Category Archives: Mind and Body

Our Thoughts …..doorways to illness or wellness – Guest post: Reshma Gulati

Hi,

I am Reshma Gulati and I have been Dr Lily’s patient for 2 years ago. Her treatment helped me correct my physiological illness and given me new perspective towards life. I have re-invented my career as a CCA accredited Excellence & Wellness Coach & NLP Practitioner (certified by Dr. Richard Bandler). My life journey is from illness to wellness!!.

 

Our Thoughts …..doorways to illness or wellness

I would like to share my experience and the various studies shown how mere thoughts can generate various diseases in our body.

Studies show that happy people are less likely to experience chronic illness or pain. They also tend to live longer. Wow isn’t it great and yet so simple!!

On the other hand, people who worry, have a hard time dealing with stress, and/or have pent-up anger and other negative emotions, are more likely to have illnesses like high blood pressure, allergies, constipation, indigestion, and body pain( well the list is limitless)

Negative emotions, much like bad eating habits, upset the acid-base balance of the body. A highly acidic environment in the body leads to sickness. And unhappiness causes toxins to flow and brings up acid levels in the body. Yes, it is that bad. We can’t imagine how the heck something like being happy or worried can make such a huge impact on our health.

Since unexpressed anger and resentment in particular do not have emotional outlets, the body instead manifests these through illness. Often, we experience chronic respiratory allergy or back pain, hair fall, blood pressure either high or low actually it may not be due to you physical ailment at all the root cause may be some emotions which is stored needs outlet.

Well, but the good news is that people with illnesses if find ways to release their negative emotions in healthy ways find that their symptoms disappear almost instantly. Isn’t that amazing!!!

6 steps to release your negative emotions and welcome wellness in your life:

• Release anger in healthy ways. If you need to scream, scream. But do it privately. Screaming into a pillow is advisable especially when there are people outside the room.

You can also write a letter to the person who hurt you. Release all your anger in it. Afterwards, tear up or burn the letter. Do not send it to the person. Talk to the person only once you are calm and can express your feelings in a constructive manner.

• Forgive. As the saying goes, “Unforgiveness is like drinking a poison and waiting for the other person to die.” Once you forgive, you will feel lighter, as though you have just been unburdened of a heavy load.

• Understand that you have no control over everything. Control only what you can, and leave the rest to the universe. Trust that everything will work out for the best.

• Be grateful for the things you have now. Make it a point to think of at least one thing you are grateful for everyday. Express your gratitude towards it. This will put you in a positive frame of mind and bring good or better things to you.

• Do positive self-talk. Understanding that good food nourishes the body, feed your mind with positive thoughts. Do this everyday, believe, and be amazed with the results.

• Surround yourself with positive people. Talk with people who believe in you and encourage you. Minimize contact with people who make you feel negative or deplete your energy.


Reshma Gulati

Excellence & Wellness Coach
(certified coach through CCA)

9 Surprising Relationships Between Food & Mood

shutterstock_86731981Is a Mediterranean diet protective against depression?

We already know that a Mediterranean diet full of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, fish, and olive oil reduces inflammation and may be beneficial for heart health. A large study with 10,094 healthy Spanish people showed that eating a Mediterranean diet was protective for the prevention of depressive disorders (Sanchez-Villegas et al., Arch Gen Psychiatry, 2009).  If you aren’t going to Spain or Greece on over the holidays, pretend you are there by copying their diet. Add more veggies to your holiday potlucks, or shake on the herbs and spices to reduce inflammation caused by your meal!

Will eating fast foods lead to an increased risk for depression?

Eating fast foods like hamburgers, sausages, and pizza, as well as commercial baked goods such as muffins, doughnuts, and croissants has been shown to be associated with an increased risk of depression (Sanchez-Villegas et al., Public Health Nutr. 2012).  Do your best to balance out your food choices with some healthy, fresh options whenever available.

shutterstock_274989101Will being in a positive mood lead to eating more?

It’s not just a bad mood that can lead to eating more food. Researchers at the King’s College in London Institute of Psychiatry recently showed that negative mood and positive mood BOTH lead to more food intake (Cardi et al., Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2015).  This research doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be in a good mood! Try to find balance in your moods, keeping steady and stable without the extreme peaks and valleys that could cause you to overeat.

Can you eat yourself into a bad mood in just two days?

A study with 44 college students at Penn State University revealed that the more calories, saturated fat, and sodium they ate, the more negative mood they reported two days later. The researchers suggest that the food causes mood shifts (Hendy, Appetite, 2012).  If you find yourself in a bad mood, look at what you are eating. You can make some immediate changes that will translate into quick lifts in your mood.

shutterstock_59055922Can snacks impact your well-being?

100 students at Cardiff University were asked to complete an online questionnaire about how they were feeling emotionally and physically. They were then randomly assigned to one of two snacking conditions – chocolate/crisps or fruit – which they ate daily in the mid-afternoon for 10 days.  At the end of the 10 days, they completed the questionnaire again. The results showed that consumption of fruit was associated with lower anxiety, depression, and emotional distress than consumption of crisps/chocolate. Similarly, scores for somatic symptoms, cognitive difficulties, and fatigue were greater in the crisps/chocolate condition (Smith and Rogers,Front Nutr. 2014).  Take note of your snacking behaviors during the holidays! If you find yourself eating too many cookies or indulging in lots of chocolate, shake up your snacking routine by getting some fresh fruit. Your mood will thank you for it (and those around you will, too!).

Can your emotions change how you taste?

A study came out this month that assessed taste and emotions of 550 people who attended hockey games. There were a total of 8 games, 4 wins, 3 losses, and 1 tie. The researchers found that positive emotions during the winning games correlated with enhanced sweet and diminished sour intensities while negative emotions lead to heightened sour and decreased sweet tastes (Noel and Dando, Appetite, 2015).  Take time to taste your food and have awareness that the emotions you are feeling are not only influencing what you are eating, but how things taste. If you take your time to eat mindfully, you’ll be more in the moment, and, as the studies suggest, you’ll likely eat less and feel more satisfied.

shutterstock_65835514Can being bored drive you to eat?

Researchers at the North Dakota State University would say “yes”! In a sample of 552 college students, they discovered that those prone to being bored and lacking emotional coping skills led to inappropriate eating behavior, like eating when bored or in response to negative emotions (Crockett et al., J Health Psychol. 2015).  Being bored is probably the least of your worries during the holidays; however, you may have more down time which means that you could be looking for things to do. Fill your time with healthy communities and physical activity to keep you pleasantly busy!

Does your personality drive your eating habits?

An interesting publication in the journal Appetite earlier this year brought to light many findings about one’s personality and eating: (1) “…high openness to experience were associated with higher fruit, vegetable and salad and lower meat and soft drink consumption”; (2) “High agreeableness was associated with low meat consumption.” (3) Conscientiousness mainly promoted fruit consumption, prevented meat consumption and intake of sweet and savory foods and of sugar-sweetened soft drinks. (4) Neuroticism promoted consumption of sweet and savory foods by promoting emotional and external eating.   Well, perhaps we can’t change who we are, but we can become more aware of our actions! If you find that you are always on edge and feeling neurotic, try to put yourself in the space of agreeableness and openness, which will contribute positively to your eating habits.

shutterstock_138284549Does being a ‘morning person’ make you less apt to eat emotionally?

If you like mornings more than evenings and you find yourself more alert in the early hours, researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, would tell you that you probably have lower depressive symptoms and emotional eating based on their study with 2325 men and 2699 women  (Konttinen et al., Chronobiol Int, 2014).  Make sure you are getting sufficient sleep during the holidays so you do not crave foods. If possible, try to mirror your rhythm with that of nature: waking up early with the sun and going to bed early when it is dark. You’ll be more in balance on the inside through the cues on the outside!

 

6 Daily Gratitude Habits That Will Attract More Abundance and Joy into Your Life

gratitude-rock

6 Daily Gratitude Habits That Will Attract More Abundance and Joy into Your Life

“There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”
– Mother Teresa, Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to experience  joy, love, and appreciation every day of the year? How would it change your life if you did?

Gratitude attracts more good things to be grateful for

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
– Oprah Winfrey

Appreciation is one of the highest emotional states you can experience. When you cultivate gratitude, you’re able to feel true joy and contentment, no matter what you have or don’t have in your life. And since the Law of Attraction states that like attracts like, when you’re grateful for what you already have, you will naturally attract more for which you can be grateful.

However, many people find that it requires great diligence to cultivate a persistent attitude of appreciation. That’s because we’ve been culturally conditioned to focus on what we don’t have, rather than appreciating what we’ve already received or achieved.

To help you combat this conditioning, here are 6 simple tips on how to make gratitude a natural part of your daily routine, so you can attract more joy and abundance into your life all year long:

1. Take 7 minutes each morning to write down everything you appreciate in life

Starting your day this way primes you to be receptive and grateful for everything your day will bring. It also helps you cultivate an air of positivity that makes you naturally more attractive to other positive people – and inspires them to want to help you achieve your goals.

2. Make a conscious effort to appreciate at least 3 people every day

By letting people know how much you appreciate them, you increase their own sense of appreciation and self-worth, and encourage them to pay this positive energy forward to other people.

While most people enjoy receiving verbal appreciation, written notes are also nice because they can be saved and re-read.

3. Play the Appreciation Game

Set a specific time each day to consciously appreciate everything you encounter. An ideal time to do this is on your way to or from work. Appreciate the people you pass, the road you walk on, the cars that let you merge into a different lane, the street signs that make it easy for you to know where you’re going, the rain that’s nourishing the plants and trees, and so on.

Look for the good in all situations – even those you would normally view as negative. As the saying goes, “Every cloud has a silver lining.” For example, when my wife was in a car accident a few years ago, she could have chosen to berate herself or question her judgment. Instead, she focused on her gratitude for suffering only minor injuries and for the help she received from other drivers.

4.  Carry a physical token of gratitude in your pocket, such as a heart-shaped stone, crystal, or some other small item

A physical reminder can bring you back to your practice of gratitude when your mind has drifted elsewhere. As you reach into your pocket throughout the day and feel the token, use it as a reminder to stop, breathe and take a moment to fully experience the emotion of gratitude. The more conscious effort you put into seeking it out, the easier it will be to find it – and the more powerful your experience will be.

5. Remember to appreciate the smallest blessings

The best way to activate your gratitude is by acknowledging the gifts most people take for granted. If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes in your closet and a roof over your head, you are better off than 75 percent of the world’s population.

If you eat three meals a day, you are far better off than the 1 billion people on the planet who eat once a day at most.

Do you have a phone?  How about a car that allows you to travel to work or to explore the country? Is your family healthy? Do you have a computer and Internet access to stay in touch with the world, get access to education, and perform work for which you are paid? Do you have clean water to drink?

Celebrate these simple blessings. These daily conveniences are gifts that most people in the world do not enjoy.

6. Appreciate yourself

Finally, don’t forget to appreciate your OWN positive qualities and accomplishments. In addition to celebrating your big successes, acknowledge your small daily successes too. We all need acknowledgement, but the most important acknowledgement is that which we give ourselves.

One of the most powerful ways to acknowledge and appreciate yourself is by doing the Mirror Exercise. This powerful exercise requires you to appreciate yourself for the day’s accomplishments while talking to yourself in a mirror.

It may not feel natural at first to focus on appreciating what you already have, but by faithfully practicing the Daily Appreciation Habits outlined in this article, you’ll begin to change your conditioning.

To kick-start your daily gratitude practice, take a few moments to share at least three things for which you’re grateful for in the comments. Even the smallest act of gratitude will have a positive impact on your life.

Thanksgiving challenge: Tell me what you’re grateful for right now!

I look forward to reading what you share!

 

Find The Diet That’s Best For You

Nathalie Chantal de Ahna

When it comes to your health, stereotypes or generalized lifestyles that work or don’t work for someone else don’t matter.

All that matters is how you and your body react to the individual strategies you choose to be healthy.

As a nutritionist, when I started helping clients, I thought they should listen to me. Today I teach them to listen to their bodies and minds.

Are you ready to:

Think outside the “diet box”?
Listen to your own body rather than someone else’s (meal) plans?
Here are three truths that will guide you to healthy eating for the rest of your life:

1. Your body is smart. Listen to it.

If the thought of tofu makes you miserable because your body is telling you that it genuinely needs a steak, have a steak!

We all have a completely individual and innate food navigation system that tells us what to do (this is called somatic intelligence). When the signals in our brain and body aren’t distorted by chemicals or artificial ingredients, we can actually learn to use our somatic intelligence effectively.

2. Your mind is very powerful. Use it to your advantage.

Your mind can be a powerful asset — learn how to listen to and use it efficiently.

I, for example, dropped out of therapy, ditched all prescription drugs, and healed my depression on my own, because I strongly believed I could get better without pills, and I thrived on my personal holistic program.

But I would never recommend the same approach to someone who’s convinced that alternative health strategies are a load of crap.

What you believe is ultimately what drives you and will make or break you. If you’d like to change your mindset because it’s actually doing you harm, take a look at your beliefs first. See if any beliefs are limiting your potential for success and happiness.

3. Stay flexible around food rules.

I know staying flexible and adjusting your strategies can be exhausting, time-consuming, or downright scary.

But what was right for you a couple of years ago (or maybe even yesterday), isn’t necessarily in your best interest today.

When I took control of my own well-being, I went from being a lover of junk food to a vegetarian. After that I went vegan, then raw, then gluten-free.

Today, there’s nothing I tell myself I can’t eat. I might go all plant-based for months and then get back to eating animal products, if my body tells me to do so.

One month yoga might be the perfect thing for me to stay balanced; the next month it could be running.

Nothing is set in stone, especially when it comes to your health and happiness. Adjust, stay open-minded, and never be afraid of change.

I successfully healed myself from depression, an eating disorder, codependency, and bacteriophobia without drugs because I was fortunate enough to be able to educate myself along the way and because I believed I could do it.

I also believe that others can do the same, which is why I’ve become a holistic health strategist to help those seeking advice.

If you don’t have a condition that requires a specific diet, there’s no need to complicate things. If you want to live as healthfully and happily as you possibly can:

Start by keeping both the things you put into, onto, and around your body simple, clean, and natural.
Once you’ve cleansed your system, get rid of toxic self-talk and self-sabotage by learning practical self-development strategies.
Make sure there are no hidden nutrient deficiencies disturbing your communication with yourself.
Be ready to adjust your holistic health strategy along with your life.

I always tell my patients to not get obsessive about following a diet. The body has infinite wisdom. Listening to the body always works.

Remember, nothing is set in stone.

9 Simple Ways To Get Healthy In 10 Minutes Or Less

Sure, we all want to be healthier. But sometimes, swearing off this or that and shelling out tons of money on a gym membership isn’t really an option.Still,  there are a few simple things you can add or subtract from your life to leave you happier and healthier — without putting a strain on your time or wallet. I’m sharing them here:
 

1. Designate a “sugar-free”day.

As you’ve probably heard, sugar is the downfall to health.

But instead of going cold turkey, start off easy: gradually decrease your intake with “sugar-free days.” Try doing this for three days in a row, and you’ll find your cravings will go away after three days. And if you must imbibe, eat one square of dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds. But just one.

2. Stand up at work — right now.

Did you know sitting for long periods of time is associated with an increased risk of mortality? Nine to 5’ers, don’t fret!

Instead, set an alarm to remind yourself to stand up every hour at the office. Better yet, ask for a standing desk. When you stand, stretch, do small hip swirls, and shake out your limbs … whatever you need to keep that blood flowing!

3. Stick to one cup of Joe.

Caffeine is a stimulant drug and anything more than one cup suggests self-medicating for low energy.

In truth, most people drink coffee for the comfort and the taste. If it’s the warmth you crave, try hot water and lemon. If you like your coffee with cream and sugar, try making a promise to drink it only black. This way you’re less likely to have more than one cup, since you aren’t drinking it simply for the sweet creaminess.

4. Chew your food slowly.

Good digestion starts with good chewing. Not only does it aid in the mechanical breakdown of food, it signals our body to release enzymes to further break down food, which enhances the absorption of nutrients we get from the food we eat.

So practice mindful eating: slow down, chew properly and really savor every moment.

5. Take the stairs.

If you don’t have the time or money for a gym, that doesn’t mean you can’t exercise! Taking the stairs is a simple way to get in a workout.

If you work or live on a higher floor, then start by taking the stairs partially and work your way up to the whole distance. Or, if you drive everywhere, take the farthest parking spot available.

And if you walk through the day, don’t assume that you’re automatically getting enough exercise — most people don’t. Getting a pedometer to measure the amount of steps you take in a day is a great way to keep track.

6. Hydrate smarter.

If you know you don’t drink enough water — typically half your weight in ounces — here are some tricks to help you hydrate more efficiently: Drink a green smoothie and add chia seeds; the gel is especially hydrating.

Or, pair your bottle of water with an apple — it’s more quenching than two bottles of water! Plus the fiber and nutrients from the apple helps move the water into your cells.

7. Head to bed 30 minutes earlier.

Sleep is as important as food, shelter and water! If you’re a night owl, put yourself to sleep a half hour earlier than normal. And if you typically fall asleep with the TV on, set the timer for it to go off, so it doesn’t wake you in the middle of the night.

Best of all: If you get the proper amount of sleep, you won’t need to worry about #3!

8. Laugh out loud.

Laughter is the best natural medicine — and it’s free and enjoyable!

Get out of your comfort zone and try something you wouldn’t normally do once a day. If laughter doesn’t come easy, seek it out on YouTube, where there are thousands of hilarious videos at your fingertips!

9. Commit to one thing on this list.

There’s a difference between saying you’re going to do something and actually doing it. So commit to one just one health move on this list starting tomorrow, and eventually build to two, three or all!

Everything in moderation is key to Stay Healthy.