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Read this if You Have Trouble Sticking to Healthy Habits

8/11/2020

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“I’ve tried some stuff, I just can’t seem to stick to anything.”

I hear this, or some version of this, whenever I talk to someone new about her struggles with depression.  In particular, her struggles with taking care of her health and wellbeing during - and in between - times of depression.

Most of the women I talk to know, or at least have some basic understanding, of the importance of taking care of themselves.  They know that eating well, exercising, and reducing stress can help improve their mood and prevent depressive episodes.  And thanks to social media, women are bombarded with more messages about the importance of “self care” than ever before.

However, even though women are constantly being told they should engage in “self care,” they often get zero guidance on how to actually get started - and stick to - a self care routine.

Through years of living with depression and coaching others with depression, I’ve learned the most important things you need to know to stick to a self-care routine:

  1. Mold your self-care to your mood and energy
    You may not be able to do your favorite high-energy activities on lower-energy days.  Have a few go-to self care activities that you like for all energy levels, like a favorite restorative yoga video or meditation recording for low energy days and a favorite running route for higher energy days.

  2. Choose doable habits that you like
    Don’t set out to change every single thing at once - it’s not sustainable.  Instead, pick one or two small habits to introduce into your routine, and then take more on once those have become second nature. Oh, and please don’t choose things you hate.  Healthy habits should be enjoyable and feel good.

  3. Prioritize your mental health
    We all have the same number of minutes in the day.  In order to be successful, you have to dedicate some of them for yourself.  If your schedule is jam-packed, schedule your self-care activities in advance and make them non-negotiable.  Remember, if you’re not taking good care of yourself, you can’t take care of anything else.

  4. Believe in the process
    For a habit to stick, you have to believe that you can make it stick - at least some of the time.  Depression makes it hard to be sunshine and roses all the time, but try to stay hopeful and optimistic in your ability to improve your health and your mood with small steps.

  5. Enlist support
    It’s difficult to make all of these changes, especially when your mood tends to fluctuate.  That’s why it’s so important to find people you can rely on to keep you grounded and support you through your lower times.  I also recommend finding a community of women with depression who have the same goals you do.  If you're looking to start treating yourself better and stay more consistent with your self care, my group is a great place to start.  Click here to join us - we'd love to have you!

  6. Stay compassionate
    The most important part of caring for yourself is staying compassionate and loving towards yourself, no matter what.  Even if you screw up, even if you have a bad day, even if you never get out of bed - be as understanding and loving towards yourself as you would be for a friend.  And then, when you’re ready, from a place of love, get up and try, try again.

Taking care of yourself can be the most powerful ways to boost your mood and keep depression at bay.  However, it can be hard to stick to healthy habits, especially when you live with the ups and downs of chronic depression.  Learning how to implement these tips can go a long way in helping you stick to healthy habits and feeling better, faster.

If you're still feeling stuck - you're in luck! I'm currently offering a FREE self-care audit where I take a look at your current self-care routine and identify exactly what's holding you back from feeling less than your best.  Click here for more information.

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Depression + Nutrition: Eating for Your Mental Health

8/4/2020

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Whenever I tell someone I’m a mental health + wellness coach, they always want to know about one thing: "what should I be eating?"
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To be honest, when I started my business, I avoided talking about nutrition at all costs.  What I thought was a passion for nutrition in college (I have the bachelor's degree to prove it!) ended up being a thinly-veiled eating disorder that haunted me for much of my younger adulthood.  I was afraid of talking about anything that remotely looked like a diet, for fear of causing those same disordered eating habits in my clients.

It wasn’t until I discovered the relationship between the gut, mental health, and our diet that I started to look at food differently.  I saw food as less of an enemy and more as an ally in helping me manage my depression.  I stopped focusing on restricting so-called “bad” foods and started focusing on eating more anti-inflammatory, mental health-protective foods.

So let’s go back to the original question - what should you be eating to improve your mental health when you have depression?

While research has been unable to prove that one specific diet or another works better than any other for depression, people who have a higher quality diet seem to have fewer depression symptoms.  There is also new research that eating anti-inflammatory foods can help boost mental health, too.

As I talked about in last week’s blog post, depression is linked with inflammation in the brain.  However, research also shows that depression is linked to inflammation in the gut.  This relationship may explain why an anti-inflammatory diet, (some say "the Mediterranean diet") may be promising for depression.

While research is still new, anti-inflammatory foods are the most promising nutrition tool we have when it comes to fighting depression.  So let's talk about getting more of them in your diet!

How to eat more anti-inflammatory foods:
  • Start off slow 
    Creating healthy habits takes time and is best done in little, doable steps.  Remember, these changes are meant to make you happier, not more miserable! So take it one day and one small step at a time.

  • Focus on replacing, not restricting
    Restricting or depriving yourself of foods is unhealthy for your mind and your body, and will likely cause you to binge down the road.  Instead, focus on increasing your intake of healthier foods and making little swaps that don’t make a difference to you.  For example, I make my fajitas with whole wheat tortillas now because I really can’t taste the difference and I know that whole grains are healthier for my mind.

  • Eat the things that make you happy
    Want that donut? Then friggin’ eat the donut.  Remember, depriving yourself will only end up in a binge later on.

  • Be nice to yourself
    Changing habits, especially long-held habits, take time - especially if you deal with depression.  And trust me, it’s not going to be any easier if you constantly beat yourself up while you do it.  So if you make the non-mind healthy choice, it’s okay! You’re human and did what you thought was best at the time.  Love yourself and move on.

    And finally…

  • Focus on this list of anti-inflammatory foods:
    • Any and all fruits & veggies
    • Lean proteins like fish, legumes, beans, and seafood
    • Healthy, monounsaturated fats like avocados and olive oil
    • Whole grains like whole wheat, oatmeal, quinoa, or brown rice
    • Green tea or matcha
    • Probiotic-rich drinks like kombucha and kefir


Did you learn something new about nutrition + depression? Let us know your fave in the comments!

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