Your relationship with food plays a huge role in your health and well-being.

Physiologically, your body needs food for fuel, nourishment and ultimately for sustaining life itself. But food is so much more than a biological necessity.

It's the cultural linchpin that helps us bond and build connections, share experiences and create memories. Then there's the emotional component. From bringing comfort, stirring nostalgia and channeling love to serving as a coping mechanism or an outlet for celebration. Food plays a myriad of roles in our lives.

For these reasons and more, paying attention to your connection with food is imperative. "Your relationship with food is arguably one of the most important relationships in your life and should be made a priority," agrees Maryann Walsh, Florida-based registered dietitian and certified personal trainer.

And like any relationship, it requires constant tending and frequent check-ins. "It's not always appealing to do the work because it can seem like it will be more tedious and take longer versus just doing a strict diet to shed the pounds quickly, but without establishing a healthy relationship with food the results are often short-lived," notes Walsh.

At its core, a healthy relationship with food involves relieving yourself of the pressures of trying to eat 'perfectly'. "It makes eating feel effortless," says Kimmie Singh, a fat-positive registered dietitian nutritionist based in New York. "It looks like feeling connected to and honoring your needs around hunger, fullness and pleasure," she adds. Meaning, you eat when you feel physical hunger and are able to stop when you feel comfortably full.

In addition, "it means that you're able to be flexible and don't feel guilt or shame around your food choices," says Kirsten Ackerman, a non-diet registered dietitian and certified intuitive eating counselor.

This means not placing any particular food group "off-limits" or restricting it to only specific "cheat days." Nor binge eating or feeling bad about occasional indulgences.

For example, if you come across your favorite dessert at a party, you'd be able to enjoy a reasonable portion of it without feeling bad about itinstead of overindulging or suppressing that want out of guilt.

In a nutshell, "someone with a healthy relationship with food feels in control around food, versus feeling like food has control over them," says Walsh.

Consequently, this allows you to spend all of that energy on doing things that really matter to you and help you connect with your most authentic self, Singh explains.

"When you have a healthy relationship with food, it becomes a powerful tool to fill your cup. On the flip side, a damaged relationship with food can steal all of your time, energy and attentionrobbing you of being fully present in your life," notes Ackerman.

"Unhealthy relationships with food typically start with restriction," says Ragen Chastain, ACE-certified health coach, functional fitness specialist and co-author of the HAES Health Sheets. "This can include restrictions around the amount of food, calorie counting, restriction of certain types of food without any medical reason, etc. That restriction then drives disordered eating patterns or food obsession which can then trigger guilt and shame," explains Chastain.

These feelings of guilt and shame can, in turn, fuel more chaotic behaviors around food. "So not only is the stress of guilt and shame harmful to you physically, but the resulting behaviors around food are often damaging as well," notes Ackerman.

"The other extreme is seeking comfort in food to a point where it is detrimental to ones health," says Walsh. Think binge-restrict cycles that keep the body and food at war with each other.

Other common signs of an unhealthy relationship with food include constant fixation on what you're going to eat next, hiding or sneaking foods or using exercise as a means to compensate for what you ate, adds Ackerman.

"Its also common for people that are struggling in their relationships with food to have a difficult time experiencing pleasure in eating," says Singh. You may feel out of control when eating your favorite foods or you may be fixated on how eating certain foods may impact your weight or overall appearance. "Its a red flag when someone views eating as a tool to control their appearance. This can turn eating into an all-or-nothing experience where one constantly feels like they're doing something 'bad' or 'good'," Singh explains.

"Food is just food. Eating certain foods shouldnt make someone feel bad about themselves," adds the nutrition expert.

"I think it starts with realizing that you arent the problem, diet culture isa multi-billion dollar industry that works as hard as it can to create unhealthy relationships between us and food," says Chastain.

So the decision to extricate yourself from diet culture and disordered eating while figuring out how to relate to food in a healthy way is the most important step, notes the health coach.

Here are other key strategies to achieve a healthier relationship with food, according to diet and nutrition experts:

It's also imperative to check in with yourself from time to time, says Walsh. If you notice that your struggle with food is becoming overwhelming or affecting other areas of your life, please reach out to a qualified weight-inclusive health and wellness professional at the earliest.

See the article here:
How To Build A Healthy Relationship With Food, According To Experts - Forbes

At 7-7 in the first game of the Swiss Open final, HS Prannoy rushed to the net and with a hop, put away what looked like a certain kill. Not quite. Jonathan Christie, at the other end, caught the shuttle between his legs inches off the ground and sent it rocketing back. The Indian stood motionless, watching it land on his empty backhand side as Christie broke into a smile, happy with his tweener and showmanship.

Over two games - 21-12, 21-18 - the Asian Games champion stuck to solid defense and sharp play at the net to deny Prannoy his first BWF Tour title in half a decade at the Swiss Open Super 300 in Basel. Christie was hungry too, this weekend marked his first final since October 2019.

Both Prannoy and Christie have had headline-grabbing wins against top names on their CVs, but they've lacked the Tour titles to show for their class. In their previous four meetings, the Indonesian had prevailed on three occasions.

In the final against a Prannoy who appeared resurgent through the week, Christie played the lines well. He used his high-risk, tight net shots to force errors from the Indian with a high success percentage. Christie pushed the pace following the mid-game interval of the first game and appeared to have more mileage on his feet. His cross-court returns, like the one that landed smack on the line to bring up 17-10, ticked the boxes of placement and precision on most occasions.

Early in the second game, Prannoy looked like he might mount some sort of comeback. His smashes down the line from the back of the court were drawing weak returns from Christie, crashing into the net on most occasions. But the Indian didn't play them often enough to sustain pressure on the world No 8, who steadily wrested momentum and clinched the title.

2 Related

For Prannoy, this was his first Tour final since the US Open in July 2017, when he had won the title. Only a day ago, he had overcame a quick-footed world No 5 Anthony Ginting to make the final. Formerly ranked 8 in the world, he's placed at No 26 now and trying to find his way back into the top-15.

Being outside the top-25 bracket means that he'd be ineligible for federation-funded travel to tournaments. After paying from his pocket to sustain himself on the Tour and sucking himself dry of savings, the Indian found himself back in the top-25 recently. "You're constantly worried if you'll fall off the top 25. It doesn't help that the rankings haven't been unfrozen and results from three years ago are still being counted. Since I was in the top-25 my last three tournament expenses were paid for by the federation. I'm on the edge now again in my rankings. It's not a great space to be in mentally," he said.

Over the past seven months Prannoy has been working on areas that he admits to have earlier overlooked. Namely - understanding his gut, focusing on breathing mechanics and seeking mental support.

"I realised I was breathing very hard during matches and not recovering well. Proper breathing can lower the heart rate and it quickens the recovery process too. It's also helping me with my rib cage issues," he said.

Since September last year, with GoSports Foundation's help, he began working with the Bangalore-based Invictus high performance lab and made a few major readjustments to his diet. Chief among them was doing away with bread, milk and rotis.

"Knowing your gut and being aware of what foods don't agree with your body can be life changing. I'm learning to do that. Also having a sports psychologists' team whom I can speak to after a bad tournament is helping me set goals. After losing in the All England quarterfinal last week, I remember feeling lost for the next four days. I see lots of other players struggling with week after week of bad results and nowhere to turn. It's like a conveyor belt. You turn up for a new tournament feeling just as sh** as in the previous week. I was doing the same for a long time. For many players the whole process - perform, deal with disappointment, move on to the next match, comes very naturally. Not for me. I knew I needed help and there's no shame asking for it," he said.

Prannoy is now practicing the "reverse process" of his earlier years. "Until a few years ago, all off-court activities - whether it was sticking to a disciplined diet or physical training regime were for me, secondary to badminton. I've realised that's no good. My focus is now on ticking the off-court areas well. Once I do those, I'll be able to hang in longer in the matches, and last until a breakthrough," he added.

With his first final in five years, Prannoy already taken the first step.

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Prannoy loses the final but tweaks in diet, training prove effective - ESPN

Do anxious feelings tend to bubble up suddenly while youre at work? Do you get nervous just thinking about your job? Does your mood change come Monday morning, or Sunday evening, for that matter?

If your anxiety revolves around work, you might be experiencing workplace anxiety, also known as work stress. And youre most certainly not alone.

According to Mental Health Americas 2021 Mind the Workplace report, almost 83 percent of respondents felt emotionally drained from their work. And 85 percent or nearly 9 in 10 workers reported that job stress affected their mental health.

Of course, you dont need to go into an office or job site to experience workplace anxiety. You can experience these feelings when working from home, too. (Zoom anxiety, anyone?)

But the situation is far from hopeless. Heres everything you need to know about workplace anxiety, along with practical strategies for reducing and managing work stress.

First, its not always easy to tell whether youre experiencing workplace anxiety or symptoms of an anxiety disorder.

The tell-tale sign? Your anxiety is limited to work.

Annia Palacios, a licensed professional counselor (LPC) with Tightrope Therapy, offers a few key signs of workplace anxiety:

How do you know when your symptoms might relate to generalized anxiety disorder or another anxiety condition?

Anxiety disorder symptoms are persistent, consistent, and negatively affect several aspects of your life, says Emme Smith, a licensed psychotherapist and CEO of GraySpace Counseling Group.

The key difference between the two, explains Alexandra Finkel, LCSW, a licensed psychotherapist and co-founder of Kind Minds Therapy, is that workplace anxiety generally develops in response to stress at work. An anxiety disorder, on the other hand, tends to develop, and persist, regardless of your work circumstances.

Learn more about the signs and symptoms of anxiety disorders.

Workplace anxiety can involve a wide range of symptoms.

According to Palacios, you might:

You might also experience a sense of dread when you think about going to work and feel overwhelmed once you get there, says Boone Christianson, a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) and author of the book 101 Therapy Talks.

Workplace anxiety can involve physical symptoms, too. These might include:

A number of factors can contribute to workplace anxiety, and these can vary from person to person.

For example, says Palacios, work stress may stem from:

According to Kimberly Wilson, PhD, LMFT, an organizational psychologist and therapist, you could also develop workplace anxiety if your job:

In some cases, your work stress can also have a deeper, more subtle underlying cause or contributing factor.

For example, says Christianson, maybe youve had negative experiences in the past with making phone calls, or your boss reminds you of your dad. Maybe your college professors harsh criticism sharpened your sensitivity to any kind of feedback on writing-related tasks.

As Palacios also points out, being an anxious person or having a pre-existing anxiety disorder can make us more likely to experience workplace-specific anxiety.

For example, she notes, if you already live with anxiety you might go straight to the worst-case scenario. Consequently, your workplace might become a significant source of stress if you (mistakenly) assume:

Workplace anxiety can feel overwhelming and unrelenting. But with a few small steps, you can successfully overcome or manage your work stress.

The triggers of work stress arent always obvious. Writing out moments when you feel nervous throughout the day will help you find patterns or triggers, says Smith.

Maybe you regularly feel nervous and nauseous before weekly team meetings, or you have trouble concentrating on anything after you encounter one specific co-worker.

Identifying specific situations that increase your stress levels can help you figure out the best strategy to handle them going forward.

Worry in the form of what-ifs is a common type of workplace anxiety, says Max Maisel, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist in Los Angeles who specializes in anxiety disorders and OCD.

To better understand whats going on and explore possible solutions, you can try asking yourself questions about those what-ifs until youve uncovered your core fear. Maisel suggests Why is that a bad thing? and What does this mean about me? as good questions to start with.

How do you know youve found your core fear?

Typically, its when you can no longer ask Why is this a bad thing? or you feel a gut sense that you hit on something viscerally important, says Maisel.

When youve reached that place, he suggests acknowledging the story without assuming its true and then thanking your mind for trying to protect you.

From there, you can gently challenge the fear by asking yourself:

When you get anxious and stress levels soar, your natural inclination might be to respond with self-criticism.

Instead, try to be patient and understanding with your reactions.

How? You can start by labeling and leaning into your feelings. You might simply say, Im feeling frazzled right now, and thats okay.

Similarly, you can also think about treating yourself like youd treat a close friend or family member, says Maisel.

You might say something like, Its OK to feel overwhelmed. Youre doing a lot. But youre doing the best you can.

You can recalibrate your emotions by taking small, short breaks throughout the day, according to Palacios. For instance, she suggests:

When anxiety pulls your mind elsewhere, you can also try the 54321 technique to ground yourself in the present moment, says Finkel.

To practice, she says, simply name:

Find 14 more mindfulness tricks to ease anxiety.

During and after exercise, the body releases calming neurotransmitters that create an overall feeling of well-being, says Karlene Kerfoot, chief nursing officer at symplr.

Exercising before work can help your body cope with workplace situations that may cause anxiety, and exercise after work can help place you in a different mindset where you can better cope with such feelings, she says.

When big projects and presentations produce anxiety, getting organized can help reduce feelings of overwhelm, says Finkel.

She suggests:

In other words, try to use your anxiety to propel you to accomplish tasks instead of putting them off.

Could some boundaries help keep your work-related stressor in check?

If your stress relates work-life balance or work relationships, Finkel suggests:

Get more tips for setting healthy boundaries.

Finding something to laugh about can release tension, shift your perspective, and stimulate positive neurotransmitters, says Kerfoot. Humor can even help you take yourself, not to mention your workplace, less seriously.

To give yourself a good laugh:

If you have a workspace, you can create a mini sanctuary or retreat that offers solace during stressful or anxiety-provoking situations, says Smith.

For example, she says, you might:

If you dont have a designated workspace, you can assemble a kit that provides a quick shot of relief during stressful moments at work, says Wilson.

Your kit can include items that soothe your senses and help you move.

Wilson offers a few examples:

Strive to create a life filled with relationships, events, and activities outside of work that bring you joy, peace, and happiness, Kerfoot recommends. She goes on to explain that a fulfilling life outside of work can:

To get started, consider the people, places, and pastimes that bring you joy and calm. How can you add them to your days?

If youre dealing with workplace anxiety, professional support can be incredibly helpful.

How do you know when help from a therapist might have benefit?

Theres no right or wrong time to connect with a therapist, Palacios says, so this decision will be unique to everyone.

In general, however, she recommends seeking professional help when you want your life to be different but you havent found it possible to make changes on your own.

Specifically, Palacios says, this could mean you:

A therapist can offer support with:

Check out our guide to finding the right therapist.

Workplace anxiety is common, but its very manageable. Small steps, like understanding your triggers, setting boundaries, and taking restorative breaks, can go a long way.

That said, if your work stress becomes difficult to cope with alone, dont hesitate to seek professional support. A therapist can always offer compassionate guidance with identifying possible causes and exploring your options for addressing them.

Above all, remember: You deserve to work in a safe, reasonable environment.

Margarita Tartakovsky, MS, has been writing for Psych Central and other websites for more than a decade on a wide range of topics. Shes the author of the mental health journal Vibe Check: Be Your Best You (Sterling Teen). Shes especially passionate about helping readers feel less alone and overwhelmed and more empowered. You can connect with Margarita on LinkedIn, or check out her writing at her website.

Read the original:
Workplace Anxiety: Signs, Causes, Tips to Cope - Healthline

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

The biggest contributor to heart disease is cholesterol-caused blockages in the blood vessels that hamper the heart's smooth working. Cholesterol is that waxy (sticky) and light substance that is produced by our lives. Our body needs some cholesterol but not too much.

Famed US nutritionist Joy Bauer told Today.com about foods that can help your heart, spotlighting foods that can help lower your cholesterol, including apples, lentils and avocados. .

Joy Bauer says, "When we eat junk food diets that are high in saturated fats, trans fats and sugar, our livers get prompted to produce way too much cholesterol. This cholesterol then travels throughout the body, collecting all sorts of inflammatory substances and dumps it all on the inner walls of our arteries in the form of plaque."

Joy says that the good news is that you can eat foods that can help lower cholesterol.

How to tweak your diet to lower cholesterol?

Indian diet is well balanced and extremely appetising. The spices and additives such as turmeric, ginger, garlic, chilli peppers etc only add to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory base. But during the preparation process, people usually tend to put a lot of oil, ghee, sugar or spices which robs it of its goodness.

Changing what foods you eat can lower your cholesterol and improve the armada of fats floating through your bloodstream. If you eat a low-cholesterol diet, you need not worry about artery-clogging atherosclerosis.

Add these foods to lower LDL cholesterol:

Different foods lower cholesterol in various ways. Some deliver soluble fibre, which binds cholesterol and its precursors in the digestive system and drags them out of the body before they get into circulation. Some give you polyunsaturated fats, which directly lower LDL. And some contain plant sterols and stanols, which block the body from absorbing cholesterol, say Harvard experts.

Originally posted here:
High cholesterol? Vegetables and fruits that mop up LDL and help statins lower bad lipids level - Times Now