The holidays are a wonderful time to celebrate family, friends and winter in general. But sometimes we get stressed out, eat poorly, don’t get enough sleep and not enough exercise.
That being said, I would like to explain some things that I believe can help you keep your balance.
Diet is so important. I am going to try and explain how sugar effects your body. When we eat our body responds by releasing insulin. The insulin goes into our blood and carries sugar to our cells and especially to our brain. If we eat too much food our body reacts by converting that sugar to fat and saves it for when we do not eat. If we skip a meal, our body still requires sugar. The body reacts by breaking down fat and if we do not have fat then protein to provide the sugar we need.
So, if we skip breakfast then our blood sugar drops. Our body may react by getting crabby, sweating, trembling, difficulty thinking, anxiety or our heart beats too fast. Tell me, do you want to be around yourself if you are about to bite someone’s head off because you did not eat breakfast?
If you eat too much sugar for breakfast such as a sugary cereal then your body dumps a large amount of insulin into the blood. About two hours later you have a drop in your blood sugar and you are hungry and possibly have the same symptoms as not eating at all.
So what is a body to do? Try to eat whole grain foods, low sugar, perhaps butter on toast, or whole fruits that are high in fiber. The more complex the food is the longer it takes to break down in your stomach and your blood sugar will remain more constant. Proteins will also help hold your blood sugar longer so have eggs or peanut butter or cheese.
Small frequent snacks that are high fiber or protein will help hold that blood sugar steady. You will have less mood swings. Fat is also something that helps hold your blood sugar even. It takes longer for your body to break down fat so it keeps the blood sugar more even. The types of fat we eat though can affect our heart. Read labels and try to avoid foods that contain hydrogenated fats. First cold pressed fats have many of the healing elements still in the fats.
The other dietary issues are too much soda which has no nutritional value. Coffee can stimulate the heart as well as dehydrate. Small amounts are probably fine.
Other things that can affect your mood can be hormones in your foods. There can be hormones in your meat and dairy products. Try to purchase organic if possible or local where you know how it is raised.
I see packages that say no added hormones, and I think they add hormones after they kill it? Good grief, we want to know if was raised on hormones or antibiotics.
Other things that can affect mood are food allergies. My brother in law went on a diet where he ate only rice and one protein. Gradually he added in foods and discovered that he was sensitive to corn. He turned red all over when he ate it after eliminating it from his diet for a few weeks. His stomach has been so much better. Other common allergies are eggs, fish, shell fish, nuts, and dairy. Another common problem is celiac disease. The person is not able to have wheat, barley, rye and possibly oats. It can cause anemia so you feel tired, bone and joint paint, asthma, depression ect. It is very under diagnosed. They recommend that you do the elimination diet under the direction of a physician.
If you are having mood swings, another thing that can help is daily exercise. When I was young, I was affected by my hormones and had a lot of ups and downs. I found that exercise was a life saver for me and in turn my family. Another thing that helped me was taking stress tablets which are B vitamins. My doctor got me going on them and they helped so much. But looking back I drank way too much coffee, ate lots of sugar and especially chocolate, and never knew about hormones in meat and dairy.
I also recommend daily laughter. It helps take us out of being overly serious. Sometimes we need to take a step back and laugh. I also recommend favorite scents as aromatherapy can bring us back to joyful memories. Remember a little self care can make us more available to everyone else. If you have given your all and you need to revive but do not take care of yourself, you will not be able to be there for others.
Wishing you a day filled with joy, balance and peace in every day. Blessings, Eileen