by Maria Li Puma, Weight Management and Body Image Coach and Certified Food Psychology Coach

By now, many of us are aware of the health concerns that arise because of too much stress in our lives. We look for ways to reduce stress and strive to avoid situations or people who “stress us out”. However, we do not always realize that when we eat fast we are creating stress in our bodies. So ask yourself, are you a slow, moderate, or fast eater? If your answer were moderate or fast it would benefit you to consider slowing down when you eat. When we eat fast, we activate the stress response. The stress response is responsible for many biochemical disorders. One of the most important things you could do to help your body release excess weight, heal nutrition related problems, and experience more satisfaction from your meals is to slow down when you eat.  Relaxed eating is a powerful nutritional, psychological, and healing strategy when addressing nutrition linked health concerns and personal food issues. There are numerous biochemical disorders produced by stress I have identified just a few facts to inspire you to experience the benefits of slow, relaxed eating.

~ Your body will absorb nutrients more efficiently. The stress response decreases oxygenation and gastrointestinal blood flow; decreased enzymatic production in the stomach, pancreas, and liver; decreased bile flow from the gall bladder.

~ Your will avoid nutrient excretion and deficiencies. The stress response forces the body to excrete important nutrients through the urine. It is responsible for the loss of calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, chromium, selenium, various micro minerals, vitamin C, vitamin B, iron, and zinc.    
    
~ When you are stressed your body produces cortisol. Cortisol is associated with weight gain, abdominal obesity, and an inability to lose weight or build muscle. Excessive output of cortisol prematurely ages the body.

~ Your body can develop insulin resistance. Chronic low-level stress may cause target cells to become unresponsive to insulin, this manifests in diabetes, weight gain, heart disease, and aging.

Slowing down when you eat is just one of the many strategies that you can acquire that will support your weight loss efforts and help you to experience satisfaction with your body without dieting and deprivation.
 
Click here, to find out more about Food Psychology Coaching and how it can help you to transform your body, mind, and spirit in regards to your weight and overall health.

by Katie Bauer, MA, CNE, CH

Valentine’s Day is upon us. If you listen real hard, you can sense a collective sigh of stress from lovers and wanna be lovers everywhere! This is unfortunate, because Valentine’s Day should be about showing that we care to friends, family members, and lovers. It should be about nurturing, basking in the warmth of renewed and long-term friendship and love, and about happiness through companionship. Whether OR NOT you have a soul mate, a lover, a spouse, a date, a companion, a fiancé, a friend with benefits, a partner, or whatever label you want to use, this day of love should be about expressing our care toward others—toward everyone important in our lives. Remember when we were kids and we would give those wretched, chalky, commercial candy hearts to everyone in our class along with those little “be mine” cards?  Don't get me wrong, I can do without the chalky, artificial flavor and artificially colored candy hearts! But where is the camaraderie of Valentine’s Day we learned in grade school?

So your challenge this week—this crazy week of Valentine’s Day coming and going—is to be a little silly, be a little charming, and be a lot more simple. Pick one person—a friend, lover, family member, neighbor, stranger, co-worker, etc—and invite him/her over  for a home cooked meal. That’s it. No, not a tv dinner. No not ordering in for food. And NO not going out to a restaurant. No, invite someone over to wet their appetite, consume happiness, celebrate satiety, bask in breakfast, lounge in lunch, or dedicate dinner—okay, okay, just eat together! And if you want some extra credit this week—give em one of those cheesy Valentine’s Day cards (You know like one with a Carebear on it that says something like “I care about you—be my Valentine” or one with Smurfs on it that says, “I think you are smurfy—be my Valentine!” You get the picture I hope).

I dare you to find somebody that won’t accept your invitation! Who would possibly say “no” to a home-cooked meal (well, other than a stranger cuz that could be a little creepy--just sayin). Now remember, this doesn’t have to be anything crazy, glamorous, sexy, or the like, just cook a meal and enjoy it together this week.  Something simple. This is about the companionship and the offer, not about the culinary craftiness. And if you have a spouse/partner/roommate that is already used to you cooking meals for her/him all the time, than spice it up. Deliver them a card, require a dress code, decorate the place, turn off the tv, send the kids to a friend’s place, and enjoy a special meal together.

Need more ideas? Unwilling to cook something simple? Scared because the person you would like to cook for has food allergies/sensitivities/exclusions from her/his diet?  Well say no more Casanova! Cooking classes are coming up to help you.

By Joanne Thompson, RYT

One of my students had been having trouble sleeping and asked me if yoga could help her. The short answer is "yes". Yoga is wonderful for relaxing the body and quieting the mind particularly when a calming breathing pattern is utilized.

There are four parts to the breath - (1) inhalation (2) pause after inhalation (3) exhalation (4) pause after exhalation. The first two are more energizing and stimulating and the second two are more relaxing and calming.  In yoga terms, brmhana is used to describe an expansive/invigorating breath and langhana is used to describe a more reducing/relaxing breath.  So, the breathing pattern used will determine whether the effect on a person is brmhana or langhana.

For encouraging sleep, a langhana pattern would be emphasized. An example of this pattern would be inhale for a count of 4; pause for 1; exhale for a count of 8; pause for 1. Starting with a count of 4 for inhalation might be too intense, so you could drop that down to inhale for a count of 2; pause 1; exhale for a count of 4; pause 1 and work up to the 4/1/8/1 count. It is important to use a pattern that is easy to accomplish and doesn't create more strain. Also, an important rule to remember when creating any breathing pattern is to never let the inhalation count be longer than the exhalation count - even when doing a brmhana breathing pattern.

Easy movement can  be added to this breathing pattern. While lying in bed with eyes closed, inhale in place with head center; exhale and gently turn the head to one side; inhale and turn the head back to center; exhale and gently turn the head to the opposite side.  Repeat this movement several times with the appropriate breathing pattern.

Viniyoga is a breath centered tradition and every movement originates with the breath. Through proper attention to breath, the mind becomes more focused, the body more relaxed and energy levels changed.


For more information, take one of Joanne's Viniyoga classes.