Category Archives: Stress Reduction

Blogging for good health!, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

And To All A Good Night

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Santa is getting ready to sail across the night sky. People are figuring out how to gather in safe numbers and in masks to celebrate their faith. Champagne is chilling as we anticipate a new year.But many are looking at an empty chair. Many are enduring mind-numbing isolation. Many are wondering how the rent will be paid.

Holidays have always been a challenge to mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health.

This year? Well, you get the point.

My dear grandmother, long departed, used to share a story from her youth from the late 1800s. After enduring and surviving a house fire, her family of nine faced a Christmas with few possessions and no money for gifts. On Christmas morning, however, her father produced several packages to everyone’s wonder.

As her mother carefully unwrapped the first present, it was discovered that he had wrapped up the surviving pieces of silverware taken from the ashes of the fire.

Hard times. Desperate times. Times of survival and gratitude. Times of making do.

We are in such times. Times that require digging into the ashes to discover a blessing and to find gratitude.

May you find special moments with what’s left.

A walk or drive around town to see the holiday lights can bring back feelings of effervescent, child-like joy. Dropping off what you can spare to the local food bank can warm your heart like nothing else. Calling an old friend to check in, grows love and appreciation in everyone’s heart. Decorating a batch of holiday cookies to share can get creative ideas flowing again.

We at foodtalk4you.com encourage each and every one to check in with themselves.

How are you doing? Really? Is what you are facing this holiday season pressing in on you? Do you feel like you are in a deep hole of darkness with no apparent way out?

If you are having such troubles, please know 1) you are not alone, and 2) there IS a way out.

If you are on a precipice, please call 1-800-273-8255 right now. That’s the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. These folks are there for you 24/7 to give you an ear and will assist you in finding resources for getting on a steady path out of the darkness.

If you know that what you are feeling is stronger than your current ability to deal with it, your doctor is a phone call away from helping you, either medically or through a referral to counseling, where you can discover coping techniques.

May you discover the beauty, joy, and hope that is still there for each of us.

We look forward to offering our readers an improved format for recipes next year, and I will be releasing my free class about Caregiver Emotions online.

There’s much to anticipate in the coming year!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a Happy New Year to all! Be safe in all you do.

Click the subscribe button to make sure you don’t miss a single post in 2021.

Somebody you know needs the help provided in my Toolkit for Caregivers HERE. This is a gift they will read and reread!

In health –

Deidre and Sheree

Blogging for good health!, Stress Reduction

Traditions In The Time of Covid

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So much has changed this year, and yet – I have more time than ever to slow down to do the small things that have slipped past my attention in recent years. Such as writing and sending Christmas cards and decorating holiday cookies.

Recent years have seen me sending out New Year’s cards. No time for Christmas cards. Too many rehearsals for three choirs, Advent preparations at church, community musical events, and parties to squeeze in.

Not this year.

The hustle and bustle are almost non-existent. Family traveling hundreds or thousands of miles for holiday activities will probably not happen – and rightly so, because we want to be alive to do it next year.

What to do, now?

Aside from watching the Hallmark channels 24/7 to replace the joy of gathering and preparing for family festivities, we can rekindle some traditional activities that have gone by the wayside.

Set up a card-sending station on a TV table in the living room.  Pen a brief note on a Christmas card during the commercials of the latest movie about saving the parade/store/wedding/tree lighting ceremony/family farm.

It’s been ten or more years since I’ve decorated cookies. Enough of living vicariously through the actors on TV! Today, I devoted several hours to baking a basic sugar cookie – converted to gluten free – and in painstakingly piped on eight different colors of icing! All made from scratch.

I had a blast dancing around the kitchen all day listening to non-stop holiday music and taking all the time I needed to create my sweet cookies – all 48 of them.

No rush at all. Take my time. Enjoy the moment.

It won’t be hard to find a home for my humble little creations, and I’ll save just a few to add a festive touch to my meals.

With depression on the rise from the effects of the COVID-19-related isolation on top of the holidays, we have a recipe for an unhealthy, sad time smack dab in the season of hope, peace, joy, and love.

What tradition can you reinstate?

Instead of casually stuffing a present into a gift bag, take the time to thoughtfully wrap it up. Make the bow yourself. Craft a gift card to attach with the recipient’s name.

If there are several people living in your home, how about bundling up to tour around the neighborhood to sing carols? How cool would it be to ring a neighbor’s doorbell and gift them with a song? You can serenade them through your masks while still being socially distant!

Spread the cheer – even if it’s to yourself. Flying solo has its problems, but we do not have to sink into a funk of despair if we can create and enjoy festive moments.

We can do this!

In health-

Deidre

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Blogging for good health!, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Rotate Me Out!

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Until you have been involved in moving or downsizing for yourself or a loved one, the cycle of stuff may not be at the top of your radar.

This is about my ninth time since 2000.

Mom out of – my teenage and college – home. Mom out of assisted living.

In-laws out of house. In-laws out of senior living apartment.

House-wide carpeting fiasco times three.

Basement flood from Hurricane Florence involving my stuff, our former video business’s stuff, mom’s stuff, and my in-laws’ stuff.

Lots of stuff.

And now, joyfully, an evisceration of the guest room and office to provide a more welcoming atmosphere for both adult children and spouse/significant others to visit.

No one sleeps on the floor!

Repaint. New window treatments. Install two queen-sized Murphy beds so I can enjoy the space when there is no company. Blessing my daughter all the way in thanks for getting this started for me!

Build it and they will come!

All good. Can’t wait until we can have our little family reunion – once travel and getting together is once again safe.

In the meantime, there’s STUFF all over my house. Stuff waiting to be put back IF it survives the purging process. Stuff hoping for a new niche so it can easily be found and utilized – especially in my soon-to-be christened craft room/sometimes guest room.

This is not a post about the wonders of Marie Kondo, a Japanese organizing consultant, and letting go of stuff. We all need to do that, for sure.

But what is becoming so abundantly clear to me is that I’ve spent a significant portion of my life chasing or pushing STUFF around. Not being a great or better person. Not doing good deeds to bring joy, laughter, and hope to a troubled soul. Not inspiring others to greatness.

No. I’ve been pushing around a mountain of STUFF. Gives new meaning to the image of Sisyphus and the Rock.

My hourglass of life is not as full as it used to be. How many more grains of my limited and unknown quantity of precious sand do I want to devote to STUFF?

Clearly, not much.

So, this is going to be a purge that will, hopefully, become a blessing to my kids so they won’t have to push my stuff around too much after I’m gone. There’s that loving preparedness and consideration again.

If you are in the throes of getting or wanting more STUFF – better STUFF – because the old STUFF wasn’t good enough… Think twice. If you get new STUFF, make sure to throw out/give away/sell the old STUFF before the new STUFF even darkens the door.

In terms of clothing, I try to give away two for every new one I bring in. We have all over-bought in the past or have overkept while waiting for the size to come back. Move on. Someone could really use that item of clothing right now. Give it a happy home that fits.

Here’s a cycle of stuff that may sound familiar:

Young children want stuff. When they get older, they want stuff for older kids, but the little kid stuff is still there. Then they get cool stuff when they are teens. Moving out to college, they take only the best recent stuff, leaving the old stuff with Mom and Dad.

Twenty-somethings get jobs and can afford entry-level adult stuff. Thirty-somethings can afford to get better stuff which is layered on top of the old stuff their young children get to use.

As the forty-somethings age, their children get stuff. When the kids move out, the parents get better stuff that will last.

Fifty-somethings tweak the stuff their college kids get and help start them on their path of independence with the better stuff they once had. Parents need the ultimate stuff – now.

In the meantime, the parents are gathering stuff their own parents had that joins the childhood stuff their kids grew up with.

In their sixties and seventies, parents are trying to downsize their stuff, but none of the kids want the china, silver, or furniture. What to do with all those framed pictures of young children? How about the baseball trophies?

In our eighties and nineties, we may lose our stuff or not recognize our stuff at all. Too soon, our kids get our stuff.

And so, it goes. The rotation of stuff.

I’m going to try to sort through my stuff as quickly as possible, recognizing that needing something “someday” does not mean I should keep it.

Create a craft/guest room functional for my needs and quickly converts to a restful space for company. Create an office/second guest room that will inspire my writing and speaking engagements designed to uplift and support others, and will easily convert to a restful and uncluttered space for company.

Life is about the experience, the journey, the LOVE … not the stuff.

In health,

Deidre

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It’s A Turkey And All the Fixin’s Kind Of Day – Ya’ll Come!

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This week brings about, not only one of the most traveled weeks of the year, but a holiday of which most of us look forward to every year – Thanksgiving. Of course, this year, 2020, has seen such changes in our daily living, working, and caring for others.

It’s been the year of seclusion, and masks – and social distancing, which seems to me to be this year’s new buzz word. I hadn’t been out to eat in I don’t know how long, at a restaurant that actually serves their patrons, until recently. Now, there is serious talk of possibly closing everything down again.

Is anyone listening?

But, there is one thing that no mask, no lockdown, or social distancing can take from us – each other.

Aside from all the brutal lockdowns, negative outcomes, or spreading virus, we have much to be thankful for. Our families, (even if we don’t agree with them), the turkey (although it may not think so), and then there’s the fact you’re still here to read this – and, if nothing else – our memories, which no one can ever take away.

I started wondering, just what did the Pilgrim’s think of their first Thanksgiving Day?

It all began in 1691 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, with Pilgrims sharing their appreciation for the land, and the indigenous people who taught them how to grow crops, how to work the land and survive the brutal winters. Their feast had a long list of foods including turkey, corn, and cranberries, which are still the mainstay of most of our Thanksgiving dinners today.

But, what about dessert?  Hmmm… Fast forward several hundred years later, in 1850, American poet and editor, John Greenleaf Whittier, penned a poem entitled, The Pumpkin, which is dedicated to the longstanding Thanksgiving topper, pumpkin pie.

The Pumpkin

Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,

The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,

And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,

With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold,

Like that which o’er Nineveh’s prophet once grew,

While he waited to know that his warning was true,

And longed for the storm-cloud, and listened in vain

For the rush of the whirlwind and red fire-rain.

On the banks of the Xenil the dark Spanish maiden

Comes up with the fruit of the tangled vine laden;

And the Creole of Cuba laughs out to behold

Through orange-leaves shining the broad spheres of gold;

Yet with dearer delight from his home in the North,

On the fields of his harvest the Yankee looks forth,

Where crook-necks are coiling and yellow fruit shines,

And the sun of September melts down on his vines.

Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,

From North and from South comes the pilgrim and guest;

When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board

The old broken links of affection restored,

When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,

And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before,

What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?

What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?

Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! The old days recalling,

When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!

When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,

Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!

When we laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in tune,

Our chair a broad pumpkin, our lantern the moon,

Telling tales of the fairy who travelled like steam

In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team!

Then thanks for thy present! none sweeter or better

E’er smoked from an oven or circled a platter!

Fairer hands never wrought at a pastry more fine,

Brighter eyes never watched o’er its baking, than thine!

And the prayer, which my mouth is too full to express,

Swells my heart that thy shadow may never be less,

That the days of thy lot may be lengthened below,

And the fame of thy worth like a pumpkin-vine grow,

And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky

Golden-tinted and fair as thy own Pumpkin pie!

Deidre and I want to wish each and everyone of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope your table is filled with good food and good people.

May your burdens be light, and your face masks be tight!

Here’s to the turkey – clink!

Sheree

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Blogging for good health!, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Gratitude for the Now

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We keep hearing the only thing most people will be grateful for this year is that 2020 will soon be over.

They want to shake off the bad 2020 Karma. Too much insanity, fear, disease, death, overload. Weariness abounds. A period of Thanksgiving in 2020?

You’ve got to be kidding.

Thanksgiving used to be the pause before going full-throttle toward a joy-filled Christmas or Hanukkah and New Year’s.

This year, many folks have already put up their Christmas trees and it’s mid-November! Seems people are so eager for something hopeful, bright, and merry, they can’t wait. These are the same people who complain about stores stocking holiday decorations in September.

How quickly we change.

There’s hardly anything to be grateful for, we reason. Nothing is the same – or even close to it. Chances are, we are staying only with those in our four wall bubble for Thanksgiving.

spiteful little girl

Another disappointment?

Bring it on…we’re getting hardened to it.

Getting hardened to more bad news is a natural self-preservation response used to keep us from melting into a whimpering puddle.

But, as I point out in my Caregiver Emotions presentations, we are NOT our emotions. Emotions are meant to come and go. If we get so intrinsically wrapped up in our emotions, we run the risk of identifying with them.

Feel resentment too often; don’t process that resentment; don’t release that resentment – then you can become resentful and bitter.

Negative emotions need to be reigned in, examined, discussed, processed, and released.

Have there really been no blessings this year?

If you are reading this, there’s a big blessing right there – you are alive! Your eyes work! Your brain works! Your technology works!

No big vacation this year?

Remember about walking the local beach on a day trip with one friend?

No party for your birthday?

How about the blessing of those working in a local restaurant so you could get takeout?

Feeling disconnected from family? How about the incredible blessing of Facetime?

How about the miracle found in the technology of a Zoom call that keeps groups together and enables weddings to be totally safe by being virtual?

“GRATITUDE IS A HEART TENDERIZER”

That’s a quote from Sarah M. Wells in her 9 Examples of Thanksgiving in the Bible. There’s so much power in that statement.

How’s your gratitude jar looking? In my first post of this year – CLICK HERE. I shared with you how to start a gratitude jar. Did you stop putting in the little blessings you were grateful for after March 17th?

Or were you like me, finding the blessings that surround us each day?

If there ever was a time to tenderize our hearts, 2020 would be it. We need to liberally sprinkle around some gratitude in our lives. Not only will it improve our general outlook, but relationships and situations will improve.

May your favorite spice be gratitude.

Stir it into every situation and interaction. It will turn the hardened days into something more tender, savory, and palatable.

Happy Thanksgiving dear readers – YOU are a blessing to me!

Deidre

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Blogging for good health!, Stress Reduction

Happy Family Caregiver Month!

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Hear, ye! Hear, ye! Hear, ye!

November is declared to be Family Caregivers Month!

Glad they gave family caregivers more than just a single day. A month is nice. Family caregivers, though, merit an entire year of recognition – nonstop.

It was an extreme honor to be asked to speak at a beautiful retirement community in Eastern North Carolina recently. Treelined curving streets, lovely homes, and a beautiful community center located right on the marina greeted me. I think Cypress Landing checked all the boxes for a beautiful retirement lifestyle.

But tucked into countless of those homes are individuals lovingly ministering care to a beloved family member or who are in close contact with a friend nearby who may be alone.

I think we are ALL going to become caregivers at least once – it not many times – to various generations, relations, or friends. It’s just how life works.

My presentation was entitled, Caregiver Emotional Health and Survival, and covered three topics:

  • A key to caregiver survival called Loving Preparedness
  • Revealing Caregiver Emotions and tools to effectively deal with them
  • Caregiving at home – is it right for you?

With social distancing thoroughly observed, our limited audience of six community members all wore masks, as did the videographer and his helper. The event was taped using three cameras and promises to be a lasting resource for the community members through their website.

Yes, I’m waiting to hear from Oprah any day.

Wouldn’t she be able to give a wonderful platform for family caregiver’s voices and concerns?

I was impressed by several thoughts throughout the event:

  • Caregivers feel so much better when they understand they are not alone.
  • Being reaffirmed their efforts are exemplary is critical for their well-being.
  • Friends of caregivers are concerned about how to reach out in a meaningful way.
  • Advice from someone who has walked the path of caregiving is like a sip of cool water to parched lips.

Making a presentation about caregiver emotions as a permanent FREE offering on Teachable is my next project. Whether I use what was taped this week or recreate it on my own, it’s my passion project.

Why? Because it goes to the heart of the family caregiver. It was the unpredictable roller coaster of caregiver emotions that blindsided me and was the most challenging.

Challenging times aren’t the sole property of caregivers, however.

All the tips and tools I shared with the caregiver audience are applicable for all generations and situations right now.

One of those tools is the process of reflection. Reflective activities can be done two ways.

Direct reflection may include prayer, meditation, reading uplifting texts, or journaling. If you are in trying times, journaling can be transformative. Pouring out your thoughts on paper – yes, pen and ink on paper – not only allows for private venting but provides an opportunity to organize thoughts just through the process of writing. By the time you’ve completed dumping your thoughts out on paper, chances are good you’ll have a better perspective about them.

Indirect reflection can happen during creative activities. Some people bake, knit, work in the wood shop, or draw or paint. For me, adult coloring provided me a lifeline that was clean, easy-to-set-up, and was a therapeutic opportunity to work out my feelings.

While coloring, I wasn’t thinking about my emotions. I was thinking only about which color and how much to apply.

Where’s the therapy in that? Certainly, it gave my mind a rest in terms of worries and concerns. That’s a plus. But in so doing, subconsciously, I was sorting out my emotional response. It took me a year of coloring to get my head screwed on straighter.

I’ll make it easy for you. I already Googled free adult coloring pages and have found a resource you may like to find a picture you could color in the coming days – CLICK HERE.

Surely there are some colored pencils hanging around the house for the kids or grandkids.

Sit down.

Unplug from the noise.

Put color to the page.

Ahhhh.

Click on the subscribe button to get the next post sent directly to your email. We won’t bug you, and we’ll never share your contact.

If you are a caregiver or think you or someone you know may become one, check out my book on Amazon HERE.

In health,

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Stress Reduction

Game Day and SDOGS

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Am I simple-minded? Do I lack motivation? Is this a delaying technique?

Perhaps.

More than likely but I don’t think so, because I’ve already checked one thing off my list.

What’s happening here?

I’ve long fancied pulling a daily housekeeping task out of a hat would make cleaning out drawers, closets, and cupboards more fun perhaps. You know?

The lure of the excitement?

The anticipation of doing one small randomly chosen thing each day instead of tackling an entire goal?

With so many big plans on board, I thought I’d take some of my own advice of breaking a project down into bite-sized pieces, and then add a fun factor.

I have four to six weeks before massively changing two rooms of my house. The guest room that gets used … well, it hasn’t been used for almost three years … is going to be mostly a craft room that I will be using every day – with a soon-to-be-installed Murphy bed for guest use.

The office/business/computer and inspiration room will be relieved of craft project spill-over, look more intentional, and become a second guest room so our entire family can get together … someday – post COVID – through the transformative power of Murphy bed number two.

Suddenly, there’s the moving of furniture, elimination of stuff, emptying of drawers, closets.

Ack!

With every drawer in the house needing sprucing up, I thought, “Why not?”

While still carrying on with blog post deadlines, creating Amazon ads for my books, reaching out to markets that could benefit – especially – from my Toolkit for Caregivers book, and still arranging for the redecorating of both rooms, I have solved the overwhelming problem.

Are you ready?

Doesn’t look like much, but – for me, at least – it’s added a fun element and has taken away dread.

It took me about five minutes to write down the name of every drawer in the house on one piece of paper. With a few scissor cuts, I had about forty-five little pieces. After folding each paper into quarters, I made sure they were mixed up and I put them into a jar. I pulled out the first one and have already tidied up that drawer.

What pleasure it gave me to put the completed task into the empty jar!

Some drawers will be easy. Potholder drawer will be a cinch. The bathroom drawer with make-up will have its challenges. But, I won’t be facing ALL bathroom drawers on the same day.

Maybe your kids could use this approach to the sharing of household chores. We could sure use anything that might add a fun factor.

Jobs need to be done – that part doesn’t change – but, if I can introduce a giggle, some whimsy, a little anticipation … well, that’s a good thing, while mostly staying at home.

Have you started to enjoy Socially Distanced Outdoor Gatherings- SDOGs? I made that acronym up – you heard it here FIRST!

I had my second SDOG this past week around my new fire pit. My first fire pit was a pyramid of candles. We got a laugh out of that one.

The next day, I purchased a real fire pit. It may not be my forever one; but it is serving the purpose at present. You see, there’s an outdoor transformation going on as well. I’m trying to get a vision of my new space while using it. There will be a BBQ area, space for a dining table with an umbrella – who knows?

We had a hilarious time as I shared the art of biscuits-on-a-stick. That’s a story for another time.

It sure was grand being around friends. I hope the weather holds so we can do this lots more.

We are all fatigued with the whole COVID scene; but folks, this is no time to let our guard down. More than likely, we are facing a brutal winter. Please wear a mask when around other people.

Family gatherings are super-risky if they aren’t SDOGs. Knowing and loving someone DOES NOT mean they are safe to be around.

NONE of us knows if we are safe to be around. My latest trip to Lowe’s for paint samples could have exposed me. I could be asymptomatic. You don’t know. I DON’T KNOW!

I shared a thought that came through my Facebook feed the other day that said: “We isolate now, so when we gather again, no one is missing.”

In health,

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Stress Reduction

The Eyes Have It!

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This is a Public Service Announcement for your eyes. Your peepers have been, undoubtedly, going through some extra stress and strain since March.

Why?

#1- Living with a truckload of extra stress,

#2- Staring at computer screens even more than ever, and

#3 – We’ve never been this old before.

I am still trying not to smack the people who precede their comments with, “Well, as you age, Mrs. Edwards …” to explain away every symptom I have. But, folks, it’s true.

Whether you are pushing 20 years of age, or 40, or 50, or beyond – if we are living, we are AGING.

Embrace it.

With aging comes the drying out that produces wrinkles, and decreases moisture in about everything, and the eyes are no exception. The oil and tear glands are still producing oil and tears but the viscosity – fluidness – is going down.

Think of free-flowing hot pancake syrup changing into cold molasses.

As a result, the slower moving oil glands can very easily get plugged up – especially if we are staring at a computer screen or even an innocent craft project (as in my case last week).

You may be experiencing a sty or a chalazion. The symptoms are described by the Mayo Clinic:

Signs and symptoms of a sty include:

  • A red lump on your eyelid that is similar to a boil or a pimple
  • Eyelid pain
  • Eyelid swelling
  • Tearing

Another condition that causes inflammation of the eyelid is a chalazion. A chalazion occurs when there’s a blockage in one of the small oil glands near the eyelashes. Unlike a sty, a chalazion usually isn’t painful and tends to be most prominent on the inner side of the eyelid. Treatment for both conditions is similar.

No eye inflammation? Great! But you may be experiencing dry eyes. Again, according to the Mayo Clinic, the symptoms eye strain from those dried out eyes include:

  • A stinging, burning or scratchy sensation in your eyes
  • Stringy mucus in or around your eyes
  • Sensitivity to light
  • Eye redness
  • A sensation of having something in your eyes
  • Difficulty wearing contact lenses
  • Difficulty with nighttime driving
  • Watery eyes, which is the body’s response to the irritation of dry eyes
  • Blurred vision or eye fatigue

Even heightened stress can cause a degree of vision changes.

Geez. Sounds like the trifecta for eye woes – and it is.

But happily, there are things we can do to remedy the situation. A few of them include:

  • Make sure you are current with your yearly eye exam
  • Stay hydrated with water
  • Look up from the computer screen more often. Not a quick glance, but look at something far away; blink extra, and take several deep, slow cleansing breaths before looking at the computer again
  • Get up and away from the computer at least once an hour for a ten-minute walk-about
  • Make sure your hands are freshly washed before touching your eyes or caring for your contacts
  • Completely remove all eye make up each night before retiring
  • Do hot, moist compresses for each eye lasting ten minutes to “get the juices flowing” properly

These hot, moist compresses have been the eye-saver for me – except when working on iris paper folding projects too long at night. Every night for almost 3 years, I have been doing hot compresses to both eyes – it’s a doctor’s order.

Skip the compresses and a blocked up gland will result. Sty city.

Horrible hordeolum – that’s my medical slang for a sty. Except these stys do not always come to a head – they are sort of a hybrid of sty/ chalazion – and they are hurtful.

To do a hot compress for my eyes, I simply get an unused/clean wash cloth, fold it, dip the end/ends in very hot tap water, gently squeeze excess water out, and press to my eyelids. When the compress cools off, I re-dip, and re-apply as quickly as possible. Playing some relaxing meditation music while doing this makes for an enjoyable wind-down before bed.

Maybe if I had done these compresses twice a week many years ago, I wouldn’t have to do this every night now.

*Sigh* Oh, the rules apply to me?

Yes, grasshopper, to you as well.

In eye health-

Deidre

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Blogging for good health!, Exercise, Stress Reduction

Brain Food – Part 1

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Brain fog? Shorter concentration? Decreased ability to coordinate several processes to reach a goal? The focus here is not determining if Granny needs assistance. It’s about where we all are right now.

Age-related diseases are more of a concern now as people are living longer than any previous time in history. But, waiting until someone is ninety-five years old is too late to start building brain function.

Brain health is developed before we’re born and continues throughout our lifetime. Neglecting the promotion of brain health in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood spells disaster, not only later in life, but even earlier.

This topic is central to my studies and what I share on foodtalk4you. Much of what I am sharing in this series is derived from a nursing license renewal class I recently took: Brain Food: The Role of Nutrients in Memory and Cognitive Function by Annell St. Charles, PhD, RD, through the Institute for Natural Resources.

What and how much we eat are key factors in our brain health.

Many of us quake in our boots every time we forget something. The specter of Alzheimer’s disease seems to threaten us on every level. Epidemiological evidence is showing; however, that diet choices available to each of us every day can be key factors in reducing the risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Foods good for our cognitive function share the effects of being antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. I wrote about an anti-inflammatory approach to eating and life itself in my first book, Toolkit for Wellness.

Research is finding some aspects of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can be found in healthy young adults but do not become apparent until later in life. With brain maturity peaking in the 30s or 40s, there is ample time to boost brain health in the young and to continue throughout our lives.

A big predictor in developing late-life dementia is

1) mid-life obesity and

2) lower cognitive performance earlier in life.

Obesity brings on a cascade of body issues that play into body-wide inflammation and metabolic challenges. The overeating habit of poor quality of food is sweeping across America and other parts of the world under our fast food influence.

Obesity is preventable, and yet is becoming the scourge of modern society. Stress eating during this pandemic is probably at an all-time high – but our circumstances do not make it alright.

As I explained in my book, fast food and pre-packaged foods are all designed for us to eat more. Large food conglomerates employ people to find that sweet/salty spot, which will make consumers want to come back for more.

Sugar does not satisfy or quench. Sugar makes us want more sugar. It’s as simple as that.

What to eat? Nutrient dense foods as found in the Mediterranean diet will supply the nutrition our brains and bodies need for optimal health. Whereas, nutrient-poor diets rely on consuming highly-processed food, which lack the antioxidants and anti-inflammatory elements needed for brain/body health.

Diets favoring nutrient-poor foods are affecting the size of our brain part associated with learning and memory – the hippocampus. Of note – both long-term and short-term consumption of foods high in saturated fats have resulted in changes in brain function. Think how this plays out in children consuming a fast-food biscuit on their way to school each day.

A higher intake of fruits and vegetables will help prevent and reverse age-related deficiencies by decreasing inflammation and oxidative stress.

In sum, look for the following to select nutrient-dense food:

  • Go for the color in fruits and vegetables
  • Aim for fiber-rich foods
  • Seek lower-fat dairy
  • Switch to lower fat cuts of meats
  • Eat more poultry, fish, eggs, beans, nuts, and seeds

The colorful plant food choices will ramp up protective phytochemicals that have been shown to be protective for the brain and nervous system. Talk about brain food – plant-based foods rock!

Rome wasn’t built in a day. A consistent effort in making tiny changes is a sustainable approach to build sustainable health. Choose one meal to improve each day.

On a personal note – I’m into my second week of daily, sweat-producing exercise and am loving it! Contrary to what one might think, my appetite is less than before starting this program. I needed the structure of a program and I chose to join something online. My neighbor does it for free as she taps into an endless array of YouTube routines each morning.

Everything works together – exercise energizes and creates a positive frame of mind. A better outlook will boost us all into making better choices. We can do this!

In health-

Deidre

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Blogging for good health!, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Do You Have A Problem With ANTs?

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Some of us are overrun with ANTs. The influence of those ANTs affects every cell of our body. It changes the cell’s make-up and how it reacts. In fact, as those ANTs-influenced cells divide and reproduce, the resulting new cells will become more receptive to ANTs.

Is this another horrible 2020 health scare? Are we being taken over by giant zombie ants? Sigh.

No. You can rest easy. Breathe.

These ANTs are not the picnic variety, sending scouts to scope out what useable scraps and crumbs you might leave for them.

These are eons-old Automatic Negative Thoughts: ANTs.

This is all a Segway into my series about sustainability. Is how we are living – eating, moving, thinking – creating a healthy, sustainable life?

From my perspective, being unhealthy is not sustainable because it causes decline and premature death. While people do sustain unhealthy lifestyles, what they are doing is not sustaining life.

We’ve all heard the adage, “You are what you eat.” Garbage in; garbage out. Not hard to understand. Hard to apply to daily food choices unless we wear blinders to the advertising that surrounds us and are armed with knowledge.

But here’s a new twist on the old ideas about positive thinking: “You are what you think.”

I’ve long studied about negative thoughts compounding the spiral of stress. That’s not new. But negative thoughts kick off a domino chain reaction that ends with changes in the structure of cells in our bodies.

A more detailed description can be found HERE.

Let me summarize by example. Thoughts are more than some invisible vapor zinging through our physical brains. Thoughts are things that cause chemical changes in our brains that affect how we feel and function. Watch a happy movie and notice how relaxed, refreshed, and happy you feel. Anticipate an evening of challenging, uncontrollable events and observe the reflux kicking in and the muscles in your neck tightening.

Armed with that, read this paragraph quoted from the link above:

The article, How Your Thoughts Program Your Cells. explains it this way:

There are thousands upon thousands of receptors on each cell in our body. Each receptor is specific to one peptide, or protein. When we have feelings of anger, sadness, guilt, excitement, happiness or nervousness, each separate emotion releases its own flurry of neuropeptides. Those peptides surge through the body and connect with those receptors which change the structure of each cell as a whole. Where this gets interesting is when the cells actually divide. If a cell has been exposed to a certain peptide more than others, the new cell that is produced through its division will have more of the receptor that matches with that specific peptide. Likewise, the cell will also have less receptors for peptides that its mother/sister cell was not exposed to as often.

This should give us pause as we partake in negative chatter. From inner dialogue – “I’ll never be able to do this!” “I’m not good enough!” – to outward conversations or negative Facebook feed.

Negativity does not create just a bad mood, but it causes negative things to happen in our cells. As those cells swim in an environment of negatively inspired neuropeptides and are influenced by them, they create daughter cells that respond more readily to negativity and not positivity.

This colors how our bodies function. That smooth heart rhythm we count on. How food is broken down and absorbed for growth and repair. How our blood sugar is regulated. How we sleep.

Time for some mindful breathing, folks.

Time for some quiet meditation.

Time to count your blessings.

Time for thanksgiving.

Time to smile.

Time to love.

Reprograming our thoughts will reprogram our cells which will reprogram how smoothly and sustainably we function.

And just maybe … the ripples will flow right out into the world.

Next week, I’ll continue the theme of sustainability as we explore the last half of this link with the topic of epigenetics and how our life-styles – and thoughts – can turn our genes on or off. Click on the subscribe button so you won’t miss out!

In health-

Deidre