Posts Tagged ‘stress’
Thanksgiving: What Happens When We Don’t Feel Thankful?
Most holidays are spent with family members or loved ones, eating and drinking, while reflecting on gratitude and appreciation of each other. But, consider this…with all of the single or divorced women, military personnel or spouses that are traveling and kids in school who are away from their families during Thanksgiving and other holidays, do you consider the holiday times have become stressful instead of thankful? Thanksgiving was always a fun time for me when I was a little kid. Our families would drive for hours just to be together on this special day. We would celebrate the “family” while eating way too much food, play games and tease each other with all the cousins, all the while letting our parents and grandparents sit around the table and tell stories about their childhood. It was just a great time. Then, we grew up and began having children and families of our own. The theme shifted and so did our holiday traditions. Without a doubt, as an adult, I have never personally cared for Thanksgiving. It is supposed to be a time to be thankful, a time to be helpful and full of gratitude, a time to be gracious and to serve others. I never found any person to compliment my solid core values on this when I was dating or married. So, I just sort of went with the flow. And I hated it. Looking back, I cannot believe I succumbed to that. It wasn’t until I was divorced and was raising my son that I finally began my own traditions for all of the holidays. Whew. Yes, this was so much better! So what can you do as part of your Thanksgiving traditions? 1) Give back to those less fortunate: I was able to work with my college students and perform service learning at homeless shelters. We served 705 meals each night around Thanksgiving time. My students described the experience as humbling. I had four classes at that time and each class worked with the homeless population on two occasions. Many students are still working now during their own free time – four years later – with the homeless. I am thankful we all had this opportunity of learning and helping. 2) Do simple things to show you care: Being thankful can be as simple as helping your next door neighbor take out their trash, pay for groceries for the person in front of you (if you can afford to do so), drive a friend to work, or notice that you are still able to even drive your own car. Thankfulness is gratitude for the abundance in your life. Who do you know who may be alone, unhappy, and just plain grouchy? Perhaps this person is terribly lonely and just needs some love. I am speaking of brotherly love. What if it has been so long since this person has experienced any type of joy that they have given up on life, given up on love, and given up on humanity? Are they worth reaching out to? I think so. 3) ‘Break bread’ with someone you normally wouldn’t spend time with: The next time you are planning a meal, make a little extra and take it over to your neighbor, or better yet, invite them to break bread with you. If not your neighbor, think of someone you may work with who is a loner. Perhaps this person would really enjoy a home-cooked meal, a dessert, or an offer to spend time with you. Thanksgiving is only once each year. We do not need to wait for Thanksgiving to roll around to be kind to others, give thanks, and show gratitude for beauty or for the things we value and love. Do you want to know what the best thing of all is? Being thankful does not cost you one dime. You can be thankful in prayer, meditation, and service each and every day. ©Copyright – Gayle Joplin Hall, PhD.One Woman’s Wisdom – From One Leader to Another Leader (A Fiona Fine Interview with Claire Knowles)
Join Claire Knowles, organizational behavioural expert, author and former HR manager, and Editor-In-Chief Fiona Fine in this exclusive audio interview that speaks to the issues facing women leaders and entrepreneurs. They are going to tell you how to:- Find the hidden elephants in your organization
- Channel your own managerial courage and achieve your own empowerment as a leader
- Build a workplace that can nourish the human spirit
- Ask your employees and yourself the key questions that will make your business better
- How to resist mediocrity and move forward
- How to tell the difference between good stress and bad stress and keep the stress scale balanced
Are You Pre-Diabetic? Every Woman’s Wake Up Call: You Could Be ‘Fat on the Inside’
“But diabetes is a fat person’s disease!” you gasp. “How can a successful, professional woman like myself possibly develop diabetes? I’m not overweight at all!” Well, we have news for you, sister. Woman to woman: it’s time to start re-thinking what we know about type 2 diabetes and how it can affect women just like you (and me!). The fact is that more and more women are becoming diabetic and lifestyle still has a lot to do with it, but not in the way you think. Here’s how it may play out:- You’re a successful 30, 40, or 50-something professional, but you have a lot of stress in your work and home life, so you can’t find the time to exercise like you used to when you were in your 20s.
- You’ve manage to keep your weight down because there isn’t a diet that you haven’t tried over the years. You are the yo-yo queen but that’s okay, because it helps to keep you slim even when you overindulge in sweets or wine.
- And yes, you might still smoke (you’ve been meaning to quit) but you need some kind of stress relief in your crazy day and it’s a way to get away from being chained to your desk. And those cocktails after work are just another way to unwind (although sometimes the nights out with the girls do get out of hand).
- Maintaining your weight through dieting alone: 15% of new cases are not overweight on the outside (National Institutes of Health statistics), but something much more scary instead. These people are called ‘Fat on the Inside,’ which means that dangerous fat stores internally surrounding key organs instead of showing outwardly around the middle as a paunch. Dr. Jimmy Bell coined the term when he made his recent discovery. He determined that these internal fat deposits cause inflammatory substances to affect your liver and pancreas, and lower your insulin sensitivity, putting you on the road to Diabetes.
- Yo-Yo dieting: Every time we drop weight, we lose muscle, but when we gain the weight again, we don’t get that muscle back. Your body clings to that extra fat because it is afraid of being starved again and this kind of fat produces more hormones and proteins, which affects your glucose levels and triggers the start of type 2 diabetes.
- Eating processed ‘diet’ foods or bingeing on fatty, sugary foods: Let’s face it; many diet foods are a minefield of bad choices. Sugar-free foods often add fat, and fat-free foods often add sugar. If you live on anything marked ‘low-cal’ or ‘diet’ you could be doing more harm than good. Add to that the tendency for women to ‘comfort eat’ by indulging in fatty or sugary foods and you elevate the real risk of becoming ‘fat on the inside’.
- Being stressed out all the time: Whenever we experience stress, our body produces the hormone cortisol which gives you that jolt of energy but it also elevates your blood sugar levels. If you are stressed all the time, it is going to take a toll on your body and its ability to handle sugars and fats over the long-term.
- You are smoking and/or drinking: Whether your vice is cosmos or Corona, if you drink more than the recommended amount of alcohol on a regular basis (1 drink a day for women) you will have more of that dangerous internal fat. You also run the risk of chronic inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), which can impair its ability to secrete insulin and ultimately lead to diabetes. Tobacco can increase blood sugar levels as well and lead to insulin resistance.
1) Get Moving: Statistics show that overweight people who exercise regularly are at lower risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes than thin people who are sedentary. Get off your couch, push away from your desk and get moving. Your life might depend on it.
2) Eat ‘real’ foods high in fibre: Legumes, oats, brown rice, fruits, and berries high in fibre all help to regulate blood sugar levels. You get the added bonus of lowering your cholesterol as well.
3) Cut out processed ‘diet’ foods: Don’t believe what the label tells you. A cookie is still a cookie. Think twice about what you put in your mouth.
4) Slow and steady wins the race: Yo-yo dieting is called that for a reason. Get off the yo-you and embrace the slow and steady approach to weight loss. Crash diets will only harm you in the long run and they just aren’t worth it.
5) Take vitamin D: There is some evidence that a lack of this vitamin in your diet can hinder insulin function and glycemic control so make sure you get in those fatty fish, tinned tuna, fortified milk products, and supplements
6) Find a way to fight stress: Exercise is already a great stress reliever, but find other ways to relax and decompress, whether it’s through yoga, meditation, or a lunchtime walk.
Most importantly though, speak with your doctor. It is recommended that women over 40 are to be tested for diabetes every 3 years. Make sure you bring up your concerns with your physician. Diabetes is a very old disease but it is developing a new face because of the stressed, desk-strapped, diet obsessed lifestyles that we women are leading today. Be aware, be informed, and be healthy. We need you rocking your life in the world!