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March 27, 2025

Springtime Tips for Home and Health

Spring is here, bringing longer days, warmer sunshine, and the perfect opportunity to refresh our spaces and our diets. Just as nature renews itself,

March 20, 2025

Spring into Spring

The spring (vernal) equinox happens on Thursday, March 20 at 5:01 A.M. EDT, marking the moment when the sun crosses directly over the Earth’s eq

March 12, 2025

Natural Ways to Tackle Seasonal Allergies

Seasonal allergies occur when your immune system mistakenly identifies harmless substances—like pollen from trees, grasses, or weeds—as dangerous

March 6, 2025

Why Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the Kitchen MVP

When it comes to cooking oils, not all are created equal. While seed and vegetable oils like soybean, corn, safflower, and canola are common in proces

February 27, 2025

Are You Stuck in the “I’ll Start Tomorrow” Loop?

Ever told yourself, “That’s it! Tomorrow, I’m eating healthy!” And then tomorrow shows up, and you think, “Eh, maybe next week.” Guess wha

February 20, 2025

Simplifying Dinner with HelloFresh

I recently stayed with a friend and when I offered to cook dinner, she presented me with a brown paper bag that said “HelloFresh” on the outside.

February 13, 2025

Celebrating the Birth Month

Yes, it is that time again when I capitalize on the celebration of the birth month. After all, why should all the excitement of a birthday be packed i

February 5, 2025

Power Up with Protein

Many people aren’t getting enough protein—especially as they age. While it’s often associated with bodybuilders and gym fanatics, protein is ess

January 29, 2025

Continuing Your Winter Hydration Journey

Last week, I shared five essential tips to help you stay hydrated during the colder months. This week, we’re diving into five more practical ways to

January 21, 2025

Tips for Maintaining Hydration in Winter

When temperatures drop, staying hydrated often falls low on our list of priorities. We naturally drink less water because we don’t feel as thirsty i

Tips to Help Manage Stress Eating

(The following article first appeared in the January 19, 2022 issue of Get Healthy, a publication of The Northwest Indiana Times.)

Stress. Everyone has it to some degree. When it takes over your life, eating habits may be turned upside down. Some people lose their appetite and go for long periods of time without noticing hunger. Others eat to distract themselves. Neither is ideal. If you happen to be the type that turns to food for comfort, these tips will hopefully help you the next time you find yourself eating to soothe, rather than because you’re physically hungry. 

Stress causes the body to produce the hormone cortisol. We need cortisol to help regulate metabolism, the inflammatory response, immune function, memory, and more. In the days when we had to seek food in the wild and fight off danger, cortisol was beneficial in helping the body store up necessary fuel in times of scarcity. Too much or too little causes problems. When cortisol levels are elevated, as can occur with chronic stress, metabolism slows, sleep may be disrupted, and blood sugar levels are not well managed. All of these can lead to unwanted weight gain.

In stressful or emotional times, eating is a feel-good activity that provides temporary relief to a problem. Unfortunately, the food never solves the problem and often produces feelings of guilt and helplessness. This leads to more eating, and so goes the vicious cycle.

Tip #1: Give yourself permission to overeat

While I refer to these as “tips,” they are actually experiments for you to try so that you can discover what works best for you. When you allow yourself to eat the entire bag of chips and not feel bad about it, you may find that you don’t need more than a handful. Here’s the catch: take note of how you were feeling and what happened prior to you having a strong desire to go to your chosen comfort food. Noticing what triggers you is the first step to learning about your behavior. It may take some time for you to determine what the underlying cause is, and there may be several. However, sometimes simply naming the problem can lead to stopping the cycle. Once you determine the trigger, figure out what you can do about it.

Tip #2: Be prepared for the next thing

If you have a history of stress eating, odds are good that it will happen again. The trigger may be different, or not, and you’ll find comfort in the depths of a cookie jar. That may still happen; however, the idea is to have a list with some things you can choose to do before you head for the cookies. These things can take anywhere from one to fifteen minutes and help fill a void that you use food to fill. When you discover what else helps bring you comfort in times of stress, you may find that you eat fewer cookies.

 Tip #3: Keep more nutritional stress foods handy

Even though cortisol tends to increase cravings for fat, sugar and salt, you could try some other food options first. The key is having them ready in case of a stress eating attack. If you’re a fan of crunchy and fatty snacks, try celery stalks with peanut (or your favorite nut) butter; instead of ice cream, try Greek yogurt with granola or nuts; chocolate fans could eat dark chocolate with a higher cocoa content and less sugar. By trying other options, even if you end up heading for the chips, ice cream, or M&M’s, you may be full enough that you’ll eat less. It’s about better, not perfect. 

Tip #4: Eat nourishing foods throughout the day

When you feed your body the nutrients it needs during the day, you’re more likely to keep your blood sugar and emotions in check, and you’re less likely to hit bottom. Exercising regularly and getting plenty of sleep are also helpful for handling stress.

Tip #5: Offer yourself the same compassion that you would a friend

In other words, stop beating yourself up with negative self-talk. I once heard someone say that if we talked to our friends the way we talk to ourselves, we wouldn’t have any. Stress and negativity cause the brain to release dopamine which is involved in habit creation and the addiction pathway. As a result, this feeds the continuous cycle of more stress eating and feeling bad. Self-compassion offers a way to break that cycle.

The practice of self-compassion is not a way to let yourself off the hook and ignore what’s happening. It is a way to be honest with yourself about what’s driving you to eat and being kind to yourself in spite of it. You are aware of what you’re doing without judgement; you understand that this is a common feeling with most of humanity; you are kind to yourself, the way you would be kind to your friend. By letting go of the guilt, you can minimize stress eating.

 

Preparing for the next thing

Before you stress eat, pause, and try one or two other activities first. Each activity can take anywhere from about 1 to 15 minutes. Choose things that you enjoy and believe that you’ll actually do. What works to keep you away from your pantry or fridge one day may not work on another, depending on the stressor, your mood, the day. Be open to experimentation and be flexible. Here are a few ideas to get you started so that you can come up with your own list. Once you create your list, keep it handy for those stress emergencies.

  • Read a few pages of an engaging book
  • Phone a friend
  • Close your eyes, sit quietly, and breathe
  • Play with your pet
  • Go outside for some fresh air
  • Do some stretches or push-ups
  • Listen to your favorite music
  • Write a brief note to someone who would love to hear from you
  • Journal about what’s driving you to eat or about your happy place
  • Sort through mail
  • Vacuum a room or toss in a load of laundry
  • Drink a glass of water

4 Tips to Help You Spring Ahead

Yes, it’s that time again, when we must spring ahead an hour to help the farmers or the chickens or someone.

We observe Daylight Saving Time, or “Summer Time,” in order to make better use of the long sunlight hours of the summer.

By “springing” clocks forward an hour in March, we move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening.

 I think this could benefit the farmers. The chickens, maybe not so much. 

Daylight Saving Time (DST) was originally instituted in the United States during World War I and World War II to take advantage of longer daylight hours and save energy for the war production.

After WWII, states and communities were able to decide for themselves if they went along with DST or not, and it was very confusing. Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, which standardized the length of DST for the country.

Whether this helps the farmers or not, that hour messes with me every time.

4 Tips to Help You Adjust to Daylight Saving Time

  1. A few days before springing forward, go to bed 15 to 30 minutes earlier than your usual bedtime. This gives your body extra time to make up for the lost hour.
  2. Be consistent with your other routines, such as meals, exercise, and socializing. Exposing yourself to the bright light in the morning will also help you adjust.
  3. Avoid taking long naps to get you through the transition, as this could disrupt your bedtime sleep. If you must nap, keep it to 20 minutes or less and take it early in the day.
  4. Cut the caffeine 4-6 hours before bedtime and avoid alcohol late in the day. Having more than 1-2 drinks in the evening can interfere with deep sleep.

Good Sleep Hygiene Habits 

  • Slow down a few hours before bedtime.
  • Put away electronics and phones.
  • Practice going to bed and waking at about the same time each day. Sleeping in on weekends can disrupt your sleep cycle.
  • Limit fluids late in the day so that you don’t wake up for bathroom breaks.
  • Avoid large, heavy meals late in the evening. Ideally, allow 3 hours for food to digest before going to bed.

 Fun fact: Every hour of sleep before 12am is worth 2 hours after.   

Remember to spring one hour forward before you put your head on your pillow Saturday night. Technically, DST begins Sunday, March 13 at 2:00am.

The good news: Spring is almost here.

Sweet dreams,
Health Coach Carol

“Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful.”– Jim Carrey

A Cure for the Blues

I don’t think I’m alone in feeling very sad about the events happening in our world today.

It’s heartbreaking.

We wish we could do more. We wish we knew what to do. We wish and we pray, and it is the season of Lent.

For those of you who take up some practice during Lent, which began March 2 with Ash Wednesday, here’s an idea.

Practice generosity. 

“The Generosity Habit” by Matthew Kelly is a book that offers 101 creative ways to be generous. Here’s a twist: it doesn’t have to be money or material goods.

Have you told someone how much you appreciate them lately? When was the last time you had a conversation with someone and REALLY listened? The cashier at the grocery could probably use a loving smile and hearing her/his name (if they’re wearing a name tag), to help balance out numerous complaints.

We all have too much stuff—at least I do, and I hear that same sentiment from many others. A plan is to find something to give away each day that someone else would enjoy. By the time Easter arrives (April 17), you’ll have a full box or two of goods to take to your local thrift store.

Food pantries will always accept donations, as will your favorite charities.

Surprise a friend with a special meal. Be generous with forgiveness.

Matthew’s teachings offer a different way to be generous for each of the 40 days of Lent, and beyond.

Yes, you could give up chocolate. And/or you could give some(things) away.

Thinking of ways to give will lift your spirits, help you feel more positive, make you happy, bring you more friends, lead to better health, give you hope, and bless your life. And these are just a few of the benefits of living the generosity habit.

To hear more about this habit, check out Matthew’s video by clicking here: The Generosity Habit

Sending lots of love,
Carol

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”—Leo Buscaglia

Feeling Stressed? Gorge on Bliss

I’ve had conversations with lots of people lately, and everyone is a bit stressed. Well, maybe more than a bit.

Stress shows up lots of ways. It is cumulative and sometimes feels as though it compounds daily.

We’re all expected to “handle” it. Many times, we think we are, then the bottom falls out.

We get sick; we blow up at a loved one; we binge on junk food or alcohol; we sleep too much or not at all; we lose our joy.

It’s time to do something that you love doing—just because.   

Not everyone can take a vacation now, which I strongly suggest doing if it’s at all possible.

If not, figure out what you can do. It doesn’t have to cost money or take an entire day or weekend, although it can.

Take a break from your routine in some way and have stress-free fun.

Some ideas:

  • If you can’t take any trips in the very near future, plan your next vacation and figure out a rough timeline of when you can get away. Having something to look forward to is part of the fun and gives you daydream material.
  • Go on a planned date with your spouse or significant other. Again, make it an event that you can look forward to: the symphony, a concert, play or movie, bowling (if that’s your thing).
  • Stay at home and binge watch movies or read or cook interesting food.
  • Athletes, if you haven’t planned your next competition or race, check out some ideas for your next event. Shop for new gear for your sport. Isn’t it time to replace those shoes?
  • Gardeners, plan your spring planting schedule. Need some new tools? Spring really is almost here. My daffodils are peaking through the ground.
  • Get together with friends and cook a themed meal together. Include everything from music to drinks to the food.
  • Go on a positivity diet. I got this one from my coach, Emily, and it has nothing to do with food. She recommends doing this for a minimum of 3 months. (Sounds like a good Lenten practice, which begins March 2.) Take it a week at a time and see how much better you begin to feel. Watch only funny or cute videos, movies, etc. Only listen to happy music, and only have positive conversations. No gossip, and no mean self-talk either. She says you are to “fast from cynicism, sarcasm, and gossip, and gorge on bliss.” (Rose, Emily. Break Your Bad Love Habits: 5 Steps to Free Yourself from Heartbreak and Transform Your Relationships Forever (p. 10). Kindle Edition.)
  • Bake a birthday cake and pretend it’s your birthday and celebrate amazing you.
  • Anything else you can come up with that makes you feel joyful and is not stressful.

Remember to do your best to get your sleep, drink your water, and eat some vegetables. Exercise helps a great deal too. Choose one to prioritize and practice. During stressful times, things start to slide that help us cope.

Success is showing up and doing something. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beneficial. 

Oh, Mr. Non-Compliant baked me my birth month cake and it was amazing. It made me very happy. I’m spoiled.

Blessings and love to you,
Health Coach Carol

 “A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.”Johann Wolfgang von Goethe