5 Ways to Help Your Body Deal with Stress

Last week we talked about positive ways you can deal with stressful situations.  Today let’s get into how we can help our bodies respond more effectively to stress.  Remember, our bodies respond with the “Fight or Flight” response to all stressors, whether they are real or imagined, physical or psychological.  So let’s get to it!

1. SLEEP

Be sure to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep a night.  We all can “get by” on less, but we don’t function as well.  After two consecutive nights of less than 7 hours of sleep, we start to experience some of the effects of sleep deprivation including (but certainly not limited to) impaired vision, low energy, poor judgement, and a shorter temper to name a few.  And get this!  When we sleep less, we tend to eat more, thinking that food will help with our low energy.  So make an effort to get more sleep.  It’s the ultimate “me time”!

Not sure exactly how much sleep you really need?  Try setting an alarm to wake you 8 hours after you go to bed.  If you wake rested and ready for the day before the alarm goes off, then you’ve had enough sleep.

Do you have trouble getting to sleep at night?  Try slowing things down a little earlier in the evening, drink some herbal tea (no caffeine) or do a little stretching. If you have a “monkey mind” that won’t let you relax, write down what is on your mind.  Physically transferring those thoughts from your brain to the paper can help tremendously.  And don’t forget to turn off those electronic devices at least 30-60 minutes before bedtime.  Studies show that exposure to these backlit screens can keep our brains stimulated and “awake” for up to 2-3 hours after exposure.

2. Love and Laughter

Get those endorphins flowing, baby!  Two great ways to do that are with laughter and sex.  Both release endorphins that make us feel good, release tension and get our minds off of other stressors for the time being.  So surround yourself with people who make you happy, laugh and feel good.  Watch a comedy you enjoy or go to a live comedy show.  And, if you have a willing partner who wants to help you release your tension and stress (or not), you can have a little fun between the sheets!

3. Breath/Meditation

Breathing exercises and meditation practice both train us be become more present.  They help us slow down our minds, connect with the present moment, and become more mindful and aware.  When we are more connected, we make more conscious decisions and respond more effectively to stressful situations versus unconsciously reacting from a place of defensiveness.

Here’s an easy breathing exercise to get started with.  First, make sure you are sitting comfortably with both feet flat on the floor and your hands relaxed in your lap.  Take a slow, deep breathe in through your nose, hold the top of the breath for a moment or two, then slowly release a controlled exhale out through your mouth.  Pause again at the bottom of the breath and then repeat again with the inhale.  Try doing this about 10 times and see how you feel.  If you lose count, just start back over at one.  When you finish, you may notice that your heart rate and blood pressure have decreased, your awareness and mental acuity have increased.  Hopefully you will also experience a feeling of relaxation and peace.  Ahhhhh…..  

If you are intimidated by the thought of meditation, have no fear.  There are several great meditation apps out there that provide guided meditations for everyone from beginners to advanced meditators.  Some of them include Omvana, Insight Timer, and Gaiam Meditation.  Those are just a few that I have used. But there are a whole lot more out there.  FYI: Omvana has many more in-app purchases than the other two mentioned.

4. Move it!

Exercise is key to getting your stress hormones back in check.  As I mentioned earlier, our bodies respond with the “Fight or Flight” response regardless of what type of stressor we are experiencing.  If you are being chased by a bear, your “Fight or Flight” response kicks in.  The stress hormones (adrenaline, cortisol and oxytocin) are released into the blood stream causing heart rate, breathing rate and blood pressure to increase. Gastrointestinal function slows down and the senses are heightened.  Then blood sugar and clotting factors are released into the bloodstream.  If being chased by a bear, we would run!  The physical action of running would help us to metabolize those stress hormones and bring their levels back down to their pre-stressor levels.  However, when our stressors are more psychological and have more to do with life’s demands not being in line with the resources we have to meet those demands (like time and money), we can’t physically run away from our problems (at least not usually with much success).  But we can trick our bodies into thinking that we are with regular physical activity.  Exercise simulates running from the bear, thus bringing those stress hormone levels back down to baseline.

5. What you eat makes a difference.

“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Hippocrates.  What we eat has a tremendous impact on our health, as well as our ability to effectively combat stress.  Focus on eating foods that nourish, and avoid foods that deplete you.  Since your blood sugar is already elevated during the stress response, don’t try to manage it by running to sugary comfort foods.  This will only increase your blood sugar that much more.  Besides, that dessert or sweet treat may make you feel better while you’re eating it, but once that last forkful or spoonful is gone, your problems are still there.  Instead, try eating more whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables.  These foods are all high in fiber, low in fat and loaded with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that our bodies need to perform optimally.

Try to avoid caffeine.  Your nervous system is already stimulated.  Caffeine will only exacerbate the problem.  If chocolate is your go-to stress food, you’re in for a double whammy (sugar and caffeine).  Sorry.

So what should you eat?  Here are a few healthy snack ideas.  How about fresh veggies or whole grain crackers with hummus or yogurt with fresh berries? Celery or apples with a handful of nuts or 1-2 tablespoons of nut butter is another good choice that has a balance of nutrients to make you feel satisfied without exacerbating the stress response.

I hope these few tips are helpful to you.  If you have anything to add, please share and leave a comment below.

 

5 Positive Ways to Respond to Stress

Emotional and psychological stress are virtually unavoidable in today’s fast-paced, on-demand culture. Everywhere we turn we’re bombarded with negative news headlines.  Our cities are becoming more crowded.  Rush hour traffic is now just about every hour.  We live in an instant gratification society and the demands to keep up are relentless.  Ugh!

That doesn’t mean it has to control us though.  Yes, a stressor that is not dealt with or keeps recurring is going to eventually lead to physical and psychological negative effects.  And we are going to still be bombarded with demands, probably even more so as time goes on.

But there’s hope.  There is always hope.  The good news is that YOU have a lot of control over your level of stress and how it affects you.  When you accept responsibility for your feelings, thoughts and emotions, you gain more control over them.  That is so empowering!  We need to consider our perceptions of and responses to stressful situations, along with giving our bodies what they need to deal with these stressors the best way it can. Today’s tips are for helping you with your perceptions and responses to stress triggers.  Next time, we’ll get into how you can give your body what it needs in order to deal with these stressors the best that it can.  So here we go!  

5 Positive ways to respond to stress:

1. PERCEPTION: This is a perfect example of the Optimist vs. the Pessimist.  Ask yourself, “Is this event a crisis or an opportunity?”   How you view an event is going to have a tremendous impact on how your body responds.  You can take the negative approach, which will undoubtedly lead to a significant stress response, or take the high road.  Try to see the opportunities that this event may afford you.  Seeing something from a more positive perspective and believing in your ability to face the challenge will increase your self confidence, empower you, and get you fired up to make things happen.  On the other hand, if you respond to the event with a fatalistic attitude, chances are you are going to leave yourself feeling anxious, incapable, inadequate, stressed and even depressed.  It’s your choice.  How will you perceive it?
2. HOPE FOR THE BEST, PREPARE FOR THE WORST: So many of the stressful events that we experience are actually quite preventable with just a little forethought and planning.  So plan ahead.  Consider all of the possible or likely outcomes of a situation and think about how you can prepare for them and take steps to achieve that preparedness when necessary.  That way, if the worst does come to be, you will at least have an idea of what you can do and you won’t feel as blindsided.  When something comes at us seemingly out of nowhere, it often triggers that fight or flight response.  One of the many actions the body takes when in that “fight or flight” mode is decreasing our ability to think rationally.  We can think much more clearly before hand, when we can prepare, than we can in the moment of that stressful event.
3. WE CAN’T CHANGE OTHERS, BUT WE CAN CHANGE HOW WE REACT TO THEM.  We all have those people in our lives.  You know the ones.  They grate on our nerves, make our lives more challenging and often aren’t the most positive folks around.  Unfortunately, as much as we may want to help them make changes to be easier to be around, it just doesn’t work that way.  We can’t change those people.  The only changes in their behavior are going to have to come from them.  But what we can take ownership of is how we respond to that person.  Try to keep those negative, energy suckers at a distance whenever possible.  When you do have to interact with them, try to be as positive as possible and do your best to not let them get you down.  You don’t have to get sucked into an argument or believe the negative things they say.  Just smile and change the subject or walk away.  When we let them get to us, they win and we will lose every time.  That is because YOU are the only one who walks away hurt and more frustrated and stressed out.  Don’t do that to yourself!  You deserve so much better.  Stay positive, don’t get sucked in and walk away if/when necessary.
4. CHANGE WHAT YOU CAN, ACCEPT WHAT YOU CAN’T.  Ask yourself, “Is this stressful situation something I can change?  What can I do to improve the situation?”  If the answer is “Yes” then great!  Get out there and do what you need to do to make the situation less stressful.  If you realize after much thought that the situation is completely out of your hands (that alone can be a pretty significant cause of stress), then nothing you do can change the situation.  So, what do we do when we can’t change the situation?   It all leads back to the idea of perception.  We accept it as our reality and respond to it in a more positive manner, then move on.
5. HOLD ON TO THE LESSON, NOT THE EXPERIENCE.  Have you ever had an experience that left you wishing for a time machine so that you could just go back and do it over?  I’m pretty sure we all have.  Now, have you ever been so disappointed in yourself and ashamed that you just keep replaying that awful scene in your head, over and over again?  Do me a favor, STOP IT!  Reliving that horrible experience does nothing positive for you. It only reinforces those feelings of embarrassment, inadequacy and shame.  Of course you should look back on it, but only long enough to do a quick post-mortem.  Evaluate the situation and its result.  Ask yourself what you could do next time to reach your desired outcome.  In other words, learn from your mistakes.  Don’t use them to punish yourself.  Focus on reinforcing the lesson, not the experience.

I hope you find these tips to be helpful.  Please don’t forget to comment below and let me know what you think.  Remember, this is a two-parter, so keep your eyes open for the next post which will focus on the physical actions we can take to help our bodies to be better equipped to handle all of those daily stressors.

Mercy Me Asian Salad

Here’s a recipe that will nourish rather than deplete your body and feed your soul & taste buds some tasty, crunchy slaw!

As you may or may not know, I’m a pretty steadfast from-scratch kind of cook/baker.  However we all have our favorite quick go-tos to help us whip up something delicious and nutritious in a pinch. Here I used two of them.  Usually when I make a Costco run (which is about weekly), I pick up a bag or two of the Taylor Farms Asian Cashew Chopped Salad.  It’s super yummy and easy to dress up a little, if you so desire.  So this salad mix makes up the base of the salad.  The other pre-made item was the tofu.  I often marinate and bake my own, but seriously sometimes there just isn’t time.  So I usually have a package or two of baked, seasoned tofu in the fridge.  In this case, I happen to have a sesame ginger flavored one on hand.  Can we say “Perfect for Asian Salad!”?

Here are the two packaged foods used in this recipe:

Some of the other ingredients are very seasonal for spring.  In fact, the scallions and red cabbage grew in my backyard garden and the Cara Cara oranges and asparagus were both locally grown and arrived in my CSA box.  If you haven’t heard of, or participated in, Community Supported Agriculture, I encourage you to look into it.  You get a regularly scheduled box of fresh, local produce each week and an opportunity to help support your local farmers.  Because let’s face it, sometimes we just can’t get to a Farmer’s Market (or we forget to stop at an ATM for cash ahead of time).  Now, for what you’ve been waiting for.  Here’s the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Package Taylor Farms Asian Cashew Chopped Salad (Costco 19 oz size)
• 1 package Nasoya “tofubaked”, Sesame Ginger, cut into 1″ cubes
• 1 bunch fresh asparagus, cleaned and trimmed
• 2-3 scallions (aka green onions) thinly sliced, green parts only
• 1/4 medium red cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 Cara Cara orange, diced
• seasoning and dressing of choice

DIRECTIONS

1. Grab a large mixing bowl.  Cut open the salad bag and dump in the veggies (wait to add the packaged toppings).
2. Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat.  Wipe with a very thin coat of olive oil.  When the pan is hot, add the asparagus.  Season with salt and pepper.  Toss occasionally for even cooking.  You may want to cover with a lid for a couple of minutes to allow the asparagus to cook through, if needed.  When done, transfer to a cutting board and chop into 2 inch pieces.  Add the asparagus to the salad bowl.
3. OPTIONAL STEP: If you skip searing the tofu, then just toss the tofu cubes into the salad and move on to step 4.  Otherwise, wipe your pan clean.  Add 2 teaspoons oil and when hot, toss in the tofu cubes.  Let sear until golden (1-2 minutes).  Then toss for even browning.
4. While searing the tofu, slice the scallions and cabbage and throw ’em into the bowl.  Once the tofu is browned it can join the party too!
5. Now chop up your orange and toss it in, along with the salad toppings that came with the packaged salad.
6. Dressing Time!  If you prefer to use the dressing that came with the salad, go right ahead.  Personally, I like something fresh, less oily and minimally processed.  Shake on some vinegar (seasoned rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or my favorite pineapple balsamic vinegar) and a tiny drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, if desired.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Toss it all up and enjoy!  This makes a BIG salad!  Fortunately, it also makes great leftovers to wrap up in a tortilla or stuff a pita.

Lunchbox Veggie Wraps

One day at lunchtime, about a month ago, I was sitting down to dig in when my kids stopped me and said, “Mom!  That wrap is beautiful!  You should take a picture and put it on Facebook!”.  At the time, I hadn’t really given much thought to my quick-lunch-from-whatever-was-in-the-fridge.  But they were right, it was beautiful and they reminded me to not let an opportunity to motivate or inspire others to pass me by.  So I did it!  It got some attention, so I figured why not give you the recipe.  The wrap is perfect for a lunch at home or on the go, since it travels well.  It’s quite versatile.  You can basically whip something like this up with whatever you’ve got available.  Just use your imagination (and your veggies!).

INGREDIENTS:

• Mixed salad greens
• 1 small to medium size tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 avocado, diced
• 1 small handful shredded carrots
• 1 green onion (aka scallion) thinly sliced
• clover sprouts
• 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Whole wheat tortilla (Here I used a “Food for Life” Sprouted Grain Tortilla).
• 1-2 Tablespoons Hummus (I like the spicy version!)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Throw the veggies in a large bowl.  Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and toss to combine
2. Heat up your tortilla, either on a preheated skillet or in the microwave (about 30 sec.)
3. Smear the hummus on one side of the tortilla, cover with your salad.
4. Roll it up, slice it in half and dig in!

So there you go!  Your very own beautiful, delicious, nourishing bistro lunch. Enjoy!!

Good day Sunshine! Get out there! If you’re stuck in the cold and snow, then let’s bring that sunshine to you!

Hey everyone! The weather here is too gorgeous to be inside typing a blog post on the computer. Besides, I wanted to share some of this California sunshine with you! So here’s the latest video posted to the Melissa Trinidad YouTube channel. I hope you enjoy it and it helps you find a little of your own happiness (and Spring) from within. Cheers! Bring on Spring!

https://youtu.be/LP7gxfswjBA

This little habit is guaranteed to make you happier in minutes!

“The happiest people in the world aren’t the ones who have the most. They’re the ones who make the most of what they have.”  It’s all about gratitude, baby!  Shifting our thinking from “I still don’t have….(fill in the blank)” to “Wow!  Look at how much I have!  I am so lucky!” will absolutely shift your view of your life, and increase your happiness.

I get it.  It is so easy to fall into seeing what everyone else has that you are lacking, or even putting off your own happiness until you achieve some goal. Life is too short, people!  We don’t have time to wait around for happiness.  Make it happen now!  No one can do it for you.  You’ve got to take action.

ACTION PLAN: Take a few minutes each day to think about at least 3-5 things that you are grateful for and write them down.  Train your brain to see the positive.  Having trouble finding anything to be grateful for?  No problem!  I’ve already got you covered.  Quick question (or two) for you.  Are you breathing?  Did you wake up this morning?  Good news! You are alive and have a chance to get the most our of your day!  That is definitely something to be grateful for. (And much better than the alternative.)   Your gratitude could be for your health, the ability to walk, see or hear.  It could be that you have indoor plumbing and a roof over your head.  It could be a new pair of shoes, your relationships, or an opportunity you have to do something to make the world a little brighter.  Look at what you have!!

So first we acknowledge the gifts that we have received.  Next, we give thanks.  That could be through prayer or blessings.  If prayer isn’t your thing, thank the universe for bringing to you all that you have.

The important thing here is that you think of the goodness in your life and the many blessings that have been bestowed upon you.  We can choose to focus on the stuff others have that we don’t, or we can choose to center our thoughts on those things we  DO have that so many others do not.  Because there is always someone less fortunate than ourselves. How lucky we are indeed!

Once you allow yourself to receive and acknowledge all that you have, you can’t help but feel a bit happier.  Focus on the positive!!

Oh, this is super important!  Always remember that making yourself happy and feeling good about yourself, is NOT SELFISH!! It is one of the best things you can do for everyone around you.  When you are at your best, you give your best.  When you are appreciative of life and happy with yourself, your light, joy and confidence will spread like wildfire!

One thing I am SO grateful for is YOU, dear reader!  Thank you so very much for taking the time to read this post and for being interested in making yourself happier.  So what are you grateful for? Write a comment below and let me know!  I’d love to hear from you!