Healthy Eating, Less Stress

Stress and Food

               Many recent studies confirm the importance of healthy eating. Starting with a broad study links obesity with stress. If you’re overweight, you may be at greater risk for stress-related diseases like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, according to a new study. Moving to more specific studies like this one, showing how fruit and vegetable consumption is not only good for physical well-being, but also mental health.

Foods that fight stress include:

• High-fiber carbohydrate food
• Fruits
• Vegetables

Foods that enable stress that should be avoided:

• High fat-food
• High sugar foods
• Caffeine

Below are nine nice visualization of how many fruits/veggies you should be eating in a day:This is based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Daily Recommendations. The CDC reported in 2010 that only 33% of adults were eating the daily recommended amount of fruit, and even fewer —27% — were meeting their veggie quota. They went on to explain in a 2000 calorie daily diet a person needs to eat 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables everyday.

 

Reduce Clutter

Clutter and stress

Do these images stress you out?

 

For most people, they do. This is because clutter is linked with stress.  A stress survey conducted on behalf of the Huffington Post revealed home organization is one of the most common stress triggers. 84 percent of those polled worry their home isn’t clean or organized enough, and 87 percent of the women polled experience anxiety over maintaining their homes.

When you leave a room, clean up after your mess, to save a headache later. Also have a place where everything belongs. If you cannot store it, then get rid of it. If you find that you are no longer using items anymore, consider donating them to someone else who will use the item more often.

Clutter, both mental and physical, can do a number on our productivity and eat away at our time. Think of all the minutes we waste looking for items that aren’t where they should be. Plus the sheer stress of a cluttered life means we may miss deadlines, work longer hours, and lose important stuff. Clutter equals stress.

Some other tips: Instead of focusing on stuff, focus on function of the room. If it is a play room, then there will be a lot of toys for example. Think of a system to keep them all organized. In another room, maybe the intention is “office” but it has become cluttered to the point of almost no return. In this case, remove items that are not meant for the “office.” Place items in a storage room or donate the items that are no longer in regular use.

Some great questions to ask yourself are:

• Do you like to have your home neat enough to have drop-in company? Are you happy to be company-ready after 15 minutes of cleaning?
• Is  your home organized enough that you can generally find everything you’re looking for without having to search?
•  Can you truly relax in your home, or is it an energy drain (feel stressful)?

Smile More

 

 

Stress and Smiling 

            There are many benefits of smiling. Smiling is good for your health as it can actually make you feel happier, reduce stress and help you live a healthier life.  Check out these fifteen benefits put together in more detail at Charlie Pulsipher:

• 1 – Lower Heart Rate
• 2 – Reduce Stress
• 3 – Better Mood 
• 4 – Increase Productivity
• 5 – Encourage Trust
• 6 – Produce Empathy
• 7 – Avoid Regret
• 8 – Kill Pain
• 9 – Increase Attention
• 10 – Contagious
• 11 – Build Attraction
• 12 – Earn Success
• 13 – Look Younger
• 14 – Longevity
• 15 – Boost Immune System

That is a wonderful list! Better yet, it is not the only list.  Inspiyr.com offers 9 benefits of smiling and About Health offers 10 reasons as well. The research is  bright and shiny. So this should be a good reminder to offer your teeth to those around you, not only could you make their day, but you will be benefiting yourself also.

Join a religion

 

Religion and Stress

            Obviously, as a Christian life coach I bring some bias to the table and I will be up front about that, as my own personal faith has helped me through some very difficult and stressful times in my life. I wanted to share some sources that are from more neutral sources. These studies below represent ‘spirituality’ and ‘religion’ and not only Christianity.

          According to more than one study, “Religious people have  a thicker section of brain tissue in cortex which  helps prevents depression.  According to another group of studies, religious people take fewer sick days,  are less anxious and have a greater sense of purpose and mission in their work. Prayer and meditation also have made their ways into recent studies. Doing these two activities can help relieve stress.

Think about the bigger picture.

              Part of this, no matter what a person’s take on religion or spirituality is, is about finding identity. Once a person knows who they are and what they are all about, they are better able to manage the difficulties and stress in life. Having a foundational  starting point of morality, community and theology can be a wonderful place to learn about yourself, your purpose in life, learn about humanity and God. Thus religion can be a huge benefit in life by simply helping a person discover who they are and what this world is all about.

Drink Lots of Water

Water is so essential to our human bodies.  Fortunately a lot of people have already said it for me:

Our bodies are made of mostly water:

Therefore it plays many roles in our body:

 

If that were not enough….

Some added benefits…

 

The old myth once was that we need drink 8 8 once glasses of water everyday:

 

Science is showing that is great if you are about 160 pounds. But that could be too much water for a kid and not enough for someone who is much larger. The new adage is to divide your weight in half in pounds then multiply by .8  then the number will be in ounces.

 

So maybe an easier number to remember is 40% of your body weight. Here is a nice cheat sheet:

 

 

By drinking water you can literally sip stress away, while improving health