Guilt? What? Life's way too short to slow down for that!

Earlier this week I talked about releasing guilt and harnessing the power of tomorrow.

You know the kind of guilt I’m talking about, too.

You’re trying to eat healthier foods to boost your energy and you make a midnight run to McDonald’s. You’re doing pretty well at your new daily jogging routine but you miss a day due to work, but then another due to being a little sore, and then another because, well, you really should use the extra time to reorganize your closet instead…

You get the idea. You’re make a mistake here and there, and suddenly you’re so overcome with guilt and shame that you start to think there’s no point in going forward with what you’ve started because, hey – you’ve already ruined it, right?

Wrong.

My favorite YouTube personality is Jenna Marbles, hands down.

She’s vulgar, has two of the cutest dogs ever, and does things with false eyelashes I’ll never be able to accomplish.

Those aren’t the reasons I love her, though. I love her because she’s hysterical, and she’s hysterical because she’s real. She doesn’t sugar coat anything and is as quick to make fun of her own flaws as she is someone else’s.

The past couple of weeks have been incredibly busy (and life-altering) for me. I’ve both taken on a new job and moved to a new city. I’m closer to some family and friends, and I’m meeting new people and learning new things.

These are exciting times!

…they’re also stressful times.

I’m juggling everything from the big things like work and setting up a new place to the small things like switching banks and synching up my schedule with the Internet installation guy’s schedule. I’ve spent “free time” unpacking boxes and “me time” sleeping.

So where’s that leave diet and exercise?

Mental health isn’t always the easiest topic to discuss. For some, it’s touchy. For others, it’s awkward. For many it’s private and for a few it’s offensive.

So, similar to any blog dealing with mental health, Your Body, Your Mind has had its fair share of positive and negative comments since its launch last month.

I’ve noticed a common theme among most of the negative comments, and that’s a theme of guilt. It seems some readers believe if they don’t work out or eat right, they should feel guilty; if they don’t feel any better after working out or adopting a healthier diet, they’ve failed.

I wish this weren’t the case.

What I want for Your Body, Your Mind readers is an understanding that for many, a positive focus on the physical – whether it be jogging five days a week or cutting sweets from a diet or getting rid of dangerous belly fat – can provide a positive outcome for the mental, too.

Neither Jessica nor I will ever post an article on this blog with the intention of making any reader feel guilty, pressured, or inadequate.

Earlier this week, I told you about new research linking low red meat consumption to depressive and anxiety disorders, and asked vegans and vegetarians specifically:

• Whether they noticed any depression- or anxiety-related changes when they adopted their vegan or vegetarian diets, and
• Whether they’d be willing to start eating meat again if it meant improving any depression or anxiety they feel.

I’d like to take that train of thought a little further to include everyone – vegans, vegetarians, and meat-eaters alike.

Have you ever made dietary changes for your mental well-being? If not, would you consider it?

This bread sounds complicated. And intimidating. And maybe gross.

But I promise you, it’s none of these things.

Udi’s Millet Chia bread is basically heaven; it’s moist, filled with crunchy bits of chia, toasts really well and holds up to the three tablespoons of peanut butter I have been known to throw on top of it. And the best part?  Udi’s Millet Chia does not taste like your typical cardboard / chalk / sand gluten free recipe – in fact, if you gave it to someone who didn’t know it was GF, I almost guarantee they’d eat it up and be none the wiser.

Made with ingredients including tapioca starch, brown rice flour, millet seeds, chia seeds, rice bran and flax seed, Udi’s has created a light slice of bread that comes with 3 grams of protein, only 14 grams of carbs and 3 grams of sugar. It’s a super healthy alternative if you’re trying to amp up your protein intake while keeping white sugar out of the picture.

Happy Monday, darlings!

Here’s something for you to chew on this week (maybe literally):

According to researchers at Australia’s Deakin University in Melbourne, eating less than (or regularly eating MORE THAN) the recommended amount of red meat is tied to depressive and anxiety disorders.

PsychCentral.com Associate News Editor Traci Pedersen does a great job of summing up the research, but in short, during a study involving 1,000 women and red meat consumption, researchers found that women who ate less than the recommended amount were more likely to deal with depression and anxiety.

Earlier this week, I told you we’d talk about effective ways to deal with stress that don’t involve stress eating.

The thing is, people de-stress in different ways. What works for me might not work for you, and what works for you might not work for your neighbor.

Despite all the different ways to de-stress, though, most of us have one or two ways guaranteed to help us relax or at least work out all the anger, frustration, and worry that has us feeling stressed.

As I mentioned last week, I’ve been struggling with stress eating lately.

(I should point out that that’s not me over there to the left. I keep my nails better manicured, and I usually have less facial hair.)

It wasn’t until fairly recently (after I’d gained a few pounds and noticed a box of my favorite Kashi bars wasn’t going as far as it used to) that I realized I was stress eating.

After some research (and extra time on the treadmill), I came up with a plan to tackle emotional eating.

It’s more of an outline, really: Learn what you’re dealing with, replace it with something healthy, and eliminate or learn to manage the issue causing the emotional eating.