This food was at my house a week ago…
We decided, in the creative circle that I’m in, to combine themed dinners with our meetings. Last week was Moroccan and heavens it was good. Everything felt nourishing and warm. Lots of chickpeas, tomatoes, eggplant and honey. One lady tossed oranges with honey and cinnamon- brilliant!
Do you belong to any supper clubs?
Stress – that anxious feeling you get when your boss is breathing down your neck, the traffic is bumper to bumper, and the “to do” list at home is piling up. But stress can also be felt from positive changes such as a job promotion, your wedding, or a move. Either way, the stress you feel can have a negative impact on how well you age, especially if the stress is ongoing and not dealt with.
Stress does take a toll on your physical body, but to make matters worse, some studies suggest that continual stress hastens the aging of your brain as well.
What, then, can you do? Everyone has stress, but there are ways to cope with it in a positive way. If you boil it down, you need to move from a stressed-state to a feel-good state as early and as often as you can.
Exercise is a huge-stress reliever and anti-aging weapon that’s good to have in your cache. Exercising can release endorphins that make you feel better. Going for a brisk walk or hitting the gym also allows you to step away from your problems and perhaps come up with workable solutions. Coming up with solutions helps you feel in control, rather than a victim.
Laughter really is the best medicine. Think about how you feel after you laugh – relieved and relaxed. Laughing helps you put things in prospective, especially negative things you may have worried about to the point where they were blown up to a disproportionate level of stress. Cracking jokes in the middle of an argument can diffuse the argument and the stress.
Make it a habit to pamper yourself with what feels good as often as you can. It might be a candlelit dinner, a night out on the town, a bubble bath, dancing with your honey, or a massage.
Take regular vacations. It may seem like you never have time for a vacation, but take one anyway. You need time to recharge; this will actually make you more productive when you get back to work. Maybe you don’t have a week to spare or can’t afford to go anywhere exotic, so take a weekend and get out of town to someplace relaxing.
Get rid of long-term stress. It may take a lot of courage to make any big changes that are required to get rid of ongoing stress so consider getting outside help. Maybe you need a mediator, friend, counselor, attorney, financial advisor or real estate agent to see you through it.
Stress is not something you can erase from your life, and indeed it’s the body’s natural response to danger, but there are positive ways you can deal with stress so it doesn’t age you prematurely.
I really love a good challenge, even if I’m the only contender. I’m determined for April to be the month where food tracking and exercise get married and live harmoniously. Yes indeed. They’re gonna be friends and I’m going to be better for it.
And because a challenge needs a system, rules and reward. I made a spread sheet. To get one sticker each day this month I will need to do three things: track my calories, post all food consumed on blog, and exercise daily. I will only get my reward if I’ve done all of these things everyday for eight weeks. I will get another sticker for each pound that I lose. It’s going to be awesome.
Yes, I’m slightly neurotic, yes I love stickers. And yes, I love a good challenge. I live for challenges. Need further proof? When I clean I have to set my oven timer for 35 minutes. I like to challenge myself to clean as much as possible during that time. I cannot do anything else, but clean for 35 minutes. And you know what? It works and I love it. No email, no kitty petting, no gazing out the window. Just focused time.
I also get a small reward for each week that I get all of my stickers. I really thought about these rewards and the one thing I got consistently excited about was a new book/magazine. I’m going to have to buy a new bookcase when it’s all said and done. I love going to the book store on weekends and I’ve decided that I want to earn those books and magazines that I love so dearly. When I buy a new book, I want to say “you know what? you worked hard for that.” Not just for the money to buy it, but for taking care of myself.
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This morning I woke up feeling hung over from food. I overindulged this weekend with my parents visiting, hosting a bridal shower, and date night with Josh. I just wanted something substantial, not too heavy, and delicious. I decided on 1/2 cup walnut, date, and raisin oatmeal (a package from Tina!) with 1 T homemade almond, peanut and cashew honey nut butter, 1 T all-fruit strawberry jam, and 1/2 C whole milk.
Nut butter! So easy to make and delicious.
Not sure who Uncle Matt is, but this orange juice tasted very fresh.
Lillies left over from the bridal shower decided to finally open up.
Total calories: 460
PS: I am not a nutritionist. I do not recommend that you eat like me to lose weight. I do know that fruit is a natural sugar. I do know that I could have eaten about 100 other things that would satisfy a number of other people, theories, studies or guidelines.