Mommy - Blog & Shopping: Health & Body

5 Drinks and Healthy Food That Help Relieve Your Stress!

Written By: Jeanie Chang

Picture via aeromedi.com

When I'm stressed or have had a bad day, the first thing I want to do is eat chips (I love Cheetos) and drink diet soda. I know it's not good for me, but it makes me feel better...or does it really? I just read an article on Reader's Digest.com listing healthy food and drinks that calm you down. It's very interesting so I thought I'd share with you for you to try the next time you're stressed or had a stressful day. I sure will!

5 Drinks That Help You Calm Down:

1. Drink a glass of milk Milk contains tryptophan which as it is metabolized converts to mood-boosting serotonin! Plus, its calcium, magnesium and potassium content may help keep blood pressure down.

2. Drink hot cocoa. Warm drinks raise your body temperature which makes us feel comforted and this triggers a similar response in our brains.

3. Order black tea instead of coffee. A study by University College London shows that drinking black tea four times a day for six weeks lowered the stress hormone cortisol after a stressful event. (I'm definitely going to try drinking black tea instead of coffee!)

4. Drink green tea. Green tea is packed with theanine which increases the brain’s output of relaxation-inducing alpha waves and reduces the output of tension-making beta waves.

5. Drink a glass of cold water, then go for a walk outside. The water gets your blood moving and the air invigorates by stimulating the endorphins that de-stress you. (I definitely agree with this as it has worked for me!!!)

Try these heathier foods to de-stress:

1. Snack on a handful of nuts. They’re packed with magnesium, which seems to help keep cortisol levels low.

2. Eat broccoli and low-fat ranch dip. Broccoli has folic acid, which aids stress reduction. (Who knew?)

3. Enjoy sorbet with a vanilla sugar wafer. Sugary foods decrease levels of anxiety-producing hormones, specifically through the production of glucocorticoid, a stress hormone linked to storing more fat in the belly. Just a little sugar on the tongue is enough to produce a feel-good effect, so don’t overdo it! (It's great to know dessert is good for you too!)

4. Have a whole grain English muffin with jam or honey. Complex carbohydrate-rich foods raise serotonin levels, boosting your mood and helping you relax.

5. Savor some salmon. Omega-3 fatty acids help brain cells to function more collaboratively, helping you to deal with stress more effectively. (I love salmon! Now I know why.)

6. Indulge in some dark chocolate. By far the most potent endorphin-producing food on earth, chocolate contains more than 300 different compounds, including anandamide, a chemical that mimics marijuana’s effects on the brain, and theobromine, a mild stimulant. Look for imported dark chocolate with a cocoa content of 70% or more. (Trader Joe's has dark chocolate bars that have a cocoa content of 70% and they are DELICIOUS!)

Check out the following link for more information and other healthy living tips: www.rd.com

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Be Prepared For Flu Season!

Photo via life123.com

I'm breathing a sigh of relief. My children and I just got our flu shots this week. Once my husband gets his, I'll be completely at peace. Every year, I stress out about making an appointment at the pediatrician's office for the kids to receive their flu shots. I'll call at the beginning of September to see when and if they have started making appointments for flu shots. If they ask me to call back because flu shots are not in yet, I'll keep calling them back each day until I'm able to make an appointment. That relieves my stress a little but I feel totally relieved once the kids have gotten their flu shots. At the same time, I'm calling my family practitioner to see when appointments are available. I called everyday last week to see if they received their shipment of flu shots and when they kept telling me to call back, I decided to go another route. I'm a dependent on my husband's health insurance and if I went to a participating CVS Pharmacy Minute Clinic (I'm sure you have one in your area) my flu shot was free of charge. Actually, doctor's offices don't charge co-pays for flu shots so that didn't matter, it was just convenient and I didn't have to make an appointment!

You're probably thinking I'm really intense about getting the flu shot. I take it seriously and believe you should receive a flu shot. I started getting flu shots in 2004 when I was pregnant with my third child when there was that huge flu scare. Remember there were healthy children dying of the flu? I waited in line with my family for 2.5 hours at our nearby hospital in northern Virginia to get my flu shot. I was given priority (as were my family and two kids) because I was pregnant. Every since then, I am very diligent about making sure our family gets their flu shots!

We all remember the huge H1N1 scare last year, right? I had several friends whose entire family got H1N1 and it was awful. One woman I know had a son in the hospital for H1N1 and he was there for two weeks!!! I remember being so anxious about getting the H1N1 shot for my kids. I knew there were still some questions surrounding the vaccine, but I decided I'd rather have my children (and myself and husband) vaccinated with the H1N1 vaccine than not. The risks were far greater if you didn't get vaccinated. Remember how limited H1N1 vaccines were and they were only given to high risk patients, seniors, etc? I wasn't going to rest until my children got the vaccine when the public was allowed to. Lo and behold, the local news ran a story one morning that the huge church across the street from my neighborhood was offering the H1N1 vaccine to the public for ONE day until they ran out. I called my husband at work and had him pull the kids OUT of school while I went to the church with my two year old in tow and waited in line for the H1N1 shot. The line was all the way around the block and as I saw people leaving after having their kids receive the vaccine, I asked them how long they had to wait. The average answer was 3 - 4 hours!!!

As luck would have it (or my desperate prayers), we only had to wait about 45 minutes to get my kids the H1N1 vaccine. Thank goodness!!! Each of them, except my two year old got the mist. Of course my husband and I were not allowed to get the vaccine because we were healthy adults. As luck would have it again, because my neighbor happens to be our family doctor and she gave my husband and I the H1N1 vaccine as a favor even though they had a limited supply. I think she felt sorry for me when she saw how stressed I was.

Yes, I know I'm intense about it but the flu is serious! With the health of four children to worry about, I can't help being this concerned about it. I am adamant about getting the flu shot. Of course if you have an egg allergy or other issues that don't make the flu shot safe for you then obviously stay away. But generally the flu shot is a lifesaver.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that everyone six months and older get a flu vaccine. The CDC says that this year's flu vaccine is protecting against the three different flu viruses: an H3N2 virus, an influenza B virus and the H1N1 virus that you know caused all the illnesses last year! I asked the doctor giving me my flu shot whether I was getting it too early. She says it used to be the case where if you received the flu shot too early, it could wear off before flu season ended. But, the flu vaccine now has been formulated to last the entire flu season so it doesn't matter how early you get it. According to the CDC, flu activity in the U.S. peaks in January and February, but can occur as late as May. The following link: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/index.htm offers good information on the 2010-2011 flu season.

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Working out at home

Written by: Jeanie Chang

Photo via videofitnessgames.com

Now that school has started and I’m back to some sort of a routine, I’m heading to the gym on a regular basis. The gym I go to (Lifetime Fitness) has a wonderful childcare center, but yours may not. Or you may have an infant/toddler at home and you just can’t make it to the gym. That was me for years. Exercise is tough to fit into a busy day, but you don’t have to belong to a gym to work out.

You can be creative at home and there are some inexpensive options. For example, I remember doing this when I was pregnant and I was eager to get the baby out. I just ran up and down the stairs as many times as I could. Climbing stairs is a great workout! Another great workout from home is using the Wii. Wii Fit is a fun way to workout and trust me, you can work up quite a sweat. Have you tried that hula hoop game or any of the balance exercises/activities? They’re challenging.

Also, I enjoy working on my core by doing push-ups and sit-ups at home. And of course there are a plethora of exercise DVDs available on the market including the P90X workout which is an intense home fitness workout program which I have heard provides awesome results. (Though I’m not sure I’ll be doing it anytime soon!) One useful item I have that I highly recommend is a yoga mat. You can do all your workouts on your yoga mat in the comfort of your own home with your baby napping nearby.

I also recommend having light weights (either 5 lb or 8 lb weights) which you can purchase or make you own. I wouldn’t have thought of making my own weights until I came across this great article called “Fitness Trends 2010” on www.about.com that offers inexpensive and at-home workout ideas. Some of the ideas it talks about are filling up large water bottles (like 32 oz) with water gives you 2 pounds of weight. If you fill them up with sand or rocks, that will provide more weight. Or, you can fill up old milk cartons or orange juice jugs with sand, change or water for weights with ready-made handles. Very creative!

At least there are options for you moms out there who want to exercise but aren’t as mobile and can’t get to the gym.

Please share how you get your exercise! We'd love to hear from you!

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Mirena - Planned Parenting

Looking for a good planned parenting solution? Have you heard of Mirena? Mirena has been the preferred choice of some moms since you can still decide to have children with less risks to your body. If you're interested in looking into it, here's a link to PlannedParenthood.com or you can visit www.mirena-us.com.

The Mirena IUD at a Glance