Health and Fitness Tip #221 - 9 Smart Ways to Combat Stress Eating

9 Smart Ways to Combat Stress Eating

Imagine you’re overloaded at work, dealing with family drama or in the middle of a major home renovation. It’s times like these when stress eating strikes and, eventually, it can ruin hard-earned weight loss or healthy eating progress. While that sleeve of cookies, jar of peanut butter or bag of chips may help you feel better in the moment, it isn’t likely to have a lasting, stress-relieving effect.

Luckily, there are many scientifically proven ways to combat the urge to eat when life gets demanding. Here’s what eating pros recommend to their clients and patients when stress-induced eating becomes a struggle.

1. CALL A FRIEND

Sometimes, you just need to vent. “Talking with friends and family can be a great way to relieve stress, as it acts as a distraction while also giving you an opportunity to vent about life’s stresses,” explains Allison Childress, PhD, a registered dietitian and assistant professor of nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University. “Sometimes, we just need to get it out to feel better, and a sympathetic ear is all we need.”

2. WRITE IT OUT

When it comes to stressful, anxious thoughts, they’re better out than in. “If talking is too much, write your thoughts in a journal,” Childress says. Journaling as a way of venting can be therapeutic, as is jotting down a few things each day that you’re grateful for or that are going well. Not the journaling type? “Simply stand in front of your mirror and vent,” Childress suggests.

3. GET OUTSIDE

“Taking a walk around your neighborhood or at the park can help you relax while getting some steps in,” says Staci Gulbin, a registered dietitian. In fact, research shows walking can help lower systolic blood pressure, which can be an indicator of reduced stress. “Also, a study on mindful walking, or focusing on the present moment and being aware of your body movements while walking, shows that this type of walking may reduce stress and improve quality of life in some individuals,” Gulbin says.

And, the more natural your surroundings, the better, since walking in a forest has been shown to have better stress-reducing effects than walking in a city environment. Of course, if you’re not able to get into a natural environment, walking is still worthwhile thanks to its host of health benefits.

4. DO A LIGHT WORKOUT

Exercise is a well-known stress reliever, but it may surprise you to know you don’t have to go all out in order to get a mood boost. “Getting up and getting the blood flowing and getting fresh oxygen can be a key component to managing stress,” says Candice Seti, PsyD, a psychologist who works with patients who are trying to lose weight.

This is all about building serotonin and oxytocin, neurotransmitters/hormones that counteract cortisol or the “stress hormone,” she says. “In addition to that benefit, movement can be a welcome distraction from your source of stress and is a great way to reset your brain so things become a little clearer and more focused. It’s amazing how getting active for just a few minutes can change your perspective and help you feel refreshed and more capable.”

Don’t feel like you have to hit the gym to get some activity in. “You can dance around your house, take the dog for a walk, climb some stairs, have sex or anything else you can think of that gets the blood flowing,” Seti adds.

5. MEDITATE

“Meditation is a wonderful stress-management tool, as it can calm both the body and mind simultaneously,” Seti explains. “In addition to providing that calming effect, it can also help build mindfulness skills which can translate to more mindful eating.” Through mindful eating, you can become that much more aware of how hungry you really are, which may stop you from reaching for those comfort foods.

“You can get these effects from meditating for as little as 5 minutes a day,” Seti adds. If you’re new to meditation, she recommends trying a guided meditation to help you learn the ropes and feel more comfortable.

6. CREATE THE PERFECT PLAYLIST

Music is a great way to change your mood, according to Childress. “I make different playlists for different moods. I have a loud screamy one for when I’m angry, a soft relaxing one for when I’m stressed and an inspirational one for when I’m down.”

7. SOOTHE WITH SCENT

Research shows fragrances are directly linked to the emotional center of our brain, Childress notes. “Lighting a candle or heating up some essential oils or wax melts may be your ticket to stress relief. Some scents that have been shown to work well for emotional well-being are lavender, pine, fresh-cut grass, vanilla and jasmine.”

The scent that works for you is really an individual thing. “My favorites for stress relief usually include some type of food smell like birthday cake, chai or mocha — not surprising coming from a dietitian,” Childress says.“The bottom line is: Find a scent that you love and start sniffing.”

8. TAKE A YOGA CLASS

Or try some poses at home. “Yoga styles do differ but have the same common theme: Join the body and mind,” says Carol Aguirre, a registered dietitian. “The benefit of yoga for stress seems to be related to its effect on your nervous system and stress response. It may help lower cortisol levels, blood pressure and heart rate and increase gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that is lowered in mood disorders.”

9. BREATHE DEEPLY

“Deep breathing, or diaphragmatic breathing, is a great way to help calm your mind and reduce stress,” Gulbin says. “In fact, research shows that this type of breathing can reduce cortisol levels in the body.”

Learning this method is actually quite simple. Place your hand on your abdomen, breathe in for 5 seconds while you feel your abdomen expand, hold for 5 seconds, and then exhale for 5 seconds. Repeat this for a few minutes to start. “You may feel a little lightheaded after your first time, so be sure you are not driving or engaging in any other activity while practicing this breathing,” Gulbin says.

“As you become more practiced, you may find that you can inhale, hold and exhale for longer periods of time, up to about 8 seconds.” As you get better at it, you can build up the amount of time you spend doing this type of breathing, Gulbin says, which can help provide more oxygen to the brain, stimulate the parasympathetic system, which helps the body conserve energy and, in turn, promote calmness.

Beauty Tip Thursday - How to Properly Store Your Makeup Collection

How to Properly Store Your Makeup Collection

Shopping for new makeup products is often more fun than organizing them. Bring order to your chaotic collection by applying these helpful strategies.

Declutter to help streamline

The first step to establishing order to your makeup mayhem is to eliminate expired or unused products. However, even if a product hasn’t reached its expiration date and you’re not using it, it’s best to give it to a friend. That way it doesn’t take up precious space in your makeup collection that could be occupied by a product you actually do use — like your arsenal of LipSense® shades.

Organize by occasion

One great way to arrange your makeup is by occasion. Place products you use on a daily basis in an accessible place. Next, group products that you rarely use into a “special occasion” category. For instance, if you tend to use EyeSense® Shimmer and LashSense® VolumeIntense™ Waterproof Mascara only for special date nights, consider storing them in this product group.

If you have quite a few duplicate products, you might consider designating a storage space labeled “duplicates.” And don’t forget travel-sized makeup items, like Abundance by SeneGence® Travel Trio. Keep rollerballs and other small products in a zip clutch so they’ll be easy to find and ready to transport on your next trip.

Sort by type

Another excellent way to store cosmetics is by type. Systemize items into categories like lip products, eyeshadows, mascaras, foundations and powders. For example, group LipSense® colors, Gloss and LinerSense® Lip Liner together. You could also store BlushSense® and SeneDerm® Translucid Loose Powders together. This will save time spent fumbling through different containers or drawers when completing each stage of your makeup application.

Brushes and makeup cleaners

Don’t forget to designate a specific place for makeup brushes and cleaners. Teacups and candleholders from the dollar store or thrift store work well for storing these items. Besides brushes, these storage components can also accommodate your SenseCosmetics® Brush Cleaner. And there’s a side bonus of organizing your brushes and cleaner in one prominent place: It will help you remember to wash your brushes once a week, keep them looking and feeling new for longer.

Organizing systems

How you sort cosmetics is entirely based on preference and the amount of space you have available for your collection. If your bathroom counter or vanity tabletop is tight on space, a rotating vertical organizer might work best for you. Another solution is to invest in a utility cart with three storage tiers for different product groups. If you house makeup in the bathroom medicine cabinet, try incorporating small risers to double the storage space for each shelf of the cabinet. Hanging organizers are easy to fasten to the back of a bathroom or closet door to easily compartmentalize products, too.

By implementing these tips, you’re well on your way to enjoying an orderly cosmetic collection. You’ll also save yourself some time spent rummaging through crowded drawers for your favorite shade of ShadowSense®.

Motivational Wednesday

No matter where you are at this moment or what you have experienced, you are never outside the reach of God’s love. 

It doesn’t matter if you are actively involved in something you consider bad. It doesn’t matter if you say you don’t believe in God. It doesn’t matter if you have told God you hate him. It doesn’t matter what you see around you that might be causing you to doubt his love. 

.

He hasn’t stopped loving you! 

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Ever. 

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And he never will. 

Are you Ready for the Next Level?!?!

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Who wants to be the FIRST to know when these beauties are available?? 

Question for you.....

Question.....

If you could earn extra income monthly just to post on social media, drink an amazing drink that makes you fee amazing, eat at least one healthy meal a day, share your journey with others, and grow and develop yourself..... Would you do it?

What if I could show you how to do it?

Would you like a JOB that allows you:

✔ to stay home

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✔️ fun

✔️ can be done from ANYWHERE

Then I have the solution for you!! 

Social Marketing!!

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I have 5 spots open for SERIOUS men and / or women that want to create their own income from home, help others, and be there own boss! I will teach you everything that has made me successful and give you access to everything you need!

Health and Fitness Tip #220 - 9 Mistakes You’re Making on Your Weight-Loss Journey

9 Mistakes You’re Making on Your Weight-Loss Journey

We all wish there were a quick fix to losing weight. Unfortunately, there’s no magic bullet to make the number on your scale match your target weight. And according to the experts, in the pursuit of finding a fast fix, a lot of us are using weight-loss strategies that either don’t work or might even be backfiring.

Are you doing it wrong? Here are nine of the worst strategies you can employ for losing weight — and tips on what you should be doing instead.

1. WORKING OUT MORE BUT EATING LESS

This is one of the worst mistakes that certified strength and conditioning specialist Noam Tamir sees with his clients. “These two things don’t go together,” he says. When you amp up your workout regimen, your body will naturally crave more food to fuel it through the intensified training. So when you try to cut calories at the same time, you could end up depriving your body and risk triggering a bout of binge eating.

2. OBSESSIVELY CUTTING CALORIES

Even if you’re not upping your workout routine, restricting your diet too much can backfire, says Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD. “While it sounds counterintuitive, eating too few calories can hinder your weight-loss efforts as your body ends up holding on to more calories because it isn’t getting enough fuel,” she says. “Calorie restriction can lead to metabolic damage and will make it harder for you to lose weight.”

3. OBSESSIVELY WORKING OUT

Overdoing it at the gym can also have a reverse effect, even when you’re getting enough fuel from your diet. “When you work out too much, you end up burning muscle in addition to fat,” says Tamir, founder of New York’s T.S. Fitness. “You increase stress hormones in the body, which makes it harder to lose fat. You also put a lot of stress on your joints, which can lead to injuries that cause you to move less and therefore gain weight.” Committing to time in the gym is a key part of losing weight, but only when you give your body the time it needs to recover between sweat sessions.

4. SKIPPING BIG MEALS FOR A SNACKING STRATEGY

Rethinking our eating strategy is a crucial component of weight loss. But avoiding a full plate like the plague is not the answer. “We know that people should be eating a mix of meals and snacks, but people take it to an extreme where they’re snacking all day, and that can backfire,” says Kate Geagan, RD. “It can also blunt your sense of hunger and satiety. When you eat a lot of small meals, you lose your sense of whether or not you’re actually hungry.” If you are opting to forgo three big meals a day for mini meals, make sure you’re paying attention to the overall calories and nutrients you’re consuming in a day — all those snacks add up fast.

5. SKIPPING BREAKFAST

Your mom wasn’t joking when she said breakfast was the most important meal of the day: Forgoing it means your body kicks into starvation mode, where it stores food rather than using it for fuel. “I see clients trying not to eat in the morning because they think they can cut calories that way,” says Tamir. “Then they end up eating a lot at dinner when they are most sedentary and tend to overeat.” And that’s a double whammy for your waistline.

6. DOING A CLEANSE OR DETOX DIET

Despite all the hype, cleanses can be dangerous. “Souping and juicing can be great, but you might still be consuming a lot of calories,” says Geagan, the author of Go Green Get Lean. Juices packed with “superfoods” are often high in calories, and sometimes people mistake juices intended to be meal replacements as alternatives to diet soda or other beverages. Similarly, doing a juice cleanse for a few days is not really teaching you new eating habits. “Consistency in finding an eating plan and sticking to it is a much more effective weight-loss strategy than this ‘detox-retox’ strategy,” says Geagan. “You need to be able to stick with it for the long haul.”

7. DOING TOO MUCH CARDIO

According to Tamir, when people only do cardio to lose weight, they often end up “skinny fat.” Avoiding strength training when you go to the gym in order to increase your calorie burn will help you drop those pounds, but the catch is it won’t change your body composition. Doing too much cardio can even even end up burning muscle and upping your body fat percentage. “Our bodies get used to workouts pretty quickly,” adds Rumsey, who’s also a certified strength and conditioning specialist. “It’s better to have a shorter, more intense workout that keeps your body guessing. High-intensity interval training has been shown to burn more calories in less time, and the after-burn post-workout can last up to 24 hours.”

8. BANNING FAT OR CUTTING OUT CARBS

Nixing a singular nutrient group, like all fats, carbs or sugars, can backfire majorly. “While you may lose weight in the short term, these restrictive diets are not easy for people to maintain long term,” says Rumsey, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Cutting an entire category of nutrients means you’re cutting out the good stuff, too. “Cutting carbs and sugar can cut off your workout fuel,” says Geagan. “Carbs are those miracle molecules that really fuel our bodies.” In other words, you need them. Rather than putting a moratorium on a macronutrient, pay attention to portion size. “The portion size is what makes the poison,” says Geagan. “You want a balanced diet that has all macronutrients.”

9. FALLING FOR THE “HEALTH HALO”

One of the biggest mistakes you can make, says Geagan, is getting sucked into the “health halo” around certain foods. Kale, quinoa, agave and coconut all get hyped up for their nutritional benefits, which are certainly real, but that’s not an excuse to start pouring coconut oil — which is still a saturated fat — on everything. Ultimately, losing weight is about looking at your overall lifestyle, not trying to target just one aspect or adding one magical superfood to your plate. Adds Rumsey: “If you try to just address your diet without working on your eating behaviors — like emotional eating or stress eating — or the rest of your lifestyle, it’s unlikely that the weight will stay off.”