My burger is how many calories?!?!?

I’m a visual person, so it wasn’t until I started measuring my food and seeing the calories in each meal that I truly understood how many calories I was eating. For a few weeks, I decided to count calories every day to really see what I was eating. What a shock! It’s especially telling when I eat out – boy the calories add up. I started taking pictures of what a 400 calorie meal looks like….to burn it into my brain! Wait until you see what I found!

For this first month, I’m comparing 400 calories of a Five Guys little cheeseburger with 400 calories of one of my favorite meals – a vegetarian chicken patty and kale-quinoa salad – a staple in my house. Here are the pics.

As you can probably guess, I left the burger meal feeling hungry and was full for hours on the quinoa salad meal. Not to mention the differences in my energy levels. What an eye-opener!

Consider figuring out how much of your favorite meal is in 400 calories. Post a pic in the comments to show us your shocking meals!

The Joys of Meditation!

Meditation is an extremely beneficial practice. It’s a wonderful way to relax, hold an intention, and release negative thoughts or feelings. It’s great for both the body and mind.

Meditation has become a large and beneficial part of my life. It has helped me in so many ways. I’ve found that when I’m upset or stressed, I take a few minutes, sometimes not even a full minute, and focus on taking deep breaths. By focusing on my breathing, I forget about whatever stressed me out or upset me. This is a great way to handle problems, because instead of bringing more anger and frustration to the situation, you’re calm and ready to create a reasonable solution. I also found that by meditating, I can connect with myself quickly. We all lose that connection with ourselves once in a while due to stress and busy schedules. For me, meditation is a way to find that connection again.   

Yoga is a very popular tool for meditation and I have become a huge fan of it. When I go to Yoga, I leave feeling both calm and rejuvenated. Yoga has many benefits that are not only physical, but also psychological.  Many of these benefits include decreases the aging process, lowers high blood pressure, reduces stress, increases creativity, happiness, and stability of emotions along with decreasing stress, depression and anxiety. I do a lot of meditation at my yoga classes but whenever I don’t have any classes I find ways to do it around the house. At night I do different exercises that include meditations. These include karma releasing, meditations for inner peace, healing, and much more. Not only were these great meditations but they relaxed me and helped me fall asleep easier. These are guided meditations, meaning it’s usually a CD with someone guiding me through the meditation. You do not have to do this if you don’t want to or are not comfortable with it. You can meditate on your own by finding a nice quiet space and eliminating all distractions for about 15-20 minutes, while focusing on relaxing, releasing stress, or whatever your intention is. You don’t even have to meditate for this long; five minutes would suffice especially if you have a busy schedule. As long as you have a little alone time to relax and rejuvenate yourself without any distractions; you will feel the benefits!

Tips

·         Find a meditative activity to join such as yoga.

·         Make a special area just for meditation

·         Take as long as you need out of your day to meditate

·         You can meditate on your own by finding a nice quiet space and eliminating all distractions.

·         When you’re upset instead of focusing on the anger, try to steal a minute or two to meditate and calm down.

…..…. don’t be limited to these ideas, think of more creative ways to meditate.

The Importance of Laughter

There is nothing I like better than laughing. I laugh at really funny things, but I also laugh at not-so-funny things – like 3^rd grade jokes! But, luckily for me, laughter really is the best medicine! I’ve found this to be true, and often when I’m sick or feeling down, I feel so much better if I find something to laugh about.

Finding comedy in everything has really changed my life. Laughter can help in times of high stress because it physically releases the tension – much like a good cry (but that’s a discussion for another day!). I love to watch comedy television shows and movies that make me laugh. I’ll watch the same episodes of Friends or The Big Bang Theory and laugh out loud every time. Sometimes if I can’t get a laugh out, I’ll smile (yep, a fake smile plastered on my face). And you know what? Except in the worst of situations, it really does help. Eventually, I’m feeling better and smiling a genuine smile. Sometimes I see someone looking at me strangely, and I realize it is because I have a smile on my face. Well, how can I not laugh out loud after that?

I’ve found the laughter brightens the soul and brings positive energy to any situation. By surrounding yourself with laughter and people who make you laugh, you can create a positive, happy environment for yourself. And who doesn’t want that?!?

Gratitude!

There are many reasons to be grateful! Even on those bad days when nothing goes right and life just gets you down, finding what to be grateful for will help make it better! 

I initially thought incorporating gratitude into my life would be extremely easy.  I ended up being wrong. For some reason, I had a lot of difficulty at first. There were many times that I was stressed and in a bad mood, so gratitude was not a priority for me. I honestly was not sure that it was even beneficial. I kept wondering how it could possibly affect me positively. Boy was I wrong! After a few weeks of including gratitude into my days and figuring out what worked best I found it had a positive impact. My day could be completely turned around because I changed my attitude by being grateful. I couldn’t believe that I ever doubted its impact.

Being grateful is a powerful mood booster. Sometimes when I’m upset, I try to think of reasons why I’m grateful and I become happier. I feel better about life and realize it’s not as bad as I think; it could be much worse. I concentrate on all the wonderful things in my life for which I’m thankful. Whenever I hear people say “count your blessings”, I do!

TIPS for becoming more grateful

•             Look for things to be grateful for in everyday life, soon you won't realize you're doing it!

•             Don’t just say thank you, feel it! It makes the experience so much more beneficial and  rewarding.

•             Write down a list of everything for which you’re grateful. Read over the list and add to it every day.

The Importance of Sleep

Sleeping is very important and beneficial to the mind and body.

I have horrible sleeping habits. When I finally fall asleep I don’t sleep well so I’m always tired. This is why I was excited to work on this section because I want to help myself and others with simple fixes. I try to get 7-8 hours a night. I usually try to keep a schedule and stick to it that way I fall asleep easier. This gets hard, especially when you are in college. Exercising during the day is a great way to tire yourself out so you sleep better at night. Before bed I try not to watch TV, instead I read, write in my journal, do meditation exercises, or listen to relaxing music. This is really helpful because a million thoughts run through my head and keep me awake if I just get into bed and try to sleep. Another tip is to make sure you’re comfortable. I make the temperature perfect for me because if I’m too hot or too cold I don’t sleep. I also try different pillows and beds that are comfortable. I didn’t think this mattered until I noticed the difference between the bed at my house and the bed at my mom’s house and how I slept. SO find what’s right for you, it makes all the difference. By trying one or all of these I’ve noticed an improvement. I will admit there are the occasional nights when I don’t get a good night sleep because I didn’t do these techniques but overall it worked for me.

Tips

·         Focus on your comfort and find what’s comfortable for you

·         Make a sleeping schedule with 7-8 hours of sleep and stick to it

·         Don’t watch television before bed

·         So something relaxing before falling asleep such as reading, writing or relaxing your body

·         Exercise during the day

…don’t be limited to these ideas, think of other ways to help you sleep better.