Back-to-School Food

Healthy-Foods-Back-to-School

It’s that time of year again! With the school year starting back up, life can start to feel really busy and perhaps a bit stressful. Parents and students alike experience feelings of increased stress around this time each year. Fortunately, there are easy ways to offset and avoid the back-to-school blues and stress. Exercising daily, taking time to relax, or talking with a friend or counselor are tried-and-true ways to keep calm and centered. However, there’s another technique for combating stress and fatigue that is extremely under-utilized but just as (if not more) effective -our food.

Read more about food for school lunches and snacks…

Solar-Powered Health

taking-in-the-sun

So many of us are caught up with work, school, to-do lists, and social obligations that spending time outdoors tends to be saved for vacations or special occasions. According to a recent government estimate, the average American spends 90% of their life indoors. This is a grave (but easily avoidable) mistake on our part. By neglecting to incorporate the natural environment in our daily lives, we are not only missing out on the resulting health benefits, but may actually be experiencing some consequential negative health effects.

Improve Your Health

There are several scientifically proven reasons why regularly getting outside will improve your health, but vitamin D tops the list. Vitamin D is unlike any other vitamin in that our bodies actually produce it, but only in the presence of sunlight. There are very few vitamin D-rich foods, so to ensure that your body has enough of this essential vitamin you need to expose your skin to sunlight regularly. Keeping in mind that the average individual spends the vast majority of their life indoors, it’s not surprising that an estimated 75% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D.

Every tissue in the body contains vitamin D receptors, including the brain, heart, muscles, and immune system – vitamin D is needed at virtually every level for the body to function properly.

Doctors and researchers have found that vitamin D:

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Active Relaxation: An Antidote to Stress

health-wellness

Stress is an inevitable and unavoidable part of life, but suffering the harmful effects of it doesn’t have to be. In fact, within each of us lies a natural stress-defense system, and with a little practice it can be accessed easily and frequently. The relaxation response is a state of deep yet mentally-active rest. Unlike laying on the couch, sleeping, or zoning out in front of the television, this type of relaxation leaves you feeling calm yet energized and alert. Activation of the relaxation response has been shown to increase energy and focus, combat illness, relieve aches and pains, heighten mental alertness, and boost motivation and productivity. Think of it as a natural alternative to a cup of coffee, without the adverse effects of caffeine.

Next time life has you feeling stressed and overwhelmed, skip the Starbucks line and resist the temptation to crash on the couch – the following techniques will have you feeling blissed-out in no time!

A wide variety of techniques can be used to evoke the relaxation response. In this post, we’ll highlight three techniques that we find particularly user-friendly: deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and yoga.

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Shift Your Awareness, Shift Your Life!

Poo-Favorite-Day“The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.”Abraham Maslow

Multitasking is becoming an increasingly popular, and seemingly necessary, means of getting through everyday life – cooking dinner while watching the kids, folding the laundry while planning tomorrow’s schedule, driving to work while talking on the phone. But in the midst of accomplishing goals and completing tasks, you may find that you’ve lost a sense of connection with the present moment.

It seems that so many of us are hung-up on the past or preoccupied planning for the future, that the present moment gets disregarded. This tendency to mentally gravitate away from the present can be detrimental to our wellbeing, as this is where true happiness and peace of mind lie. Fortunately for us, psychologists have been busy at work devising ways to help us stay on track, and at the forefront of these techniques is mindfulness.

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