March Series: Weight-Loss Made Easy for Teachers Week 3
Have you gotten the Spring Edition of The Healthy Teacher School Lunch Planner yet? Start planning your seasonal, balanced, easy-to-transport lunches by getting your free planner here.
Healthy living and weight-loss became way, WAY easier when I started pursuing a low-stress lifestyle.
Personally, the months I started finding ways to healthfully cope with and reduce stress are also the months that weight-loss started happening effortlessly, feelings of anxiety decreased, and my positive attitude started to reappear.
In my eyes, lowering stress comes in two parts:
Reducing stressful triggers in your life.
Learning how to become more resilient when stressful situations arise.
You definitely cannot avoid all stress in life, but if you are feeling chronically stressed and want out, it may be time to look at number 1. Figure out what is regularly triggering you, and find a way to modify the situation or remove yourself from it (sometimes much more easier said than done, I know).
For those unpredictable or unavoidable stressors, that’s where number 2 comes in and that’s what we touched upon this week on The Whole Adventure Facebook page, starting with the simple but effective Monday Mantra:
Did you know that certain foods can actually help reduce stress and anxiety? Check out this list of anxiety-reducing foods that you can add to your meals during the week:
How do these foods help combat stress? Here’s the run-down:
Dark Chocolate : the body can use the high tryptophan content into mood enhancing neurotransmitters such as serotonin. The high magnesium content may help reduce symptoms of depression.
Pasture-raised eggs: Egg yolks are another great source of vitamin D. A deficiency in vitamin D is increasingly linked to mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.
Turmeric: Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric. Curcumin may help lower anxiety by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress that often increase in people experiencing mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression.
Brazil Nuts: Brazil nuts contain selenium. Selenium may improve mood by reducing inflammation, which is often at heightened levels when someone has a mood disorder, such as anxiety.
Fatty Fish: Fatty fish, such as salmon, mackerel, sardines, trout, and herring, are high in omega-3. Omega-3 is a fatty acid that has a strong relationship with cognitive function as well as mental health.
As always, this week I shared two tips for weight-loss that have nothing to do with food. They are:
Meditate 5 minutes daily.
Stress can signal to the body to hold on to extra weight. It can also cause weight gain if you cope through behaviors like stress eating or being sedentary. Meditation is a great way to manage stress levels and become more resilient (see step 2 of reducing stress) to unexpected stressors over time.
Meditation can come in so many different shapes and forms: journaling, mindful walks, mantras, yoga, and guided meditation apps are just a few examples of things you can try to see what works for you.
And the best news--Just 5 minutes of meditation every day can be more effective of an hour of meditation every week. Just a little goes a long way.
Throw food rules out the window.
Okay, so this one is about food, but it’s not about food in the way you might expect when talking about weight-loss. As the anti-diet master, Geneen Roth, says "For every diet there is an equal and opposite binge".
It can be super stressful (physically and mentally) to deny our bodies calories, carbs, fats, etc. And diets backfire almost every time with 95% of dieters gaining back the weight, and sometimes even more.
Food is a super fun part of life! Even if your favorite food doesn't have a ton of vitamins, I'll bet it serves up a whole bunch of mental benefits (connecting to childhood, your culture, a certain memory, etc.) So enjoy the food you love without guilt.
Instead of restricting all foods, pay attention to how often you are turning to processed foods, how they make you feel, and why they appeal to you. Just notice why you are choosing those foods and after that practice listening to your hunger signals. Your body is so much wiser than any diet guru.
And if we allow ourselves space for our favorite foods, it just may prevent binging behaviors that can hinder weight-loss goals.
If you want a great example super fun food, check out me with a cheeseburger the size of my head below where the restaurant, La Avocadaría in Medellín, Colombia, replaces the bun with…that’s right…an entire avocado! And don’t think I did this to be low-carb or keto. I ate all the fries right along with it. Yummmm.
And that’ll wrap up this week’s post! How can you start lowering/managing stress in your life as part of your wellness journey? Do you think you need to remove or modify stressors, practice being more resilient, or a little of both? Share your journey with us in the comments below!