What Stress Can Do to You

There was once a quote (which I can’t seem to find in its exactitude) that said something to the effect of “If you're fighting an enemy that you just can't seem to hit, you may have to settle for the death of a thousand cuts." So you can die just as easily from a thousand little cuts as you can from one deep cut. 

So it is with stress.  Need I remind you of the phrase “stress kills?”  When this catch phrase first came out, it conjured up thoughts of some type of evil and pervasive force know as “stress” or an emotionally overwhelming event that not even the most hardened survivor could withstand. 

Now, when we think “stress kills” we associate it with more of a low-grade constant than an extreme event-like an irritating family member that is constantly at your side, needling you until you can’t take it another second and you want to rip their head off. 

The human fight or flight mechanism was meant to send a surge of energy in the form of sugar and hormone release to help us fend off serious danger.

Spring Cleaning-Yourself

They all say it.  All the gurus, the self-helpers, the personal developers-take charge of your life!  they cry.  It’s all up to you! Seize the day!  Its good advice; and I happen to agree with it.  But where to start?  If your idea of spring cleaning is to open the closet doors and take a quick leap backward to avoid the ensuing avalanche-then go back and dig in, you’ll have a cleaner house in short order.  But what about a cleaner you?  Shouldn’t your body be up for some spring cleaning of its own?  You change the oil filter and air filter on your car, what about the filtering system in your body-your liver and kidneys? They also need cleaning.  You can’t just take a few fiber supplements, wait until they kick in, then consider yourself “cleaned out,” like having just prepped for a colonoscopy-that won’t do it.  This is why you should consider “doing” a detox; to get clean-from the inside out.

5 Tips to Enjoy a Guilt-Free Easter or Passover

It’s April now and the food-related horror that was the holidays is but a distant memory.  Or is it?  My friend Lynn and I were talking about current fitness “hot topics” today and we decided that as there are so many relevant and important things to talk about, we should to narrow it down a bit. That’s when Lynn said “what about the holidays?”  “What about them? I asked, they’re nine months away.” “Not those holidays, the one this weekend!” she said.  “What can we do to minimize the damage so to speak?”  Here are five things that help:

·        Realize it’s just one day-or two, or three.  If you over-indulge, don’t throw in the towel and then say “aw, it doesn’t matter, I ruined everything