How To Fix Your Depressing & Dreary Day

We all have them and for many it can become repetitive - like a cycle that you can't seem to break.  

By all means talk to your doctor if you feel you are seriously depressed - but know there is help available for those days when you feel blah and just can't shake it.  

First off, If of the female gender, I ALWAYS will suggest taking a stab at balancing the hormones.  I use specific female herbs like Dong Quai, Wild Yam, Chaste Tree, Angelica and a few others to have mother nature assist! So many factors will cause hormones to go up and down.  If still getting periods, there can be such a drop before your cycle begins that you will feel it and it can feel like you are sinking - either that or your moods will be a roller coaster. With Peri Menopause and Menopause - it isn't as drastic but can be  more of a daily cloud that comes and goes.    If you are of the male species, and over 40 - also can't hurt to have your testosterone levels checked as they tend to go down or fluctuate causing changes as well.

Secondly - What are you eating?  Have you gotten into a habit of just grabbing food and not really enjoying it?  More takeout than home-cooked meals?  Not taking supplements to offset your sometimes poor food choices?  This can be another way to soothe the moods - Yes you really DO feel better when you eat better.  You will actually be getting real nutrition into your blood stream, cells and organs.  Fruits, veggies, salads - easy on the body, full of nutrition and energy inducing benefits.  Try and cut back on the quick fixes.

Third - Get the pipes moving!  Yes - improve your bowel habits if you aren't going once or twice per day.  Even if you are, one weekend a month of cleansing the bowel can be HUGE to release stored up toxins and improving your mood.  If you aren't going daily then gentle cleansing will feel like a weight has been lifted. You may even start skipping without realizing it- lol.

Last but not least - Movement and Nature.  Move the bod and get some fresh (outdoor) air!!  I don't care how cold it is. I know I don't like to be cold.  But there's something so invigorating about being bundled up properly and going for a walk in the winter. (I do tend to pass if windy) In Western NY we don't care what we look like if it's a matter of keeping warm! lol (I'm glad it's pretty well understood here!) Warmth is more important. Also I keep tissue stuffed in my pockets as my nose runs almost immediately when I go out...but other than that...it's such a treat to be walking/moving to the point of where I feel warmth.  I have some good walking boots that keep me warm and have good traction, so really there's no excuse.  But what it does for the soul and mind - being out in nature, revving up the circulation and just 'moving' - really takes the edge off any prior dreary mood.

You don't have to settle for feeling down or depressed any time of year, but especially not during our longer winter months.  Lots you can do to feel good, so have these ideas in place the next time you feel a black cloud has found you - the fog will lift sooner when you know what to do about it!

Katy ☺

Let Them Eat Cake!  

After a weekend of eating I'm on a roll!  lol

Now granted I don't eat a lot of cake...but when I do, it better be good!  I'm like that with chocolate too!  And yes I realize many think sugar and flour are the enemy...but frankly for me the 'processing' that has gone into our 'foods' that I put at the top of the list to 'avoid'.  And it's not easy!  We pay for convenience and yet for something as basic as cake..how convenient is it really?  I mean we buy a box - add water, oil and eggs to most of them...and we 'make' a cake.  Did you know the basic ingredients needed for a made from scratch cake?

Butter
Sugar
Eggs
Vanilla
Flour
Baking powder, salt
Milk
 
So if you can handle a couple measuring cups/spoons..you're done in about the same time.  And you can pick your own ingredients...organic butter or milk/flour/eggs if you so choose to make it even healthier!  (save money too as you have most of these normally on hand)


Here's what you get for 'convenience' in a box:  (plus adding your own eggs/oil/water)


Sugar, Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron,Thiamine Mononitrate,Riboflavin,Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil Shortening (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Propylene Glycol Mono- And Diesters Of Fats,Mono- And Diglycerides), Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate). Contains 2% Or Less Of: Wheat Starch, Salt, Dextrose, Polyglycerol Esters Of Fatty Acids, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Cellulose Gum, Artificial Flavors,Xanthan Gum,Maltodextrin,Modified Cornstarch,Colored With (Yellow 5 Lake, Red 40 Lake). Contains: Wheat.

I hope you can see where I'm going here!  Now I'm not saying never use any convenient prepackaged item again - but what I am saying is we've gotten so far away from actual cooking it's affecting our health! We all get into a rut, but one thing I remember are family get-togethers of home cooked meals!  I LOVED these meals and what went into them...recipes exchanged and great conversation as well.   I'm on a bit of a rampage here as I sometimes get nosy and look in other peoples shopping carts when I'm in the store.  Some inspire me and I wonder what they are making! lol And others depress me as some are full of frozen meals and convenience foods I can't help but feel bad as even the kids in that house won't know how to cook!

My daughter Rachael inspires me with her experimenting with more ethnic and simple meals - healthier and end up costing less as well!  Or home made cookies made with the kids instead of store bought - again, something worth taking a little extra time for.

Another area I've been experimenting with as I pretty much despise bottled salad dressings, is making my own vinaigrette. Basic ratio is 1 part acid (vinegar or citrus) and 3 parts oil (I tweak this to my own tastes...but that's the beauty of it...YOU decide.  Basic ingredients to add:  minced fresh garlic, pinch of salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, honey etc.  All you need is a glass jar with a lid to shake it in and of course pick a healthy oil to use. Regular salad, pasta salad even as a marinade!  

Lordy now I'm really getting hungry! :o)
 

5 Health Tips You Can Ignore

I've always wanted to comment on some of these subjects when I hear folks discussing - Most times I hold my tongue as it's not that important.  But it irks me just the same!

1)  Cold Weather Increases Your Chances of Catching a Cold.   NOPE - You may get a chill if not properly dressed, but a cold, no.  The cold/flu virus comes by way of a 'germ' air born or by touching something.  So a good practice is to wash your hands when you come in from being out or occasionally while at work etc.

2) If You Exercise You Can Eat Whatever You Want - I wish!  Of course I wished I exercised more too! lol  But really...the bottom line is calories add up due to the foods we choose...and while exercise is a great idea to tone up and burn some calories..don't think you can 'chow down' just because you took that extra flight of stairs or did 30 min of cardio.  Cutting back on unhealthy foods and increasing exercise will help to do the job.

3) Low Salt Diets Are Good For You - Lots of new findings coming out saying the low salt diet may be doing more harm than good!  I always felt that was incomplete.  With salt I always felt whenever you start messing with a natural substance to make it more 'presentable' and nice looking (white) then how much of it is really what is should be?  I've used Celtic Sea Salt for over 15 yrs...and I LOVE it.  Enhances the taste of food...and you actually use less.  Full of the minerals from the ocean it's taken from..our bodies benefit.  Our body fluids are mostly a saline solution - makes sense to replace it in a healthy way.  Consider it this way, iodized table salt, and sea salt is like comparing hydrogenated vegetable oil to pure virgin olive oil.  Buffalo News Article

4) Attitude Has No Bearing on Our Health -  Again...I beg to differ!  Most of us are 'reactors' to our daily life.  Meaning we base our moods on how things do or don't go for us.  I know better and I still do it sometimes!  Read this from the Independent News UK:

"Robert Sapolsky, professor of biological sciences at Stanford University and an authority on stress, puts it like this: "In fight-or-flight, your body turns off all the long-term building and repair projects," he says. "Constant high levels of cortisol take your body's eye off the ball. Memory and accuracy are both impaired. Patrols for invaders aren't sent out, you tire more easily, you can become depressed and reproduction gets downgraded." Exposed to chronic stress for years, high blood levels of glucose and fatty acids increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes."

5)  I Don't Believe in Vitamins - Ok...maybe this isn't a 'myth' - ha...but I had to bring it up because I hear it soooo often!  When someone says this I almost want to respond with...then I suppose gravity is something you have a problem with too?  I know...sarcasm for sure!

But I do try to come back with a more intelligent answer than the statement, by pointing out that you don't have to 'believe' in vitamins...vitamins don't really care.  Vitamins are just 'there' - in our foods, in nature - they've been there since the beginning of time.  Nonchalantly supplying our bodies with nutrients (we decided to call them vitamins) that we use up as needed to keep healthy and strong. And since our food sources have changed so much...we are finding the good old vitamins that are supposed to be there have been stripped away by pesticides, genetically engineered foods, processing, etc.  So yes...most of us need to consider adding some nutrients to our daily diets.  I choose herbs or other concentrated supplements and I feel better for it.  Hopefully you are doing it too!

Just shedding some light on some practices you may want to re-think - hopefully to incorporate new thoughts and practices into your life and your family's.  ☺