WHAT ABOUT MENTAL WELLNESS DURING THE HOLIDAYS?
HOLIDAY SURVIVAL Mind and Body!
Maintaining Mental Wellness During the Holidays
Most of the time when we think of the holiday season, we think of joy and good tidings. However for many, the holidays can bring stress, anxiety, or reminders of a lost loved one.
When searching for tips to stay healthy during the holiday season, you might find hundreds of tips for healthy eating. But what about mental wellness? This holiday season take some time for your mental well-being.🤗🥰
The holidays are packed with stress, and we all know the easiest, safest, most affordable place to relieve that stress is in a plate of mashed potatoes or pumpkin bread, a box of Christmas cookies, and lots and lots of red wine.
If you’re prepared with some action items, it's possible to not get trapped into emotional eating even during the holidays — or at least not as much.
Here are a few ways you can avoid turning to food for comfort and exercise discipline during this self-indulgent season of the year.
1. Nibble on Dark Chocolate in the Morning
Eat DARK chocolate or enjoy a chocolate Shake (Shakeology is my go to 7 days a week) Since sugar can often cancel out the beneficial properties of this food, it’s best to aim for dark chocolate that's at least 85 percent cocoa or higher.
Dark chocolate often satiates the urge to engage in addictive behavior for a few reasons:
First, it has one of the highest concentrations of magnesium in a food, with one square providing 327 milligrams (mg), or 82 percent, of your daily value — and magnesium is our calming friend. According to a study published in January 2012 in Neuropharmacology, magnesium deficiencies induce anxiety, which is why the mineral is known as the original chill pill!!!!
Dark chocolate also contains large amounts of tryptophan, an amino acid that works as a precursor to serotonin and theobromine, another mood-elevating compound.
You’ll find that eating a few squares of 80-90 percent dark chocolate a day — oftentimes in the morning — will quiet that impulse to binge the rest of the day on sweet breads and chips.
