Stress - A Holistic Perspective

Stress has become a buzzword in our culture for everything imaginable.  The modern lifestyle leaves most people very little time on a regular basis to relax, recharge and rejuvenate themselves.  The complex and chaotic pace of life does not allow for wholesome home-cooked meals enjoyed in a relaxed manner with family or other loved ones.  Many people neglect other basic needs as well, including  the need for adequate rest, activity, honest emotional expression, community, fun and laughter, quiet "inner" time for reflection, and creative expression.  When we are not being "fed" in wholesome, joyful ways even the smallest conflict can leave us feeling unable to cope.

Continual unresolved stress causes many health problems from fatigue and insomnia to heart disease and other more serious conditions.

Most people take a backwards or superficial approach to resolving issues.  Often that involves angry behavior, blame, using drugs and alcohol, even food, to calm oneself, none of which brings peaceful resolution to the issues.  Stress, and all the discomfort that comes with it, has a positive purpose in our lives.  It is urging us to change something-- our food choices, the way we process emotional conflicts, outdated beliefs and expectations about life; lifestyle habits, the way we treat ourselves....  It could be any number of habits that are contributing to the problem.  Many people resist change because of some fear.  When we cultivate the attitude that "change means there's something better", the something better quickly reveals itself to us.

This issue offers some tips for changing stress from the inside out.  My upcoming Practical Spirituality Workshop offers innovate strategies for regaining and maintaining inner calm and healthy, happy living.  Details follow.

Is Your Diet Contributing to Stress?

Does your overly-scheduled life cause you to reach for a big bowl of ice cream or other high-fat foods at the end of the day?   Do problems at work have you running to the vending machine for salt, sugar and chemical-laden snacks?  Are your relationships driving you to overeat anything and everything in sight? 

We often choose poor quality foods in an attempt to numb ourselves from the stresses and pressures of life. Fat is often craved because it soothes us.  It numbs our feelings and dulls our emotions.  The problem is the uncomfortable feelings return once the fat has been digested.  Not all fat is created equal.  Animal fat is the biggest culprit.  It dims memory, decreases mental abilities, and creates excess heat in the liver.  That excess has nowhere to go and is often expressed as impatient, angry behavior.

Simple, refined carbohydrates like candy, pastries, white bread, and white pasta cause our energy to dissipate and our emotions to roller coaster.  We feel unable to cope with even minor stressors.

When we crave high-fat, sugary foods such as ice cream, yogurt, and any foods that combine dairy and sugar, it is an attempt to elevate our mood.  We're trying to stimulate and sooth ourselves at the same time.  Instead we're creating more anxiety, frustration, irritability, nervous tension, aggression, edginess, moodiness, negativity, mental rigidity, even depression.  Our food choices can and do create poor judgment and difficulty in making good decisions.  In addition, eating enough of these foods will cause serious health consequences. 

Regular consumption of extremes--simple carbohydrates, high-fat animal foods, commercial salt, high-fat dairy--cause extremes in mood.  The stress to our organs causes stress to our mind and emotions.  This can range from frustration, impatience, anxiety, anger, resentment, explosiveness, low self-esteem, an inability to find positive pathways through problems, and much more.

Did you know you can eat certain foods to alleviate anxiety, others to boost memory and mental clarity, others to pacify anger, and others to resolve grief and clear repression.  Eating certain foods can promote a sense of security and confidence about life.  We can accomplish even more than this by making certain foods a regular part of our diet an minimizing or eliminating others. 

Western Science is now discovering what traditional medicine has known for centuries--that foods release substances in our bodies that affect our emotions and moods.  The new food/mood research encourages us to recognize food for its effects on our body, mind, and emotions.  Scientists at MIT have found that complex carbohydrates boost a powerful brain chemical called serotonin.  They noted that eating a complex-carbohydrate rich diet that includes whole grains, beans, legumes and vegetables, helps one to feel relaxed and calm.  These foods consistently make us feel good physically, mentally and emotionally.

Worst Foods for Stress

Avoid stimulants such as alcohol, refined sugar and caffeine which is found in chocolate, coffee, tea and soft drinks.  These deplete mental, physical and emotional reserves and cause blood sugar levels to plummet, leaving brain chemistry in disarray and emotions depleted.  They trigger irritability, anxiety, panic attacks, restlessness, poor concentration, nutrient deficiencies.

Chemicals, additives, preservatives, and artificial foods are toxic to your system and lacking in real nutrition.  Eating a steady diet of frozen, microwaved, devitalized foods as well as  fast-foods and other low-nutrient foods will eventually weaken overall physical, mental and emotional health.

Best Practices for Staying Calm and Peaceful

Whole Grains such as barley, brown rice, millet, quiona, basmati rice, oats, amaranth, rye, and others will leave you feeling grounded, centered, focused and healthy.  Despite what clever ad agencies would like you to believe, Trix, Fruit Loops and other highly refined cereals are not whole grains.  They don't come close.  Refined is the key word here.  "Whole" foods are not refined.  In the refining process, all nutrients and energy are lost from the food.  Often an attempt is made to artificially re-introduce what has been lost through refining.  It's a sad testament to "real" food. 

Click here for recipe for sweet and creamy Rice Pudding--a healthy and delicious comfort food.

Drink calming and soothing herbal teas, spring water with a splash or lemon or lime, roasted green tea and natural juices in moderation.  Roma, Teeccino, Cafix are excellent coffee substitutes. 

Eat a minimum of three cups of 4-5 different vegetables daily.  Click here for recipe for simple miso/vegetable soup.  Eating it is very effective for calming stress and feeling grounded. 

Keep animal protein to 2-3 ounces per serving and experiment with vegetable quality proteins that are less harmful to your health.  Some of these include tofu, tempeh, seitan, beans and legumes.

Chew your food well.  Sit down and relax while eating.  You'll receive much more nourishment from your food and feel calm and relaxed.

Calm and Centered Are Your Natural State

Others in our lives often trigger our own unresolved emotional issues.  We meet ourselves dozens of times throughout the day.  People in our lives reflect parts of ourselves and offer insights into our own unresolved issues.  In order to permanently free ourselves from the negativity of others, it's necessary to liberate long-held emotional obstructions.  This is an inside job.  Practical Spirituality Workshop offers many innovate tools for gaining mental and emotional freedom.  Click here for details.

It's important to ask ourselves what others are reflecting back to us about ourselves.  Perhaps a demanding boss is mirroring our inability to stand up for ourselves, to set boundaries.  Could be that money stressors are reflecting outdated attitudes and beliefs about prosperity that are negative and self-fulfilling.  Conflicts with co-workers (or anyone for that matter)  may be showing our own negative behavior or often cause us to learn better communication skills.  Fears, lack of self-respect, control issues, anger, low self-esteem and many other negatives are projected onto us by others, and often parallel our own feelings.  Attitudinal Healing is a profound way to reverse stress by discovering how our "outer" experiences reflect our "inner" world of beliefs, thoughts, attitudes and unresolved emotions.  Click here for details of this Introduction to Attitudinal Healing.

Our "outer" world (or life's experiences) reflects our "inner" world (thoughts, expectations, beliefs, attitudes).  Another way of saying this is "like attracts like".  This is a basic Universal Truth.  Spiritually we are all linked by an essence or vibrational quality which pervades all of life.  This essence is our Soul and it is not separate from the "Divine" or from anything else in life. 

All possibilities exist simultaneously.  Within each of us lies every possibility--meaning we can be happy, joyful, honest, loving, kind, passionate,  abundant (Soul qualities).... OR fearful, negative, angry, resentful, guilty, controlling....and a lot more undesirable aspects of the personality.  At any given moment we're making a choice about who we're going to be.  When we understand who we really are it becomes clear that life is showing us what we need to change, let go of, and resolve in order to live the extraordinary lives we were meant to live.

Spirit is pure JOY.  When we can learn to integrate our Spirit with our mind and body and live from that place, there is no stress.  There are endless solutions to every problem that are a win for all.   Most of us were never taught the skills of spiritual or "inner" conditioning.  The past few decades have been about getting into physical shape by joining health clubs, hiring trainers, walking, jogging, etc.  Everyone would agree on the importance of physical fitness.  Few consider the idea that being spiritually fit not only dissolves stress, but also creates a healthy body.

"...I was full of worry and anxiety when I first came to see you, and my health suffered as a result.  Your insight and knowledge continue to inspire me to better emotional health, happiness and peace of mind.  Had I know how much attitudinal and spiritual practices could change my health and life for the better I would have been to see you a lot sooner."  E.C.

• Natural Weight Loss Workshop begins April 2.
• Attitudinal Healing, April 16
• Meditation Workshop, April.
• Practical Spirituality Workshop begins March 16
• Eating Your Way to Success,  April 16.
• Emotional Harmony, May

 CLICK HERE for class details.

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Read Sugar Blues by William Dufty; The Splendid Grain by Rebecca Wood;  The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle; The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruez; Ask and It is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks; Living With Joy by Sanaya Roman. 

Peaceful Resolution Meditation CD by Deborah Barr.  Click here to order.

macroboyd@zoominternet.net for healthy cooking classes in Pittsburgh with Heather Boyd.  Next class is March 20.

For great recipes, www.vegweb.com,  www.edenfoods.com, and www.wholefoods.com. 

www.ventureoutdoors.org  Their mission is to make it easier to get everybody outdoors.  A fun, affordable, and very worthwhile organization.   They truly have something for everyone.