6 Self-Care Practices to Better Your Mental Health and Well-Being

Little switches can make major life changes!

We've all had those good natured moments when we resolve to make huge way of life changes: Quit smoking. Shed 20 pounds. Join a gym and begin working out each day.

The street to better wellbeing doesn't generally need to mean making gigantic jumps.

There are numerous little advances you can take that will help improve your general wellbeing and personal satisfaction, they'll be anything but difficult to keep up for the long run. Regardless of whether you have just a couple of minutes to save, you can utilize that opportunity to improve your prosperity.

Take a stab at incorporating the following into your life. Guest writer, Brad Krause put together this list to help you.

-Jessica

6 Self-Care Practices to Better Your Mental Health and Well-Being

Too many of us push ourselves to the brink as we struggle to balance work, life, and other commitments. The busier life gets, the more difficult it is to find time for ourselves, and this not only has a negative impact on our physical health, but our mental health suffers as well. If you’re tired of being exhausted and want to raise your quality of life (and productivity), self-care is a must. So, here are six self-care practices that will benefit your mental health and better equip you to tackle whatever life throws your way.

Practice Basic Hygiene

Daily hygiene is the most basic way to prevent illnesses and improve our overall health. When life gets super busy and commitments are vying for our attention, it’s easy to neglect personal grooming and other healthy habits. Be sure to regularly wash your body and hair, trim your fingernails and toenails, wash your hands, and brush your teeth.

Caring for your oral health is particularly important when it comes to mental health. If you let your teeth and gums become unhealthy, it can contribute to depression, stress, and anxiety. Brushing, flossing, and going to the dentist are essential for your oral health. If you need to find a new dentist in your area, take advantage of online resources that can simplify your search.

Try Physical Therapy

Acupuncture and chiropractic care help many people with pain and joint issues, which can benefit mental health. While these are great options, they usually are not covered by insurance. And if you have Medicare, no holistic therapies like acupuncture will be covered. However, Medicare does cover physical therapy, which can alleviate some of the same pain and joint issues and, by extension, foster mental health.

Cut Down on Sugar

Excess sugar is bad for your health. It reduces your energy and increases the risk of diabetes, obesity, cancer, and other serious diseases, which means it also has a negative impact on mental health. If you’re wanting to make dietary changes to improve your well-being, start by cutting down on refined sugar and relying on fruits and vegetables for their natural sugar. As your body feels better, so will your mind.

Move More

Following a fitness routine is also essential for your mental health and overall well-being. When you break a good sweat, endorphins and other feel-good chemicals are released in your brain. This not only provides a rewarding sensation in the moment, but it can also boost your confidence, give you more energy, and motivate you to improve other areas of your life. Run, walk, swim, lift weights. Just find fun ways to move and do it four or five times a week.

Sleep Better

Those who struggle with sleep deprivation not only hinder their productivity and happiness, but they also put themselves and others at risk each day. We must have quality sleep to function at full capacity, or else our minds and bodies will suffer. Do whatever it takes to get your rest — whether it’s creating a bedtime routine, drinking less caffeine, seeking treatment, purchasing new bedding, or any other safe methods of improving your sleep.

Get Relaxed

Finally, relax. Every person needs an outlet for stepping away from daily obligations and de-stressing. Join a knitting club, take a painting class, go hiking with your kids, or carve out a Friday spa day. Think of something fun you would do on vacation to relax, and do it each week.

We all need help when it comes to balancing life commitments and improving our mental health and well-being. Remember not to neglect your personal hygiene, and give physical therapy a shot for relieving pain. Reduce the amount of refined sugar in your diet, and exercise regularly. Lastly, be sure to get quality sleep and find ways to relax. If you follow habits like these, your mental health — and life — will likely see significant improvements.

Written by: Brad Krause

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Should I eat before or after I workout? And what?

While eating after exercise is important, some examination has demonstrated that it may not be important to eat the second you complete the process of working out.

The good news is you have 8-24 hours after your activity. You don't have to eat immediately! You can take as much time as you need after your workout to eat.

If you don't eat before your workout, eat at your earliest convenience after completing your exercise.

What to Eat After You Workout

The essential objective of your post-exercise meal is to supply your body with the correct supplements for sufficient recuperation and to boost the advantages of your exercise.

Here are some ideas of things to eat:

Carbs

• Sweet potatoes
• Chocolate milk
• Quinoa
• Fruits (pineapple, berries, banana, kiwi)
• Rice cakes
• Rice
• Oatmeal
• Potatoes
• Pasta
• Dark, leafy green vegetables

Protein:

• Eggs
• Greek yogurt
• Cottage cheese
• Salmon
• Chicken
• Protein bar
• Tuna

Fats:

• Nuts
• Nut butters
• Trail mix (dried fruits and nuts)
• Avocado

Here are a couple of ideas for fast and simple meals to eat after your exercise:

• Grilled chicken with roasted vegetables.
• Egg omelet with avocado spread on toast.
• Salmon with sweet potato.
• Tuna salad sandwich on whole grain bread.
• Cottage cheese and fruits.
• Pita and hummus.
• Rice crackers and peanut butter.
• Whole grain toast and almond butter.
• Cereal and skim milk.
• Greek yogurt, berries and granola.
• Quinoa bowl with berries and nuts
• Multi-grain bread and raw peanuts.

Rundown

Getting supplements in the hours around exercise is significant. On the off chance that you don't eat before exercise, attempt to eat not long after exercise. Eating protein can help fix your muscles and different tissues, while carbs can help reestablish your glycogen stores.

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How To Be A Star Student. 5 Tips

Working out can bring you joy. Helping students achieve that joy is one of the best parts of teaching barre and HIIT classes. Be that as it may, truly, some days teaching fitness classes can be an insane asylum, and different days it tends to be an all-out dungeon—for the students and the instructor. Super-hard exercises aren’t the only things that can lead to torturous class environments. I compiled a list of things that are just plain rude in a fitness class. A “don’t be that jerk” guide, if you will.

1. Checking your phone: Why do some people find it necessary to whip out their phone during a fitness class? On the off chance that a critical call is coming through, I understand. However, I’ve had students pull out their phone to check Instagram or Facebook. It is so insulting to me that those students are more concerned with their social media than the class that is happening.

2. Being exclusively centered around weight, not different kinds of progress or goals: I want to scream when over and over again I have to talk a student down because they are focused on the number on the scale, not how they feel or how they feel in their clothing.

3. Not telling me prior to class about their injuries: Every class, I ask students to tell me about any injuries, pregnancies, or anything else going on with their bodies that might be relevant to what they can do in class. I’m not a mind reader. I don’t just magically know about your body. I’ve had ladies let me know after a class or private session that they’re pregnant. What? Any instructor worth their salt will tailor exercises to you, so speak up early on to get the most effective use of both your time.

4. Not listening to my instructions: It is super annoying when students make up their very own exercises during a group class. Modifications are one thing (but see #3 above and give me a heads up before class so I can help you tailor exercises to your needs!), but doing your own modern dance (this has happened, complete with singing a song that was not playing) when the rest of class is doing very difficult moves is distracting to other students.

5. Talking over me: Class is not the time for talking at any audible volume with your friends. It’s a mentality. You’re either genuine about being in a group class and putting forth a valiant effort, or you’re not. Pay attention—it just takes one hour of resolute assurance to draw out the best in yourself.

I hope this list will help you to be the well-behaved student you can be.

xoxo

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This article was first published on Fixing Fit

Why is Almond Butter so expensive?

For what reason is almond butter so costly?

California produces 80% of the world's almonds. They represent 11 billion dollars in benefit statewide. Almonds require a great deal of water to deliver. "The measure of water expected to deliver the state's yield [almonds] would cover the measure of water 60 percent of California's inhabitants are prescribed to utilize every year," says ABC News.

Without a doubt, almonds are not the most noticeably bad guilty parties with regards to sucking California's water assets dry. It takes in excess of a gallon of water to grow a solitary almond, and it might take 220 gallons of water to deliver a substantial avocado… A stick of spread requires in excess of 500 gallons of water to make.
All things considered, almonds take up 10% of California's all out supply.

Ok. So now what? A call to blacklist almonds?

If you feel like making some practical changes, here are a couple of humble proposals that I'm doing. I hope it helps you.

• Purchase privately developed almond butter. I try to buy locally sourced butter. 
• Make your own
• Live simply, appreciate beauty, and share joy.

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Neck pain during crunches

Neck pain during crunches is incredibly common

The genuine issue? You're doing crunches all wrong. Most people perform a crunch from the upper body instead of the ab area, which works your neck muscles, not your abs.  

Picture your spine. It can twist back, forward, and around, however the structure stays connected together in one line. If performed properly, crunches will keep your spine in line from lower back to head.  Be that as it may, in the event that you let the head slack, you're leaving your neck powerless against a strain. Best case, this slight pressure results in the gentle distress that'll shield you from producing enough reps to ever really observe abs in the mirror. But with enough pressure, this improper form can actually lead to a bulging disc, which comes with serious pain, numbness, and muscle weakness. No bueno!

Visualize holding a apple between your chin and your chest. If you don't squeeze, you'll drop it, but too much pressure will squish the fruit, making bruises all over the apple (If visualizing just isn't working, try folding up a towel and squeezing it between your chin and your chest.) So, retract your chin. Remember the elbows and abs are not connected. The abs have no idea what your elbows are doing so it's ok if your elbows aren't opened wide. But, your neck is connected to your spine so no pushing your head forward with your hands. 

I hope this helps you the next time you hit the mat for some ab work. 

In health,

Jessica Bailey

Passion Fit

Passion Fit™ is a health, wellness and fitness lifestyle company focused on helping you be at your best! The mission of Passion Fit is to help women flourish from the inside out by focusing on their health, wellness and fitness and the vision is to create a local and online community where women can have fun, make friends, feel supported and be encouraged to achieve their dreams and goals!

Fruits and Vegetables together in a juice

The exhausting truth, is that there simply aren't any alternate routes to weight loss and better wellbeing: it takes work. Juice can be a piece of a solid eating regimen, with one vital principle: make it at home with a juicer or blender that utilizes the whole natural products or vegetables rather than one that just expels the fluid. Not all juicing fixings are made equivalent. Certain fruits and veggies are better tasting for juicing than others. 

Here are some great combinations to try:

 Cucumber, Pear Juice

This is a refreshing juice! It’s a great source of vitamin C, vitamin K, and more. Cucumbers are almost 90% water and contain electrolytes! I think it's great way to stay hydrated. 

Make it by combining the following in your juicer:

• 2 cucumbers

• 1 pear

• ½ lemon

• 1 cup spinach

• handful of mint leaves

This cucumber, pear juice is best to have at any time of the day. The electrolytes make it a good way to fight a hangover. 

Watermelon, Lime Juice

Watermelon is one of my favorite ways to get hydration during the hot summer days. Remember this one for the heat of the summer. 

Make it by combining the following in your juicer:

• 2 cups watermelon (cubed)

• 1 lime

• handful of mint leaves

Combine Watermelon with lime for a great-tasting juice that’s not only hydrating but is high in vitamin C and antioxidants as well.

 Carrot, Cherry Juice

Carrots are so healthy for you. They’re high in vitamin A, vitamin C, and beta-carotene. It is also sweet!

Make it by combining the following in your juicer:

• 8 carrots

• 1 cup pitted cherries

 This juice is think and is perfect as a healthy dessert. No need to feel guilty for this dessert. 
 

Parsley, Kale, Apple Juice

Parsley is a great for juicing! It contains vitamin A, vitamin C, and folic acid. Most of the time Parsley is over looked but don't discount it. 

Make this juice by combining the following in your juicer:

• 1 bunch parsley

• 3 large apples (Granny Smith)

• 1 bunch kale

• 1 cucumber

• 2 lemons

Make sure to offset out the parsley with alternate fixings. Honestly, the taste of parsley is overpowering if the fixings aren't added in the EXACT amount suggested. This one I tried a few times to get the right amount of sweetness. 

Disclaimer alert: I was the taste tester while my husband did this for me, he is the better cook anyway, so ultimately you win.  I just gave feedback, I did not juice. 

One extra tip is to include a little sparkling water to every juice. It makes them additionally reviving and simpler to drink down. And it makes your drinks bubbly, which is always fun!

In Health,

Jessica Bailey