One of the topics that came up on the Livestream last night was stress. It's pretty crazy how much stress can negatively impact your health overall. And we often can't find real healing until we resolve chronic stress.
Physical Health Effects off stress!
- Cardiovascular Issues: Chronic stress can elevate blood pressure, increase heart rate, and contribute to heart disease or stroke risk due to prolonged release of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
- Immune System Suppression: Stress weakens the immune system, making you more susceptible to infections, colds, or other illnesses and slowing recovery.
- Digestive Problems: Stress can cause or exacerbate issues like irritable bowel syndrome, acid reflux, nausea, or stomach pain due to altered gut function.
- Sleep Disturbances: Stress often leads to insomnia or poor sleep quality, which can further impact energy levels and overall health.
- Muscle Tension and Pain: Chronic stress can cause muscle tightness, leading to headaches, migraines, or back and neck pain.
- Weight Changes: Stress may lead to overeating or loss of appetite, contributing to weight gain or loss, often linked to emotional eating or hormonal changes.
Long-Term Risks:
Chronic, unmanaged stress can contribute to serious conditions like diabetes, obesity, or mental health disorders due to cumulative effects on the body’s systems.
There is so much about stress that is out of our control, but at least knowing how if affects you we can try and understand what to do to reduce those impacts. In addition when there is stress out of our control, the most important thing we can do is limit other controllable stressors, and fuel our body properly!!
On a scale of 1-10 what is your current stress level in life?
I don't typically love cooking with cast iron, despite the excellent results they can bring. It's messy and smells up the house. Add to that, the one we have is super old and not very good. We were recently gifted a really good one from Lancaster Cast Iron so today I decided to give it a try. We have a side burner on our Weber so I could do it outside. I sous vide a steak, then seared it in tallow on the new pan. Man it was incredible. What a difference it made from our old one. Super easy clean up too. Below is the pan, of course I forgot to take a picture of the steak haha.
Do you love using cast iron? What are some favorites you make in them?
Yesterday we surprised the kids and brought home a puppy!! They have been begging for one for years and we felt like the time was right to bring one home.
Meet Angus 🐕 He's a Golden Retriever/King Charles Cavalier Spaniel mix. He's 11 weeks old and currently weighs about 8 pounds, he should be around 35 pounds fully grown. I know it will be an adjustment for a while as he gets potty trained etc but we are so excited. 😂 Wish us luck! 🤪
Cheese is good! I ate a block of chipotle oven baked cheese with lunch yesterday and it was divine. I love it, but know that it halts any progress I'm making, and will even trigger eating in excess to where I'll gain weight. It's sad but I have accepted it. If I eat it in small quantities with a meal, it's ok, but I really have to work to keep it in check.
What's your favorite cheese? How do you incorporate it? Do you see negative results when eating it?
Happy Monday!! We ended up having a really busy weekend, ending with a very late night last night. My sleep has been so good the last week, but last night it ended up being a very short night. As much as I have been focusing on sleep, sometimes you need to just enjoy a late night out with your husband. 🥰
How are you doing this morning? Excited for another Monday? We have 2 full weeks left in October, let's make them count! What is your non-negotiable for this week? Come hang out this evening on the Livestream if you can!
Good Evening Y'all!! I did good today even with going to see a doctor and physical therapist today. I got told no exercise except walking slowly on treadmill with no incline until the achilles tendonitis heals up. The doctor wants me to wear a boot. The physical therapist is concerned about me falling in the boot, because my balance is already messed up due to the CP. So the boot makes me way more unstable on my feet. That being said here's my stats for today. Still no dairy except butter and no eggs. Tomorrow will be 20 days without those things. BLESSINGS!!
Good Morning Y'all!! I didn’t post this weekend because I had a Life Relaunch event and it's just focus on it until it's over. I ate real good considering there was all kinds of snacks and sweets. Which I contributed to the sweets because I made a couple cakes for the two day event. I did eat 3 lifesaver mints and 6 altoids this weekend. But other than that I stayed on track. Here's my stats for both days. I'm tracking but I'm also eating intuitively. BLESSINGS!!
