Our Brain is of Course, a Valuable Organ

A healthy brain is crucial when it comes to our overall health, well-being, and lifestyle. And…so is our heart (and feelings). These two together are the command centers for the nervous system and underlies our ability to communicate, remember, solve problems, make decisions and live a long and full life. A healthy brain (which includes our right-brain hemisphere and emotions, so this is not just about the left-brain intellect) helps us with cognition and emotional regulation in the present, in addition to assisting in staving off functional decline as we age.

However, Brain Health is in Decline

An estimated 6.2 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2021. By 2050, the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that number may grow to 12.7 million unless something changes drastically. And while research is still evolving, evidence is strong that people can reduce their risk of cognitive decline by making key lifestyle changes.

We know that exercise helps to improve our physical health, so what does it take to keep our brain healthy, give it a strengthening workout and boost our cognitive skills? We also know that hormone balance, sleep, and inflammation also plays a pivotal role in brain health, let’s not forget these also.

4 Tips for a Healthier Brain

1 – Reduce your Stress

While momentary stress doesn’t present a problem to brain health, continued stress that is endured for long periods of time does. Long-term stress interferes with cognition, memory, attention and contributes to conditions such as anxiety and depression. It also wrecks havoc on our hormones, adrenal system and blood sugar control, sleep and inflammation. This all can contribute to the over-stimulation of the amygdala, which regulates our fight or flight response – a normal response to stressful events that is designed to be temporary.

Research has shown us that long-term, chronic stress has a shrinking effect on the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for memory and learning. It has also established a connection between long-term stress and cognitive decline as we age, including contributing to the likelihood of developing Alzhiemer’s disease and dementia – that is on top of the known ill effects of chronic stress on sleep patterns, inflammation and heart health.

This is why it is important to also understand our ‘parasympathetic’ nervous system that counter-balances the sympathetic, ‘fight-flight-freeze’ system. We need to consciously learn how to have greater access to our healing parasympathetic system to help us with stress.

Adapt With Stress-Reduction Strategies

Needless to say, while we can’t always control what happens to us, learning stress reduction strategies will help us live happier and better lives, while contributing to our brain health and cognitive function into old age. Here are some key practices:

• Mindfulness
• Meditation
• Qigong
• Tai Chi
• Yoga
• Guided Imagery
• Progressive Muscle Relaxation
• Journaling
• Acupressure
• Regular physical activity
• Connecting with supportive people
• Speaking with a therapist / finding professional help
• Doing something you love
• Spending time in nature
• Learning how to ‘make friends’ with feelings to develop emotional resilience (these are skill sets!)

2 – Eat the Right Foods

Ninety percent of the body’s serotonin is made by the bacteria in the gut. Serotonin is the main hormone that ensures our moods are balanced and we experience feelings of well-being, calmness, and happiness. Having low levels of serotonin contributes to developing chronic conditions such as anxiety and depression, which can have long-term effects on our brain health.  It can also affect our melatonin levels and sleep as well as sugar cravings. Thus, it’s imperative to keep our serotonin production optimal. This can be achieved by maintaining our microbiome, aka improving our gut health and digestion.

Best Practices for a Healthier Microbiome:

• Avoiding packaged and processed foods
• Avoiding foods high in refined sugar
• Avoiding foods fried in vegetable and canola oil and using a healthier alternative such as olive oil 
• Avoid alcohol
• Drinking plenty of filtered water
• Eating a diet rich in an assortment of different colored fruits and organic vegetables when possible (Mostly low-glycemic fruits)
  
• Reducing red meat intake (avoiding meats that are grain-fed and opting instead for organic, grass-fed in general)
  
• Eating enough fiber and avoiding most grains, especially gluten filled, GMO, and processed grains
  
• Increasing consumption of fermented foods such as kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, Kombucha, and yogurt – in moderation
  

Supplements that Support the Brain

While the diet should be able to support optimal brain health, the truth is that many of us do not consume enough of some nutrients, or are not able to absorb as much as we should from our food. The following supplements have been researched for their supportive effects on the brain. Always talk to your healthcare practitioner before taking any nutritional supplement.

• Anti-inflammatory herbs such as turmeric (aka curcumin) help to reduce inflammation in the brain
• Amino acids such as (Pharma)-GABA, helps calm the brain, reduce mental stress and facilitate good sleep patterns
• A good quality probiotic can help support the gut as it manufactures serotonin
• Oils high in omega-3 fatty acids such as fish oil, and fresh ground flax seed and grass-fed ghee butter help provide the building blocks for healthy brain cells
• B vitamins and natural folate help in the production of neurotransmitters
• Vitamin D with vitamin K2-7 is particularly important during the dark winter months. One study found that people with low levels of Vitamin D have twice the risk of developing Alzheimer’s
  
• Vitamin D is also important for immune, hormone, liver function and a variety of other important health functions

3 – Sleep Well and Get Plenty of it

Good sleep hygiene is crucial to maintaining good brain health. On average, you need a minimum of seven hours of uninterrupted, quality sleep per night on a regular basis. If you fail to meet these requirements, over time your brain’s ability to think clearly, regulate your emotions, manage stress, and balance your hormonal function can be impaired. 

Fostering Healthy Sleep Habits

Here are our recommendations for healthy practices that promote great sleep – so that you wake up feeling refreshed every morning:

• Creating a relaxing bedtime ritual and committing to it (i.e. meditation or a hot shower)
• Going to bed at the same time every night
• Keeping your bedroom dark, quiet, cool and comfortable
• Limiting screen time before bed / no screen time for at least an hour before your bedtime ritual
• Waking up at the same time every day, including on weekends
• Avoiding caffeine after 2:00 pm
• Avoiding naps (can be okay if really short, like 20-minutes)
  
• Avoiding late-night meals

4 – Stay Mentally Active

Treat your brain like any other muscle, use it to not lose it.  Often life becomes habitual and this affects our cognition. It’s important to regularly challenge your brain and keep it stimulated daily to help prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia later in life. 

Brain-Stimulating Habits

Here are some activities to consider integrating into your daily practice. Ideally, choose more than one and switch up your practice often:

• Play strategy games
• Do crossword puzzles, word games, or Sudoku
• Learn a new skill such as a musical instrument or craft
• Learn a new language
• Read a book
• Socialize and have stimulating conversations or friendly debates with a social group
• Watch funny movies and comics – laugh out loud!!!

I Am Here To Help

Developing a comprehensive wellness and nutrition plan that contributes to your brain health can be a daunting task. As a Functional Medicine practitioner, together we can create a lifestyle plan that will help support your brain health for years to come.  Book an appointment with me, and together we can move forward.

You can schedule a time for a Discovery Call at this link: DISCOVERY CALL

Be well,

Valencia Ray, MD

Resources & References

Bernstein, Rebecca. The Mind and Mental Health: How Stress Affects the Brain. Touro University Worldwide. 2016

Bremner JD. Traumatic stress: effects on the brain. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2006;8(4):445-461. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2006.8.4/jbremner

Cirelli C, Tononi G. The Sleeping Brain. Cerebrum. 2017;2017:cer-07-17. Published 2017 May 1.

Clapp M, Aurora N, Herrera L, Bhatia M, Wilen E, Wakefield S. Gut microbiota’s effect on mental health: The gut-brain axis. Clin Pract. 2017;7(4):987. Published 2017 Sep 15. doi:10.4081/cp.2017.987

Evrensel A, Ceylan ME. The Gut-Brain Axis: The Missing Link in Depression. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2015;13(3):239-244. doi:10.9758/cpn.2015.13.3.239

Scott, S.B., Graham-Engeland, J.E., Engeland, C.G. et al. The Effects of Stress on Cognitive Aging, Physiology and Emotion (ESCAPE) Project. BMC Psychiatry 15, 146 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-015-0497-7

Understanding the stress response. Harvard Health Publishing. 2020 https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response

Worley SL. The Extraordinary Importance of Sleep: The Detrimental Effects of Inadequate Sleep on Health and Public Safety Drive an Explosion of Sleep Research. P T. 2018;43(12):758-763.

Luscious locks. Flowing tresses. Who doesn’t want to have a full head of shiny hair? Our culture certainly gives us the message that beautiful hair symbolizes youth and beauty.

However, particularly as we age, many of us find that the soft, full hair we may have taken for granted in our younger days starts to fade and becomes thinner and more brittle. These changes can happen to both men and women. They happened to me, and thankfully, I have been able to turn the situation around.

As You Age, So Does Your Hair

Of course, it makes sense that hair can be damaged as we age. Because hair grows so slowly (less than half an inch every month for many people), the hair on your head may have experienced years of sun exposure and damage from the elements. It also is affected by hormonal changes in our bodies which play a role in both hair growth, texture, and those pesky grey hairs of course!

Searching For The Fountain Of Hair Youth

What’s the solution? The beauty industry tells us the secret to beautiful hair is finding the right “products.” And it’s certainly possible to spend hundreds of dollars trying to find the perfect match.

However, no matter how many shampoo reviews you read, you can only find so much hair magic in a bottle. In fact, many shampoos and other hair products can damage your hair because they contain harmful substances.

The truth is that beautiful hair starts from within. As a result, what we put into our bodies is far more important than what we put on our hair. I learn this the hard way also. Yes, shampoo matters, but the health of the hair is mostly an ‘inside job’ – inside the body, that is.

Laying A Foundation for Stronger, Fuller, Faster-Growing Hair

To fully understand the impact of lifestyle choices on your hair, it helps to know more about its composition – the main building blocks that give hair its strength and structure.

Keratin
Hair strands are composed of a protein called keratin (in fact, so are your nails). One of the primary components in keratin is choline, an essential nutrient with many roles in the body that is found in a variety of foods such as eggs, salmon, and cauliflower. Heads up! Some women have genetics that interferes with healthy choline levels, and this often worsens after menopause. When you understand your genes, you can then supplement choline using professional-grade products and focus on extra choline-rich foods.

Biotin
Vitamin B7 (also known as biotin) contributes to the formation of keratin. Because of this relationship, it’s not surprising that scientists have found that being deficient in biotin can lead to hair loss. In fact, one study found that supplementing with biotin helped slow hair loss in women with thinning hair, leading to fuller, shinier hair as well as smoother skin after 6 months.

The Gut Health Connection to Good Hair Health

Interestingly, scientists have also found that the number of bad bacteria in our gut affects the formation of biotin. That means that beautiful hair isn’t necessarily as simple as making sure you have consumed enough biotin. Your digestion and absorption need to be working right too. A functional medicine stool test is ideal for getting to the root cause of this.

Factors that can positively influence the delicate balance of gut bacteria, and in turn improve biotin production, including managing your stress levels, keeping sugary snacks in check, and ensuring your nutrition is balanced.

Top Tips for Healthy Hair:

Now that you have a clearer understanding of the factors behind healthy hair, how can you overcome the effects of aging and environmental damage? Check out these tips for a healthy head of hair.

1. Check your hormone levels.
Cortisol isn’t the only hormone that can impact your hair health. If you’re experiencing hair loss or changes to hair texture, you should check the levels of your other hormones as well.

For example, low levels of thyroid hormone can indicate a stressed-out thyroid. One of the thyroid’s “lesser” jobs is to regulate hair growth, however, in times of stress, the body will focus all the thyroid’s energies on more important functions such as regulating the body’s temperature and metabolism. Hence thinning hair is one of many possible symptoms of lowered thyroid function.

The laboratory levels for ‘normal’ differs between the conventional system and functional medicine for the thyroid. The functional system is much more accurate – it is functional. The conventional focus on disease. Also, the conventional system does not check the parameters of the various aspects of thyroid evaluation holistically, focusing only on TSH and T4 levels – very incomplete. This is one reason in my experience that hypothyroidism is one of THE most ‘missed diagnoses in all of healthcare.

Low estrogen, which may be a sign of perimenopause or other hormonal imbalances, can also lead to hair troubles. While slower growth of pubic and underarm hair might easily go unnoticed, an estrogen imbalance can mean that androgens have a stronger effect on hair follicles, leading to thinning hair on the head, and even rogue chin hairs.

These are just a few reasons why the best start to improving your hair’s texture and fullness begins with testing to see where your hormonal levels are and ensuring you are balanced. This can become a ‘make or break’ situation after menopause, which is another reason for considering bio-identical hormone replacement therapy.

2. Make sure you consume enough Biotin.

Good sources of biotin include:

(Bonus: Biotin will also strengthen your nails!)

Be very careful with whole grains. They can be very inflammatory for many people – full of gluten, pesticides, GMOs, and processing chemicals. Quality and type matter, they are NOT created equally.

In addition to biotin, the amino acid cystine assists in the formation of keratin. Good sources of cysteine include garlic, onions, broccoli, brussels sprouts, oats, wheat germ, sprouted lentils, and eggs.

3. Eat plenty of protein.
This may seem like a no-brainer since hair is composed of protein. Keep in mind that your protein sources don’t have to be meat-based, since the protein found in plant sources are just as effective. If they are meat, only choose organic, grass-fed/raised humanely treated animals. What you eat…literally becomes a part of your body.

4. Watch your mineral intake.
One of the many roles of minerals in the body is growing, and iron and zinc contribute to keratin formation which helps your hair to grow strong.

Zinc can also protect your hair from sun damage just as zinc oxide in sunscreens can protect your skin from sunburn, and zinc helps your body flush out excess insulin too. Good sources of zinc include shellfish, beans, and seeds.

5. Reduce your sugar consumption.
When you eat a lot of sugar, your blood sugar rises. In response, your body produces more of the hormones insulin and androgens such as testosterone, which have a shrinking effect on hair follicles. That means your hair could start growing finer and more brittle. Insulin resistance (high levels and low sensitivity to insulin on the body’s insulin receptors) is a common cause of hair loss.

6. Don’t smoke.
Smoking increases the speed at which your body breaks down and excretes biotin, reducing the amount of biotin in your blood and leading to weaker hair and nail growth.

7. Avoid high-mercury foods.
Consumption of food with high levels of mercury has been linked to hair loss. Some kinds of tuna, swordfish and mackerel can all contain high levels of mercury. As a functional medicine physician, I routinely check for mercury toxicity – it is a widespread problem and easily treatable. Since it is a neurotoxin, the earlier it is detoxed, the better off you will be.

8. Boost your intake of fruits and veggies.
To protect your hair, you want to reduce the damage that can be caused by free radicals. Those are compounds that can damage your cells, and they’re often created by environmental factors and the internal processes that can be triggered by stress.

Free radicals can lead to lifeless, gray hair. Antioxidants can fight free radicals and restore your hair’s shine. Fruits and vegetables can provide the key antioxidants for healthy hair: Vitamins A, C, and E (mixed tocopherols).

9. Consider collagen supplements.
Choline, one of the building blocks of keratin, is found in collagen. Collagen can also strengthen the layer of your skin that contains hair follicles. (This layer of skin is called the dermis). With a stronger anchor point, hair is less likely to fall out.

10. Choose hair products carefully.
Many shampoos, conditioners, and styling products contain ingredients that can be hard on your hair and unhealthy for you. The reality is that many of them don’t address hair problems where they originate – in the protein structure of the hair itself. Instead, they “gloss” over any problems with superficial coverings. Plus, many substances used in hair products can be absorbed by your skin and have been linked to cancer. In addition, many are harmful to the environment. So, avoid products with sulfates, parabens, and silicones. Your hair will thank you!

If you’re experiencing issues with your hair, it may be time to test your hormones and make sure your gut health is supporting your hair goals not impeding them!

Give our office us a call we are happy to help!

Sources:

https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/109/9/djx202/4102324
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4428712/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3509882/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27538002
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4201279/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4174066/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=28813664
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3509882/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4428712/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=27554239

Our dietary choices and lifestyle practices play a huge role in either maintaining balance or spiking blood sugar levels. The number of people with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes is also rising rapidly in North America and it’s something we see in our practice more often than we’d like! Blood sugar imbalances can create havoc in our health.

How Does Blood Sugar Fluctuate?

Carbohydrates we eat are broken down by the body into sugar, or glucose. This sugar is then absorbed into the bloodstream (blood sugar) to be used for energy. This process is regulated by the hormone insulin, which is released by the pancreas. Any excess blood sugar unused by the body for energy gets converted to glycogen, or insulin can convert to fat that is then stored in your liver and deep abdominal areas and can also be stored outside of these areas.

It’s all smoothly orchestrated so that you have energy when you need it – as long as your insulin levels are properly balanced! But what if they’re not? That’s when we encounter blood sugar dysregulation and diabetes.

Signs Your Body is Crying for Help

Blood sugar imbalance can result in a list of symptoms that are often easy to blame on stress or aging. In fact, it can cause premature aging! These include:

Excess belly fat: When your body senses high glucose levels, it secretes more insulin in an attempt to trigger your cells to absorb the excess glucose. Insulin also encourages fat storage, especially around the belly. Unfortunately, this can create a vicious cycle, since belly fat increases insulin resistance, so your pancreas then responds by releasing even more insulin.

Mood changes: Do you regularly “crash” after a carb-heavy meal? Or do you feel shaky, irritable or “hangry” when you haven’t eaten in a while? Mood swings, including bursts of manic energy followed by rapidly depleted energy, are often in response to fluctuations in blood sugar and a diet that is rapidly spiking blood sugar.

Cravings: Another frustrating irony is that excess blood sugar leads to cravings for more carb-heavy and sugary foods, further adding to the cycle of insulin production. This tells us that not only are blood sugar levels imbalanced but there may be an underlying gut issue as well.

Difficulty concentrating: Without the energy supplied by glucose, your brain cells don’t function optimally if your body isn’t used to being able to breakdown and burn fat in the form of ketones. As a result, concentration and focus suffer – but eating something that causes glucose levels to spike isn’t the solution, since you’ll be headed for a crash. Then the crash will push up cortisol, which will push your blood sugar up again – and the vicious circle continues.

Thyroid trouble: The link between insulin and thyroid health is complex. Excess insulin can harm the thyroid.  At the same time, a healthy thyroid helps control insulin.

Female hormone imbalance: Healthy female hormones depend upon balanced blood sugar. In short, excess insulin produces increased amounts of testosterone and belly fat tissue converts excess testosterone into estrogen. This produces increased estrogen in the body which results in too little progesterone. Since progesterone is a calming hormone, too little of it means women often experience symptoms of anxiety, depression, insomnia, fertility issues, and more.

Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

People with diabetes experience problems with the production of insulin and the subsequent rise in their blood sugar.

Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune condition which prevents the pancreas from producing adequate amounts of insulin, resulting in low blood sugar levels which need to be monitored closely.

Type 2 diabetes is considered to be a “lifestyle disease”. After several years of imbalanced blood sugar and insulin levels, the body develops insulin resistance where cells don’t respond well to the insulin being released.

How to Manage Your Blood Sugar Levels for Optimal Health

As mentioned, blood sugar dysregulation and type 2 diabetes are very much a lifestyle disease and certain lifestyle factors can greatly impact how well your body manages blood sugar levels. Here are some tips for managing blood sugar for optimal health.

Avoid Spiking Blood Sugar with a Balanced Diet

The most important step for stabilizing blood sugar is to avoid processed and sugary food and eating patterns that can lead to a sudden spike in blood sugar. Different types of carbohydrates are digested and absorbed at different rates, based on a number of factors, including fat and fiber content, and the type of sugar the food contains.

Fiber slows the absorption of glucose, so including foods with high fiber content with meals helps stabilize blood sugar. Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in fiber and can feed certain ‘good’ gut bacteria (may need to improve your gut health to digest it without bloating) and helps to avoid constipation. It is found in foods like cauliflower, spinach, prunes, green peas, sprouted beans, almonds, and blackberries. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and forms a gel-like substance in the colon and includes foods like, lentils, chickpeas, chia seeds, flax seeds, broccoli, and avocado. Similarly, including protein with each meal helps slow down blood sugar spikes.

What is the Glycemic Index?

The glycemic index (GI) was developed to measure food’s impact on blood sugar. The higher the food is found on the index the faster it spikes blood sugar, while the foods found on the lower end of the glycemic index are more slowly digested and absorbed. Note that the glycemic index only applies to foods that contain carbohydrates.

A number of studies have found that following a low glycemic diet can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Following a low glycemic diet doesn’t have to be difficult. Along with including fiber and protein in each meal, it’s simply a matter of swapping a high glycemic food for a lower glycemic choice. Keep in mind that too much fructose, even if it is organic, can contribute to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), so be mindful when it comes to eating high fructose fruits like mangos, bananas, and pineapples.

Be Mindful of Your Beverages

The drinks we consume have a big impact on blood sugar. That’s because drinks are easily digested, resulting in a quick shot of glucose. One study found that people who drink at least one sweet drink a day have a 26 percent higher chance of developing diabetes!

Choosing an alternative isn’t always straightforward, however. Be careful with artificially sweetened drinks, as studies have linked some artificial sweeteners with an increased risk of diabetes.

Fruit juices should also be limited because of its high natural fructose sugar content — the glycemic index for fruit juice is very high, because it lacks the fiber found in fruit.

Instead, blend up whole fruit so that you get the fiber content, and be sure to add a source of protein and fat like nut butter or avocado. The VitaMix blender is fantastic for this purpose.

Water is always a good beverage choice for managing blood sugar, since it’s important to stay hydrated so you can eliminate excess glucose through urination. When your body is aware of extra glucose, it pulls water from the rest of your body, increasing your risk of dehydration. Just make sure that you are drinking clean, filtrated water. Much of our water systems currently are contaminated with heavy metals and a variety of chemical toxins.

A Variety of Exercise and Good Sleep

Exercise helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels by increasing insulin sensitivity and making your muscles more efficient in their absorption of that glucose it needs for energy. Studies suggest high-intensity interval training is the most effective, but many people find it difficult to keep up that level of intensity on a regular basis. A combination of a form of cardio that you can maintain over the long haul, plus resistance training, is an excellent and sustainable approach.

Getting enough sleep is important to stabilize blood sugar, since regular sleep helps maintain hormonal balance and a healthy weight. It also reduces inflammation. Frustratingly, high blood sugar can interfere with getting restful sleep. Practice good sleep hygiene, including sleeping in a cool, dark room and limiting drinks of any kind two hours before bedtime. Also, late night snacking is a sure way to help destabilize your blood sugar level and disrupt your sleep – as well as increasing your likelihood of gaining excess weight.

Helpful Supplements

Herbal supplements can also complement other treatments for blood sugar management. Cinnamon is particularly promising – plus, it has the added benefit of adding a bit of sweetness without sugar. Ginger is another supplement that is easy to incorporate into your diet, is anti-inflammatory and supports digestion.There are several other natural supplements and herbs that are fabulous at supporting your cardiovascular and blood sugar regulation systems.

Always work with a functional medicine healthcare practitioner, since many factors must be considered to determine the best form of supplementation.

Prevention is the Best Practice!

The complications of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes are serious, and can include heart and nerve damage, kidney disease, and eye damage. Take steps now to understand and control your blood sugar levels – your body will thank you! If you are already having symptoms, we can help you to get to the root cause so that you can stop progression in its tracks, and even oftentimes reverse the process. Your body has amazing capacity to heal itself when given the right support.  Contact us here to learn more. Our team, including health coaches, can help you to reset your metabolism to become more fat-burning, stop addiction to sugar, and balance your blood sugar so that you can have greater energy and vitality.

Sources

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Adams OP. The impact of brief high-intensity exercise on blood glucose levels. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2013;6:113-122. doi:10.2147/DMSO.S29222

Colberg SR, Sigal RJ, Fernhall B, et al. Exercise and type 2 diabetes: the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Diabetes Association: joint position statement. Diabetes Care. 2010;33(12):e147-e167. doi:10.2337/dc10-9990.

Chen C, Zeng Y, Xu J, et al. Therapeutic effects of soluble dietary fiber consumption on type 2 diabetes mellitus. Exp Ther Med. 2016;12(2):1232-1242. doi:10.3892/etm.2016.3377

Vega-López S, Venn BJ, Slavin JL. Relevance of the Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load for Body Weight, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease. Nutrients. 2018;10(10):1361. Published 2018 Sep 22. doi:10.3390/nu10101361

Bhupathiraju SN, Tobias DK, Malik VS, et al. Glycemic index, glycemic load, and risk of type 2 diabetes: results from 3 large US cohorts and an updated meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2014;100(1):218-232. doi:10.3945/ajcn.113.079533

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Risk of Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes, A meta-analysis Vasanti S. Malik, SCD,  Barry M. Popkin, PHD, George A. Bray, MD,, Jean-Pierre Després, PHD, Walter C. Willett, MD, DRPH, and Frank B. Hu, MD, PHD, Diabetes Care 2010 Nov; 33(11): 2477-2483. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc10-1079

The InterAct consortium. Consumption of sweet beverages and type 2 diabetes incidence in European adults: results from EPIC-InterAct. Diabetologia 56, 1520–1530 (2013).

Cinnamon Use in Type 2 Diabetes: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-AnalysisRobert W. Allen, Emmanuelle Schwartzman, William L. Baker, Craig I. Coleman and Olivia J. Phung, The Annals of Family Medicine September 2013, 11 (5) 452-459; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.1517

James W. Daily, Mini Yang, Da Sol Kim, Sunmin Park, Efficacy of ginger for treating Type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials,

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jef.2015.02.007.

A new collective experience of social anxiety has been amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic. Whether you suffered from social anxiety before or you’ve slowly developed social anxiety since being isolated and distanced from others, returning to post-pandemic “normal” life can seem more daunting than the onset of the pandemic itself for some people.

You are not alone in your concerns. Studies show that symptoms of social anxiety have increased significantly since 2020. The good news is, there are natural and effective ways to manage and cope with anxiety that will allow you to make a smoother, at-ease transition back into society.

Signs and Symptoms of Anxiety

To manage and cope with anxiety you must first understand the symptoms associated with it. If you or a loved one are experiencing any of the following symptoms, consult your healthcare provider or physician for clarification.

According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, the signs and symptoms of can anxiety include:

• Feeling nervous, irritable, or on edge
• Having a sense of impending danger, panic, or doom
• Having an increased heart rate
• Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation), sweating, and/or trembling
• Feeling weak or tired
• Difficulty concentrating
• Having trouble sleeping
• Experiencing gastrointestinal (GI) problems

Over the last year, social anxiety has been front-row-and-center as we have trained our brains to perceive people themselves as a threat due to the risk of contracting the virus. Fear of going outdoors, interacting with strangers and even fear of the air we breathe in proximity to others has been a concern for many!

As more and more have either already contracted the virus and built up an immunity to it or have become vaccinated, the threat ratio has lowered, however, our brain may not recognize the change and continue to ignite our fight or flight response.

Get Ready to Face Society Once Again

Before the pandemic, you may not have had to deal with anxiety and fear of social settings as you are now. You may also be feeling the pressure from work responsibilities, friends, and/or family to return to your normal routines.

If the idea of re-engaging with society is causing you to worry, here are some tips to help:

• Get outside of the house every day. Go for a walk, go to the pharmacy, do the groceries rather than store pick up.
• If your workplace will soon require you to return back to the office, head to your place of work, and walk around to regain that comfort and routine. The same goes for those attending college/university or children who attend school and fear going back to the classroom.
• Start socializing with others on the phone, video calls and gradually return to seeing them in person one at a time when you can.

Start off slow, and steadily work towards the more challenging activities until you can feel comfortable engaging with others in society again.

Coping Strategies to Help Reduce Anxiety

There are many safe, effective, and natural ways to help cope with anxiety, whether you have been dealing with social anxiety for some time or if this a new onset of the pandemic.

Psychologists note that avoiding these issues can have the opposite effect than what you would want and only provide a temporary sense of relief while in the long run actually lead to an increase in anxiety. So, getting clear on what you can do to ease your anxiety and taking action right now is important.

Exercise

Exercise has long been known to benefit our overall health and no matter your age, current physical activity, weight, abilities, or size, even small amounts of exercise have been shown to reduce anxiety, improve sleep, reduce tension, and boost overall mood.

If you are unsure how to begin to increase your physical activity and are anxious about going too far from home, try these simple changes to your daily routine so you too can reap the benefits of physical activity.

• Engage in active family playtime. Any game that gets everyone up and moving counts!
• Catch up on household chores such as cleaning out the closet. Vacuuming is also physical activity.
• Mow the grass, go for a walk, or take a bike ride.
• Make television watching more active by doing jumping jacks or push-ups during the commercials.

Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation is a form of calming your mind to increase focus, reduce stress, ease tension, and reduce anxiety levels. It has been scientifically shown to help alleviate the chaos that can crowd our minds, especially when faced with a fearful or anxious situation.

Using meditation to ease anxiety takes practice as in the beginning it may be difficult to calm our racing minds while diving deeper into our inner selves.

Try these mindfulness techniques that can help ground you when feeling anxious and out of control:

• Deep breathing exercises. Breathe in for five seconds, hold, breathe out for five seconds. Repeat 5 times or until you feel more calm.
• Visualize calming places like a beach, the lake, or somewhere you have fond memories.
• Keep a gratitude journal. Each morning or evening write down 3 things you are grateful for. Reach for this and read back on your thoughts to stay positive.

Supplements and Natural Therapies

Many people turn to medication in an effort to manage anxiety, but the reality is the side effects from medications can have their own impact on overall health. Natural supplements like adaptogens can help you cope, reduce depression, help with sleep and keep your system balanced while you are working through new and past anxieties. Speak with your natural health practitioner to find out what supplements will work best for your unique body.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a derivative of the cannabis, or marijuana, plant and has been used as a treatment for a range of neuropsychiatric disorders including anxiety with positive results.

Unlike other forms of cannabis, CBD oil does not contain THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) which is the ‘high’ causing substance of marijuana, therefore, it is an effective anxiety reducer without affecting mental function.

Smells and aromas have a way of triggering memories and many plant oils have a calming effect on our body and mind. Lavender for example has been shown to reduce heart rate in the short term and help to ease sleep issues in the long term.

Do Things That Bring You Joy

Remind yourself of all the things that bring you joy and can help soothe your feelings of anxiety. Watch a funny movie or TV show, read a good book, or learn a new skill.

If you have pets, they can be a great comfort and you can rely on them for emotional support and calm your anxious feelings. Plus, walking a dog routinely outside can help ease you back into socializing with others.

Set Boundaries & Goals

How you choose to reintegrate into ‘normal’ life is your own personal choice. You may be comfortable visiting friends in an open area such as a park, but uncomfortable socializing indoors. Make a list of what you feel comfortable doing and express your fears and concerns with your loved ones so they can clearly understand your needs.

Go a step further and record your feelings, emotions, fears, goals, and expectations in a journal or diary. Often when we see our thoughts on paper, they are easier to face and approach with a calm mindset.

Lastly, be open-minded and allow yourself to be friendly (you never know if others are feeling the same way as you). While you need to have empathy for yourself and validate how you feel it’s important to understand that many people are dealing with this reemergence too and are equally anxious about what it all entails.

Can You Achieve an Anxiety-Free Return to Society?

Peer pressure exists in all stages of life so always remember you have the choice to say “no” when a situation makes you uncomfortable. Your optimal health and mindfulness are vital to re-engaging with society, therefore, when feeling anxious or stressed, try the methods above to calm your mind and release your body from the fight or flight mode.

There are, and always will be, stressors in your life. Re-engaging your inner peace by actively recognizing your anxiety triggers will allow you to focus on moving past them. Knowing your own values, fears, hopes, and future goals will help to set your mind on a new course allowing you to act on resolving your anxiety.

If you are finding your anxiety is increasing, affecting your relationships with others, or controlling your life, don’t hesitate to give us a call to schedule a free Mid-life Women’s Health Reset Discovery Call. There are natural ways to help manage your stress and keep your body balanced so these new stressors are not taking control of your thinking. Also, if your body has become imbalanced, you may have underlying gut or adrenal conditions that we can assess and address to restore the balance. Give us a call, or schedule online here.

We are here to help!

References

Bohlmeijer  E, Prenger  R, Taal  E, Cuijpers  P.  The effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy on mental health of adults with a chronic medical disease: a meta-analysis.  J Psychosom Res. 2010;68(6):539-544.

Hofmann  SG, Sawyer  AT, Witt  AA, Oh  D.  The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: a meta-analytic review.  J Consult Clin Psychol. 2010;78(2):169-183.

Blessing, E.M., Steenkamp, M.M., Manzanares, J. et al. Cannabidiol as a Potential Treatment for Anxiety Disorders. Neurotherapeutics 12, 825–836 (2015).

Li-Wei Chien, Su Li Cheng, Chi Feng Liu, “The Effect of Lavender Aromatherapy on Autonomic Nervous System in Midlife Women with Insomnia”, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 2012, Article ID 740813, 8 pages, 2012.

Claire Thompson, Maria C. Mancebo, Ethan Moitra,

Changes in social anxiety symptoms and loneliness after increased isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, Psychiatry Research, Volume 298, 2021, 113834, ISSN 0165-1781.

Thankfully, evidence suggests there are a finite number of ways to influence aging. This means we’re not doomed by our genes, nor can we rely solely on our genes to carry us through long and healthy lives all the way into our 90’s. We can, however, do certain things to increase our chances of getting there. So, let’s get down to the conditions for living a long and healthy life. After all, what good is living a long life if we’re not disease and disability-free in old age? That’s the goal!

Why Do We Age?

There are many compelling theories on the subject of how and why we age dating back to antiquity. Some ancient philosophers believed in a version of the “rate of living” theory, which suggests each person possesses a mysterious “vital substance” that keeps them alive. This elusive life-giving ingredient was thought of as a predetermined, finite amount of heartbeats and breaths awarded to each person at birth to last throughout their lifetime. Luckily for us, this isn’t the case! However, the mystery of exactly how and why we age has yet to be fully solved.

Aging Occurs At The Cellular Level

One modern theory is the cross-linking/glycation hypothesis. As we age, the mobility and elasticity of structural molecules and proteins in our cells are impaired because of a cellular process called “cross-linking.”

Cross-linking occurs when cells form inappropriate attachments to one another, impairing the proteins’ functions, the same chemical process that causes food to turn brown when cooked.

Free Radicals

Evidence also suggests aging can be caused by free radicals causing oxidative damage to cells. Free radicals are the toxic byproducts of normal cellular metabolism. This creates a vicious cycle in which free radicals cause oxidative damage to cells, which in turn produces more free radicals. This unavoidable side effect of cell production leads to cell death, the result of which are the signs of aging.

Stress Is The Killer

All of the most compelling modern theories on aging point to cellular damage as the main cause for the deterioration of our bodies as we grow older. Both physical and emotional stress cause free radicals, oxidation, and damage to DNA – all factors that cause cell death and aging. Stress has the power to lower our immune system, increase inflammation, and destroy the brain cells that are responsible for memory.  This is because when we’re chronically stressed our bodies produce cortisol, a hormone directly linked to causing cell damage.

This is why if negative news ‘stresses you out’ – perhaps you should consider turning it off. There seems to be a tendency for excessive focus on negative news these days, so perhaps for the sake of your health – avoid it. You have the power to stop watching it if it isn’t serving your highest good.

It only makes sense that finding ways to lower stress is the best overall anti-aging remedy. Besides, why all the concern with living a long time if we’re always stressed out beyond belief? Incorporating stress-reducing tools day to day increases our quality of life, and that’s a top priority!

Physical And Psychological Stress

Both environmental, as well as lifestyle choices, can impact stress levels in the body. Heavy metals from polluted water, EMFs, chemicals, alcohol, cigarettes, and poor diet all contribute to the production of cortisol which means more stress.

People who suffer from chronic stress, depression, anxiety, trauma, and social isolation have similar damage in common at the cellular level. Studies show that stress shortens the length of a part of cells called telomeres. Shortened telomeres are a leading cause of cell death and aging.

The good news is we have some control over how we deal with stress. All we need is the awareness and the willingness to confront stress, and the right tools available to help us do so.

Holistic Stress Reducers

Living a stress-free lifestyle is the key to a long, happy, healthy life. The challenge, should we choose to accept it, is committing ourselves to reducing stress in our lives. After all, we can’t show up for life effectively if our minds are always clouded by stress. So, what are some tools we can use to manage and eliminate stress, one day at a time?

• Meditation has been proven to reduce stress by creating new neurological pathways in the brain. This makes new thoughts possible and helps shake us out of old habits. Taking a moment to quiet the endless stream of thoughts running through our minds allows us to take a piece of that tranquility with us throughout the rest of the day. Meditation makes a world of difference and doesn’t have to be intimidating! Even taking 5 to 10 minutes to center yourself before starting your day can be life changing.
• Healthy diet. Eating a healthy diet full of fresh organic vegetables, whole grains, and nutrient-rich proteins is key to longevity. Eliminating sugar and processed foods is a must for anyone concerned with living long and well.
• Physical activity. Implementing an exercise routine is essential to mental and physical wellness. Physical activity releases powerful stress-reducing endorphins in the brain. Yoga is especially helpful, as it combines meditation with exercise, naturally relaxing the body and mind.
• Good sleep. Sleep facilitates the function of the lymphatic system, which can be thought of as the brain’s garbage disposer. While we’re asleep, the brain works 10 times as hard to remove toxins, like the protein build-up responsible for Alzheimer’s disease.
• Limiting exposure to toxins. The effects of environmental toxins such as polluted water and poor air quality can seriously impact longevity over time. It’s been proven that people who live in places with cleaner air and access to fresh, clean water are known to live longer. Avoiding toxic materials, such as using plastic for food storage, is an easy way to start reducing toxicity in the body. Obtain a quality air purifier, water purifying system (I prefer one that attaches to the house water-main system for the whole house) and read your product labels carefully!
• Purposeful living. Living a purposeful life is the most important thing we can do to extend our longevity. One thing centenarians all have in common is feeling they have lived a life worth living. Studies show that people who live with a greater sense of purpose experience better quality sleep along with receiving the regenerative benefits of being well-rested.
• Practicing an attitude of gratitude is one way to ensure we live long and prosper.

A Note on Blue Zones

The places on earth with the greatest longevity are known as “Blue Zones,” and people who live there all have some major things in common. They tend to live with a greater sense of purpose and value healthy eating, exercise, and maintaining positive relationships with themselves and others. Hint: Constantly judging and trying to control the thinking of those around you creates strife, stress and is not conducive to a healthy lifestyle!

Japan is the country with the greatest longevity on the planet, one out of fifteen hundred Japanese citizens are over one hundred years old!

The answer is in the culture. Obesity rates are low, as the common Japanese diet consists mainly of plant food, fish, and non-sugar sweetened beverages. The Japanese value purposeful living and meditation is a regular practice among common people. Managing stress and living with purpose are the most important things we can do to increase longevity. The Japanese culture supports both, and the proof is in the population.

You Only Live Once!

As far as we know, this is our one and only life in this unique form that we are. It’s up to the individual to tend their own garden by implementing life-affirming, longevity-boosting lifestyles to ensure this life is meaningful, enjoyable, and lasts a good long time!

The good news is we’re definitely not alone on the journey. If you’re curious about ways to increase your longevity and overall quality of life, give us a call. We can help!

Sources:

Goyal M, Singh S, Sibinga EM, Gould NF, Rowland-Seymour A, Sharma R, Berger Z, Sleicher D, Maron DD, Shihab HM, Ranasinghe PD, Linn S, Saha S, Bass EB, Haythornthwaite JA. Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Intern Med. 2014 Mar;174(3):357-68. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.13018. PMID: 24395196; PMCID: PMC4142584.

Schultchen D, Reichenberger J, Mittl T, Weh TRM, Smyth JM, Blechert J, Pollatos O. Bidirectional relationship of stress and affect with physical activity and healthy eating. Br J Health Psychol. 2019 May;24(2):315-333. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12355. Epub 2019 Jan 22. PMID: 30672069; PMCID: PMC6767465.

Tsugane, S. Why has Japan become the world’s most long-lived country: insights from a food and nutrition perspective. Eur J Clin Nutr (2020).

Alimujiang A, Wiensch A, Boss J, et al. Association Between Life Purpose and Mortality Among US Adults Older Than 50 Years. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(5):e194270. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.4270

Diggs J. (2008) The Cross‐Linkage Theory of Aging. In: Loue S.J., Sajatovic M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Aging and Public Health. Springer, Boston, MA.

Lints FA. The rate of living theory revisited. Gerontology. 1989;35(1):36-57. doi: 10.1159/000212998. PMID: 2656413.

1. Cold hands and feet

2. Dry skin and hair

3. Brittle nails

4. Hoarseness

5. Weight Gain

6. Fatigue and low energy

7. Low Libido

8. Brain fog

…yet they are very often told their thyroid hormone levels are ‘normal’. And if they persist in complaining, they are often sent to the psychiatrist! I’ll say more about this lab test problem later. Then there are those who have symptoms such as:

1. Heart palpitations

2. Weight loss

3. Hair loss

4. Mood swings

5. Heat intolerance

6. Sweating

7. Headache, and

8. Nervousness

Likewise, I have clients with these symptoms who are told their thyroid levels are high and that they have autoimmune thyroid – but the immediate and only options given are:

1. Medications that suppress the thyroid hormone and symptoms – and have potential side effects that can be alarming

2. Surgery to remove the gland – with synthetic thyroid medication for the rest of their life

3. Radioactive therapy – ablation with synthetic thyroid medication for the rest of their life

I will say, when I was in the traditional medical system, the above situations were also the only options I could offer patients also. I just didn’t know what I didn’t know. But now…I know. And this is where knowledge can be power. What we need to do is heal the root cause that is creating the havoc in the thyroid gland itself. Most commonly, it is due to:

1. Chronic Stress – the most under-diagnosed cause and typically ignored

2. Gut dysbiosis/inflammation – Intestinal permeability

3. Nutritional deficiencies

4. Other causes of chronic inflammation in the body – and stress is a major source of all inflammation in the body, as well. This can lead to autoimmunity and malfunctioning of the immune system.

5. Miscellaneous medication toxicity, infections and environmental toxins.

Now, if none of these issues are even addressed – can you see why only suppressing symptoms or surgery may not be in your best interest?

If I had to choose just ONE thing, that is THE most underdiagnosed cause of thyroid gland dysfunction…I would have to say it is stress.

Chronic stress is outright dangerous to the health of your body and mind and I believe, if women knew just how deadly it was – we would take action to seriously learn what stress really is and ways to more effectively reduce it. In fact, stress causes up to 95% of all chronic diseases.

It is not just about overscheduling – though that can be a part of it. A major part of it stems from poor food choices, lifestyle habits and toxins that increase inflammation in our bodies, pre–diabetes and metabolic imbalances, lack of sleep…these all increase stress. Once our stress becomes chronic enough it begins to impair our adrenal glands, and this is the beginning of advanced aging and increased risk of chronic disease – regardless of your age.

Women during the perimenopausal and menopausal become even more susceptible to stress, not less.

Plummeting estrogen, progesterone and testosterone levels only throw fuel onthe fire. How does all this happen? What does stress have to do with thyroid imbalance?

The adrenal glands produce cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and DHEA. With excessive cortisol and dysregulation of our blood sugar, which it affects, thyroid hormone can become suppressed and get out of balance with the body and brain.

As we become more irritable, lose sleep, anxious – we start to create a vicious cycle. Chronic stress and menopause will also reduce our DHEA levels, which normally help to balance cortisol and give us energy support, as well.

We may eat more sugary ‘comfort foods’ or crave salt because of adrenal imbalance.

Our emotions can affect our body’s chemistry. Sugar will stimulate more inflammation, fat storage, and fat stores toxins. All of this will increase inflammation further. This is also a major reason for weight gain over time as we age.

It is not age itself that puts the weight on – it is inflammation and stress that does it!

Cortisol also affects inflammation and the immune system. Increased inflammation can become chronic when our system becomes dysfunctional because of all of this, and this sets off another chain reaction. This inflammation can raise cytokine activity to abnormal levels, which also interferes with thyroid hormone functionality. Increased susceptibility to infection,and weakened immunity are common outcomes. 

This can also create ‘leaky gut’ or intestinal permeability (IP), which is the more accurate clinical name for this. Functional medicine is uniquely able to address and heal this problem, unlike the traditional medical system, which simply dismisses the idea. I was not trained in the traditional system to even know what intestinal permeability is and it is still not addressed as a general rule.

Once IP or leaky gut happens, it is easier to start to have problems with autoimmunity.

As food particles, such as gluten and other food sensitivities develop, and the body unwittingly starts to make antibodies to these particles that then can now access the blood stream – autoantibodies can form. That is, your body starts to make antibodies against its own cells as well as the food particles.

If this happens to the thyroid gland receptors – there can be an increase in the production of active thyroid hormones due to stimulation of TSH levels. Ultimately, Grave autoimmune disease can develop, as well as other autoimmune problems. For some women, the opposite can happen with chronic stress – Hashimoto’s or hypothyroid autoimmune disease.

Our gut and brain are interrelated. Stress and poor eating habits will also affect the gut bacteria, which affects not only digestion and thyroid, but is also a cause of depression and anxiety.  It feeds well into the chronic disease spectrum at all levels, as well.

You may wonder, why is the diagnosis, especially of hypothyroidism, so often missed? The main reason is the testing parameters.

The ‘normal’ range for the traditional medical system is too broad and includes the population statistics of people who had existing thyroid disease. From a more functional medicine approach of ‘good functioning’, the range is much narrower. This functional range will catch more dysfunctional, or hypothyroid conditions.

It also correlates better with clinical findings. After all, people are human beings that need to be looked at clinically, not just lab data. If a woman has all the signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism, a red flag should be raised. When I was under a lot of stress and did not know what to do about it, this happened to me, also.

Once I fixed the stress, helped my adrenals, and dealt with the underlying issues, my symptoms went away, hair grew back, no more cold hands and feet, I returned to my ideal body weight – and the rest is history. All done without the scary drugs and it also reversed the root cause.

Nutrition genomics, or nutrigenomics is an amazing personalized tool that can also help to discern gene weaknesses that may need extra support for thyroid healthy functioning. There are bioidentical thyroid hormones that can support this. It operates under the science of epigenetics, which is a way to affect our gene expression in health producing ways. Your genes are NOT your destiny after all!

Without this information and root cause investigation, just being placed on synthetic hormones may not help anyway. If we as women want to live healthier lives and take back control of our health and aging process, we will have to be willing to look for solutions beyond, ‘business as usual’.  We will have to learn what stress is and what to do to break the cycle. I have found functional medicine is that path to empowerment and I am forever grateful that I went ‘outside the box’ and retrained.

Now I can actually support healing and health – and not simply ‘dis-ease’ care. If you are ready to take back control of our health and take control of stress, you can reach out to me and explore if functional medicine is right for you by scheduling a Free Discovery Session HERE.

Stress is a sense of overwhelm, a feeling of lack of ease or an alarm that your body is under an imbalance in some form.

It could be a threat – so your sense peace and safety are disrupted. Being a woman in an alpha male dominated world understandably takes extra self-awareness at times to hold our center. It is a skill to be able to keep an open heart while at the same time holding clear boundaries without having to put ‘heavy duty armor’ on metaphorically. It can be done, and it is healthier to be able to do so.

It could be that your physiology is out of balance due to your eating habits – so your hormones, like cortisol kick into gear to remedy the imbalance. Even chemical and food sensitivities can throw your body off balance. Increased stress could come from being out of balance with nature – not sleeping with your circadian rhythms, eating late at night, staying on your mobile devices too late – all of these factors throw off your health and well-being. 

Even those harsh ‘bootcamp’ exercise classes can imbalance your physiology, increase inflammation, and contribute to disease conditions when your adrenals are overworked excessively. Did you know this?

In this article, you will learn about five common foods that trigger stress – many of which you may be eating because they are all quite common in many of our restaurants, grocery stores, and probably pantry shelves at home for many women. So, you may be wondering – how does the foods we eat create stress?

When we regularly eat high sugar, high carbohydrate (high glycemic) meals for example, we send our blood sugar on a rollercoaster ride. This can cause sugar spikes followed by sugar crashes.

These crashes create anxiety and causes not only our cortisol levels to drop and spike, but also our insulin levels. If this is a common enough occurrence, we develop insulin resistance, which means our cells are not as sensitive to insulin’s efforts to stabilize and lower our blood sugar. If this occurs, you are well on your way to developing prediabetes or Type2 Diabetes.

When this happens, we can get higher and higher insulin levels which cause us to store excess fat, increases inflammation throughout the body but especially in our deep belly tissues, and creates sugar and other food cravings. If we are over-eating sugar, chances are we are not eating more of the healthier foods and macro and micronutrients that stabilizes our blood sugar and energy – thus creating a vicious cycle of hunger and annoying health symptoms – such as anxiety, brain fog, irritability, sugar cravings, hot flashes and weight gain. 

When we learn what to eat, it is a first step to creating new lifestyle habits that slow down aging and prevents chronic disease, hormonal imbalances, and other signs normally attributed to aging. We can affect our rate of aging through the use of food, lifestyle and our mindset.

Aging is a process, and it is does not necessarily correlate with the number of years you have been on this planet.

Regularly eating the foods on this list of foods to avoid, will accelerate aging and your risks for having a difficult perimenopause/menopause experience, moodiness, social isolation, distractibility and lack of focus, and other common unpleasant symptoms that are ubiquitous it seems in our modern-day society in general. What are these foods?

1. Sugar Triggers Stress

Sugar can create a real addiction; it literally is habit forming. Refined sugars and processed foods easily stir up problems for your adrenal and cortisol system in your body by causing erratic production of cortisol. Insulin production also increases in response to surging blood sugar levels.  Also, by potentially activating pleasure systems in the brain that release dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with addictions, it is easily habit forming. 

Some people are more genetically prone than others, though the good news is, by using food as medicine and other lifestyle skills, we can literally change our very gene expression to change our body’s responses and break our sugar addictions. The ability to affect our gene expression is known as ‘epigenetics’. And a word of caution – starting your day off with a high carbohydrate sugared-filled breakfast will put you on the fast track to ‘dis-ease’ and aging. The type of breakfast foods you eat can set the pace for your energy all day long.

Nuts, seeds, green vegetables such as leafy greens, salads, asparagus, chicken, fish and the good old standby eggs with use of olives and olive oil – can all also be eaten for breakfast for a change. Or try almond or coconut-based yogurts and you can add collagen and other protein powders of your choice. Just make sure they are clean and organic. 

2. Processed Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs)

The type of fats you eat affect your levels of inflammation and hormones – which affect your stress levels. 

We need healthy cholesterol to make hormones and brain cells.

Processed, polyunsaturated vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, safflower, corn, soybean are common examples) cause a buildup of excessive amounts of Omega-6 fatty acids, and most people are not getting enough of the anti-inflammatory Omega 3 forms from fish (DHA, EPA in particular are higher) and plant-based, such as chia seeds for example that are most protective. 

I do want to emphasize though that the Omega 3 in the form of DHA and EPA from animals/fish is most protective from inflammation and supports chronic disease prevention, diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis and mood disorders for example. You can learn more about essential fatty acids from this article on the Weston Price Foundation on ‘Good Fats, Bad Fats’, HERE .

Here’s one more important point: when these polyunsaturated fats are exposed to toxic sugar products, especially fructose – they can oxidize. Oxidized lipids can actually cause blood vessel disease and increase chronic inflammatory disease and cardiovascular problems. This is also why the quality of your fish oil even matters because if it is a poor quality, it could be causing more harm than good.

PUFAs are easily turned inflammatory because they are unstable and sensitive to sunlight. Inflammation is one of the four key stressors. While we need some of these types of fats, it is the source and quality that matters most. Also, beware of the clear plastic bottles which contain toxic chemicals and the oils themselves often contain GMOs and pesticides when not organic. This is one category of oils, however, that even if organic – if processed and chemicalized by plastic bottles are not the best choices.

Keep in mind that the TYPE of fat matters to health. Our body needs both monosaturated and some saturated fat in low amounts also. In fact, the monosaturated fats are healthier for our body than the excessive polyunsaturated fats that are massed produced that most people are eating. You can find monosaturated fats in unrefined olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut.

Lastly, when you reduce sugar and increase healthy fats, you are more likely to increase your energy levels, balance your hormones and even lose weight.

Why? The ‘low’ fat diet creates more room for ‘high carb’ foods, that ultimately get converted and stored as fat in your body due to the excessive amounts of sugar you eat instead. Low fat and high carbs increase sugar cravings. Healthy fats reduce hunger and provides more energy between meals. Also, protein is important for physiologic functioning in your body, and if you are not getting enough, you will become malnourished and age quickly.

3. High Glycemic Fruit Juice Triggers Stress

I used to think that apple juice was healthy until I realized how dangerous sugar is for our liver and adrenals. Now that my focus is on taking control of stress and doing it using functional medicine – I have even more of a sense of urgency in getting this message out to people. 

When we drink fruit juice – especially processed juice that is striped of the body of the fruit – we are essentially drinking sugar.

It throws our adrenal system into the rollercoaster ride of sugar spikes and crashes. This is a source of creating sugar cravings – of course along with cookies and doughnuts.

Fructose is a major cause of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Yes, that is correct – and NAFLD is a leading cause of having to need a liver transplant – even in teens. Scary enough, NAFLD currently affects 10-20% of the U.S. population and you need not be obese either. The processed, high carbohydrate-filled (sugar) Standard American Diet (SAD) is the major source of this problem.

Fruit in moderation is a good idea, especially the highly nutrient dense, low glycemic berries. I feel better and healthier now that I no longer choose the high sugar category fruits, such as bananas, apples, mangos and grapes as examples. Having an occasional piece of whole, organic fresh fruit of course can be helpful – and it is a matter of balance with other food groups. It can be a source of healthy fiber also. Because my body functions best on a lower carb, higher plant-based fats with moderate protein diet, I focus on the berry category as a whole. This does not mean I can never eat other fruits – it is just a lot less often.

4. White Flour and Stress

While flour is very processed, high in carbs and stripped of fiber. When high carb sugar is dumped into our blood without fiber to slow down absorption, it is a sugar bolster into the bloodstream. It also contains gluten typically. Gluten, especially from our processed wheat flours can be highly inflammatory for many people and it does not require that you have celiac disease. It is sticky and affect the flow of your bowels, affecting stool and frequency of bathroom habits.

Does this all sound familiar now? Can you see the interconnections and repeating themes of how sugars are throwing off your adrenals and hormonal systems? Of course, bread and pasta are in this category. I used to LOVE bread. This included muffins, cookies and cakes. I truly had a sweet tooth and it did take its toll on some of my teeth, unfortunately as a child. Fortunately, my bones are strong and as a young adult, I started developing an interest in food and health early on, so I was able to stop the cavities.

Now that I have broken this addiction also, I have found health options in the form of almond and coconut flour-based breads. Even cauliflower can be used as a main ingredient to make tortilla like flat bread substitutes that work beautifully and tastes good. We humans are creatures of habit – it’s just a matter of which habits will you choose. Those that make you sick and prematurely age you, or those that give your more vitality and ability to thrive?

I just also have to make some comments on white rice because I see so many malnourished vegans. I actually like rice, white rice included, but when I realized it was not only a big source of sugar but also arsenic – I had to move on.

5. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

Did you know that HFCS is so ubiquitous, it is in a popular brand ketchup, in bread and even in popular peanut butter brands? Jelly? Fruit juices? Breakfast Cereals? Sodas? Crackers? Candy? Cough Syrup?…on, and on, and on. Remember what I just said above about NAFLD? Fructose – highly processed, highly sweet fructose corn syrup – may be the number one cause. Read those labels and avoid it like the plague if you want to maintain healthy weight and cortisol levels. 

Some of us also have genetic tendencies that make it even worse. But here is the good news about genetics – your genes are not your destiny! I have some ‘obesity’ genes, but I am not overweight. The difference nowadays than when I was a child eating too much sugar is that now we have rampant pesticide and environmental toxins to deal with as well. 

We also have more processed dry foods and meats than ever. This includes dairy and other vegan food substitutes. We now have extreme stress levels due to our lack of sleep and 24/7 culture. Our intense emphasis on work without relaxation and recreation time. No time for even ‘cool down’ in some exercise classes – which are the ones I definitely avoid. 

The key is mindset and lifestyle. We can’t change the system overnight, but we can stop supporting it with our attention and money.

Ultimately – the bottom line of profit is going to decide what institutional changes are made in this country and in the world at large. It’s time for the ‘masses’ to wake up if we are as a society ever going to move the needle on chronic disease and obnoxiously expensive healthcare with poor outcomes.

In summary – avoid excessive sugar and processed foods and oils to avoid adding to your stress levels. Eat more healthy plant-based fats (please do NOT cook with olive oil, unless very low heat to sauté – maybe). Get between 20-25% of your calories from healthy, organic, farm-raised protein sources of meat, nuts, (peanuts are legumes by the way and can be a problem for a few different reasons) and wild caught fish. 

Continue be open to learning – we have a lot of misinformation to delete off of the hard drives of our minds. What I discussed in this article is focused on things that aggravate inflammation and blood sugar levels – there are other key stressors I will discuss in other articles.

Why is stress and burnout such an important topic for busy professional women in particular? I put myself in this category also, and I’m so passionate about it because it almost sabotaged my life and professional work early on in my career. Women often take on too much trying to care for everyone else but themselves, and frankly, we are typically conditioned by the world around us to do so. This is one reason why we do not tend to our own stress. Another reason is that we do not know how to, nor understand what really causes stress and burnout.

What is stress? If you search the word online, you will likely see some scary images of people who look like they are being tormented with anxiety or severe mental distress. Some look totally overwhelmed and unable to cope. This is a common misconception and a gross exaggeration! The fact is, most people in our society are struggling with stress on a daily basis…even with a smile on their faces. When we realize what stress is and where it comes from, we are better empowered and enabled to avoid burnout.

As an MD medical doctor extensively experienced and trained in psychotherapy coaching techniques, and also functional medicine, stress is one of the most prevalent issues I see in my practice. I believe that you need to take a holistic Mind-Body-Spirit approach to resolve stress before it turns into burnout.

Fortunately, I have learned over time just how dangerous this is for our health and well-being and made it a part of my business (literally) to learn what stress really is, and to learn stress self-regulating skills. Let’s face it – the world around us is not likely to change much very soon. The sooner we learn how to better deal with it, the better!

Chronic stress leads to common symptoms for example, such as anxiety, irritability, weight gain, hormonal imbalances, food cravings, sleep disturbances, recurrent colds, cold hands and feet, hair loss, digestion issues, recurrent infections, low energy and libido, and even lack of motivation!

You can probably see how this will affect your confidence, career, and even relationships!

You can think of stress as feelings of overwhelm that connect with our sense of survival and activates our body’s ‘fight, flight or freeze’ response. Also, stress affects our adrenal-brain connection physiologically, which leads to these physical symptoms and if not treated at the root cause, can result in chronic disease. As stress becomes chronic, it can lead to burnout which causes common mental, emotional, and physical, ‘dis-eases’ which are currently plaguing our society at this time.

There are four key stressors that you want to learn about in order to begin to ‘take back control’ and live a more healthy and thriving life. One has a focus on the mental and emotional realms, and the other three have to do with our food and lifestyle habits.

When we overemphasize ‘hard work’ and struggle and do not understand the necessity of rest, restoration, and renewing our mind as well as how some foods contributes to this, we accelerate our aging.

We increase our risk for low energy and low libido due to inflammation and hormonal issues, and chronic weight gain in particular when we do not understand how food, mindset, and lifestyle are at the root causes of these symptoms. These symptoms are commonly associated with a variety of health concerns. Considering how expensive our traditional disease-care system is these days, ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a TON of cure’, not only a ‘pound’.

I can say that it is better and easier to stop a problem, illness, etc., from happening than to stop or correct it after it has started. Though now that I have also trained as a Functional Medicine specialist, I am grateful so say that we can actually reverse and prevent much of chronic disease that I was taught in traditional medical school to be ‘incurable. Our bodies are very resilient and can heal when we know what to do and why.

In the realm of Functional Medicine, you would be surprised how much capability we have to heal and reverse many chronic, common diseases. At the root cause of 90-95% of chronic disease is stress and the root causes of stress. This is why is it very important to educate yourself about prevention and reversing stress and burnout and their causes, and what you can do about it.

The 4 Key Stressors

Stress essentially is triggered by four basic pillars as shown in the photo below. I will briefly address all four. While you may be familiar with the idea that food, inflammation, and sleep could be connected to stress, very few health practitioners specifically discuss what follows.

The mental/emotional and even spiritual causes of stress (no sense of purpose or feeling disconnected) are often totally overlooked in terms of what is at the root cause of this category of the four stressors. I want to emphasize these areas in particular because hardly anyone talks about this area in the way I will share in this post.

1. Blood Sugar Imbalance

Sugar. Sugar by itself, in excessive amounts, can cause adrenal-axis dysfunction, known as Glycemic Dysregulation. Your brain and body need energy under perceived (whether real or imagined) stressful conditions. Sugar or glucose is one form of energy that is readily available. One important role of the adrenal gland and cortisol is glucose regulation.

Your adrenal glands (located on top of your kidneys) release cortisol as a response to regulate blood sugar levels by affecting insulin levels. While this can be helpful for acute ‘fight or flight’ they can be disastrous when we have chronic stimulation of this process, day in and day out. Individuals who consume a lot of sugar can become ‘insulin-resistant’ and this process starts to dysregulate or dysfunction. This can lead to a low blood sugar crash after a meal, which again, will retrigger the cortisol response. This rollercoaster response of the blood sugar can lead to a vicious circle and become difficult to control.

The macronutrients (fat, protein, or carbohydrate) content of our foods matter, particularly at breakfast time. If your first meal of the day is high in sugar (carbohydrates), over time you may accelerate problems within your hormonal and stress response systems. People who have chronic stress will likely to experience these types of dysregulation problems. Eating low-glycemic fruits and vegetables are quite important to this process to keep a good balance in blood sugar.

Read those labels! For the purpose of this discussion, let’s define high levels as more than 15-20 carbs per serving. Having been a ‘go-getter’ and over doing things for too long, I like many, have a history of being in the chronic stress category. I see a definite improvement in sugar craving and hunger since making this breakfast shift. I no longer need to carry protein bars and can go 4–5 hours between meals without any hunger during the daytime, even longer between dinner and breakfast the next day. What a difference!

There is no such thing as an overall ‘one size fits all’ best diet/food plan; this concept of the effects of breakfast sugar is based on the physiology of the stress response, particularly under chronic stress.

Having a ‘my diet is better than your diet’ argument is probably not going to be productive and may even raise our stress levels! In general, breaking your overnight fast (which is what ‘break-fast’ is), with high carbohydrates will likely cause mid-morning or afternoon brain fog or energy crash. Healthy fats and protein do not cause a sharp rise in blood glucose levels and tend to suppress hunger much better.

2. Chronic Inflammation

We are starting to hear more about inflammation, but we often do not connect the dot as to where this inflammation is coming from. It can come from our food sources, with sugar and processed foods leading the charge. It can come from toxins in our environment. It can also come from excessive ‘bootcamp’ style exercise!

What is often not considered as a source that is a very real source, are our toxic thoughts and emotions. Our mindset can ‘inflame’ our bodies. Just think about the effects of anger. While anger is a natural emotion and can inspire or energize us to take action, when we are chronically angry, anger itself is a cause of inflammation. Think about the idea that, ‘he was inflamed with anger.’ This is more than just a metaphor!!

One final cause I will mention here is lack of sleep! Sleep is our body’s chance to heal itself and to recover. When we don’t sleep enough or have restorative sleep, we are much more likely to trigger the biochemical responses of excessive inflammation in our body. Some inflammation is normal and an important part of our immune system, however when out of balance high or low end, it can lead to autoimmune problems or even lack of an ability to fight off infection.

3. Sleep

Well, you probably knew this was coming! I have personally come to realize just how dangerous lack of sleep is. Even as a physician of many years, I had no idea how deadly a lack of sleep can be for our health and well-being until I retrained in Functional Medicine in recent years.

There was a period of time of four years when my children were younger that I would routinely go to bed at midnight and wake up at 4:30am! This was during a time when I was also running a very busy medical practice and doing such a good job with spending time with my children, that at age 7, my son said to me, ‘mom, you don’t seem like you work because you are always here’. I built my schedule, planning and life around their schedules.

Little did he realize at that age and time just how much effort I was putting in to make this impression! Knowing what I know now, I would not have pushed myself this hard.

Lack of enough sleep can dysregulate not only your stress and cortisol, through this mechanism you can disrupt your thyroid, your sex hormones and even add inches to your waistline!

This is nothing to play with. When combined with lack of sleep, poor eating habits and inflammation, a perfect storm of chaos is created in the body’s system that can lead to prediabetes, hypothyroidism, autoimmune conditions, ‘leaky gut’ and gut disturbances, menopausal and peri-menopausal problems, PCOS, anxiety and more.

Hopefully, it is obvious why sleep is fundamental to ‘anti-aging’. As you can start to see by now, chronic disease is not about our age in years – even young adults are now experiencing these conditions with greater and greater frequency. HOW we age is what really matters.

One key area that is typically ignored is staying on technology devices or watching television into the evening hours. The blue-white light that is emitted can literally raise your cortisol and stress levels and disrupt your sleep quality! No joke! At the very least, use a good quality blue blocker eyewear protection, and even better, stay off of devices at least one hour before bedtime. Lifestyle medicine is an idea whose time has arrived and is greatly needed.

4. Mental and Emotional

Mental or emotional causes of stress can also be perceptual in terms of ‘how we see or feel’ about a situation. If this situation feels ‘novel’, or like a threat to our person or ego, or feels unpredictable or that we have a sense of loss of control…. it triggers our stress response of ‘fight, flight or freeze‘. This is why some people may love public speaking while others are terrified even at the thought of it! This category of stress requires special skills training to overcome.

Many people think that practicing mindfulness is a panacea that will alone,…and of course, in a short period of time (the quick fix), take care of this category. This is simply not the experience of many people, nor of my own. Mindfulness practice is an important aspect of beginning to retrain our brain to deal with this aspect of stress, but it is only the first step.

Mindfulness allows us to observe our thoughts and feelings, but we must then have tools and skills to ‘self-regulate’ our thoughts, feelings – intentions and attention – so that we are best able to take back the steering wheel of our mind. We must learn emotional resiliency.

This is more layered than it initially appears. This is where I tend to pay attention to stress management in a different way and where most physicians are not aware to do so. Remember stress management is not just about food, exercise, and sleep, though as I have already pointed out, they do matter.

For example, our own self-image and level of confidence will affect how we respond to the 4 Key Aspects of Mental/Emotional Stressors, which are:

• Novelty
• Threat to our ego (real or imagined)
• Lack of predictability
• Need for control

This is where learning how to transform our perception and ‘retrain our brain’ comes in. This is a skill set that we can all learn. As an entrepreneur, I can say that I am exposed to all four of these key aspects on a regular basis. I have observed in myself over the decades the power of these skills to bring greater confidence, fulfillment, less stress, and greater physical health and well-being when used with self-awareness. I now have greater emotional resiliency because of this.

A few words about spirituality and stress. When we do not have a sense of purpose or contribution that comes from our authentic heart, we may struggle with the meaning of our lives. Having a sense of connection with a higher power, purpose, or to nature can help us to live with more joy, inner peace and even tap into our own unique form of creativity easier. As you can imagine, this would all be stress alleviating on several levels.

You will generally not hear about these mental/emotional/spiritual aspects of stress management from your healthcare provider, whether in functional or traditional medicine. Understanding our ‘whole self’ is central to being able to live a life of thriving, not simply surviving.

Maintaining good health takes conscious effort in the world we live in now due to food quality challenges, excessive environment toxins, and a work environment and society that does not tend to honor self-care and downtime.

In order to be in control of our health, we will have to reeducate ourselves and look for alternative healthcare options and modalities that allow our body to tap into its natural healing powers. We can prevent and reverse many common chronic conditions when we understand how and have a strong enough desire to learn how to do so. This is a personal journey and the science is here now to validate many of the holistic approaches I use.

Yet, many of these approaches I used before the science substantiated it – like mindfulness of example – are now recognized quite broadly. Personally, I decided a while back not to wait on consensus from science but to trust my own experience – and it has served me well. I invite you to explore new ways of thinking about your health so that you can better empower yourself to thrive also.

Next Steps….

It’s my mission to help as many people as possible to live beyond stress and burnout. Please help me with this mission by sharing this blog post! ????????

If you’d like to learn more about how stress can lead to burnout, aging and low energy, I invite you to watch my free webinar on this exact topic.⁠ You can access it by going to the link at Taking Control of Stress and Burnout .

If you would like to learn how you can begin to transform your experience with stress, schedule your Free Discovery Session with me Here

The fact is, stress and lack of self-care are killing us. Stress is the basic core root reason for 90-95% of all disease, particularly chronic disease, which is crushing our country right now. Symptoms of low energy, low libido and chronic weight gain is typically associated with stress at a root cause level in some form as a medical condition. If we don’t learn how to manage and self-regulate how we perceive and deal with stress, if we don’t make room to unwind our own mind and nurture with compassion our own needs, we will continue to drive ourselves into sickness and disconnection from others, frankly.

Self-care is not selfish; it is the path of wisdom. Once we are in a better place mentally, emotionally and spiritually, we can be in a better place emotionally and have the clarity and energy to participate in the community in tangible and healthy ways instead of constantly seeking attention and validation from outside sources – like social media or by distracting our pain and feelings of isolation with drugs or busyness.

Where does this belief that to care for yourself is selfish coming from? The short answer is conditioning. We are conditioned to believe that we are supposed to self-sacrifice, that humility means ‘self-deprecation’, that we are supposed to focus exclusively on the happiness of others even to our own detriment. We are unconsciously taught that we are supposed to work ‘hard’ and worry about what others think of us if we are to be socially acceptable and ‘normal’. This conditioning is one reason why stress and the cult of busyness are so out of control. We are so external focused, we don’t know who we are, what we really want from our heart and soul, and what we value.

Therefore we live and breathe in survival mode. Too tired to sleep and too busy to think about how we are making ourselves ill in mind, body, and spirit. Yet, now that the clarion call is starting to go out regarding the majority (greater than 50%) of individuals in our society are suffering from such conditions as depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, obesity, chronic disease, insomnia, loneliness…on and on..and there is now a growing focus for ‘self-care’ to help people to take care of their self. Suddenly also, I’m starting to notice that there is a growing conversation that ‘self-care equals selfish’. This is just not true.

Why is self-care not selfish?

1. Self-care helps us to stop the vicious circle of imbalance and have more heart space for others – doing too much and not giving yourself a break, some quiet time, some nurturing – will only continue to feed the cycle of chronic anxiety and stress which is coming from our need to ‘survive’ which is really only a perception and separates us from others psychologically. We tend to feel isolated.
2. Self-care can turn off this chronic stimulation of the ‘fight, flight, freeze’ response that contributes not only to chronic disease development but also to narcissism and self-centeredness due to insecurity, just the opposite effect of healthy self-care.
3. It is the chronic fatigue and poor diet, lack of sleep and lack of self-care lifestyle that actually make us mentally and emotionally unstable and less likely to seek support and community than when our soul is nourished and rested. Self-care is personally and societally healing.

I submit that one of the driver’s of this wildly growing trend in poor health of mind and body is because we are so externally focused – on others, work, technology and media – that:

• We neglect our sleep and struggle with fatigue and anxiety
• We work too much and are too distracted by the external call to ‘do more’
• We don’t have time/make time to learn the truth about food and lifestyle and how important all this really is – we eat ‘fast food’
• We feel chronic insecurity because the truth is – we don’t love/accept our self in general – hence we over do things to constantly prove our self-worth
• We never make time for reflection and introspection – we are too busy striving and focusing on others to our own detriment
• We become so needy due to this lack of self-awareness and neglect – that we actually do become more selfish due to our chronic competitiveness, anxiety and craving attention from others
• We are disconnected from our soul because of all this

In fact, some people are so busy ‘serving’ to get love, security and self-esteem from external sources that they are damaging their adrenal, hormonal and digestive balance – and prematurely aging themselves. Hence, what looks on the surface like altruism is actually lack of self-compassion and workaholism to cover emotional pain of some form or to gain approval.

Then when we burnout, wake up, and attempt to find more life balance and joy for ourselves so that we can be more engaged with our own lives and feel the connection to others without worrying about what we will get out of it – when we try to take care of ourselves AS we are taking care of others – here comes the finger-pointing and shaming with the label ‘selfish’. When are we going to learn that it is a both/and proposition in order to thrive?

We can BOTH care for ourselves AND care for others. In fact, I know for sure that as I stopped overdriving myself professionally and from being a pleaser or seeking validation, I learned how to value sleep, recreation, took the time to relearn how to use food as medicine and more holistic natural approaches, dealt with my fears, anxieties and compulsive behaviors – and lo and behold, I started having better relationships!

I stopped being so focused on survival and being self-centered, feeling tired and getting mental fatigue or unfocused easily by twisting myself into a knot to fit into ‘the box’ and instead I got in contact with my own unique heart and soul expression. I found my voice…one of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn, even if it didn’t look that way to others. And, I connect with those that I feel a connection with and show them support for all the ‘right’ reasons. And, I definitely give myself some of this care also.

We can learn how to BOTH take care of our self AND take care of others. It doesn’t have to be either/or, black or white. That is the old way of thinking. Self-care is ‘personal lifestyle care’.

We are in a world that lacks joy and connection because we are so tired and burnt out, there is not enough energy to be present to the person in front of us. Instead, we seek to feel good by seeking attention, ‘likes’ on social media, and become easily distracted and addicted to our devices. We have forgotten how to ‘love the one you’re with’ as the old song goes. Frankly, this state of mind sounds more stressed and selfish to me. Making time for self-care for me has been lifesaving from a health perspective and has given me the focus, confidence, and energy to create healthy relationships and boundaries.

To attempt to shame people into submission by continuing to push them to serve others and institutions outside of their self without consideration for their own needs is ‘business as usual’.

Don’t expect to reduce the rise in chronic disease until people start to respect their own health needs for rest and restoration. Our bodies need a chance to slow down and heal. Our mind needs some silence. Our hearts need space to heal from our inner emotional wounds. Yes, we need more self-care and in doing so, we are more likely to heal our soul and thus our body, in the process…and ultimately restore healthy social bonds and community. Stressed, sick people create a stressed, sick society.

As we heal ourselves, we are in a better place to be a healing inspiration for others and also to have the time and energy to participate again in community with others.

We can learn to do this as an integrated lifestyle. As we care for our self, we also can shift the pattern of seeking attention from others and looking for love in all the wrong places. Instead, we can give it to ourselves. And as we love and care for ourselves, we make more room in our hearts to give to others. It’s just the way our mind and body works,

For those who wish to continue to neglect their own self-care, that is a personal choice as well. I do not judge this. The question I have is, can we stop interfering with the personal choices of others who are on a different path than ourselves? In so doing, maybe we can make the world less stressful and self-centered in the thinking of the collective mind. To each his/her own. Let’s us all find our own way, in our own time. Then maybe there will be more room for peace and for people to reach their own authentic expression, healthy mind and body, and their own authentic greater potential.

What are your thoughts about stress and self-care? I’d be curious to know.