Monday, November 05, 2007

Stressed to the Max!


Hi friends,

So the busier my life becomes, and it only ever seems to get busier, I find myself feeling the affects of stress in my body more acutely and constantly having to remind myself about how important good nutrition and exercise are in the midst of craziness.

My neck hurts, I get forgetful and cranky and I don’t digest my food very well when I’m a bit edgy! Sometimes stress leaves me with a glazed look on my face and other times busy-ness can affect my quality of sleep, which leads to all sorts of new stress symptoms! I am daily doing my stretches, squeezing in 1/2 an hour on the treadmill whenever I can and remembering to drink water. I’m also writing lists to help me from getting more stressed about the different things I have to do and hoping I haven’t forgotten anything!

When we feel stressed we can get all worked up about eating properly, some of us overeat while others of us don’t eat much at all. A lot of the time, stress can lead to constipation or diarroea. Ugh. If we live in this stress zone constantly, we can do damage to our bodies that we may not be able to undo later in life.

All sorts of things are going on inside us when we’re on the edge. B vitamins, which are essential for energy and certain hormone functions (B6 is usually lacking when we get PMT) are depleted when we’re stressed as well as magnesium and vitamin C just to name a few. Lacking in magnesium can lead to headaches and muscle pain, and vitamin C as we all know is essential for our immunity and helps keeps our heart happy.

We may think that coffee, jelly snakes and chocolate are essential to our stress survival and keep us going, but poor eating habits can set us up for all sorts of other problems that will give us more to worry about! Did you know that excess caffeine in our bloodstream can affect calcium absorption?

I guess that moral of the story is….in the midst of our busy lives, it’s so important to take care of ourselves and stay strong to be able to go the distance. We all know it, but I think every once in a while we need a gentle nudge and reminder.

In regards to food, remember the 5+2 principle? In a day we should eat 5 serves of veggies and 2 pieces of fruit and enough water to keep us hydrated (approx. 8 glasses). Get hold of a good multivitamin and make the effort to take it everyday. Talk to a nutritionist or a naturopath and work out what good eating looks like for you in the busy-ness of life. Most of all remember to breathe and choose to navigate these busy days well, it may only be a season. If you’re finding it really tough, talk to someone, we all go through hard times.

Ultimately, the cheesy ad is right, you’re worth it! So take care of YOU. I love Robin McGraw’s book ‘Inside my heart’. She talks about how she takes care of herself so that she can give the gift of herself to others, fit and healthy and strong, and for the long haul….

Lv Jane
Nutritionist (just in case you thought I was making it up!) : )

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jane I love this. I think the breathe advice is good. I always notice my shoulders creeping up when stress is knocking at the door. A good relaxed breath can usually pull things back into perspective.

Thanks for the wise words.
Susan

Anonymous said...

Is there a hidden camera in my house??!!
I had the worst PMT this week Jane and guess who has a lolly jar which is seriously depleted of red snakes as of the weekend?
Thanks for the very practical advice. I am off to the cupboard to take some vitamins.

Annie xx

Anonymous said...

I know Annie, the sugar thing can be overwhelming with PMT!!
Evening Primrose oil and B6 can do wonders for PMT symptoms. It's amazing how some simple changes can be all we need.
From what I know of you though, jelly snakes with PMT won't be a problem combined with all the veggies you eat!
Lv Jane

Unknown said...

Truer words are seldom written. I took a pay cut and change of job description last year to loose stress that was affecting every facet of my life.

Anonymous said...

c'est moi,

Well done. I hope the change has been all that you hoped for.

Are you knew to the blog?

Susan

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jane for another wonderful Post. I also had the worst PMT this week, I think heaps of us are suffering from this more and more.
Loved it, keep them coming.

Thanks
Belinda

Anonymous said...

C'est Moi,

Just read your details (didn't know I could do that). Do I know you????

Susan

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