How Our Emotions Effect Our Health

 
There is more and more scientific evidence to support how our emotions effect our health.  Whether it is a positive effect from experiencing positive emotions, or a negative effect from experiencing negative emotions, our emotions play a big role in our health.

 
One of the preeminent experts in positive psychology and author of the book "Flourish", Martin Seligman PhD states that there is scientific certainty that our emotional outlook effects our physical health.  Scientists now know that good feelings have a positive effect on our bodies, and negative emotions create negative physical responses.

 

When we are happy, joyful, peaceful, and feeling those positive emotions, our immune system becomes  stronger and is able to fight off colds, flues, and illness's better.  When we are stressed, angry, jealous, fearful, or are experiencing any other kind of negative emotion, our bodies spike in the hormone cortisol which will suppress our immune system and leave us less able to fight off illness and disease.




The trick is learning how to take control over our emotions so that we do not dwell in the negative.  Being conscious of our emotions is the first step in being able to control them.  A study published by "Psychosomatic Magazine" found that patients who wrote about their worries for thirty minutes a day had a healthier immune system and also had fewer doctor visits relating to their illness.  We can choose to feel negative emotions, or we can choose to see things in a more positive light.  The choice is always ours to make.

Sheldon Cohen PhD from Carnegie Mellon University studied 193 patients to determine their level of positive emotions.  He exposed the participants to a virus and found that people who scored low on positive emotions were three times likely to succumb to the virus.  Clearly our emotions are powerful when it comes to our health.




Lara M. Stepelman PhD professor of psychiatry and health behavior at the Medical College of Georgia states that, "We all have the ability to choose an optimistic mind-set.  With practice we can get better at it."  Just like we train our bodies to become fit and healthy, we must train our minds to become fit by thinking and feeling more positive emotions.

There are many ways to reduce our negative emotions.  Many of us let our emotions happen as if we are just a bystander and not the one controlling them or making them happen.  We are the only ones that can control them and change them to a more positive feeling.  The tools that can help reduce our negative emotions are meditation, tai chi, exercise, a healthy diet, and surrounding ourselves with people we love and who love us.  Staying away from toxic media such as news shows, violent movies, negative press, reality shows, and other forms of entertainment that dwell in negative activity, are a good choice to make when you are trying to stay in positive emotion.

We can take charge of our health by taking charge of our emotions.  Studies show that people who for the most part live in positive emotion, are healthier for it, while people who live experiencing mostly negative emotion suffer ill health.  Since it is a choice, why not choose to be healthier by feeling more positive?  If you are a negative thinker and feeler, you will need to retrain yourself to be more positive.  It can be done by being conscious and aware of how you are feeling and thinking.....keep choosing to be positive!




Wishing You Health and Happiness,
Queenie

Portion Control!

 

Obesity is a huge problem in our country.   65% of our population is overweight, or obese.  We have an abundance of food available to us, but much of it lacks in nutrients that are needed for optimal health. We are over fed, and undernourished.  

Our portion sizes have doubled or quadrupled in the past twenty years.  During the 1970's 47% of our population were overweight or obese. That percentage has now grown to 65%.  People who are obese went from 15% to 30% in the same time frame.

A slice of pizza is twice the size that it was twenty years ago. A large movie popcorn average size was 5 cups and 270 calories back then, and now is more than twice the amount at 630 calories. A bagel was three inches in diameter at 140 calories, but today has grown to six inches and 350 calories.

  

Twenty years ago a cheeseburger was half the size of today's double or triple burgers offered at most fast food restaurants. The calorie count in today’s burgers has gone from 300 to 600 and beyond.

Sodas went from a typical eight ounce 97 calorie drink, to a whopping sixty-four ounce 775 calorie nightmare. Having a drink that gives you almost half of your daily allotment of calories, and is completely non-nutritious may not be a good choice if you are trying to be healthy and lean.

There is another thing that has been super sized in the past twenty years….our plates and dishes. A dinner plate used to be the size of what we now call our salad plates. Our cups were half the size that they are now, and our bowls went from about six inches in diameter to ten inches.  This is a very important reason why Americans are having an obesity epidemic.  We like to fill our plates up.  If they were smaller like they used to be, we would tend to eat less.

Not only are we eating the majority of our diet from non-nutritious foods, we are eating two to three times as much as we did several decades ago. 

 

To turn this health crisis around, we need to eat more of nature’s foods, i.e. fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, nuts, legumes, whole grains, and lean proteins, and stay away from processed food, fast food, and junk foods.  We also need to lower our portion size to a healthy amount.  Use smaller plates, bowls, and cups, to control overeating.

  

It is never a good idea to “super size” any portion of your food intake.  The more food you put into your stomach at one time, the more you will want to put in at the next meal.  You will be healthier and leaner by eating smaller portions, that I can guarantee you.  

  

Wishing You Health and Happiness,

Queenie