Monday Morsels: Stress Support #4
It’s #mondaymorsels day, a brief post about a food you’ll want to add to your grocery list. This food, as always, will be related to the main topic of the month! This month, we’re talking stress support.
Click on the image to get the full exploration of today’s find!
This month, we are zeroing in on the food ways to help you through #stress. Let's add another delicious item (or itemssssss in this case) to your grocery list.
FRUIT.
Fruit! All of them.
I’ll tell you three reasons why, especially when it comes to supporting you through stress.
BECAUSE VITAMIN C
Your adrenals, as you well know, are one of the key players in the stress response. In order to get this response up and running, you need a lot of Vitamin C. In fact, the production of cortisol (that hormone released in the stress response) necessitates extra vitamin C. Not only that, but vitamin C is water soluble, we are poor at storing extra. Thus, it needs to be a regular part of meals in order to top us up all the time. Best spot to find vitamin C? FRUIT. All of them have some, but the highest sources will be your berries, cherries, citrus, kiwi, stone fruit, cantaloupe.
BECAUSE CARBOHYDRATES
When your body (which predominantly runs on glucose aka carbs) starts to run low on fuel, your brain will elicit that stress response in order to release cortisol into the bloodstream. This cortisol - tripped by your brain’s lack of fuel - frees up glucose into your bloodstream, so that your cells can now have fuel. GOOD WORK BODY.
Oh. Did you mean to trip that stress response?
Probably not. Did you know that well timed carbohydrates over the course of your day can help you reduce that stress response? Fruit are a brilliant way to provide some of those carbohydrates to help you move through your day with a bit more ease. Try adding them back in, and see how you feel!
BECAUSE FIBRE
Fruit - as opposed to fruit juice - carries with it fibre. This fibre is a crucial piece of the puzzle to help nourish the bugs of your gut, aka your microbiome! When they get the good food they love (in the fibre of your fruit), they’ll set you up for LIFE. Balancing your microbiome is one of those pieces of reducing what may be driving the stress response internally.
BEST PURCHASING TIPS: it’s a question of good / better / best when it comes to purchasing fruit. Where you can, opt for organic versions in order to reduce what may be contributing to hormonal imbalances. These imbalances only fuel that slow internal inflammation that contributes to your body’s overall stress load. Refer to the Dirty Dozen / Clean Fifteen to help you figure this piece out.
Struggle with stress, dear one? Get in touch. Let’s meet up to start drawing up your road map to help you better be able to meet life’s stressors.
Monday Morsels: Stress Support #3
It’s #mondaymorsels day, a brief post about a food you’ll want to add to your grocery list. This food, as always, will be related to the main topic of the month! This month, we’re talking stress support.
Click on the image to get the full exploration of today’s find!
This month, we are zeroing in on the food ways to help you through #stress. Let's add another delicious item to your grocery list.
CACAO.
Cacao. Yea yea yea. I’m on team YOU, friend.
I’ll tell you three reasons why, especially when it comes to supporting you through stress.
BECAUSE MAGNESIUM
Cacao, especially cacao butter, is loaded with magnesium, a VIM (Very Important Mineral) in your body’s stress response. Magnesium is needed to mount the stress response, as it helps regulate your neurotransmitters which make those telephone calls in the body to trigger things to happen. Magnesium is also known as the calming mineral, the original chill pill if you will - which helps quiet nerve impusles and calm the mind. It also helps enhance the production of GABA - a critical chemical in helping you to calm down.
**n.b.: cacao butter is the only cacao product that is low histamine, so if you know you struggle with histamine issues, opt to use cacao butter instead of other products.
BECAUSE ANTIOXIDANTS
There is mounting evidence that mood disturbances are a signifier that the delicate balance between your body’s antioxidant defense team and the mounting oxidative stress is off. Where does oxidative stress come from, then? Low grade chronic inflammation. Toxins. Stress both outside the body and inside the body. What helps rev up that antioxidant defense team? Antioxidants! And cacao products are absolutely loaded with them. Like, uber-loaded. Coles Notes: eating cacao products help protect your brain, helping reduce those negative impacts on your brain, neurotransmitter + hormonal health so as to protect against stress.
(Read more on the benefits of adding in antioxidant rich foods to your diet here. Translation: eat. real. food.)
BECAUSE MOOD LOVE
Friends. If I hadn’t yet convinced you, then this is the reason why. Cacao products contain many key chemical compounds that can, in all of their different ways, support an improved function of the hormonal pieces that regulate mood. What does this mean? In a study where they looked at the impact of adding in raw cacao, they saw an increase in dopamine activity in those who received the cacao powder. (1) Dopamine is associated to the feel good feeling - and is a key player in setting your mood. It’s quite complicated, but there are stress-blocking compounds found in cacao that help reduce the stress response in our brain. Sign me up! (1, 2)
BEST PURCHASING TIPS: it’s a question of good / better / best when it comes to chocolate products. If you are currently experiencing higher stress levels, might I recommend you reach for CACAO products as opposed to COCOA products. Cacao is processed at a lower temperature, and hence it is better able to retain those heat-sensitive chemicals name-checked above.
Whether it be cacao nibs, paste, powder, butter, beans, or straight up chocolate bars (made with cacao products!), I encourage you to EAT THE CHOCOLATE. Daily, if stress seems a heavy thing these days, be it internal stress (inflammation!) or external (being a human in 2020).
Struggle with stress, dear one? Get in touch. Let’s meet up to start drawing up your road map to help you better be able to meet life’s stressors.
Monday Morsels: Stress Support #2
It’s #mondaymorsels day, a brief post about a food you’ll want to add to your grocery list. This food, as always, will be related to the main topic of the month! This month, we’re talking stress support.
Click on the image to get the full exploration of today’s find!
This month, we are zeroing in on the food ways to help you through #stress. Let's build your grocery list one delicious item at a time!
SEA SALT.
But sea salt is such a teeny tiny thing. Why might this be an important thing to add in?
I’ll tell you three reasons why, especially when it comes to supporting you through stress.
BECAUSE MINERALS
Sea salt offers a brilliant array of trace minerals in small amounts. Think sodium, magnesium, iodine, potassium. These minerals are needed to make all the hormones your adrenals will be producing in times of stress. They’re a part of the recipes of things that need to happen in the body in order for your body to mount that stress response, and get through it!
BECAUSE ELECTROLYTES
Electrolytes are made from minerals - and we need these electrolytes in balance for important work in the body: regulating fluids inside and outside of cells; the energy work of our mitochondria; the pumping of our heart muscle; brain and nerve cell work, etc. Sea salt offers a solid array of electrolytes, and when sourced naturally, typically in balance in the way we need them as humans. What governs the electrolyte balance inside and outside of cells? Why, your adrenals. Help give them the tools they need to get the job done.
BECAUSE CRAVINGS
In one on one consults, I always ask the question to see if a client has any cravings. When they signal they want to munch on all the crunchy salty things, it’s a wee tip to me to dive deeper into understanding how strong their adrenal vitality is. Craving salty things is a request from the adrenals to fulfill the need to up the minerals! While I’d much rather offer healthier alternatives than potato chips, the idea is that we start to track how the cravings go. We’ll know we’re on the right track with our work together in replenishing adrenal vitality if these cravings subside.
BEST PURCHASING TIPS: find an unrefined sea salt that has not been bleached. Swap out your regular table salt for sea salt, and use as you would regular salt: in recipes, on eggs, in soups/stews, at the table.
Me? I like to purchase a few different ones from the bins at the health food store, and then I mix them. As my ancestors all hail from the ocean waters in France and Ireland (and then the East Coast for a few hundred years), I think it’s critical for the cells of my body to have access to the salt they would have had, as it is what fed my genetics. Celtic sea salt is a must for me and my family.
And listen. There is no diagnosing going on here, and this is not meant as medical advice. If you think you struggle with adrenal health, I strongly encourage you to meet up with your Medical Team. And if you’re working through kidney troubles, heart issues, high blood pressure, then you definitely need to talk to your Doctor before adding in sea salt to the table.
Struggle with stress, dear one? Get in touch. Let’s meet up to start drawing up your road map to help you better be able to meet life’s stressors.
Monday Morsels: Stress Support #1
It’s #mondaymorsels day, a brief post about a food you’ll want to add to your grocery list. This food, as always, will be related to the main topic of the month! This month, we’re talking stress support.
Click on the image to get the full exploration of today’s find!
New month, let's dive in to a new topic. This month, it's all about helping you through #stress. Let's build your grocery list one delicious item at a time!
We start right outta the gates with this one.
LIVER.
But why oh why do you always go on about liver, Luka?
I’ll tell you three reasons why, especially when it comes to supporting you through stress.
BECAUSE B VITAMINS
Whenever your body goes into stress mode, your adrenals require a lot of B vitamins. Not just a few of them, kinda all of them. What’s your best food source of ready-to-use B vitamins? LIVER.
BECAUSE ANTI-INFLAMMATION
Liver is one of those best foods to help provide the body with deep nourishment aimed at reducing inflammation in the body, especially the animal version of Vitamin A. If you understand that low grade chronic inflammation is a part of the body’s stress load, then anything you can do to reduce inflammation will help you reduce the overall stress load on your body.
BECAUSE PROTEIN
In order to respond to stress, your body needs to make hormones. Think of hormones as biochemical telephone calls in the body that help make things happen, help your body respond to what’s going on around you. What’s at the base of each and every hormones? Why a backbone made out of protein! So supply your body with the ingredients it needs to be able to make the chemicals you need to meet stressors adequately.
Eat it any way you like it: fried, in liver pate form (my personal fave), in Dirty Rice, or freeze it in pill-sized form to easily pop in your mouth every morning.
Oh but it’s hard to be a human in 2020.
Struggle with stress, dear one? Get in touch. Let’s meet up to start drawing up your road map to help you better be able to meet life’s stressors.
Monday Morsels: Sleep Troubles Support #4
It’s #mondaymorsels day, a brief post about a food you’ll want to add to your grocery list. This food, as always, will be related to the main topic of the month! This month, we’re talking sleep support.
Click on the image to get the full exploration of today’s find!
Let’s continue to build your grocery list with those foods that can help support good quality SLEEP - a pillar in Keeping Well.
This week, we focus on a harder-to-find food that will bring you benefits in spades. Read up for tips on how to source some locally, and why you’d want to have this in your meals!
Add this one to your list: NATTO.
BECAUSE VITAMIN K2
Understanding that your sleep is governed by the pineal gland, it stands to say that nourishing and supporting this important organ needs to be at the top of your to-do list, should you wish for good quality sleep. There are estimates that over 60% of the North American population struggle with deposits of calcium on the pineal gland - this has the potential of slowing down this important organ’s function. Vitamin K2, found in high amounts in this funky ferment, helps to move calcium out of the pineal gland, de-calcifying things and allowing the pineal gland to better make melatonin again.
BECAUSE ANTI-INFLAMMATION
There is a brilliant protein-busting enzyme available in Natto - it’s called nattokinase. This enzyme helps break down inflammation, as well as any plaque build up in blood vessels. So think of this as an anti-inflammatory help, along with being a circulation and blood-supporting nutrient. Where you can help support smooth blood flow, especially to the brain, you will be helping keep that whole machine running in tip-top shape, allowing your body to naturally support optimal sleep.
BECAUSE PROBIOTICS
Anywhere you can consume foods that will help sway a happy microbiome, you’ll get a vote for sleep. Fermented foods help sway your microbiome in a positive way. When this works happens, you can now better get the nutrients like tryptophan out of the foods you’re eating (check last Monday’s post on this). With a happy microbiome, now you can also better make serotonin out of tryptophan. Serotonin is the building block of melatonin! And melatonin? Why that’s the hormone that allows you to sleep like a teenager.
IMPORTANT INFO: Those who are currently taking blood thinning medications need to check in with their medical team first before adding Natto in to their diets, because of the way it can sway healthier blood flow. This is a delicate balance to keep you alive, so check in with your team before starting to eat natto!
WHERE TO FIND IT: if you find yourself in Calgary, lucky you, we have a local company making Natto according to traditional Japanese preparation methods. Ely and Megumi Ross, are the lovelies behind Kiyoko Fermentation. Find their products on the shelves at places like Bruhe in Ramsay, The Light Cellar in Bowness, and Lotus Herbal in Elbow Park, SW.
If you are outside the Calgary city limits, then I encourage you to get in touch with your local health food store, and request they start carrying natto on their shelves if they aren’t already. This stuff is GOLD!
Struggle with sleep issues? I’m throwing a Vitality: SLEEP class, coming up in November. Find the full details here.