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Live Life Stress Free
Stress wreaks havoc on virtually
every organ in your body and unbalances your blood sugar, which in turn
impacts your health in many ways.
We tend to view stress as toxic
to our minds but we generally don’t consider its potentially harmful
effects on the body. Stress plays a direct role in how your body
responds to the hormones that raise blood sugar levels. “Under stress,
your body goes into the ‘fight or flight’ mode, raising blood sugar
levels to prepare you for action,” says Richard Surwit, PhD, author of
The Mind-Body Diabetes Revolution.
We have no shortage of stress is
our lives, and getting everyone out of the house in the morning is a
stressful way to start the day. Forgotten lunch bags, burned breakfasts,
lost keys, early morning meetings – weekday mornings can make you feel
like Lucy Ricardo in the chocolate factory.
If you are not a morning person,
then an early workout at the gym or a run around the block is not for
you, but skipping breakfast is not one of the things you should do
either. And you all know how I feel about the “drive through” at your
favourite java hut.
Make breakfast a breeze. Sari
Harrar of Prevention Magazine and the author of The Sugar Solution,
which deals with keeping your blood sugar in its proper range, suggests
some easy ways to make sure your breakfast on the run is nutritious and
isn’t simply filled with sugar and trans fats.
1.
Buy a week’s worth of single-serving yogurt, cottage cheese, baby
carrots, raisins, and nuts. Pre-bag portions of high fibre cereal and
buy drinking box sizes of milk substitutes such as rice milk, almond
milk, etc. Hard-boil a dozen eggs on Sunday and store them in the
fridge, them dump a peeled hard boiled egg and a pinch of salt in a
re-sealable bag.
2.
My favourite is to put all the ingredients for a healthy smoothie
into the blender and store in fridge overnight. In the morning just turn
on the blender, and presto, breakfast that you can take to an
early meeting in a thermos, or sip on the drive to work, drink it while
sitting on your deck (even if only for a few minutes), or waving goodbye
to the kiddies as they leave for school.
3.
Make the commute to the office as pleasant as possible. While we
can’t control traffic jams, we can look at other routes to the office
that will take us out of the way of returning university or college
students making their way to school at this time of year.
4.
Make a long drive more enjoyable by filling your car with bird
songs, or your choice of soothing music. Think of this time in your car
as special private time that belongs to only you. Don’t turn on the cell
phone until you are in the parking lot at work. No one needs to talk to
you while you are on the way to the office. And besides, your answering
service will take a message that you can return when you arrive.
5.
Listen to yourself. Stress often begins with the thoughts running
around in your head – “I am going to be late,” “I am letting someone
down,” “I don’t know how I’ll ever get everything done today”…instead
think, “Today is going to be an experience, and I have what it takes to
make it a success.”
Start changing your inner nag by
thinking positive things about yourself: “I am calm and in control.”
Make your affirmations specific to yourself…and be sure to compliment
yourself at least three times every day.
Find something you like and
remind yourself as the day progresses. It will make a world of
difference to how you feel at the end of the day when starting home. It
will improve the time it takes to get through all those “under
construction” parts of our lovely city. Use the time to compliment
yourself on how you handled the day.
You’ll be surprised at how much
better you’ll feel when arriving home. Besides, the night is still
young, and the kids have after school and after dinner activities. This
change in how you feel could even stimulate you to make dinner from
scratch…but then that’s a different article.
Remember good health is your
choice.
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