Aspire, Perspire, Nourish Yourself

©Ladykassie

Are you feeling happy or sad? Is it the kind of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” song day or simply a content day?

When I’m asked, “How’s your day?” I tend to think about how I’m feeling at the moment and answer based on that emotion. If I had a few extra moments to think about my day, I’m sure my answer would reflect a cornucopia of emotions. That’s not really what others want to hear. They’re not looking for your moment-by-moment playback of the ups and downs in your day! Instead, the polite answer is what our mind creates as it swiftly weighs the positives and negatives of the day, and gives an overall thumbs up or thumbs down.

Test Yourself

Do you think that your mind is accurate about the general emotional state of your day?

I was quite surprised when I took a Positivity Self Test several evenings in a row, as part of a course that I was taking on positive emotions. When I was honest with myself, it revealed that my day was not what I thought it had been.

©Dawn Hudson

The self test was developed by Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, a researcher, author, and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The test provides a “snapshot of how your emotions of the past day combine to create your positivity ratio.” Take the test for yourself and see how you do.

Dr. Fredrickson has written several books based on her 20+ years of research into positive psychology. Her books are what I call people-friendly (for the lay person) and talk about the importance of experiencing positive emotions as often as possible, and how to create more positive emotions in one’s life so that one can flourish. Positivity is one of her books, while the other is called Love 2.o.

Health and Emotions

©Ed Isaacs

Why pay attention to your emotions? One important reason is that your emotions affect your psychological and physical health. Yes, there is plenty of research that shows the link between well-being (positive emotional feelings) and physical health. The latest research goes further to say that our social connectedness with others is the important factor in creating better health. In particular, studies have been conducted measuring our ‘vagal tone’ and how that changes when exposed to emotions. The vagus nerve connects our heart muscle to our brain and regulates our heart rate. Positive social interactions influence our vagal tone, and thereby our heart rate, to create better health.

Other authorities on health have also researched and written about the healing power of the mind. Influenced by positive emotions, through the body-mind connection, we have powerful tools for enhancing our health. Read more about this in the book by Lissa Rankin, MD, Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof You Can Heal Yourself.

Strategies for Increasing Reaping Benefits

There are several strategies that Dr. Fredrickson and her colleagues propose for increasing positive emotions and social connection to others. All of them aim to build awareness of positive emotions, which broadens your thinking about possibilities and actions. In other words, when you’re feeling good, the glass is half full rather than half empty. You think of more possibilities to work with.

©Pamela Hodson

Emotions have a spiraling effect, so you can choose to spiral upwards with positive ones or downwards with negative ones. As one becomes more adept at experiencing positive emotions, one becomes more resilient to negative experiences, and can turn them around into positive ones.

As far as enhancing social connection, even a smile can make a difference because it invites a smile back, and generates feelings of warmth among both people. A heartfelt thank you that focuses on the person you are thanking, not just on how their actions helped you, can also strengthen the social connection.

One concrete strategy Dr. Fredrickson discusses for enhancing social connectedness includes practicing Lovingkindness meditation. Here is one version of the meditation you can try out:

So Much More…

There is so much more to this theory about positive emotions and health. So, if you’re interested, dig in. Consider taking Dr. Fredrickson’s positive psychology course at Coursera.org.

As I think about what I’ve learned, there are two things that stand out in particular:

Emotions are micro-moments of experiences. They come and go faster than you can think about them.
Choose to be purposeful in your experiences of emotions. Just because you’re having a bad ‘micro-moment’ does not mean the next moment needs to be the same. Take charge of the feeling and switch it to a positive micro-moment.

Learn from Dr. Fredrickson

Here is a TedTalk by Dr. Fredrickson about love. It is a must watch:

References

Recipe of the Week: Savory Goat Cheese Muffins

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Green Foods

©Louloudeathglow

As they transition from everything red for Valentine’s Day, the grocery stores are brimming with green-colored foods and decorations for the approach of St. Patrick’s Day. Observing what colors are being featured at the local food store is how we keep track of upcoming events each year. All of this green got us thinking that the best way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day would be to eat lots of green foods on that day…along with imbibing green beer if you like!

In many of our previous posts, we’ve emphasized the importance of including a variety of vegetables and fruits into your daily nutrition. Use color as a guide to creating that variety, since the natural color of foods is derived from specific nutrients we need for healthy living. To learn more, read this great article by Michael Kenneth.

Our Top 5 Green Foods & One Drink!

In St. Patrick’s honor, we’re highlighting our top 5 green foods. The list below includes ones we think pack the best nutrition and/or that we simply love. All of these foods have common health properties that contribute to their powerful health benefits. They all contain phytonutrients that make them anti-inflammatory and ant-oxidant in nature. However, each is unique in the way it delivers on health.

In Letterman-style, here are our Top 5 Green Foods:

Number 5: Green Tea

©Ragne Kabanova

Although technically a drink, we needed to include this on the list! As the least processed type of tea, a good quality green tea contains the highest concentration of anti-oxidants, which may contribute to:

preventing atherosclerosis (coronary artery disease),
lowering total cholesterol and raising the HDL (good) kind,
reducing risk of cancer,
alleviating irritable bowel disease, and
boosting metabolism.

Learn more about green tea.

Number 4: Avocado

Although this food is high in calories (240 calories per 1 cup) because of its fat content, it is an excellent type of fat to include in your nutrition. It has a combination of three important good fats: phytosterols and polyhydroxylated fatty alcohols (PFA’s) that are anti-inflammatory in nature, and oleic acid that helps lower the risk of heart disease.

Avocados are great in helping absorb carotenoids, and regulating your blood sugar. As with other anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory foods, avocados promote heart health and reduce the risk of various cancers.

Avocados are a good source of pantothenic acid, fiber, vitamin K, copper, folate, vitamin B6, potassium, vitamin E and vitamin C.

For more on avocados and their health benefits see our earlier post.

Number 3: Broccoli

©Rodolfo Arpia

What’s special about broccoli is its unique combination of anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and detoxification qualities. These three attributes may lead to lowering cholesterol, supporting cardiovascular health, and preventing cancers. In particular, related to its anti-oxidant properties, compared to other commonly consumed cruciferous vegetables, broccoli has some of the highest concentrations of vitamin C, which when combined with other flavonoids and carotenoids found in broccoli, can lead to reducing oxidative stress in the body.

Broccoli also helps with digestive support, eye and skin health, and improving the metabolism of vitamin D (because of broccoli’s excellent vitamin K and good vitamin A content).

Low in calories with 55 per cup, broccoli is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin C, chromium, and folate.

Number 2: Asparagus

©Raptorcaptor

The theme of anti-inflammation and anti-oxidation with our top green foods continues with asparagus. Asparagus is also great for digestive support, heart health, blood sugar regulation, and preventing cancer.

When reading about this vegetable, what piqued our interest is the research about saponins (sarasapogenin, in particular) contained in asparagus and their potential relationship to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” According to The World’s Healthiest Foods, there may be a connection between sarsasapogenin and nerve cell damage in ALS. We look forward to reading more about this research in the future.

Asparagus is low in calories, with only 40 contained in 1 cup. It is an excellent source of vitamin K, folate, copper, vitamin B1 and B2, selenium, and vitamin C and E.

Number 1: Spinach

© Dleonis | Dreamstime.com - Spinach Seedlings Photo

Why did we pick spinach as number 1? Besides being one of our favorite foods for taste, it is the most nutrient rich of the 5 green foods we’ve listed. Spinach is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, copper, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin E, calcium, potassium and vitamin C. These 13 vitamins and minerals are only those listed as ‘excellent’ sources. There are plenty more nutrients found in spinach that we have not listed above.

As with other green foods, spinach has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties. Bone health can also be added as a benefit of eating spinach. The more than a dozen different flavonoid compounds found in spinach explain the potent power of this vegetable. (Ref)

Finally, we like spinach so much because we can eat lots of it! It has only 41 calories per cup. When you’re hungry, reach for spinach and satisfy the quantity monster in you.

This St. Patrick’s Day, eat green and thrive!