Diet and Health Articels

Newsweek features an interesting article this week that found moms who have kids are not necessarily happier. In fact, it showed that stay at home moms and moms who work have a lot of things in common when it comes to what makes them happy.

According to the list, the top things that made moms happy were:

• Taking a bubble bath alone
• Working out and going on a family holiday tied
• Receiving a massage or a romantic date with a spouse tied
• Playing with the kids or downtime by herself tied
• Sleeping

What was interesting is that both SAHMs and working moms would prefer 30 minutes to themselves than anything else if given the choice. Even odder was that 86% of the SAHMS they polled thought their kids would be happier if they went to work. 86% is a huge number. So I'm curious Moms, what do you think? When you rate your 'happier' moments - not happiest, I'm talking those moments when you relax, feel like yourself and enjoy most on a day to day basis - how would you rate them?

I had to think about it, but here is my top five moments:

1. My morning coffee. I get up very early and the household is asleep. I let the dogs out and I make my tea or my coffee and I just sit and I enjoy this time to myself. In summer time, I love to go outside and listen to the night birds and very early birds calling.

2. Watching my favorite television shows while I'm working out. It's a mixed combination of two things I really enjoy and I get a major kick out of. It's also just me time, time without the work, the kiddo, the dogs or anyone else. I am in the habit of turning off my cell phone during these time periods too.

3. Going bike riding with the kiddo (or any field trip really). I love getting away from the house when it's just the two of us (whether it's me and the kiddo or me and the husband). For some reason, when we're away from home, we can really relax and just enjoy each other's company.

4. Playing family board games. I love these moments, especially this summer with my daughter reading so much. She can really get into the games and enjoy the interactions.

5. Doing my homework. I'm finishing up a Bachelor's Degree in psychology and I adore working on my class stuff. Even when I'm frustrated and working hard, I find that I feel enormous satisfaction when I'm done and those are moments I wouldn't trade for anything.

So tell me Moms, what about you?

Do you remember the scene in One Hundred and One Dalmatians when Pongo comments on how dogs and their owners often look the same? It's a mildly humorous statement, yet it can be accurate. Your dog may be a very accurate reflection of your personal health. If your dog is overweight, chances are he or she isn't getting enough exercise. Does that suggest that maybe you aren't getting enough exercise too?

The average pet owner that walks their dogs regularly is going to cover more ground than those who just hit the gym to work out. Studies suggest that dog owners walk about 650 miles per year - just when taking the dog out for a walk. The average gym member may cover about 450 miles per year on their treadmills. So, a dog owner already goes further, but is that enough?

Stick to It

There's an inherent stick-to-itiveness (yes, I made the word up) that comes from owning a dog. Your dog needs to go for a walk. Most often dogs need at least two walks per day to exercise them as well as to let them use the bathroom. Even if you split the detail with your spouse or other family member, you are 5 times more likely to stick to your daily routine of exercising than you are in going to the gym. Dog owners, according to some studies, return to their resting heart rates faster than their gym counterparts because they are used to the speeding up and slowing down that comes from walking the dog.

For example, when I walk my dog, he's bursting with energy when we first get out of the house and we move at a relatively fast pace. We slow down after the first five minutes or so, but the pace remains brisk for another ten to fifteen minutes. After that, we're walking at a more relaxed pace and by the time we get home, I am back at my resting heart rate without feeling the push of exertion.

Stress Reduction

We love our pets. They reduce our stress, they provide us with great companionship and they give us the ideal exercise partner - the question then becomes why not take advantage of man's (and woman's) best friend?

Stress and weight gain are often linked due to the effects of stress on the physiology of a person. Stress is an active part of our lives and hardwired into our biological make up allowing us to fight or flee from threatening and dangerous situations. What served our prehistoric ancestors well in situations involving evading a predator or a hostile enemy, leaves us tense with little sign of relief in a traffic jam at rush hour or standing in a long line at the grocery store.

Sometimes people cope with stress by eating. Eating doesnt just fulfill an emotional need, but a physiological one that is related to the hormone cortisol. When the body begins to experience a stress response, the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine are released into the body along with cortisol. The hormones work to speed up the heart rate, stimulate the liver to release more sugar into the blood stream for energy, perspiration to be released to cool the skin and to shut down digestion so that the energy can be redirected to more necessary systems. All of these are a part of the fight or flight response and after danger is passed the body reabsorbs the epinephrine and norepinephrine while cortisol levels remain elevated over a longer time period.

When stress is chronic, the cortisol levels can remain persistently high. So how does cortisol affect weight gain? Cortisol performs many actions in the body and the ultimate goal of it is the provision of energy. Much like encouraging the liver to release more sugar into the blood stream, cortisols prime goal is an energy source that will be needed for all of the fighting or the running. Cortisol stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism for fast energy and stimulates insulin release and maintenance of blood sugar levels.

Does Stress Cause Weight Gain?

So what does this have to do with weight gain? The end result of all these actions is an increase in appetite. Thus people who are chronically stressed may eat two and three times as much as they need because their bodies are demanding the fuel. Because the weight gain is stimulated by cortisol, it tends to be stored in the abdominal area which is considered toxic fat because it can lead to cardio vascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes.

Is stress the sole cause for weight gain? No. A genetic predisposition plays a large part in how fat is distributed and how the body reacts to stress. If a program of stress management and reduction such as regular exercise, healthy eating, getting good sleep and relaxation can help a person cope with stress reactions as well as improve the hearts strength and resistance to disease.

People who suffer from poor coping methods with stress do not always gain weight. Some lose weight. Some do not have their weight affected at all, but because cortisol does play a role in stimulating appetite and it is released in persistent quantities when someone suffers from chronic stress the relationship between the two is very strong.

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To improve your overall health and fitness as well as resistance to stress-induced diseases such as weight gain, depression, heart disease and ulcers employ a regular set of stress reduction methods.

There are good stresses such as the stress of preparing for a new baby or a graduation and negative stress such as illness, financial worry or fear of failure. A by-product of stress can be a suppressed immune system. A person's stress increases, as they become ill at the most inopportune times: during exams, when a final project's presentation arrives, during the move from one house to another.

Finding a way to cope with daily stress works towards your health maintenance as regular services for your car. Employing a few of the following techniques allows a body to relieve stress can improve your body's physical, mental and emotional health.

Meditation

Meditation summons an image of a figure sitting cross-legged in front of incense and murmuring 'ohm' in pseudo-religious format. Take ten minutes and shut off the rest of the world. Using a method of controlled breathing, inhaling for a count of four, holding for a count of two and releasing the breath for a count of four. Closing your eyes and letting your mind blank for those ten minutes while you breathe allows your mind a respite from the day's tensions. Imagine as you inhale you are gathering all of the tensions of the day and upon exhaling they are expelled from the body. Ten simple minutes can help relax the mind, restore focus and ease the onset of a headache.

Exercise

Exercise often promotes physical health by keeping the body in good cardio-vascular and muscular health. It is also an outlet for the physical tensions that wind a body up. Understanding that stress triggers the fight-or-flight instinct in the body, tensing muscles so they are coiled and ready to run at greater speeds, increasing the heart rate and restricting blood flow to non-essential systems, also explains why physical exertions such as 15 to 20 minutes of brisk walking, biking or jogging can allow the body to relieve itself of the need for action. Exercise also releases endorphins, the body's natural chemical high.

Chunk Your To Do List

Chunk your to do list so that you are not looking at a list of thirty items that must be completed in a limited amount of time and begin to feel overwhelmed that you cannot complete everything on the list. Modifying your expectations so that as you check off each item, you allow that success to relieve tension can limit the distress to your body.

Laugh

Laugh, whether through social conversation or viewing a sitcom on television. Laughter is therapeutic and can temporarily elevate your heart rate, help digestion, relax muscles, ease pain and like exercise, release endorphins.

Massage

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Massage, whether you make an appointment to visit a masseuse or use your finger tips to rub your temples and the back of your neck, using vigorous circular motions. The external pressure on the muscle works to relieve the tension within the muscles. A professional massage which can last anywhere from 25 to 50 minutes, promotes a time when you have nothing to do but relax.

Margaret Mead once said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world." I agree with the statement because one person, driven enough to speak out and act can inspire group think in others. When you have a group that is driven, even a small one of three to four people, you can have three to four times the effect on others.

For example, it takes only one person on the street to really manicure their lawn to inspire their neighbors to do the same. Those neighbors inspire the people next to them and it becomes a ripple effect.

Also, periodically throughout the year when I go to Starbuck's (I go every day because it's my one little luxury that I afford myself for writing and working at home) I will pay for the drinks for the people in the car behind me. I don't know them. They don't know me. But I've been told many times by the Starbuck's people that this has often created a cascade effect that goes on for as long as the line is packed during rush hour.

The Cascade Effect

It only takes one person to be committed to the idea of change to begin working on that change. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen and it overcomes apathy most times. You can take that commitment to heart to change the things in your life that you wish to have changed whether it's your fitness choices, your work choices or just your choices in how you live your life.

That is the beauty and the gift of being human - we have choices. What choices have you made that have changed things? Have you been inspired by a small group or one person to commit to a change before?