The best way to make sure you, and your baby, are and remain healthy is to incorporate fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean proteins into your daily eating routines. Being a new mom is challenging; from sleepless nights to feeding your baby every two to three hours, exhaustion is unfortunately something that is hard to beat. Eating foods that are energy dense, but also high in vitamins and minerals, will give you all the energy you need to encourage recovery, increase milk production, and support rest, leaving you feeling like the best mom you can be.
Picture this: you’re jamming to your favorite getting ready playlist, getting glam, feeling excited for the night ahead. You know you have a fun dinner out with friends, and then you’ll see where the night takes you. But you can’t get one looming thought out of your mind: “I won’t want to go out if I’m bloated from dinner”. Or, you’re already out, and you realize your unbuttoned jeans will be visible the second you stand up.
We know we all need to eat. The question is truly: How much do we need to eat to be able to optimize our days, keeping both our mental and physical health in mind? While this differs from person to person, the US Department of Health set baseline minimums of 1200 calories per day for women and 1800 calories per day for men.
Tapping into our creative mind can boost our problem solving skills, improve our mood, and enhance our motivation. But, did you know that wellness can be a great way to spark our creativity, leading to happiness and better overall health? Wellness, which comes in many forms, stimulates our brain to release various chemicals, allows us to move our bodies in new ways, and opens the door to trying new things.
We’ve all heard the downsides of elevated cortisol levels. But did you know that cortisol isn’t all bad? Our bodies make cortisol to help us get out of bed in the morning, maintain energy levels throughout the day, and assist in our overall health and wellbeing. But, when our cortisol levels are out of balance, our whole body is, too.
The nutrition and dietetics space is so oversaturated that it may be difficult to discern myth from fact. The internet is full of recipes, information, and science that seems to be all over the place! We know that this can be confusing and worrisome, especially when trying to keep our bodies feeling their best, embarking on a new health journey, or trying out a new fitness routine.
Let’s face it: stress is a part of life! Sometimes, feeling stressed gives us that extra 'umph' we need to perform at our best, or gives us motivation to head to the gym or finally tackle that to-do list. But, have you ever known you have a million and one things to do, yet all you can think about doing is climbing into your bed, drifting off to sleep, and escaping reality for a little bit? Or you’ve tried to work on a project or brainstorm a list of ideas but you just feel “off” and not like yourself? This may be due to extreme emotional exhaustion, also known as burnout.
Our brains are powerful; they dictate our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors by using various neurotransmitters to communicate different signals, depending on various factors like mood, activity level, and stress. Our brains are split up into various parts, each having its own responsibility within our intricate neurological system.
As temperatures drop, snowfall comes regularly, and the days get shorter and shorter, it’s not unusual for people to develop “SAD”: seasonally affective depression. It’s estimated that 10-20% of Americans get mild SAD with the changing seasons, especially those living in colder, more Northern places. With so many of us working from home and spending time indoors, the idea of getting in 10,000 steps seems dreary when the windchill is at -10º. Sound familiar? We feel it, too.
As we know, having a routine makes life way easier, and more fun by allowing us to create space for self-care and other activities that we enjoy. Nutrition plays a major role in how we fuel our bodies throughout the day, allows us to incorporate movement that makes us feel good, and improves overall mood. One of the newest health and nutrition trends, intermittent fasting, or IF, provides a day-to-day structured eating pattern and has been shown to have multiple health benefits.
With the current pandemic, along with flu season and colder, winter temperatures, it’s no surprise that many of us are feeling a bit ‘under the weather’. Now more than ever, it’s important to nourish our bodies and strengthen our immune system. Before you go running to grab some EmergenC, make a stop at your local grocery store. There are various fruits and veggies, many of which you probably already eat, that can help us ward off the common cold, or make us feel better when we do get sick.