Managing Stress with Good Nurtition

Managing Stress with Good Nutrition

 

 

Do you really think that the food you put in your body can actually affect how you respond to stress? Well, a recent webinar I took part in, Managing Stress with Good Nutrition, provided an insight into how to combat stress by using nutrition.

 

In our modern society there is no doubt there are far too many things to do in too little time. That constant sense of urgency generates a sense of anxiety. What’s more, anything can trigger stress:  deadlines, relationship struggles or financial worries. The question is how do you respond to that stress and actively maintain your health?

 

We have all heard that stress triggers a fight or flight response. That response provides our bodies with access to an energy resource that enables us to run up to a mile to escape threat. Now that was useful in prehistoric times; however, the same reaction does not work with looming deadlines. You can try it; however, the deadline won’t disappear, even if you launch into an urgent dash. If you think about it, there could be fascinating scenes taking place in offices all over the world if the urgent dash became the standard response to even the smallest stressful event.

 

 

The thing is that fight or flight has a strong effect on the body because the energy for that dash has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is all the repair and maintenance jobs taking place around the body as well as the digestive system. This is why prolonged stress often results in stomach ache or irritable bowel syndrome.

Signs of long term stress:

·         Lower energy levels
·         Low blood sugar
·         Dizziness
·         Irritability
·         Insomnia
·         Physical pain/ tension
·         No focus
·         Reduced capacity to deal with stress
·         Mental fog
·         Slow metabolism
·         Thyroid issues
·         High blood-pressure
·         Weight gain

So how do you manage the stress with nutrition?

First understand that stress affects your body and it perceives you are under threat. With this in mind, the body fuels up for attack and when it is not attacked, it holds onto that fuel. Unless you do something physical then that fuel is redistributed as fat, usually around the middle because the liver converts fat to energy in the form of glucose. When under stress the body is constantly hungry and desires carbs such as biscuits, chocolate and cake for quick energy access.  This is how the sugar and caffeine roller-coaster begins and what goes up fast will descend at the same velocity. What you might not realise is caffeine stimulates adrenaline which in turn releases sugar into your blood for fight or flight. The cycle of highs and lows begins. When your body is in this cycle it is in a cycle of nutrition stress. So the stress in your inner world is perpetuated in the outer world. The question is: what are you willing to do to break the cycle? Imagine a life which felt effortless and you had the energy to experience life fully. Isn’t that enough of a motivation? Go on try the following – dare you!

 

 

How would you feel about not having sugar? Well that is the first step. Sugar actually has no nutrients and uses nutrients already in your body to be metabolised.  It is then a case of introducing good nutrition into your day. The ideal way to start the day is either with eggs and salmon or porridge made with one of many varieties of milks with berries and flax seed. Snacks can be transformed from chocolate and crisps to nuts, humus and carrots.

 

Ideally you want to eat three meals a day with the potential of two healthy snacks. Afternoon healthy snacks are important because we have a natural energy dip around 2pm. That is the prime time for temptation. Don’t skip meals. Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol. Always include protein in your meals with good fats found in avocado, nuts, olives and seeds. Finally stay hydrated with the main liquid intake being water. Try substituting coffee with green tea, herbal teas or hot water with lemon. The thing is we have developed food habits and it usually takes a few weeks to break a habit. So how about setting yourself one month without caffeine and/or sugar and see what happens. You may well find that because your food is not causing you stress that you transform your perception and discover that you respond and experience life in a very different way.

 

A few books by Ruby Allure
 

 

  

LINK TO AUDIBLE FOR LOVE HUNT http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Love-Hunt-Dating-Game-Audiobook/B015G4ICYA/ref=a_search_c4_1_4_srTtl?qid=1442567974&sr=1-4

Come on admit it - as much as we deny it - we ladies like a good love hunt.
We have tick lists, ideals, and we hunt in high-heeled packs. Of course, we're all hunting for that elusive right man who ticks every box and even has tidy nostril hair. Okay maybe not you, but you know other ladies who love the hunt.
Well, it's time for Eva and Gracie to love hunt, and their "targets" are rich men - the golden sperm. Such exciting escapades would provide the pair with entertaining discussions during their dull office hours - or so they thought. What they did not anticipate was the discovery of the "booby man"; humorous but very hard truths about wealth, themselves, power; and the RichIdiot.com phenomenon.
The question remains: can love really be hunted?

TO LISTEN - SOUND CLOUD https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/lovehunt1-sample

 

 OFFICE ZOO LINK TO AMAZON.COM Link: http://amzn.com/B013N51MNC

LINKS TO AMAZON.COM:

LABYRINTHINE AMAZON.COM LINK: Link: http://amzn.com/B012FAYI5U

A SHORT COURSE IN CREATIVE WRITING LINK: Link: http://amzn.com/B01390THLK

MONEY FARM LINK TO AMAZON.COM :Link: http://amzn.com/B010F04W9O

I thought I may as well add the most recent Money Farm review... Love it!

 

Extremely thought provoking...

BySusan Keefeon July 13, 2015

Format: Kindle Edition

Gillian’s world is turned upside down when she is unexpectedly ‘released’ from her job. Her government funding is revoked after the board decides they did not like a paper she wrote on ‘Reactants, resistance, reflexivity and reversal in times of financial and social hardship.’

All of a suddenly her secure life has gone. What will she do? All around her people are getting into debt, being encouraged to spend more than they have, buy things they don’t need. Possessions are everything, all that matters. Why? How had the world gotten into this state, and why didn’t the powers that be want to hear what she had to say?

Not taking her redundancy laying down Gillian’s resolve hardens as she actively strives to understand the financial system and money handling. Living on her savings whilst looking for a job, she soon discovers that it won’t be long before she is homeless.

But what about M.O.N.E.Y? The people who work for M.O.N.E.Y live at the Money Farm, which was a series of huge walled islands, linked by bridges, which has been in existence for over 200 years. Gillian becomes obsessed with the M.O.N.E.Y concept. Who are these people, how are they chosen? M.O.N.E.Y is totally self-sufficient, secretive, she has to know more.

How do you become part of M.O.N.E.Y, this amazing organisation whose employees themselves are intriguing?

Then, one day she follows a M.O.N.E.Y employee out of a shop and asks the man the leading question “How do I become one of you?”

This simple question, and his reply changes her life forever.

As she trains and is inducted into the world of M.O.N.E.Y, Gillian soon discovers that she has in fact been chosen. Her militant nature and questioning attitude allows her to think outside the box. However, I wondered, as the story progressed, did M.O.N.E.Y have any idea of what her impact would be?

This was a fascinating book, deep and very thought provoking, it made you wonder…

I will certainly be looking out for more very interesting books by this talented author.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Money, Health and Wellbeing

Money, Health and Wellbeing.

 

Who would have thought that money, a metal lump, can actually make you sick? Can you imagine worrying over a shell, how many shells you have and whether you will survive without those shells? You then dedicate the hours of your life accumulating shells and work yourself into the ground to survive. Over time you accumulate a mass of shells so that you can feel as though you have more shells than others because the more shells you have then the more important you are. What makes the illusion worse is that your peers view you in esteem according to how many shells you have. In fact if you have over a million shells your sense of power enables you to be viewed as something special, someone important. Then one day someone comes along and takes away your shells. Suddenly you are worth nothing in the shell view of the world. You then descend into depression because your life has collapsed because you have no shells. Your partner leaves you because you are shell-less and goes for someone who has plenty of shells to support their way of living. You realise he or she was actually a ‘Shell-digger’.

 

When you replace money with shells you become very aware how ridiculous attachment to money really is and how we define ourselves through it. Yet money is a reality we have to deal with. What’s more, money is one of the biggest causes of stress, anxiety and worry. If you consider the fact that these three negative states affect your immune system then why would you be surprised that money can directly affect your health?

 

About twelve years ago I was transitioning from working on cruise ships and returning to land to study my Master’s Degree. The transition resulted in me worrying about how I was going to survive financially - and boom – my lower back went. My fear that I would not be able support myself got me right at the base of my spine. It was so bad that I could not walk for two days and during the time I was in laying on my back I noticed the churn of thoughts about money streaming through my mind. Was it any wonder that this mental pattern had migrated to the base of my spine?

 

It was during a random conversation that someone told me that the lower back ‘going’ was a classic sign of financial worry. Me being as analytical as I am, thought ‘rubbish’. Yet the more I looked into it then the more I realised that during times in my life where I was financially worried then my back would go. It seemed that this was more common that I realised. Such a revelation made me realise that people’s bodies responded to their thoughts. It was then that I discovered somatic psychology and the relation between thoughts and illness.

 

Later on in my career I became a business analyst and worked trending financial patterns. At the same time I watched colleagues go through different wealth related phases. I noticed when they were under financial strain a number of them developed back issues. When they wanted to avoid money issues they developed stiff necks. Others got stomach aches when large bills came in. The most simple of all was when they had been worrying about finances they developed colds. Obviously there are far more factors involved yet money seemed to be a trigger for many of their health issues.

 

One of the main causes of relationship break-ups is down to money. With this in mind is there anything we can do to improve our wealth health?

Here are a few questions I asked myself to enable movement beyond the financial flus:

Am I willing to be completely responsible for my finances?

Have you ever looked at how you view money and how much of your money is you?

How can you separate your identity from how much money you have?

How can you demonstrate your self-worth without using money?

If you have debt why do you maintain it?

If you have debt what do you need to do to pay it off?

How can the action of paying off debt be stress free? Note: a tip is to automate the pay off on your pay day so you the debt gets paid off without you having the temptation to touch the money.

What if money was simply an object or a tool?

What thoughts do I have about money?

How do my thoughts change when I start feeling stressed about money?

Where do I feel this in my body?

Have there been times in my life when I have become ill due to financial worry? Where did that turn up in my body?

 

Once one becomes aware of the patterns then one can take action. I read numerous books on finance and money management: The Richest Man in Babylon, Think and Grow Rich, The Rules of Wealth and The 4 hour Working Week. These were excellent books and provided plenty of information on how to make and manage money. Yet I had not fixed the actual issue – my attitude to money.  Nor had I looked at the health aspect. So a few more books later: You can heal your life, healing body healing mind and numerous other somatic psychology books, I realised that the body, the mind and our monetary situations were all linked.

 

 

 

I needed to understand how money made me feel and what emotions I experienced. So there I am feeling guilt when I go into an overdraft. I then felt angry when I received a huge bill. I felt levels of excitement at purchasing a new dress. I am sure you don’t need to my emotions about buying new underwear. The emotional money diary is revealing especially when you write down how you feel, the thoughts and why you need to buy something.

So I may as well share this with you – I realised that quite often that spending money compensated for boredom and made me feel free. After I had bought an object (that I did not really need) I would then descend into a cycle of guilt. After a few weeks patterns emerge and you will see what you are really up to. Through the money diary you may well identify beliefs such as ‘money must make me miserable.’ ‘I will never have enough money’. It is worth writing these beliefs down and affirming the opposite. This can make you feel quite queasy when you really hit an in-depth belief. When you do an affirmation over such an issue do it until you either feel free of the belief or you make a large exhale. Once you are clear of old beliefs then it is time to take action. Learn how to manage money, monitor your thoughts and shift them from worry to positives. It is amazing how the development of self-awareness relaxes you. The more relaxed you are then the less likely you are to become ill due to money.  

 

I hope the above inspires you. If you have any examples of how you shifted attitudes to money then please share in the commentsJ

 

MONEY FARM Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010BJOYFQ

LABYRINTHINE Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B011LX0WUW

A SHORT COURSE IN CREATIVE WRITING Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012OV8JPU