessions in nature to come up with the total time needed to receive noticeable improvement in your physical health and cognitive functions. The natural world is restorative and most likely you will find that you will be looking forward to more time there. 4. Meditate. Calming the mind reduces anxiety and has lasting positive effects on your physical, mental and emotional states. John Hopkins University’s systemic review and meta-analysis of 47 randomized clinical trials with controls for placebo effects showed that mindful meditation can alleviate anxiety, depression and pain. Nowadays it is easy to be overstretched to the point you are depleted physically, mentally and emotionally. Meditation allows your mind to realign and heal, and that creates profound benefits for all aspects of your health. 5. Eat healthier. Nourish your body with nutritious food to supply you with the nutrients to keep your metabolic processes, immune system, nervous system, hormonal and cardiovascular systems functioning well to deal with stress. Harvard Medical School’s publication uses the analogy of treating your body as the fine-tuned machine that it is by fueling it with healthy foods. Eat fresh food, as close to the source as possible, plant-based food, unrefined foods and minimize or eliminate sugars and processed foods from your diet. That pint of ice cream may taste good while you are eating it, but the sugar high and subsequent crash is going to make you feel much worse for a longer time. 6. Team up. Cultivate friends and buddies to exercise with, meditate, and to develop healthy eating habits in tandem. Doing things together, even if virtual, will help establish the habits which will support your and their wellbeing. The social connections will also strengthen your social and emotional comfort. 7. Assess where you are. When there are many events and demands happening simultaneously, the tendency is to focus on the most glaring one(s) without considering the relative importance of each. List all the issues, emotions and physical symptoms you are dealing with. Write them down on a sheet of paper. Your hand to mind connection in writing will reveal what is bothering you more than typing on your computer or phone. Review your list and prioritize them for the impact they have on your life. 8. Review your list of priorities and acknowledge your response. Looking at the list may raise anxiety in you. Pause again. Breathe deeply and allow your feelings to come to the surface. What are they? Fear? Sadness? Frustration? Pain? Whatever they are, acknowledge them. It is natural to feel them. Give yourself time to process your emotions. 9. Seek professional help. If you are still feeling overwhelmed after using the above tools to manage the emotions that come up, consider seeking professional assistance — the spiritual counsellor from your belief system, trained support groups, therapist, counsellor, or other trained professionals. Sometimes stress can be too much for one to handle and it is wise to consult with others to help manage the issues. 10. Explore and itemize possible action steps. Now that you have released some inner stress, you have more creativity and fresh eyes to analyze and develop solutions. Review and see if some of your concerns fall into the same category. Can you work on those together? Are some of the issues caused by others on the list? Are there outside sources where you can get additional support? Scrutinize your list with these questions in mind and you may find solutions that resolve several matters concurrently. Itemize the potential ways to improve the issues; list the fanciful ideas as well as the practical ones. Your imagination may lead you to a creative resolution, if nothing else they may make you smile! 11. Decide on strategy and tactics. Look at your list and choose the ones and the ways you are prepared to work on now. You may wish to start with smaller item(s) first because you may not feel ready to handle more significant ones. Move at the pace you are comfortable. Checking things off the list will relieve some stress and help you gear up for the next ones. 12. Dive in. Getting started is sometimes the hardest part. Like being on the edge of a swimming dock or pool, the anticipation of the cold water is much worse than your experience when you finally jump in. Start on the project you’ve identified as the one you wish to work on. Take the first step and soon you’ll be feeling better as you make progress on your list! 13. Celebrate the small wins. Rejoice in your progress. One step at a time is now things get done. Give yourself the credit for tackling your issues. You’ve started and that in itself is a win. Go forth, and be happy! Planning your next event? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to schedule your ideal speaker and make your event a success! |
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