Happy Easter Long Weekend!🐰 Check out these cute and Festive Egg Nest Cupcakes! This weekend Sydney and I (Britt) plan to spend time with family and friends.
What are your Easter traditions?
Photo by: Brittaney Berendsen RD, P.H.Ec.
High levels of brain 🧠 inputs and stress increase your susceptibility to cravings for sugary🍩, salty🥨 and fatty🍔 foods, even when you are not physically hungry.
In moments of high stress, your actions are controlled by your impulsive, emotional brains. You may find yourself rationalizing your cravings and giving in to the need for immediate gratification.
Each time you give into these cravings, the habit of emotional, stress or mindless eating becomes stronger and more difficult to change.
What can you do?
→ Address the root problem of your stress eating, rather than the symptom itself. Although you may be tempted to focus on gaining control of your cravings when you are facing a stressful time, this strategy has limited success. Instead, focus your energy on:
- Improving your stress coping mechanisms
- Reducing stress by off-loading responsibilities that are wearing you down
- Fine tuning your recognition of physical, mouth and heart hungers
- Learning to be a mindful and intuitive eater
Sources: Dietitians of Canada, Obesity Health Network, Craving Change, The Centre of Mindful Eating and Psychology Today
🦠Nature and microbes🦠.
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Did I just use the buzzword of the decade to reel you in?? 🎣.
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I (Syd) promised I would share tid bits from the book Forest Bathing. I can tell the anticipation has kept you on the edge of your seat 🤣.
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To be honest, knowing that being in nature or at least bringing a piece of nature inside confers heaps of benefits on our health and wellbeing is probably all many of you really need/care to know. That said, Britt and I told (read: warned) you about our adoration of all things green, and naturally, I am obsessed with uncovering HOW nature impacts our health and wellbeing on not only a mental and emotional level, but a physiological level as well 🧠.
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So back to the microbes 🦠...
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There is an organism in soil that interacts with our gut-brain axis. Mycobacterium vaccae was first (accidentally) discovered in an area of Uganda, where it was linked to improved efficacy of a vaccine against Leprosy, a chronic infection of the nervous system 💉.
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Since then, it has been isolated and researchers have found the following links between M. vaccae and our health:.
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🔬Mice experienced less anxiety and fear around aggressive counterparts.
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🔬Lower rates of stress-induced colitis and inflammation were also noted.
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🔬Increased expression of an enzyme involved in serotonin (“the happy hormone”) synthesis AND increased serotonin levels in the prefrontal cortex.
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.🔬Significant improvements in QOL in lung disease patients injected with the bacteria.
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🔬Ongoing research: Altering the microbiome of military veterans using M. vaccae, and assessing PTSD.
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Researchers point to the Hygiene Hypothesis to help explain the prevalence of certain inflammatory diseases, whereby modern sanitation, antibiotic overuse and poor diet quality have reduced our exposure to anti-inflammatory, immune-modulating microbes found in nature 🏞️.
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Exciting news? Researchers are working toward obtaining Investigational New Drug status for M. vaccae to be able to test its efficacy in the prevention and treatment of certain mental health disorders 📋.
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Next time you're out for a walk, perhaps leave the sanitizer in your car and get your hands a little dirty! 🌱
🥕Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal! 🥕
I love baked oatmeal recipes; bake once and get a week’s worth of breakfasts/ snacks!
Ingredients:
2.5 cups large flake oats
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp hemp hearts
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
3/4 cup pitted dates, chopped
1 medium apple, shredded
2 large carrots, peeled and shredded
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 egg, whisked
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup vanilla almond milk
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with coconut oil, set aside.
2. Mix oats, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, hemp hearts, pumpkin seeds, dates, shredded apple and carrot in a large bowl.
3. In another bowl, mix together honey, maple syrup, egg, vanilla extract and almond milk.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Pour into baking dish and spread out in an even layer.
5. Place in oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until set and edges are golden brown. Let cool slightly before cutting. Serve with cinnamon honey and maple syrup. Enjoy!
Recipe and Photo by: Brittaney Berendsen RD, P.H.Ec.
