The Best Milk For You

Why Try Restorative Yoga?

I often hear people want to try yoga but they “don’t know where to start”, or my personal favorite, “I can’t even touch my toes!” Restorative Yoga may be a great place to begin. The goal of this style of yoga is to actively relax the body, gently moving from one pose to the next using various props such as bolsters, blocks, straps and blankets. Each pose is held a minimum of 5-10 minutes which gives your muscles ample time to relax, opening up space in your body for a more flexible back, shoulders, hips and hamstrings.

I’ve described this style as a yummy yoga nap, and that couldn’t be more true! However, this restful practice has so many benefits. Restorative Yoga not only does wonders for the physical body, but also has numerous benefits for the nervous system. As we hold these restful postures for a lengthy amount of time our body activates our Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), which is also referred to as the ‘rest and digest’ system. When we practice, our heart rate slows to a level where our organs can regulate themselves peacefully rather than in our fight-or-flight mode, which is all too common thanks to our high-stress, go-go-go lifestyle.

Our brains and our bodies need a break, a time to rest and rejuvenate. Restorative Yoga would benefit every body and is a beautiful gift of self-care.

What to expect during Restorative Yoga at MKE MindBody Wellness ~

1 ~ Bring a comfy sweater and socks along with your usual yoga outfit. The restful poses induce relaxation and your body will most likely cool down.

2 ~ An introduction to meditation and Pranayama (breath work) will be held in the beginning and end of class. Holding restorative postures for many minutes can lead to mind chatter or list making. By creating a basic understanding of meditative techniques, students will become present, allowing the mind and body to truly relax and restore.

3 ~ Do not be afraid to ask your teacher for help or for extra props. If you do not feel good in a posture, then something isn’t right. Allow your teacher to help you find a comfortable, relaxed state. Remember, the purpose of this practice is to relax the body from the inside out – if your mind is wandering or wishing you had an extra blanket or more support under your knees… you are not relaxing, you are creating stress. Your teacher is there to help.

MKE MindBody Wellness will be offering RESTORATIVE YOGA w/ AROMATHERAPY classes coming soon!

Food + Comfort

Food and comfort. Two things I love. Two things that have been an incredible roadblock for my wellbeing.

I’ve struggled with my relationship with food since I was 8. I felt broken after a move our family had to make and I quickly realized food was always there for me. When bad news greeted me or stressful situations arose, I ran to food or restricted from eating altogether. 17 years later I finally had to say, enough, and wanted to change that toxic behavior. I decided to get to know the real me, the person who dealt with her emotions rather than overeating or starving. Slowly, I was able to calm the storm that surrounded my relationship with food.

How did I begin to change? I read a fantastic book by Dr. Susan Albers called Quit Comfort Eating, Lose Weight by Managing Your Emotions, the first self-help book that actually seemed to understand my roller coaster ride of eating habits. Losing weight was hard. I’d get on board with a diet and a trendy workout and do great for 10 days then say screw it all. I’d convince myself I deserved a pint of Ben & Jerry’s + a sandwich + a bag of chips. Coming down from the act of eating, I’d hate myself and I’d starve myself the next day as punishment. This book helped me realize I can take create healthy habits surrounding my food choices instead of using food to comfort my emotions.

How to implement healthy habits:

1) Take a mindful pause. Question why you are reaching for food as comfort. Maybe you need a walk, a cup of tea or a phone call with a friend rather than food.

2) Raise awareness of how food makes you feel. I love ice cream but it doesn’t always agree with me. I will heighten my awareness of the discomfort I’m feeling when I wake up from a mucus-y rage because the sugar/dairy combo aggravates my sinuses. I ask myself if it’s worth the discomfort that is inevitable. Sometimes, yes, yes that sundae is worth it! But most times I am able to choose feeling vibrant over a short-lived sugar high.

3) Are you are eating for fuel or for fun? Close your eyes and begin to scan your body, starting with the top of your skull traveling to the tips of your toes. Inhale deeply bringing the breath back up your body, toes to the top of your head. Did this moment of breath awareness help you feel something other than hunger? Maybe you have a heavy heart that needs mending – food will not help you. Maybe you are feeling self-conscious and you could care less what eating an entire carton of ice cream will do – you need to learn how to nourish your body, your only true home.

Dr. Albers states, “There is still a lot to learn about the complex reasons people eat comfort foods…just know your patterns. Identify what kind of unique stress response you have when you get overwhelmed. This can help you prepare and find strategies for eating more mindfully and curbing emotional eating.”

Let’s work to make our relationship with food a better one. Yes, food is 100% the best medicine you can give yourself. But if you are eating clean and hate the taste, curse those veggies or resent your nutritionist that you paid big bucks to ‘fix’ you, you’re not learning, growing, or changing your body and mindset.

Create healthy habits because you deserve a better life. You deserve to be happy and fulfilled in this body that is your home for your literal lifetime. Always remember, you are a beautiful work in progress.

Women and Caffeine

Caffeine consumption gets talked about a lot, and it can be unclear whether it has a positive or negative impact on our health. Let’s start first with the common sources of caffeine:

• coffee
• tea (non-herbal varieties)
• chocolate or cocoa
• soda
• sports or energy drinks
• some prescription and nonprescription drugs such as cold, allergy or pain medication
• smoothie mixes
• enhanced waters

No matter how you choose to consume it, caffeine behaves like a pyschoactive stimulant drug by arousing the central nervous system. The average person consumes 300mg of caffeine in some form each day (between 1-2 cups of coffee), and it’s been stated that just 500-600mg per day can lead to insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, irritability, upset stomach, a fast heartbeat and even muscle tremors. 

The reaction of caffeine in the body can be boiled down to an energy boost, followed by the letdown. It increases the rate at which your neurons fire and triggers an upswing in cortisol (stress hormone) and dopamine (which activates the pleasure center in the brain). When this rush is over, your adrenaline levels drop and fatigue, irritability, inability to concentrate and headache take over causing most people to crave the high again. Caffeine distances you from your natural energy cycles, tricking your body into a constant state of alert.

The effects of caffeine can be as individual as each person - some are able to maintain a tolerance their entire life, for others it may not be an issue for years and suddenly they find it worsens their chronic anxiety or even more severe concerns. One difference we’ll talk about is how women detoxify caffeine in comparison to men, and how this may shift at different periods of their lives. 

Childbearing Age Women

At least forty percent of women in this age group experience some symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) including abdominal cramps, headache and breast tenderness. Reducing your consumption of caffeine can relieve some of these symptoms, especially the nervous irritability and breast sensitivity. There is a subset of people who are slow detoxifiers - meaning they metabolize caffeine at a slower rate so it lingers longer, increasing the potential for negative effects, particularly your risk for heart attack. 

Pregnant women who take in caffeine tend to give birth to smaller babies who, after birth, display signs of caffeine withdrawal because the caffeine had permeated the placental barrier. If you are breastfeeding, it is best to stop ingesting caffeine as it becomes a component of the breast milk. 

Post-Childbearing Age Women

Some women find that caffeine affects them different as their hormones begin to shift, such as during menopause. This is likely caused by a combination of estrogen loss and the decrease in rates of metabolism and detoxification that occur naturally with age. Many menopausal women experience hot flashes, sleeplessness/insomnia, vaginal dryness, mood swings and osteoporosis. According to some studies, all of these symptoms seem to be exacerbated by caffeine. Caffeine also speeds up the aging process and brings on menopause earlier in life.

Menopausal women are also more susceptible to bone density loss. Caffeine blocks the absorption of the minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin D which are needed to prevent or reverse this condition; therefore bone density decreases as osteoporosis worsens. Women of all ages should be aware that caffeine is associated with risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high homocysteine levels which lead to heart disease. 

So how can you move toward a healthier relationship to caffeine? Caffeine is not an easy drug to quit for some women but there are several changes you can make to ease into less or no caffeine. When you wake up, start with a glass of water and a high-protein breakfast. If you still want your cup of coffee or tea, drink it after you have eaten. Getting a full eight hours of sleep is important for detoxifying but will also increase your energy levels so wake up less tired and craving caffeine. Lastly, this is a perfect time to add a multivitamin complete with essential fatty acids, calcium and magnesium - drinking caffeine depletes your body of necessary nutrients.

Counteracting the Effects of Chronic Stress

Who among us is not affected to some degree by periods of stress and anxiety? Major life events such as a divorce, job change or health issues can bring about a vicious cycle of stress and it’s long-term, detrimental effects. Simply the architecture of our daily lives can contribute to this cycle, and before we know it we’re experiencing not only sleepless nights, poor digestion and anxiety, but a lack of intimacy, joy and creativity, too. 

Cortisol is the primary stress hormone - known for the famous “fight-or-flight” reaction to stress. While stress rapidly increases cortisol levels, removing the stressor tends to bring those elevated levels back down to normal. For example: the holiday season for many people is stressful - there are high expectations around giving the perfect gift, cooking the perfect meal or having an influx of family time with individuals you don’t always get along with. But the holiday season has an end, and usually we are able to feel relief at this point because we know the stressor has passed. This is would be a “normal” stress response. 

For many people, the holiday season is stacked on top of insomnia, chronic fatigue and daily stress, so the elevated cortisol levels never go down which is associated with the following conditions:

• increased appetite and food cravings
• mood swings (anger and irritability)
• impaired immune response
• increased body fat and decreased muscle mass
• increased anxiety and depression

What To Do About It:

1. Manage and Avoid Stressful Situations

Each person will need a different strategy for avoiding their own personal stressors, but backup plans are key to making them work. For example: if your daily commute in rush hour traffic causes you stress, you can choose to stay ahead of traffic and leave your house as early as possible in the morning & in the evening. If your first line strategy doesn’t go as planned, have a backup, such as listening to a favorite podcast which can keep you from stewing in the traffic jam and instead learn something new. Also, practicing saying “no” to additional commitments we know we can’t take on can improve our stress levels tremendously, as well as maintaining healthy boundaries.

2. Emphasize Sleep, Exercise, Nutrition and Supplements

For some, the very idea of incorporating relaxation techniques into their already hectic lives simply adds another source of stress. Instead of trying to control the stress, you can be proactive towards the lifestyle changes that will help ease your reaction and lower cortisol levels.

• Sleep 

Sleep is one of the most effective ways to manage cortisol; as little as one to two nights of good, sound sleep may do more for you in controlling cortisol levels & reducing your risk for chronic disease than a lifetime of stress-management classes. Adults should be aiming for eight hours of restful sleep each night. Exercise returns cortisol to a normal range which will also bring caloric expenditure back to normal levels, reduce body-fat levels, preserve muscle mass, decrease appetite and increase energy levels.

• Exercise

We know that exercise leads to the production of dopamine and serotonin, both of which are “feel good” anti-anxiety and anti-depression chemicals produced in the brain. In fact, researchers have show that 30 minutes a day, three to four days a week can be as effective as prescription antidepressants in relieving symptoms of anxiety and depression. 

• Nutrition & Supplements

One of the most positive anti-stress decisions you can make in terms of your diet is to cut down your use of alcohol, caffeine or any other stimulants. Too much caffeine can send the nervous system from a state of heightened alertness into a state of nervousness and anxiety. As for what you should eat, try to maintain a balance of your macronutrients such as protein, carbohydrates and fat, along with your micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. Aim to make as many meals at home as you can, using whole ingredients like fruits and vegetables.

Supplements that are important for everyone whether you face low-level or high-level stress include: B-complex vitamins, Vitamin C and magnesium. If you are struggling with major, chronic stress the following would be recommended for daily use: magnolia, bark, epimedium, theanine, phytosterols, phosphatidylserine, though it's recommended you meet with an acupuncturist or herbalist before starting them.

The biggest take-away from this is to know that having an outlet for your stress can do wonders to lower your cortisol levels - even if you aren’t ready to make the lifestyle changes above. Some great examples are: dance, long walks or jogging, the outdoors, playing or listening to music, acupuncture or a supportive friendship or relationship.