The Health and Life Mixing Bowl

The Dance: Managing Stress with a Little Practice

Nope, it's not the sun.  Nor is it a poor diet or cigarette smoking.  Stress is the number one aging factor in America, as revealed by Dr. Oz, one of Oprah's medical gurus.

This comes as no surprise to me.  As a 20-year veteran in the health promotion field, I have long been aware of the connection between stress and the acceleration of the aging process.  Click here to see a visual that illustrates how the body responds when under stress. Understanding the physiological underpinnings of the stress response is enough to scare anybody into not sweating the small stuff. And here's the thing: When it comes to stress, the body doesn't discriminate.  An insignificant event, such as traffic, elicits the same biophysical response as a major life stressor.  Big or small, all stress throws the body into the "danger" mode to prepare the body to fight or flee.  This is great if you need to run for your life, but if you are just stuck in a traffic jam, the response can be overkill. 

Every time I begin to "stress" over little things, I remember that being in the "danger" mode, without the necessity to fight or flee, can weaken my major organs, dampen my immune system and destroy my ability to repair cells.  The verdict?  It's just not worth it.  Traffic, children, bosses, mysteriously missing keys, a not so tidy house.  As Dr.Oz mentioned on Oprah, it will be the little things we stress about that kill us.   

There is a preponderance of evidence supporting the practice of relaxation techniques to reduce stress.  Deep breathing, yoga, massage, prayer, bubble baths.....  These are all well known tips I have lectured about for years.  But as a health educator turned life coach, it is my unequivocal belief that managing stress is more about "being" than "doing".  What good is it to act like a maniac all day then hustle over to the yoga class?  It is with our being that we interact with the world and the people, places, and things in it.  This is where stress management should start.  Managing stress is sort of like a dance.  When our being is in step with the life we want to create, "stress" is nonexistent.   

Being in step begins with choices.  Choosing to think differently. Choosing for it to be another way.  Choosing to say no.  Choosing not to get angry, impatient, or resentful.  Choosing a life of gratitude, peace, and love.  Amazing things happen when our being lines up with the life we want to create.  It takes some practice to line things up, but just like learning a new dance, it gets easier with time.    

According to a study conducted by the American Psychological Association, only 35 percent of Americans reporting high levels of stress said they would modify their behavior following the diagnosis of a chronic condition.  Only 35 percent.  What's stopping us from making life-giving choices?  It all starts with the dance.

The Biggest Winners on "The Biggest Loser"

pete8, originally uploaded by www.WinningMan.com.

You know what I love about the reality series "The Biggest Loser"? Before I tell you, let me say I have mixed feelings about this show.  I happened to catch the first episode of the season that showed several of the contestants checking in with a weekly weight loss of more than 20 pounds! I am pretty sure that it is physiologically impossible to lose that much weight in one week, at least fat weight, which makes me question many things....but maybe I shouldn't have such an incredulous attitude towards the show.  The reality series is a huge hit and it's actually helping millions of severely overweight people, albeit the drastic weight loss among some of the contestants.  But here is what really inspired me:  I read an article in the Washington Post about a few of the contestants who were voted off the show.  Instead of going back home and raiding the pantry, they continued to lose weight and lots of it.  I love it! Why?  It puts to rest the argument "If I had a live-in chef and a personal trainer, I would lose weight too!"

"The Biggest Loser" contestants were taught very simple concepts based on a very simple formula.  Very simply put, they ate less, they moved more, and they lost the weight.  Weight loss is not rocket science.  Why do we make it so hard and confusing?  I am thoroughly convinced that we all have the power to reach and stay at our optimal weight.  As evidenced by the post-show weight loss success of the former "The Biggest Loser" contestants, personal choice can supersede a personal trainer, a live-in chef , and even the support of a hit television show. 

Going Gray: The Power to Choose

young woman with gray hair, originally uploaded by ed's point of view.

The Health and Life Mixing Bowl celebrated its first birthday last month.  Thank you to all who read this blog regularly!  In celebration of this milestone, I will be featuring popular posts from the past year.  Enjoy!

Whether or not women should go gray is a hot issue these days. Time magazine has a great article that compares the gray hair wars with the "stay at home with the kids" vs. "go to work" debate. The article shows two pictures of Condaleeza Rice, one with gray hair, one with black hair.  I'll let you be the judge. Included are remarks from the hair dye king, Clairol, who states that their role is to help women create an authentic connection between how she feels internally versus how she looks externally. Hmmm....So they get to decide what your hair color says about how you feel?  The article's most controversial quote came from Rose Weitz, author of Rapunzel's Daughters: "What Woman's Hair Tells Us About Women's Lives".  She quotes, "Even if, in the abstract, we think we look all right with gray hair, we nonetheless feel as if we are losing our 'real selves' if we no longer have our 'real hair color' - the color we had when we were young and looked our best." Feeling as if we are losing our 'real selves'? As if hair dye is real?  If anything is real it's the stigma attached to going gray.  It took me forever to find a picture of a healthy, attractive woman with gray hair.  Type in "gray hair women" in a photo search engine and you'll come up with tons of frail and sickly looking women sitting in wheelchairs and nursing homes.  Where are the vivacious gray-haired mamas?  I know you are out there!  After searching a bit I finally found the picture above.  This woman went gray when she was 13 and decided to leave her hair natural.  I think she is beautiful.

I am 42 years old with a few gray hairs on my temple and I proudly sport them like a badge of honor. I earned every one of these strands. They tell the story of where I have been and where I am going. I also have a few wrinkles coming in (as my nine year old daughter innocently likes to point out). As I see these signs of aging, I get a little uneasy, but I can't help but to be in awe of how God has blessed my 42 years.  I am incredibly grateful!  Aging is a natural process--something we shouldn't be ashamed of.  To see aging as something that isn't fashionable is beyond my comprehension.  If you ask me, a woman with gray hair who is healthy and takes great care of herself can be just as beautiful, vivacious and sexy as a 20 year old. So for all you beautiful gray-headed women, who have made the courageous choice to stand up for your authenticity, I say, YOU GO GIRL!!

1/09/08 update:  check out the blog Going Gray

What Will Be on Your Dinner Plate Tonight?

From freshly picked vegetables and tropical fruit to sugar-laden cereal and deep dish pizza, click here to see how 15 families around the world eat.  You will see families stricken by poverty and others enjoying a life of opulence.  Notice where the healthier choices are.   The poorer eat from the land while the well-off opt for convenience meals.  Hmmm....more options but poorer nutritional choices.  Interesting.

What choices can you make to improve your diet?

Nutrition with a Twist: The Message Behind These Posts

Taxing junk food?  Banning super-sized meals?  Taking sodas out of schools? 

Once you have the knowledge, eating healthy boils down to personal responsibility.

The Nutrition with a Twist posts offer more than information on eating healthy; they represent ingenuity and the creative power you possess to improve how and what you eat.  Eating healthy might mean defying convention, confusing or agitating people around you or shopping/preparing food differently, but so what?  Don't be afraid to rock the boat! 

From putting a new spin on applesauce to eating spinach for breakfast, may these these posts invite you to exercise your power to choose. 

 

Being Immersed in the Moment

Life Coach Terri and her family are on vacation this week in Orlando! As soon as we arrived, we rushed to the pool and I was suddenly struck by the feeling of what do we do now?  Remember the fish in the movie Finding Nemo who escaped the tank but didn't have a clue what to do once they reached the ocean?    It was that kind of feeling. 

What pool games should we play? 

What conversations should we have? 

Where else can we go after this? 

I am so acclimated to my rush-rush environment that just being has been a little hard this week. 

This is day five of our vacation and things have gotten better.  Making the choice to be immersed in just today has been very healing.  Just being with my husband, just being with my daughter, and just being with an unplanned day has allowed me to become aware of what I miss when I am not living in the moment. 

I am proud of the choice I made this week. 

What opportunities do you have to just be? 

Slowing it Down: Wisdom from the Whales

Take it slow, don't have many kids and enjoy cold water.  All advice for living longer from the Bowhead whale?  I was reading an article in the New York Times about the discovery of a bomb lance fragment embedded in the blubber of a Bowhead whale that was harpooned in Alaska last month.  A bomb lance is a harpoon that was manufactured for a short time in the 1800s.  The whale had carried the harpoon for 115 years.  Very impressive.  A 115 plus year-old whale? Knowing that Americans are totally obsessed with slowing down the aging process, I'm guessing that scientists will be clamoring for clues.  As I continued to read the article, I discovered that these whales do have something valuable to share:  Bowhead whales are afforded the opportunity to slow down the evolution of life.  They live in a low-risk habitat--unlike an ant that might get eaten or stepped on any second--so they can slow down and use their energy to grow bigger and stronger.  They have less offspring.  They take better care of themselves.  They live in a cold water environment which bodes well for longevity.  With other animals preferring warmer water, there is less competition for food.   There's no doubt that scientists will take a closer look, but will they learn something we don’t already know?

The modern day predators of "got to have it all" and "got to have it yesterday" make it tough to put life in slow gear, but I still say it’s possible.  It's what I love so much about the power of choice.  On any given day, unlike the Bowhead whale, we can make intentional choices that allow us to have a higher quality of life.  We can choose to slow down.  We can choose to eat better, exercise and practice self-care.  We can choose an environment that is conducive to living our best life.  Slowing down the evolution of life starts with making choices.  As a life coach, a very simple and curious question that pops up is what's holding us back?  As a med student eloquently shared, most of life on Earth has an excuse; a much smaller brain and a set of priorities dictated by the fight for food and mates. What is our excuse?