Recent research conducted in the United Kingdom has shown that dietary choices can have a long term effect on your mental health. Researchers compared 3,486 civil servants in London based on surveys they completed about their eating habits and a follow-up survey on mood completed five years later. Participants were divided into two categories: the “whole food” group ate a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and fish, while the “processed food” group ate a high percentage of sweetened desserts, fried foods, processed meat, refined grains, and high-fat dairy products. The research also took into account other habits that effect overall health such as exercise and smoking.
The link between what we eat and mental health: The participants in the “processed food” group were 58 percent more likely to develop depression, while those with a “whole foods” diet were 26 percent less likely to develop depression. Interestingly, the researchers were cautious to draw any specific conclusions based on these correlations.
Whether it is an exercise or diet plan, have you ever found yourself just tired of doing it and tired of thinking about it? Have you ever wanted to just take the night off? Does it feel exhausting? Do you feel like you are approaching burn out? If so, take a break already. Yes, I really just said that. Jillian Michaels suggests to those she trains to take a high calorie day (eating enough calories to maintain current weight).
Recovery is an important component of both growth and maintenance. If you run a marathon without proper training, you will probably find it difficult to impossible to walk the next day. If you push yourself too hard, eventually your body will refuse to work. The same thing happens mentally. Have you ever had a tough day at work or had to think too much and found you could not bring yourself to do anything but stare at the TV that evening? Creating a new habit and sticking to a food plan are mental stressors.
According to the background information provided, Live Happy is a positive psychology iPhone app based on the happiness research of psychology professor and author of The How of Happiness, Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky. The app includes personalization based on short quizzes and research-based activities that can increase happiness. These activities include:
Goal Setting/Evaluating/Tracking
Expressing Gratitude Directly
Keeping a Gratitude Journal
Replaying Happy Days
Keeping a Savoring Album
Envisioning Your Best Possible Self
Nurturing Relationships
and Remembering Acts of Kindness
What do you do for others that you do not do for yourself? Do you clean more deeply when visitors are coming? Even though most people enjoy the results of a put together home, many are a bit more lax when just the family will see the contents. Do you only use the soft towels when you have guests? Do you get something fast and less healthy when it is just you? Are you more likely to cook with the freshest ingredients when you have a dinner guest? How would your family dinner be different if Jillian Michaels was coming for a visit? Are you more likely to go to exercise every day when your high school reunion is approaching?
More lessons from 10,000 feet… On this flight, I am sitting near Russ who travels frequently for business. While distracting Emily from her flight anxiety, Russ told her and I about a flight he experienced during which the oxygen masks fell. He shared that all the passengers automatically turned their heads right and left like the flight attendant does during her pre-flight spiel. He and I both found it interesting how such things can be ingrained into our consciousness. I would venture that few to none of the passengers had ever had to utilize an in-flight oxygen mask prior to that incident.
Unless your flight anxiety is high, my guess is that you tune out the spiel after your first flight or two (even Emily didn’t seem to be paying much attention); I know I don’t consciously pay attention and didn’t realize how the flight attendants turn their heads. Yet, almost everyone mimicked the flight attendant automatically.
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