I like to look at life as a tool box. Your interpretation and utilization of the tools, not the tools themselves is what determines your mood and how to react to certain situations.
Your PERCEPTION, the way you view a given situation; determines it’s outcome – by way of the different hormones released.
Let’s first start with a little brain game….
Question yourself this…Why do you do what you do, when you know what you know?
It comes down to E M O T I O N S ; they control you! What controls emotions? HORMONES!
- Cortisol
- Adrenaline
- Epinephrine
- Serotonin
- Adrenocorticoteopic
… to name a few!
Catch where I’m going with this?… if you can get your hormones under control, you can then control your emotions, making you happier and healthier than ever before!
That being said, let’s look at hormone health as a two way street. Nutrition being just one plant in the garden when it comes to a truly balanced body. Mental/emotional health is a second piece to the puzzle and is key to everything coming together nicely.
Mentally – as a whole, American’s are SO stressed. It’s our PERCEPTION of urgency and pressure that’s causing this stress.
However you perceive a situation, is how the biochemical pathways in your body will play out. So, if you automatically perceive your emails, work life, workout or daily responsibilities as stressful – your body is going to recognize this and produce stress hormones.
How can you improve mental/emotional health without feeling like your being too wishy/washy!? Let’s take a glance at a common scenario of the typical American…
More than ever before, Americans are living in a constant go, go, go.. they’re under high stress at work and home, trying to balance self care, family responsibilities, and always looking to do more and more. Never really slowing down to be in the “now”.
When one constantly lives within that immediacy and stress, they’re living within their Sympathetic Nervous System. This system releases hormones that tell your body your life is in danger (even though it’s could be a small danger; your body knows no different). This causes a slur of unwanted side effects like false hunger ques, signs of stress via your skin, it can disrupt sleep and keep you from feeling your best.
Some practices you can start today that I find helpful in reducing these stress hormones are…
- Focus on one thing at a time, stop trying to do EVERYTHING and especially at once; you’ll get no where! Have the one and done attitude until you can cross it off your to do list. There’s something magical about crossing things off your to do list – it crates a sense of needed accomplishment to keep your motivation up.
- Partake in box breathing. Deep breaths signal your body to switch into “rest and digest” mode (the opposite of Sympathetic Nervous System) allowing you to avoid the cortisol hormone spike.
- Have more of a positive attitude towards your day. Practice gratitude and try to live more in the moment vs always wondering what you need to do next – trust me on this, it’s amazing how your mood is altered when you wear the attitude of gratitude.
Now we switch to the nutritional aspect. For the biochemical pathways inside you to run properly you have to inquire the right amount of certain vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. This is what your body uses to create energy – the needed verb that EVERY biological process in your body needs in order to occur.
ENGERY IS YOUR FEEDBACK!
Let’s all start to look at energy as the real determiner of health. So many people think of “health” as loosing weight, but if you look at the bigger picture, energy is what your after, I can promise you this! With the correct energy, then your weight falls into its place.
Question yourself before and after meals, eat mindfully and become familiar with what foods YOUR body thrives off of and what foods it does.
Take a quick second to ask yourself how you feel when you wake up. Are you ready to rock and roll or ready to hit the snooze button 4-5 times?
These simple practices can make such a profound impact when it comes to choosing your plate!
What you eat literally becomes part of you. The nutrients are broken down and sent to your cells to form your organs and build your muscles, so you can carry out daily functions. My best advice on choices are always opting for whole and REAL foods. Less processed. Fill your plate with fresh fruit, bright colored veggies and various types of fish. Steer clear of dairy and gluten, and anything that can cause havoc on your digestive system – in turn causing inflammation.
For more food ideas, visit the NN Recipe Index, HERE for a million and one meal options 🙂
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