Tag Archives: food and mood

November 5, 2010 · 3:39 pm

5 Steps to Ending Emotional Eating

Ladies, what is with this week?

I must have heard half a dozen women within the past few days tell me that they are struggling with emotional eating.

Is it possible that the stars are aligned in a way that is making all females on earth crave bread and chocolate?  Are we all PMSing at the same time? (Sorry, guys, but this does tend to be an issue primarily for my female friends).

Even I found myself in a snack slump yesterday, mindlessly munching on terrible things.

So, which came first, the bad food or the bad mood?  Either way, here is how to end this cycle before the holidays hit and we’re all really in trouble:

1.  Forget about every moment up until now.  What you ate last night or this morning is irrelevant.  What matters is what you do now.  Stop punishing yourself for whatever you’ve been punishing yourself for and move on.  Let it go.  Now is a new moment.

2.  If you’ve ever read Geneen Roth‘s books or heard her speak, you know that she always says that “how we eat tells all,” and that “our bodies are getting something emotionally” from the snacking or eating, or we wouldn’t be doing it.  I couldn’t agree with her more.  Our bodies are very smart, and they tell us when we need things.  So what are you getting from your eating? Comfort? Stress relief? Happiness?  Once we understand what you’re getting from this, then we can fulfill that need in another way.

3.  Help your body understand that life is not an emergency.  If you’re angry, stressed, tired, sad, or all of the above (all common emotional eating triggers), your body has likely been in a constant fight or flight mode, and therefor is clinging on to every calorie you give it, storing up for when the emergency gets worse.  (Click here to read more about John Douillard’s Ayurvedic remedies to calm our bodies down).  Breath is one way to do this.  According to Dr. Andrew Weil, breath is the most powerful way we have to communicate with our body and send a message that it is time to calm down.  Click here for a deep breathing technique from Dr. Weil.  Practice some self care.  Take a moment and do something that lets your body know that it is time to relax.

4.  Find a way to get what you were getting from the snacking in another activity.  If your primary foods are out of whack (your career, relationships, spirituality, exercise), then your eating will be too.  Is happiness what’s missing?  Call a friend that makes you happy.  Are you bored?  Pursue a hobby you miss doing.  Are you stressed?  Get a manicure or take a bubble bath.

5.  Do a cleanse.  By “cleanse,” I don’t mean one of those expensive kits you can find everywhere now that promises your body will be detoxified if you drink weird tea and don’t eat for five days.  By “cleanse,” I mean that you should try to incorporate both a spiritual and culinary practice that helps your body move on.  To cleanse yourself emotionally, do some writing exercises and then tear them up or burn them.  Pray.  Go for a run and stomp out negative energy.  To cleanse yourself physically, drink as much water with lemon (both hot and cold) as possible and go on a whole foods cleanse.  What is a whole foods cleanse?  Eat only things that walked, swam or grew that were prepared by kind people that you know.  It’s that simple. Make sure it is all extraordinarily delicious and the highest-quality food you can find.  You are a very special person, and you deserve it. Given half a chance, your body will heal itself.

If you’re reading this and need some more support, email me and I’d be happy to give you a complimentary “back on track” session ($85 value).

Sending you lots of hugs!

Sheri

PS – I had an opportunity to learn directly from Geneen Roth, Dr. Weil and John Douillard – they were all teachers at my school (I know, AMAZING!!)  Ask me about the Institute for Integrative Nutrition if you’re interested in learning more.

"The best thing you've ever done for me is to help me take my life less seriously...it's only life after all..." Go relax, have some fun, stop beating yourself up and take a deep breath. You can handle it - whatever "it" is. Now is a new moment. :) .

 

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July 30, 2010 · 12:05 pm

The artificial sweetener experiment

So far on this blog I have written a lot about food, supplements and diets that I have found help create optimal health and reduce stress and anxiety.  Today I want to tell you about my experience with something that I’ve found to do the opposite - artificial sweeteners.

You may be confused about artificial sweeteners due to the plethora of conflicting information out there on the topic.  Some say they’re fine, and some say they’re harmful.  And as frequently happens, each study seemingly proves different results. 

Artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, sucralose and saccharine, are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. and are approved for consumption.  According to the FDA and the National Cancer Institute, “studies of these sweeteners have not provided clear evidence of an association with cancer in humans.”  However, the short story is that when consumed in large quantities, these substances do cause cancer in animals. (Click here to read more).  And cancer aside, these sweeteners have proven to cause many other side effects, including headaches, aggravated PMS symptoms, dizziness, moodiness, fatigue, chance in vision, diarrhea and anxiety.  Aspartame in particular is thought to be an “excitotoxin,” a compound that can damage nerve cells by overstimulating them, and some studies suggest that this can cause neurological disorders.

And even though there are no studies that show that artificial sweeteners aid in weight loss (in fact, the opposite is true, as they have been linked to obesity), and they have a bitter, off taste, they are in many of the products most Americans consume.  And because they can taste up to 600 times sweeter than sugar (for all of you foodies reading this) they are throwing off our palates and making us crave more of exactly what we’re trying to avoid – sugar.  Some studies even show that they can stimulate appetite.

So what do I think?  I am not a doctor, or a researcher with a grant for a study.  But I am an average woman who, like the rest of us, gets stressed and craves sweet things from time to time (who doesn’t?)  Years ago, I was addicted to Diet Coke.  I’d have two or three a day, and would frequently consume other products that contained artificial sweeteners like light yogurt and different types of cereal.  I’d also put whatever I had on hand – Equal, Splenda, Sweet-n-Low, in my tea and coffee almost every morning and every night.  A few years ago, I read about the potential link between artificial sweeteners and anxiety, and in addition to the research that has been conducted on sugar substitutes and cancer, it was enough to make me want to give it up.  I used to always suffer from horrible nightmares at night, and although I still get stressed and anxious from time to time, I was shocked when my nightmares disappeared entirely after giving up the sweeteners!

This month has been a particularly stressful month, and like the best of us, I had a few slip ups.  It was extremely hot outside and there was no water at the event I was attending.  There was a Diet Sprite, and although I knew this would dehydrate me more, it looked so nice and cold that I grabbed it and took a few sips.  Why do we do eat things when we know they will have adverse effects?  Then I got the “might as wells.”  I figured I had a Diet Sprite, so I “might as well” add a Splenda to my unsweetened iced tea.  And then I had the iced tea, and figured I “might as well” have a low-fat yogurt.  And so on… Long story short, I had horribly vivid nightmares all week!  I will not tell you what they were about so you don’t influence your dreams (one involved a knife, and the other, the Ben Franklin Bridge and a shark!  At least I have some Spielberg creativity in my subconscious somewhere…).  And I have felt irritable, stressed out and nervous like I used to for the past few days. 

I do believe that everything affects everyone differently, so you may have a different experience.  But in short, be wary of these sweeteners if you have trouble with stress, anxiety or nightmares.  And because I never like to say that you should have “none” of something, if you are trying to avoid sugar and must use a substitute, a great alternative is stevia, which comes from an herb in the chrysanthemum family and has been used around the world for centuries to sweeten tea and other food. 

But in general, I think I am going to stick to the real thing from now on.  Honey, raw sugar and agave nectar are all great options.  Life should be as sweet as tupelo honey, right?

Want an even better way to reduce sweet cravings?  I’m offering complementary initial one-hour health consultations to readers of my blog throughout the summer!  Send me an email and I’d be happy to tell you all about how I really beat sugar cravings and how you can, too.

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Filed under cravings, Food and mood, Good mood food, Optimum health, stress management, Uncategorized

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June 27, 2010 · 1:05 pm

The “most powerful anti-anxiety measure” Dr. Weil has ever found

About a month ago I had the privilege of attending a whole weekend of lectures at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) in New York.  I am so grateful for the amazing curriculum at IIN that enables me to learn from the world’s leading integrative medicine and nutrition experts directly (email me if you want to know more about IIN).  The weekend was filled to the brim with great information, and, hands down, the highlight was hearing from Dr. Andrew Weil, the leading proponent of integrative medicine.

This is post #3 covering the weekend (click here to read about Joy Bauer’s tips for great health, and here to read about Annemarie Colbin’s thoughts on cravings and whole foods).

Dr. Weil spoke for two hours – the first, primarily about the health crisis we currently have in the U.S.  The second hour was focused on what we can do about it.

“We don’t have a health care system,” Dr. Weil said.  ”What we have is a disease management system.”  Dr. Weil said that we spend more per capita on healthcare than any other country in the world, but we rank 37th in the world when it comes to addressing chronic disease – just behind Serbia.

Before the financial meltdown, experts were saying that healthcare could destroy our whole economy, mostly because we’ve created a recipe for trouble: no prevention and only intervention + using high-tech solutions to most problems = a very costly and inefficient way of fixing (or not fixing) the health of the country.

“How did we get into the habit of thinking the only way to cure disease is to take drugs?  Unless we drastically change our ways, we are headed for certain collapse of our economy and our health system.” Dr. Weil said this is also becoming a matter of national security, since many people now are too obese or sick to join the military.

So what can we do about it?  Here are the top points I took away from Dr. Weil – I hope they motivate you to make positive changes for yourself and for our country:

1 – Health does not mean “absence of disease.”  Dr. Weil’s definition of health is “an inner state of resilience and balance that allows you to go through life and be unharmed by the things that can harm you.”  Our bodies have the ability to heal.  We should make this definition of health our goal.

2 – We need a broad, cultural change in which health becomes cool.  Do what you can to help others choose health by making simple, better choices.

3 – Practice integrative medicine – medicine that is not focused on drugs, but rather on prevention, paying attention to lifestyle factors, considering other dimensions of our life than just our physical bodies (emotions, spirituality), and insisting on the importance of the patient/practitioner relationship.  This is the solution to our healthcare crisis.

4 – Eat real food – According to Dr. Weil, all of the processed foods we are eating are contributing to inflammation – which is causing chronic disease.  To read more about Dr. Weil’s anti-inflammatory diet – a great resource if you are trying to eat for your health and prevent disease – visit his website.  Out of all of his books (all of which are great!) my favorite is Eating Well for Optimum Health.  This is an amazing, basic guide to nutrition that should be required reading for all Americans.

5 – Recognize the importance of physical activity and maintaining social and mental interconnectedness as part of a healthy diet.  Studies show the people who live the longest are both active and well-connected to friends and loved ones.

6 – We need to learn how to neutralize the most harmful effects of stress.  Find an activity that helps you calm down – even if it’s simply listening to music, taking a bath or doing yoga.

7 – Lastly, do you want to know what the most important thing I learned from Dr. Weil – and from the whole weekend – was?  It will surprise you because it seems so simple.

It’s that I have to breathe more.  ”Breath is a mastery key to healthy living.  It’s the connection between our conscious and our unconscious mind, and is the master of our central nervous system,” Dr. Weil said.  He didn’t learn much about it when he attended Harvard Medical School, but since, has come to learn that it is “the single most effective medical intervention” that he has ever discovered.  It can cure everything from heart arrhythmias to anxiety.  And it costs nothing, and only takes one minute.  Here is Dr. Weil’s breathing technique:

Breathe in for 4 counts through your nose.  Hold for 7 counts.  Exhale for 8 counts through your mouth.  Repeat four times.  Do this twice a day, without fail.

“This is the single most powerful anti-anxiety measure I’ve ever found, in all of my years of work.  This is the most important thing I am telling you here today.”

This is something we all can afford.  And no matter how busy you are (and I’m pretty busy) I bet you can find one minute to do this each day.  Imagine what the wold would be like if we all took Dr. Weil’s advice?

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May 29, 2010 · 8:08 pm

The Power of Food

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending a whole weekend of lectures at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) in New York where I am obtaining my certification as a Certified Health Coach.  It was an INCREDIBLE weekend, in which I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear NBC Health Consultant Joy Bauer; world-renowned author, physician and  leading proponent of integrative medicine Dr. Andrew Weil; Zone Diet creator Dr. Barry Sears; and Founder of the Natural Gourmet Institute Annemarie Colbin.

That alone is a mouthful!  And I so badly want to tell you everything I learned!  If you’ve ever wondered why you crave chocolate, why everyone is now taking fish oil, how you can really prevent cancer, or how you can get those last pounds off once and for all, you’ll want to read my next few posts.  I’ll take it one speaker at a time, and kick off a series of posts covering the weekend with a recap of the first lecture we heard by Joy Bauer.

Joy spoke about the power of food, and covered five very common conditions that can be prevented, cured or alleviated through food, including: heart health, mood, arthritis, memory loss and weight.  Here’s a quick recap of Joy’s top tips:

Heart Health:  Stop smoking, stay physically active, avoid trans fats, reduce salt, and increase good fats.  Keep an eye on your waistline – women should be <35″ and men<40″.  Food: Eat salmon (make sure it’s wild, or says “wild alaskan” – even the canned kind is fine) to get good servings of omega 3s; sardines for vitamin D.  Both of these lower your LDL (you’ve probably heard this called “bad cholesterol”) and increase your HDL (“good cholesterol”).  Increase your consumption of soluble fiber with food such as oatmeal and sweet potatoes.  Lower sodium intake and increase potassium intake – bananas are a great source – to help manage blood pressure.

Enhanced Mood:  Eat every 4-5 hours to keep blood levels stable.  Limit foods that spike book sugar, including the refined carbohydrates and sugar found in many processed food products.  Instead, eat high quality carbohydrates with protein to slow down absorption (think omelet with fruit; lentils with beans).  Exercise clearly improves mood.  People who are clinically depressed often have lower folate – you can increase your folate intake by eating oranges (they have tons of folic acid).  And here’s my favorite – have some dark chocolate!  Make sure it’s at least 70% cacao, and don’t have too much (grate it on yogurt or fruit to get the benefits without eating too much at once).

Arthritis: By losing just one pound, you alleviate 10 pounds of pressure on your joints, so keep weight in check.  Avoid refined carbs and exercise.  Omega 3 fish oil can be a big help – take 1,000 mg EPA and DHA each day.  Use olive oil.  Make sure you’re getting enough anti-oxidants.  Pumpkin (even the 100% pure canned pumpkin is great) has lots of beta carotene in it.  Tumeric and ginger are potent anti-inflammatory agents.  And did you know that one red bell pepper has three times the amount of vitamin C as 1 orange?

Enhanced Memory:  Exercise 30 min. a day – your neurons will communicate more effectively.  Get at least 7 hours of sleep a night, and follow mostly a Mediterranean diet.  Eat lots of berries (they have reversed age-related memory in rats), leafy greens for folic acid, fatty fish for omega 3s, and (here’s more good news!) drink coffee!  Some studies show that it helps prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s.  But also please note that coffee can linger in your system for 3-8 hours, so it is not a good idea if you suffer from anxiety.

Manage Weight:  Everybody’s biggest challenge, right?  Joy told us how to lose weight overnight!  I will give you a few hints – exercise. sleep.  drink water.  But for more of the details, as a reader of my blog, I would like to offer you a free health consultation!  Just respond to this post or send me an email and we can set up one hour during which we can discuss your unique health needs in detail.  I am also offering special discounts on my six month program for readers throughout the month of June!  Click here for more information, and just let me know if you are interested.

Enjoy this wonderful holiday weekend, and stay tuned for the highlight of my session at IIN – Dr. Andrew Weil!

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