How to Destress?

You may be one of the millions of people who use chocolate, ice cream, or pizza to numb down their stressful feelings. Using food to destress tells the brain, “Now that you’ve made me pay attention and refuel with high energy food, you can relax.”

But there are other options besides eating to destress or decrease stress. You can choose exercise, yoga, meditation, sex, or a warm bath, all of which activate your brain’s pleasure centers and physically relieve stress. But we don’t always remember we have these other options when we’re in the middle of a stress flare-up that makes us reach for something to extinguish the fire.

Are there foods that can destress feelings? While there are no foods that will wipe away the causes of stress in your life, if you’ve been following the “Ten Rules for Healthy Eating,” you are in good shape, nutritionally, so when you run into a wall of stress you will be well fortified and have adequate reserves to deal with the crisis emotionally.

Here are a dozen things you can do to destress levels and conquer cravings:

• Wait ten minutes before giving in to a craving. If you can distract yourself for ten or fifteen minutes by answering e-mails, playing with the cat, helping your kids do homework, or running an errand, you may forget about it.

• Never go hungry. Hunger triggers intense cravings for sugar, so when hunger pangs strike, nibble on some protein foods or nuts.

• Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Many types of produce are full of antioxidants and phytochemicals that eliminate free radicals created by stress.

• Avoid burnt, barbecued, and fried foods. These foods burden your body with excessive amounts of damaging free radicals.

• Eat small, frequent meals instead of a few large ones. Doing so will help you maintain steady blood sugar levels.

• Drink two or three cups of green tea daily. Among its many health benefits green teas help destress feelings since they have theanine, a unique amino acid that tranquilizes the brain and helps to control cortisol levels.

• Turn off the TV. TV exposes you to endless numbers of food commercials that are designed to trigger cravings. Decrease the amount of TV you watch, or if you can’t, use the mute button to turn off the sound and walk out of the room during commercials.

• Eat foods with anti-stress vitamins and minerals daily. Make sure to include the B complex and vitamins A, C, and E as well as potassium, magnesium, calcium, and zinc to replenish nutrients depleted by daily stresses.

• Get enough sleep. Fatigue and sleep deprivation lead to carb cravings because carbs are a major source of energy needed when you feel wiped out. Instead, to relax before bedtime, eat a dairy food such as yogurt or steamed milk with some honey and cinnamon. Calcium is a natural tranquilizer, muscle relaxant, and sleep promoter.

• Exercise regularly. Exercise counteracts stress by releasing endorphins, the exercise hormone that produces good feelings.

• Drink a lot of water. Every system of the body depends on water to remove wastes, bring nutrients and oxygen to the cells, aid in digestion, and maintain normal metabolic rates. Drinking about ten cups daily will help you to destress.

How to grow taller naturally

There are a lot of factors that come into play when you want to grow taller naturally such as Genetics, Nutrition, Human Growth Hormone, Exercises, Growth Plates, Sleep, Deep Breathing, and Massage.

Genetics is the main factor, since we can’t do anything about that. You can’t change or control your growth plates fuse up and close, either. Usually this happens around the age of 24. You can still grow after that, but it is a lot harder. You will gain at most 2 inches of height after your growth plates fuse together.

Actually, you can add up to 2 inches (5 cm) in most cases to your natural height. More dedicated people can even add up to 4 or more inches (10 cm) to their height.

Here are some key points of how to grow taller naturally:

• Having proper nutrition and supplements are important to grow taller naturally. Leaving them out and dismissing them as not as important as the exercises would be a bad move.

• The most important supplement you need is calcium. This is the most important thing you will need for bone growth. You will also need magnesium, chromium, and zinc. These all play major parts in aiding bone growth.

• The best sources for calcium and zinc are milk, yogurt, eggs, and meat. The best source for chromium is meat. For magnesium, it would probably be best to take it in pill form.

• Magnesium actually helps you sleep better which is when you do most of growing. Milk does as well. So consider drinking a glass of milk about 2 hours before bed.

• Try to avoid calcium inhibitors such as soft drinks, cigarettes, alcohol, coffee, refined sugars, and salt. If you want to grow taller naturally then minimize the intake of them.

• You will also need to drink a lot of water to keep your blood thinned out and able to transport all the vitamins and nutrients that your muscles and bones will need to repair and grow bigger and longer.

• Growth hormone helps your skeletal bones and muscles to grow stronger, bigger, and longer. If you don’t have enough growth hormone in your body, it will be hard to grow.

• The Intensities exercises such as jumping, sprinting, etc helps to increase amount of growth hormone released into your blood. This allows your body to grow taller naturally.

• Proper sleep is vital. Remember the first 2 hours of sleep are very important because that is the time when your body produces and releases the most growth hormone. Not getting enough sleep can lower the amount of growth hormone that your body produces.

• Eating big meals with foods that have a high in sugars and carbohydrate will force your body to produce a large amount of insulin to help in digestion. This will effectively block out the flow of growth hormone into your blood stream.

• You will need to avoid eating any food or drinking any soft drinks in the 2 hours before bed. This is critical because you don’t want any insulin surges before and during your sleep.

How to build your child's confidence

Young teens with low self-confidence can be lonely, awkward with others, sensitive to criticism, and less likely to join activities and form friendships.

Building confidence

Confidence means knowing you are a worthwhile person. Kids learn to be confident by how they are treated in their families: if they are encouraged to speak up and to do things, they come to discover that they are capable. Kids at this age commonly feel gawky and awkward about their physical skills and emotions. They may be afraid to play basketball because they are afraid they can’t make the basket, or not write for the school paper because they fear they aren’t a good writer. Confidence is key to self-esteem, both personal confidence (“I can do this”) and social confidence (“Others like being with me”).

According to the U.S. Department of Education, youth often feel inadequate as they are trying to adapt to their changing bodies and relationships withfriends and family. Young teens with low self-confidence can be lonely, awkward with others, sensitive to criticism, and less likely to join activities and form friendships. This isolates them further and slows their ability to develop a better self-image. Saddled with low self-confidence, when they do make friends, they are more vulnerable to peer pressure. Adolescents who lack confidence may hold back in class or do the opposite—act out to gain attention. At worst, a lack of confidence usually leads to self-destructive behavior and habits—smoking or drug or alcohol use, sexual behavior, or even self-injury.

Teachable moments

Every time your child does something that makes him feel good about himself, make a big deal about it. Say, “That is so terrific! I am so glad you could do that!” Do this even over small things and be very specific. If your daughter combs her hair perfectly every morning, say, “I am so proud that you take such good care of yourself every morning and that I never have to remind you.” If your son puts the top back confidenceon the chocolate milk, say, “You’re so good about being responsible in putting the cap back on the chocolate milk.”

Be very complimentary and supportive. Express care by saying, “I’m glad to see you,” “I love you so much,” “I’m glad you are my child,” or “You can do anything if you want to.” If your child is giving a speech at school, have her practice in front of you and point out all the things she is doing right instead of what is not up to par. That approach of emphasizing the positive builds confidence.