Moods?????

So.... We all have our good days and our bad days and on the bad days you usually feel Stressed, Sluggish,Cranky,Anxious,Angry,Sad and PMS (yes said it). On those yukky bad days there is a way to fix it...without a pill...can you guess what it is?? The answer is ....... FOOD!!

BUT

Just remember... quantity...That great saying you always hear you need to keep in mind- all things are good in moderation. 

So here is the list:

Feeling stressed? Chocolate is your answer!! Dark chocolate to be exact! Experts say that dark chocolate can actually reduce your stress hormones and known as cortisol and catecholamines which then reduces your anxiety giving you the chance to relax a bit. Even as little as 1 small square can do this so keep a slab around and have a square or even two every time you feel stressed or under pressure.

Sluggish- You know that terrible feeling where you are so tired you cant keep your eyes open or you just cant get yourself to focus on something? Spinach salad is what you need and not coffee like we think. Before i let you in on why spinach helps you must know the interesting reason to why we feel sluggish.... Impaired blood flow and nutrients to your brain does and this happens when you have high levels of homocysteine in your blood which damages your blood vessels which causes the impaired blood flow that then leaves you feeling sluggish. The reason why spinach makes you feel better is because it contains folic acid which lowers homocysteine levels. You actually don't have to stick to spinach because its not the only food that contains folic acid... any green leafy vegetables, potatoes, cereals and beans also contain folic acid.

The next one really like....

Apple with peanut butter :) yuuuuum! This is where I have to keep moderation in mind!!

So this is for when you feel cranky which usually comes with feeling tired and you actually don't have energy to do anything! All you need is to increase your energy levels and you can do so with carbohydrates but carbohydrates burn quick giving you a boost of energy and dropping you down. So... what you do is add a fat or a protein because fats and proteins take longer to digest which keep you going for a longer period of time so your apple is your carbohydrate and your peanut butter is your fat but its your HEALTHY fat because its also a protein. Try it - You wont be sorry!!

Anxious - Salmon burger or Salmon sushi

Salmon s a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids which keeps your anxiety levels nice and low and even nicer it also reduces anger and irritability.

Green Tea for anger!!

So green tea contains caffeine and caffeine actually makes you get that angry feeling but because its such a small quantity in green tea you don't have to worry.Green tea contains theanine which helps calm you down and help you focus so I would say its good to sip on some green tea before a meeting.

Sad is next on the list...

We have a hormone which is called serotonin which you probably know all about but know it as the "happy Hormone" that calms you down, makes you feel happy or even relaxed. Vitamin D is the key to keeping this hormone level so low fat milk or mushrooms.

Last on the list is.... wait .... PMS....

Pms is a combination of two of the above... you want to combine carbohydrates and vitamin D. So an egg salad would be good to start with egg mayo salad. The egg provides protein and your mayo the serotnin making you feel satisfied and happy :)

Hope this helps for one of those bad days... Really try the apple and peanut butter :)

HeartBURN

Heartburn is a killer especially in winter because we are eating all the yummy foods to keep us warm but then it creeps up and then burns like fire keeping you up at night or just making your day unpleasant. I must say i suffer from heartburn from time to time because i like eating sweets and sugar adds to heartburn. Its not the only thing though so I found a chart that shows all the foods that are acid building and the ones that aren't.

Before I add the chart I just want to explain a teeny tiny bit about acid...

Basically you want a more Alkaline body as you are meant to feel healthier and of course you suffer from heartburn far less. Acid foods make you feel sluggish,tired, you can catch a cold or flu much easier, tummy cramps and what is worse is I have read that cancerous tissues are acidic so you do really want to avoid too much acid.

So here is the list of foods to munch and avoid:

...ALKALINE FOODS...		...ACIDIC FOODS...
ALKALIZING VEGETABLES Alfalfa Barley Grass Beet Greens Beets Broccoli Cabbage Carrot Cauliflower Celery Chard Greens Chlorella Collard Greens Cucumber Dandelions Dulce Edible Flowers Eggplant Fermented Veggies Garlic Green Beans Green Peas Kale Kohlrabi Lettuce Mushrooms Mustard Greens Nightshade Veggies Onions Parsnips (high glycemic) Peas Peppers Pumpkin Radishes Rutabaga Sea Veggies Spinach, green Spirulina Sprouts Sweet Potatoes Tomatoes Watercress Wheat Grass Wild Greens ALKALIZING ORIENTAL VEGETABLES Daikon Dandelion Root Kombu Maitake Nori Reishi Shitake Umeboshi Wakame ALKALIZING FRUITS Apple Apricot Avocado Banana (high glycemic) Berries Blackberries Cantaloupe Cherries, sour Coconut, fresh Currants Dates, dried Figs, dried Grapes Grapefruit Honeydew Melon Lemon Lime Muskmelons Nectarine Orange Peach Pear Pineapple Raisins Raspberries Rhubarb Strawberries Tangerine Tomato Tropical Fruits Umeboshi Plums Watermelon ALKALIZING PROTEIN Almonds Chestnuts Millet Tempeh (fermented) Tofu (fermented) Whey Protein Powder ALKALIZING SWEETENERS Stevia ALKALIZING SPICES & SEASONINGS Chili Pepper Cinnamon Curry Ginger Herbs (all) Miso Mustard Sea Salt Tamari ALKALIZING OTHER Alkaline Antioxidant Water Apple Cider Vinegar Bee Pollen Fresh Fruit Juice Green Juices Lecithin Granules Mineral Water Molasses, blackstrap Probiotic Cultures Soured Dairy Products Veggie Juices ALKALIZING MINERALS Calcium: pH 12 Cesium: pH 14 Magnesium: pH 9 Potassium: pH 14 Sodium: pH		ACIDIFYING VEGETABLES Corn Lentils Olives Winter Squash ACIDIFYING FRUITS Blueberries Canned or Glazed Fruits Cranberries Currants Plums** Prunes** ACIDIFYING GRAINS, GRAIN PRODUCTS Amaranth Barley Bran, oat Bran, wheat Bread Corn Cornstarch Crackers, soda Flour, wheat Flour, white Hemp Seed Flour Kamut Macaroni Noodles Oatmeal Oats (rolled) Quinoa Rice (all) Rice Cakes Rye Spaghetti Spelt Wheat Germ Wheat ACIDIFYING BEANS & LEGUMES Almond Milk Black Beans Chick Peas Green Peas Kidney Beans Lentils Pinto Beans Red Beans Rice Milk Soy Beans Soy Milk White Beans ACIDIFYING DAIRY Butter Cheese Cheese, Processed Ice Cream Ice Milk ACIDIFYING NUTS & BUTTERS Cashews Legumes Peanut Butter Peanuts Pecans Tahini Walnuts ACIDIFYING ANIMAL PROTEIN Bacon Beef Carp Clams Cod Corned Beef Fish Haddock Lamb Lobster Mussels Organ Meats Oyster Pike Pork Rabbit Salmon Sardines Sausage Scallops Shellfish Shrimp Tuna Turkey Veal Venison ACIDIFYING FATS & OILS Avacado Oil Butter Canola Oil Corn Oil Flax Oil Hemp Seed Oil Lard Olive Oil Safflower Oil Sesame Oil Sunflower Oil ACIDIFYING SWEETENERS Carob Corn Syrup Sugar ACIDIFYING ALCOHOL Beer Hard Liquor Spirits Wine ACIDIFYING OTHER FOODS Tomato sauce Cocoa Coffee Mustard Pepper Soft Drinks Vinegar ACIDIFYING DRUGS & CHEMICALS Aspirin Chemicals Drugs, Medicinal Drugs, Psychedelic Herbicides Pesticides

Looking for a great aerobic exercise to do at home?

This type of exercise is just too nice...it's aerobic, improves your balance,agility, coordination and your speed as well as improves your core strength and helps develop nice sexy back muscles.

Whats even better is that you can do it anywhere...at home, on holiday, in doors, outdoors or where you want to and all you need is one piece of equipment....a skipping rope!!!

Before you can start skipping you need to make sure your rope is the correct length for you. To do this you stand on the rope and lift it up, the skipping rope handles should come up to your arm pits.  When they do, you know you’ve got the right length.

Like any other form of exercise you need to start off slow...you don't want to go overboard and then not try again so ideally you want to skip at a nice moderate pace or a pace you are comfortable with for 30 seconds and then rest for 15seconds and repeat as many times as you can. If that is too relaxed for you go ahead and skip for 45 seconds and rest for 15 seconds. It all just depends on what you feel comfortable with and how fit you are.

Take time and build it up...if you can only skip for 10 min today keep it at that and then try for 20 min next week...just keep on listening to your body. Then when you start getting used to that try different skipping styles. Different styles will again start using different muscles.

I will post a few pictures of the different styles for you to try out.

Basic jump: jumping off both feet and landing on both

Alternating: as if you are running on the same spot.

Combination: do 8 basic and 8 alternating

High jump: same as alternating just that you lift your knee high towards your chest

Endurance: Any of the jumps and you try go for as long as you can with 1min breaks in between