Healthy Recipes and Stress Tips—What’s Your Season?

Screen Shot 2019 01 18 at 6.39.45 PM 300x202 1

Brielle Kelly, Cherisse Godwin, and Kristy Hsiao are the authors of the new book “What’s Your Season? Healing Principles and Recipes for Your Body Type” – a carefully researched and refined approach to living well, bringing together the best of Eastern and Western medicine to help people optimize their health.

“No matter where you go,” said Brielle Kelly, “no matter how many people you see, there is one common and insight you will find: people want to feel better. That’s it. They want to feel better and look better.”

Here they offer advice on how to deal with stress.

Eat – during stressful situations, we often crave refined carbohydrates or foods that are high in fat, salt, or sugar. However, those are the same foods that hamper liver function, disrupt the flow of energy in our bodies, and affect our ability to respond to stress effectively.

• A diet of whole, unprocessed foods including whole grains, fruits and vegetables, legumes, and nuts is more beneficial, especially in times of stress.

• Leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables, in particular, can help to support liver function and harmonize energy.

• Calming foods and herbs like brown rice, oats, basil, chamomile, and peppermint are beneficial for soothing the mind and improving mental focus.

• Intermittent fasting and mild cleanses can be helpful as spring approaches for rebooting, recharging, and detoxifying the system.

Do – exercise, activity, and making social connections are all important ways to alleviate stress.

• Aerobic exercise enhances the circulation of the brain’s “feel-good” chemicals: serotonin, norepinephrine, and endorphins.

• Mindfulness-based activities like yoga and tai chi are great ways to reduce mental stress, while massages and stretching are beneficial for releasing bodily tension.

• Spending time outdoors or in contact with nature increases feelings of relaxation and well-being and can be just as important to health as sleep, exercise, and a healthy diet.

• Connecting with friends, family, colleagues, and community members provides us with emotional support and an essential social network.

Absorb – our surrounding environment plays a large role in our exposure to stressors and how we react to those stressors.

• We can reduce our exposure to stress by minimizing the time we spend with people who introduce drama, conflict, or negativity into our lives.

• Turning off news channels or finding more neutral sources of news can limit our exposure to sensationalistic media coverage.

• Creating calming environments, especially before bedtime, is beneficial for releasing the stress of the day; turning off phones and tablets, playing relaxing music, lighting candles, and meditating can all help to quiet and soothe the mind.

• Taking time for ourselves and practicing self-care is essential. Setting boundaries and limiting items on our to-do lists helps us to manage our time more effectively and spend it on priorities.

What’s Your Season? is designed to help people develop an individualized lifestyle plan based on identifying which of five seasonal body types they best align with and then fine-tuning lifestyle and diet to optimize their health.

What’s Your Season includes Holistic health information (diet, mindfulness, exercise, and environment), tools and profiles for diagnosing your body type, dietary recommendations, suggestions for therapies, and healing activities, an A-to-Z guide of different foods, including health properties and seasonality, helpful illustrations and charts, over 75 easy-to-make recipes and color photographs, and tips for developing a personalized lifestyle plan that works.

For more information visit www.whatsyourseason.com.

+ posts