Are you struggling to keep up with the demands of life, feeling constantly drained, even disconnected, yet you just keep going because somehow it feels that you aren’t doing enough? If so, “Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle” by Amelia Nagoski and Emily Nagoski offers wisdom and practical advice you need. Let’s explore who would benefit from this book, the key takeaways, and how it all ties back to nutrition.
Who Should Read “Burnout”?
Though you might think of professional burnout when you read the title of this book, it’s actually more geared toward women who are feeling overwhelmed, stuck, stressed, and never enough in today’s world. Think of the monologue in the Barbie movie about how hard and contradicting it is to be a woman.
With that said, I think the people who would benefit the most from this book are:
Caregivers and Parents: For those who spend their days taking care of others—whether it’s children, elderly parents, or patients—this book offers essential tools to ensure you also take care of yourself.
Health and Wellness Enthusiasts: If you’re passionate about maintaining a healthy lifestyle, completing the stress cycle is a key component you need to know about. This book helps you understand how to address your body’s response to stress, not just the stressors.
Major Takeaways We Can All Benefit From
1. Understanding the Stress Cycle
One of the book’s core concepts is the idea of the stress cycle. The Nagoski sisters explain that stress is a physiological process that needs to be completed. Simply removing the stressor (e.g., finishing a project or ending a conversation with a toxic person) doesn’t complete the cycle; you need activities like exercise, deep breathing, or physical affection to signal to your body that it’s safe to relax.
2. The Best Way to Complete The Stress Cycle
Exercise is highly effective for completing the stress cycle because it engages the body’s natural stress response system and helps to discharge the physical and emotional tension accumulated during periods of stress. When we engage in physical activity, such as running, yoga, or dancing, our bodies release endorphins, neurotransmitters that act as natural painkillers and mood elevators. Additionally, exercise promotes the release of muscle tension and encourages deep breathing, which can help regulate the stress response and promote relaxation.
Of course, there are a few other ways to complete the stress cycle. These include a human connection (a 20-second hug or a 6-second kiss), petting a furry friend, progressive muscle tension and relaxation, deep breathing, and rest. Don’t just stop at one; doing several of these things routinely can build resilience and contribute to well-being.
3. Addressing Human Giver Syndrome
The term “human giver syndrome” refers to societal expectations placed on individuals, particularly women, to prioritize the needs of others above their own. According to the Nagoski sisters, those affected by the human giver syndrome often feel compelled to give and nurture constantly without regard for their own well-being. This can lead to chronic stress, burnout, and a sense of depletion.
The syndrome is rooted in cultural norms and gender expectations, and the authors highlight the importance of recognizing and challenging societal pressures that contribute to burnout and stress. By acknowledging the inherent value of true self-care and setting boundaries, individuals can break free from the cycle of overextension and reclaim their agency in prioritizing their own well-being.
4. Emotions are Like Tunnels
The Nagoski sisters liken emotions to tunnels, suggesting we must travel through them from beginning to end to achieve resolution. Failure to do so can lead to emotional exhaustion and burnout. This insight underscores the importance of acknowledging and processing our emotions rather than suppressing or ignoring them. Some emotions, like grief and rage, are very difficult to move through on our own. We often need the help of others.
5. The Importance of Rest, Play, and Connection
Rest and play are not optional luxuries but essential for preventing and recovering from burnout. Engaging in activities that bring joy and relaxation can help replenish your energy and resilience. Just like we need rest and play, it’s our human nature to need each other. Human connection is a powerful antidote to stress. Whether through friendships, family, or community, having supportive relationships can help buffer the effects of stress and the authors point out that we were designed to live life together – not on our own.
6. Realistic Expectations
Lastly, the authors highlight the importance of setting realistic expectations for yourself and others. They encourage us to understand that perfection is unattainable and that it’s okay to have limits. We’re only human, after all.
How This All Ties Back to Nutrition
Here are 2 ways stress and nutrition are linked.
Stress and Eating Habits – When we’re stressed, our eating habits often suffer. We might reach for comfort foods, skip meals, or overeat. Understanding the stress cycle and learning how to manage stress can help us maintain healthier eating patterns and avoid the health consequences of chronic stress. Completing the stress cycle with healthy activities can reduce stress-related cravings and improve our overall nutrition.
Nourishing Your Body – Proper nutrition plays a crucial role in managing stress and preventing burnout. Eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains can support your body’s stress response and help you feel more energized. The authors emphasize the importance of listening to your body and nourishing it well.
Final Thoughts
I found “Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle” by Amelia and Emily Nagoski to be incredibly insightful and practical. There are more takeaways than I can fit into a blog. The book helps you understand burnout and provides actionable steps to prevent and recover from it. We can all better manage stress by learning to complete the stress cycle, addressing human giver syndrome, and maintaining healthy habits. Whether you’re a busy mom, a caregiver, or someone passionate about health and wellness, this book offers valuable strategies to enhance your well-being.
Listen in to the conversation!
Listen to Kristen and Eleanor discuss this book on the Heatlh Geeks Book Club Podcast:
Navigating the world of emotions can feel like trying to solve a puzzle without all the pieces. If you’ve ever wondered how emotions really work, Lisa Feldman Barrett’s book, “How Emotions are Made,” offers insights that will help you understand them in a whole new way. Let’s dive into what makes this book a must-read, its major takeaways, and how it relates to nutrition.
Who Should Read “How Emotions Are Made”?
Curious Minds
If you’re curious about how the mind works, this book is for you. Barrett challenges what we think we know about emotions, making it a fascinating read for anyone interested in psychology or neuroscience.
Health and Wellness Fans
Understanding the science of emotions is crucial if you’re into health and wellness. Barrett’s insights can help you develop a more balanced approach to emotional health, a major key to overall well-being.
Major Takeaways
1. Emotions are Made, Not Born
One of the biggest ideas in the book is that emotions are not pre-programmed responses. Instead, our brains create them using past experiences, culture, and context. This means we have more control over our emotions than we might think.
2. Emotional Granularity
Barrett talks about emotional granularity—the ability to identify and describe a wide range of emotions. People who can do this tend to handle their emotions better and have better mental health.
3. The Role of Bodily Sensations
Our brains monitor and interpret signals from our bodies to create emotions. We can understand and manage our emotions better by paying more attention to these bodily sensations.
4. The Power of Prediction
Our brains constantly predict what will happen next based on past experiences. These predictions shape our emotional responses. By becoming aware of this, we can change our predictions and, as a result, our emotional reactions.
Why Emotions Matter for Nutrition
Understanding emotions as something created by the mind and body highlights just how closely linked our physical and emotional well-being are.
Lisa introduces the intriguing concept of a ‘body budget,’ which is a way of summing up how our brains manage the resources needed to navigate the complexities of daily life. According to Barrett, our brains operate like financial managers, constantly making predictions and allocating ‘funds’ to various bodily functions based on incoming sensory information. Just as we budget our money to cover expenses, our brains budget energy to regulate emotions, maintain physical health, and respond to the demands of the environment.
Your food choices can affect your body budget and the other way around. For instance, if you are low on energy because you just spent the whole day learning a new computer program at work, your body budget will be depleted. This may make you feel a little grumpy, foggy, or overwhelmed at the end of the day which could influence what choices we make next. You’ll need to make some positive deposits like food, rest, and water to bring it back up to balance.
When we pay attention to our mood, emotions, and our body’s signals, we can make mindful decisions about our food. Noticing how different foods make us feel physically and emotionally can guide us to healthier eating habits. Recognizing our body’s signals after eating certain foods can help us make better dietary choices that support emotional health.
Stress and Emotional Eating
Barrett’s insights into how emotions are made can help us understand and deal with stress-related eating. Knowing that our cravings and eating habits are influenced by our brain’s predictions and past experiences, we can find ways to change these patterns. This might involve creating new associations with food or finding other ways to cope with stress.
Building a Positive Relationship with Food
Just as we aim to understand our emotions better, we can also strive to understand our relationship with food. This means acknowledging the emotional aspects of eating and working to create a positive, respectful relationship with what we consume.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed reading Lisa Feldman Barrett’s “How Emotions are Made.” It’s not just a book about emotions; it’s a guide to understanding the connection between our minds and bodies. By exploring this link, we can better manage our emotions and make choices that improve our overall well-being, including our eating habits and nutrition. Whether you’re a curious reader, a health enthusiast, or a professional in the mental health field, this book offers insights that can enrich your life and help you better understand yourself.
Hungry For More?
Listen to Kristen and Eleanor discuss this book on the Heatlh Geeks Book Club Podcast:
Are you searching for the secrets to a truly fulfilling and happy life? Look no further! In the latest book review on the Health Geeks Book Club Podcast, Kristen Norton and Eleanor Russell dive into the captivating pages of “The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness” by Robert Waldinger MD, Marc Schulz Ph.D., et al. This delightful book is a treasure trove of engaging stories, practical advice, and key research findings in the field of happiness.
“The Good Life” takes readers on a journey into the lives of some of the participants in the world’s longest scientific study on happiness, the Harvard Study of Adult Development. Drawing upon decades of research and real-life stories, the authors delve into the key factors that contribute to a meaningful and healthy life. They explore the importance of relationships, community, personal growth, and finding purpose.
Top 3 reasons why I loved this book:
Engaging Stories: “The Good Life” is full of compelling stories of individuals with various life choices and circumstances. These stories illustrate that despite various trials and tribulations we might face, we can be protected by the power of relationships, resilience, and finding joy in ordinary moments.
Practical Advice: The book provides practical guidance on nurturing and maintaining healthy relationships, fostering personal growth, and finding meaning and purpose in everyday life. It offers actionable steps for readers to improve their well-being and happiness.
Friendly Tone: One of the standout features of “The Good Life” is its warm and friendly tone. The authors’ approachable style of sharing what they have learned from the Adult Development Study makes the ideas and research findings accessible and relatable.
Bottom line:
“The Good Life” is a must-read for anyone seeking genuine happiness and a long, healthy life. Its compelling stories, practical advice, and friendly tone make it an enjoyable and informative read.
Don’t miss the opportunity to embark on this transformative journey toward happiness and well-being. Grab a copy of “The Good Life” today and unlock the secrets to living your best life.
Part of the frustration around nutrition is that we read the ideas and theories of so many different influencers, bloggers, physicians, and nutritionists on every corner of the web. In addition, we see catchy and misleading advertisements trying to get our attention and money. And to top it all off, the news headlines tend to share just a snippet of the latest research studies in a way that can have us questioning what we once knew to be true. This all makes it seem like nutrition science is useless and nobody is right!
Before you throw your hands in the air and give up, listen to what Dr. Chaney has to say. Dr. Chaney is a retired professor of human metabolism who knows a thing or two about the scientific method. He is passionate about helping consumers think more like scientists so we can make sense of the latest news in nutrition and spot the hype.
In his book, Slaying the Food Myths, he writes in detail about how to do this, but I’d like to share some highlights with you here.
How to think like a scientist
First, look at the totality of available research.
You can find a study or two that proves just about anything. This makes it easy for people to cherry-pick one or two research studies that support their theory and disregard the other studies that may disprove it. A good scientist will look at all the research and consider what the majority of high-quality studies show. Never base your opinion on a single study, rather look at the “weight of available evidence.”
Secondly, know that all studies have flaws.
No study is perfect. Some are better than others, but they all will have limitations. Sometimes the study is too short. Sometimes it has confounding variables (unexpected things that influence the outcome.) Sometimes the sample size is too small or not a good representative of the entire population. Because of this, there is no none perfect clinical study that proves or disproves a hypothesis. That’s why it is essential to look at several studies and understand what types of studies are available.
Understand the different types and phases of scientific research.
Third – The art of scientific discovery has different phases; first, we test a theory in the lab. If it shows promising results, then we try the theory on animals. Lastly, we see if it relates to humans. Many new and exciting research that makes the news headlines are done on animals. That is a factor we need to consider when hearing new research snippets. Unfortunately, only 1/10 of animal studies work out to also be accurate/helpful for humans.
Much of what we know about diets and health is from association studies. While these have provided many valuable insights, they have significant weaknesses. Association studies can’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship. They also can’t indeed account for all the possible unintended associations that may have influenced the outcome. For example, if you look at diet soda intake and weight, you may find that those who drink diet sodas are overweight. Is there a positive association because diet sodas cause weight gain, or is it because those who are overweight tend to drink more diet sodas to lose weight or control calorie intake?
The gold standard for research is a double-blind intervention study, where participants are randomized into a control and intervention group without the researchers or the participants knowing which group they are in. But unfortunately, this type of research is nearly impossible to conduct when the intervention is diet. So we must understand the limitations of what we know from association studies around diets.
Take into consideration individual variability.
Lastly, although we can gain a lot of good information from research studies, we must remember that we are all different, and dietary results may vary vastly. Research studies report the average response to a particular diet or food. However, if you look at each individual in studies, you’ll see that a specific food or diet works well for some study participants and doesn’t work at all for others. Consider this your reminder to pay attention to how your body responds to foods and dietary patterns and trust what it tells you.
Save some time
If you rather save time and find a trusted resource: check out Dr. Chaney’s books and his blog. You can also check out the conversations between the Health Geeks and Dr. Chaney on the podcast. Lastly, your friendly dietitians can help you make sense of the hype and point you in the right direction to meet your health and wellness goals. Book a free clarity call today.
Do you know your metabolism well? Maybe you wish you could speed up your metabolism. There are plenty of gimmicks and so-called solutions out there promising to boost your metabolism and get you FAST results. But what does that really mean? Are we able to “BOOST” our metabolism? Do we need a fast metabolism? Dr. Jade Teta, the author of Next Level Metabolism, says no. we don’t. Instead, we need a flexible metabolism. Here’s what you need to know in order to better understand the metabolism and keep it flexible.
What is metabolism?
Metabolism is the process of turning food into energy. It is a sum of complex chemical reactions that take place within our cells. The energy generated from these reactions is needed for bodily functions that keep us alive. Even if we are lying still, not moving a muscle, we need a good amount of energy for our lungs to breathe, our liver to function, our brain to think, and so on.
The rate at which we use energy is called the metabolic rate.
The total energy we use at rest is called the basal metabolic rate (BMR).
Beyond using energy at rest, we require energy for all movement (walking, activities, exercise) and digestion (the thermic effect of food.)
Any easy way to think about metabolism
Jade starts his book, Next Level Metabolism, with a great analogy. He says we can think about metabolism as a barometer and thermostat. It’s always changing in response to the conditions to which it’s exposed. Much like your thermostat in your house when it is set to 70 degrees, it is constantly striving to maintain that temperature and, to do so, makes adjustments based on what it is sensing in the environment. Your metabolism does the same to maintain balance. It is constantly sensing the environment.
What is your metabolism sensing?
The simplest answer is STRESS. Anything that threatens the status quo of your metabolism can be seen as metabolic stress. Doing the following for a prolonged period of time can result in a stressed-out metabolism.
Intense cardio workouts
Psychological stress (lots of cortisol)
Calorie Restriction/Dieting
Dieting = Stress On Your Metabolism
It’s no wonder, then, that when you are on a diet, your metabolism fights back with all its might to fix the problem. It senses that something is wrong and focuses on helping you survive this stress. Typically by signaling you to move less or eat more. Dr. Jade Teta uses a rubberband to explain this. When we go on a diet that has us exercising more and eating less, it’s like pulling on a rubberband so far that it snaps back, often overcorrecting itself. He goes on to explain that we can look for certain signals that indicate the metabolism is under stress.
How do you know when your metabolism is under stress?
When the following is out of check, the metabolism is likely under stress:
Sleep
Hunger
Mood
Energy
Cravings
Exercise performance and recovery
Digestion
Libido
Menses
How Do You Support a Healthy Metabolism?
Reducing stress (both mentally and physically) can support a healthy, flexible metabolism. Stress-reducing activities like walking at a comfortable pace, deep breathing, yoga (with a focus on breath work), meditation, tapping, getting a good night’s sleep, and so forth may be far more beneficial than hitting the gym for that 1-hour cardio session.
Monitor your hunger, cravings, mood, energy level, and so forth for any major disruptions. These will provide feedback that you’ve pulled the rubberband too far. Instead of intense workouts coupled with way too few calories, try…
A) eating enough to fuel your workouts
or
B) swapping out the intense workouts for more relaxing movements/walking while eating a reasonable amount.
Want to explore this topic further?
Tune into the Health Geeks Book Club Podcast, where Eleanor Russell and I (Kristen Norton) share many more tidbits we learned from reading Next Level Metabolism.
The nervous system is at the heart of our daily experience and works in the background outside of our conscience awareness. It can shape the way we experience the world, including how we think and feel about food and our bodies. It also can affect our digestion, heart rate, and immune system.
You’ve likely heard of the gut-brain connection. Part of that connection includes thevagus nerve, which carries an extensive range of signals from the digestive system and organs to the brain and vice versa.
Image Source: https://www.nicabm.com/
Did you know there are 3 modes that your nervous system supports and will switch between throughout the day? According to the polyvagal theory, they are:
Safe and Social mode – feeling comfortable, connected, and safe in our environment
Fear or Flight mode – feeling anxious, threatened, fearful, or wary of surroundings
Shut Down mode – feeling dissociated, numb, disconnected, tired, shameful
All modes are helpful in some way for our survival, but as you can probably guess we feel and function our best in that safe and social mode.
A high level of stress/anxiety or unresolved trauma can make it hard to stay or get in the safe and social mode. This can make eating mindfully and being in tune with your body quite challenging.
That is one reason why your Well Balanced dietitians encourage you to build up your self-care toolbox. These activities often build resilience and support a calmer nervous system. It’s part of the mind-body connection that can improve your well-being, support a healthy digestive system, and make it easier to build healthier eating habits.
4 ways you can support your nervous system.
Listen to your favorite music while paying close attention to the lyrics and instrumentals.
Breathe in slowly to the count of four and release to the count of seven. Do this for 5 minutes.
Do some gentle stretching, even if it’s for just a couple of minutes.
Watch something funny.
Hungry for more info about your nervous system?
Listen to this episode of the Health Geeks Book Club Podcast.
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