Can Emotions Impact Health?
Accepting Emotions, Stoicism, Nose Breathing + The Best Damn Seasonal Salad You Will Ever Have
Happy Wednesday! I am sipping on a hot cacao latte and it is just hitting the spot. It is early enough in the day where it is still slightly gloomy out so a hot beverage is acceptable. I usually am a gal who thinks the more ice the better in a drink, yes I put ice in my red wine, but once in a while a warm beverage hits.
My friend from San Diego visited me the other day, and it is just the best feeling ever reuniting with a friend that feels like family. That feeling of comfortability and just sitting on the couch needing nothing but each other (and snacks). We dove into every topic imaginable - but one conversation that we had really stuck out to me…
Weekly Wednesday Wisdom
Communication and language is such an integral part of human relationships. One of the top things I hear when someone is asked what is the key to a healthy relationship is communication. Communicating your thoughts and emotions is truly healing.
When you hold in emotions it builds up as stress in your body that can cause inflammation and lead to chronic issues. Especially negative emotions like fear, jealousy, guilt, anger.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, they believe that these negative emotions in excess affect the liver and lead to health aliments, and vis versa, that imbalances in the liver can lead to outward negative emotions. In holistic medicine, the gut-brain connection is largely accepted as well. Imbalances in the gut can lead to depression, anxiety, negative emotions, and stress and negative emotions can lead to imbalances in the gut and body. The mind and the physical body are directly interrelated.
I believe that this was a reason amongst many that I dealt with such major symptoms. I am a thinker, which sometimes leads to being a worrier, and my brain is running a million a minute. When I try to speak about what I am feeling, it can come out all jumbled. I am a great listener, but when it comes to speaking on my own behalf, that is where I struggle. I’ve worked on it a lot throughout the years, and it is a constant work in progress.
“Emotion, what are you doinnnnnnn, oh don’t you know, don’t you know you’ll be my ruin…”
Song of the Week: Emotions by Brenda Lee
Something that has really helped me with this is writing. I have been able to get to know myself so much more through writing. It doesn’t have to be forced, just pen to paper free writing, eventually things will flow. When I am feeling a specific way, I write about it. It really helps me to unjumble all of my thoughts and understand why I am feeling or acting a certain way. I also make a certain point to notice and be grateful for all of the positive things in life, no matter how small they may seem.
Alsoooo.. any reason to get some fun new pens and notebooks always makes me happy. Back to school shopping and Staples runs were some of my favorite times when it came to back to school.
Secondly, I love the stoic response to dealing with emotions as well. When you feel a rush of anxiety, fear, pang of guilt or anger - the stoics believe that this is your body’s natural response, you have no control over it. This initial response is not worth trying to change or fighting and getting upset over, it is to be indifferent. Once you identify this “involuntary experience” there are steps to respond to it.
Accept the emotion. Something caused this emotion, now accept it. Become indifferent to it. Be okay with it, do not try to fight it or feel embarrassed about it.
You can stop here… or choose to:
Examine the emotion. Find the source and ask why you felt this emotion. What made you feel this emotion? Did someone say something rude to you? Why do you care about this person's opinion? Does what they said define who you are as a person? Does their comment change who you are at your core? Do you need this person's admiration?
You cannot control what someone says or how they feel about you. You can only control who you are and how you act.
After you accept / examine the emotion, you can either move on or act upon it. Either way, take ownership of your emotion instead of becoming the victim in the situation and coming up with blame and excuses.
If you haven’t yet - I highly recommend getting The Daily Stoic. It is one of my favs. It is a short passage each day less than a page long and there are some wonderful golden nuggets in there.
Tip of the Week for a Better YOU
Breathing is wonderful. Nose breathing is even better. Nose breathing is so important for health. Mouth breathing can affect your posture, facial structure, jaw/teeth, breath, oral health, facial symmetry, digestion, and ability to breathe properly. It can cause congestion, heavy mucus, asthma, snoring, poor smell, and crooked teeth.
The best and most natural way to breathe is through your nose. A few benefits to nose breathing:
Better sleep
Optimal athletic performance
Improved response to stress and anxiety
Facial symmetry
Stronger jawline
Improved head posture
Optimized oxygen absorption
Improved Smell
Cleaner air (nose helps to filter impurities)
I highly recommend learning more about the proper way to breathe from Patrick McKeown, here is one of his short Ted Talks, but he also has wonderful books that go deeper into it!
I luckily am a nose breather, but there are times where I am breathing out of my mouth without noticing (especially when I am feeling sick and congested - Patrick McKeown has a wonderful decongesting exercise for this). The biggest thing that has helped me is being more intentional about my breathing. Taking deep intentional belly breaths all throughout the day. When I am active, consciously breathing only through my nose. I like to chew on Greco Gum to strengthen my jaw while I do this.
I used to mouth tape during my sleep as well (I don’t anymore), but it is something that could be considered! When eating, sit upright and chew each bite of food ~30 times. Oil pulling also helps, it is wonderful for oral health but since you are swishing for so long it forces you to breathe through your mouth.
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Seasonal Recipe: Radicchio Date Salad
This may just be one of the best salads I have ever made. It is so light yet satisfying, it’s delicious and has the perfect balance of every flavor you need. I always forget about the deliciousness of adding a lil something sweet to a salad to balance out the acidity and bitterness, and these dates truly make this salad magic. This will make enough for two servings, but if you are anything like me, it is a single serving dish lol.
Ingredients:
1 head radicchio
2 stalks of celery
2 tbsp fresh dill
4 dates
½ avocado
¼ cup pistachios
¼ apple
⅓ cup turkey
¼ cup parm
3 tbsp olive oil
1.5 tbsp red vinegar
1 tsp mustard
1/2 lemon
Optional: sourdough croutons
Recipe:
Chop up radicchio, celery, apple, dates, dill and turkey
Add everything to a bowl
Grate fresh parmesan and add to bowl
Chop or keep pistachios whole
Mix together olive oil, vinegar, lemon and mustard and toss into salad
Top with avocado chopped and sourdough croutons
Enjoy each heavenly bite :)
Please continue to tag me in all of your beautiful food creations, it makes my whole day. So grateful for each & every one of you, and one of these days we need to have a day where we all cook together… putting it out into the ether. It’s going to happen. Thank you for all of your love and support, have a beautiful rest of your week and I will talk to you Sunday (from Tuscany ah!) Xo - Ella
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If you haven't already, read The Mind Gut Connection! It dives so much into all of these topics and is life changing