De-Stress in Distress

Week 3 Day 1

Primer On Building Stress Resilience

. Image generated by Gemini A.I.

MINDSET RESET

• Make 2 lists: (1) The worst stressors that happen to you. (2) The stress they cause in you. You’ll see they are two very different and separate things.

• Stressors are external events. Stress is how you respond internally, and that’s what can ruin your day and your health. Unlinking the two will spare you.

  Breathing Room An optional relaxation training/practice for a day to a week, then anytime at will.

• In breathing, trying too hard to “do it right” is stressful.
  Do it Nature’s way—naturally right, hardly trying, stressless.

  
  

MOVING

• By now, you should have identified how many steps a day you can walk with ease. For most people, it’s 6-10,000. That’s only 10-20 minutes of extra walking, in separate sessions if you want.

• Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
  (Sadly, Sitting and Sitting is Sickly as Smoking)
  Stop Sitting Still. Stand-Stretch-Smile. Smarter Still, Stroll.
  Set to do this for Several minutes every Second hour or So:

Stand up with intensity.
Stretch out with passion.
Smile inwardly with joy.

EATING

• Based on decades of scientific studies, among the healthiest eating patterns to date is what’s on the Mediterranean menu: Seafood like fish, white meats like chicken, some red meat if preferred, tomato sauces, olive and other oils, fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, nuts, eggs, yogurt, cheese, and even a glass of wine if you like it.  

• If you’re unfamiliar, try some items for snacks before replacing your regular meal choices. Ask any free A.I. app to design recipes for particular tastes or restrictions.

QUOTES / QUIPS

Stressors are outside in.
They do it to everybody by going off out there,
like an equal-opportunity offender.

Stress is inside out.
It does you in by going off in here,
and that you can do without.

 Metacardio©

“In one drop of water
are found all the secrets of all the oceans;
in one aspect of you
are found all the aspects of existence.”

Khalil Gibran

THOUGHT FOR FOOD

Podcast – (WATER) – It’s all over
Textcast –  

• Water is everywhere. It is 2/3 of your body and makes your life possible. Sorry, no substitution. This week, you’ll see how learning about water will help strengthen your stress resilience, dissolve your cares, and clarify your solutions.

REMINDERS:

Without moderation, even Mediterranean meals can be madness.

Another Ex-excuse:

“I only eat healthy, like the Mediterranean Diet, but still gain weight”.
I believe you. Just remember, even dinner for two is too intimate for one.

See you tomorrow.

Footnote for The Newcomer:

Healing Habits for a Happy, Healthy, Hasslefree Lifestyle for Life are success stories collected from some 2000 of my patients and coworkers in a non-profit private clinic after-hour coaching program over 25 years. This series of posts are Metacardio Methods’ daily checklists in that 3-month program.

Pick and choose which of the items are useful for you to follow. The nutritional suggestions are as applicable to weight loss as transitioning to a healthier eating habit.

Where relevant, all suggestions have been updated to current national health guidelines and state-of-the-art expert consensus. Wisdom from sages over the ages remains perennial.

The basis for these suggestions is discussed in long-hand on 15 prior posts here. All are archived under “Healing Habit Blog”.

Metacardio© 2024

. . .

Week 3 Day 2

Not All Stressors Are Worthy of Stress

. Generated by Gemini A.I.

MINDSET RESET

• Instant stress is from a quick Adrenaline rush for survival from real danger, which rapidly recedes. It saves.

• Adrenaline storms are from your reactions to all the stressors you “perceive” in daily life that keep on repeating. They kill.

  
  

  Breathing Room

• Adrenaline blood level is low during and after meditation.

MOVING

• On your walk(s), make 2 separate lists of the Adrenaline spurt and Adrenaline storm above from personal experience. Notice how short the first list is for facing real, actual dangers.

• Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
  (Sadly, Sitting and Sitting is Sickly as Smoking)
  Stop Sitting Still. Stand-Stretch-Smile. Smarter Still, Stroll.
  Set to do this for Several minutes every Second hour or So:

Stand to show your outside.
Stretch to show your many sides.
Smile to show your inside.

If it’s all real, it’s all good.

EATING

• Modern science has clearly shown in recent decades that the multi-century-old Mediterranean eating style can reduce cardiovascular disease, diabetes, many cancers, dementia, obesity, and more.

• It is readily available, relatively inexpensive, delicious, and not just for Italians or Greeks. There are many choices for your taste, restrictions, and local availability. Try some items for your snacks first.

QUOTES / QUIPS

A-B-C Of Fight-Or-Flight:

Adrenaline - A Bitsy Bit Brings Competent Crisis Counteraction.
Adrenaline - Big Barrages Bring Crippling Cardiac Catastrophes.

Metacardio©

“To the expert, there may be only one option.
To the beginner, the possibilities are endless.”

Zen saying

THOUGHT FOR FOOD

Podcast – (WATER) Thy cup runneth over.
Textcast –  

• Knowledge is limited; ignorance is boundless. The best students are not the most learned but those who admit they don’t know.

• First, you must empty your cup. Out there is a much deeper well ever flowing with the water of wisdom. There, you can bring out even deeper wellness.

  
  

REMINDER:

Another Ex-excuse:

“I’ve tried them all.”
Not this private clinic program, only publicly available now.

See you tomorrow.

. . .

Week 3 Day 3

Cortisol – Quick Seal or Slow Burn

. Image generated by Gemini A.I.

MINDSET RESET

• Cortisol is a steroid hormone meant for quick soothing relief of body injuries. Long-term or recurring stress can drench you in it, causing many ailments related to accelerated obesity and aging. Address the de-stress of chronic stress before it’s too late.

  
  

  Breathing Room

• Laboratory studies show elevations of many relaxation hormones during meditation. Not cortisol.

  
  

MOVING

• Walking daily is a long-term decompressor of chronic stress.

• Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
  (Sadly, Sitting and Sitting is Sickly as Smoking)
  Stop Sitting Still. Stand-Stretch-Smile. Smarter Still, Stroll.
  Set to do this for Several minutes every Second hour or So:

Stand in prominence, and they may try to topple you.
Stretch with plasticity, and they’ll find it hard to take you.
Smile from poise, and they can't even touch you.

EATING

• Spices without salt, sugar, or fat: vinegars, lemon, thyme, rosemary, cumin, paprika, peppers, garlic, onions…

• Scrumptious starch substitutes: sweet potatoes, potato skin, yams, zucchini zoodles, shirataki noodles, crunched cauliflower, canned white, black, or Garbanzo bean hummus, mashed avocado Guacamole…

• Google it for more. Use A.I. to design specific recipes.

QUOTES / QUIPS

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water.”

Bruce Lee, Kungfu legend

THOUGHT FOR FOOD

Podcast – (WATER) This or that? It depends.
Textcast –  

• Water can be opposites, even simultaneously: overlooked and indispensable, bland and delicious, shaped and shaping, saving and drowning, malleable and unforgiving, loved and hated, good and bad—just like people and life events. Get hung up on one end, and you’ll lose the other. Winner takes all.

REMINDER:

• Exercise enough (20+ mins) and sleep enough (7-8 hours).

See you tomorrow.

. . .

Week 3 Day 4

Salivate Only to Good Food. Hell, Not a Bell!

. Generated by Gemini A.I.

MINDSET RESET

• List your most common hot buttons. Find ways to disarm them and rehearse your new responses in advance. That’s your mind’s safety flip-switch so you don’t flip out to recurrent assults.

• There’s a safety gap between your hot buttons and a stressful meltdown—your mind. Pre-install circuit breakers to block off false alarms. Don’t get knocked out by trick-reflex knee-jerks. Wise up above Pavlov’s puppies and win the “No-bell” prize. That way, you’ll also react better to real alarms.

  
  

  Breathing Room

• Under stress, taking a few easy breaths may feel like wasting time.
  Not taking the time to do it is actually time wasted.

  
  

MOVING

• On your walk, make a list of your stress “hooks”. Reinstall your “screen-filter savers”. Rehearse to unhook yourself.

• Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
  (Sadly, Sitting and Sitting is Sickly as Smoking)
  Stop Sitting Still. Stand-Stretch-Smile. Smarter Still, Stroll.
  Set to do this for Several minutes every Second hour or So:

Stand and get an A.
Stretch and show what you can B.
Smile and that's what people will C.

EATING

• Eat enough fat (the good kind, like many plant oils, especially olive) without getting fat. Your body needs it, just not too much.

• Meet other proteins, not only meat protein. Many plant-based proteins are tasty and readily available. Meet and plant them on your menus.

QUOTES / QUIPS

“No man ever steps in the same river twice,
for it's not the same river, and he's not the same man.”

Heraclitus

THOUGHT FOR FOOD

Podcast – (WATER) The flow – Timed and Timeless
Textcast –  

• Practicing stillness helps you find your flow. Once in it, it’ll take you wherever you need to go. Even though time is standing still, you’re still streaming along.

• Try pushing the river against its flow, and you’re up the creek. When you’re like water in the flow, resilience to stress and welcoming to change will come smoothly and fluidly. And you’ll stay clear of bad choices that resemble dead waters and drain holes.

  
  

REMINDER:

Another Ex-excuse:

“My life is too stressful for all that right now.”
Stress can be the root cause of it all. Stress resilience training now can equip you to deal with all that and more in the long run.

See you tomorrow.

. . .

Week 3 Day 5

In Your Face? Or In Your Fantasy?

. Generated by Gemini A.I.

MINDSET RESET

• Humans are good at dealing with real-life catastrophes.
  Phantom problems in the head are hard to deal with, often unbeatable.

• Prepare for the worst, then stop worrying. You are now ready to deal with what actually does happen.

  Breathing Room

• You’ll notice opposite thoughts and contradictory feelings come and go, even though your real-life situation has remained exactly the same while you’re just sitting there. Yet, with enough stillness, fact and fiction will settle and separate, like mud in water.

MOVING

• On your walk(s), think of all the imaginary problems that never materialized in your life. That may keep you walking in circles for a long time.

• Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
  (Sadly, Sitting and Sitting is Sickly as Smoking)
  Stop Sitting Still. Stand-Stretch-Smile. Smarter Still, Stroll.
  Set to do this for Several minutes every Second hour or So:

Stand up to their face.
Stretch and knock them out of phase.
Smile as you will not be fazed.

EATING

• If you have a sweet tooth, please revisit the sweet truth in this previous post.

• Many healthy people eat chocolates because they can be good for you—but only 1 or 2 squares a day, not slabs.

QUOTES / QUIPS

“What the ‘ f ’ is going on?”
Are your frightening foes factually flocking to your face
or just fictionally flashing in your fantasy?

Metacardio©

THOUGHT FOR FOOD

Podcast – (WATER) The way, its way, your way.
Textcast –  

Water, your teacher: Coming from way up in the sky, it sinks way deep into the ground levels. It accomplishes all and serves all in between without stopping to pass judgment, ceasing from stress, or pausing for reward. Always being who it is and doing what it does, it comes and goes, ever inspiring and never expiring. What a life to emulate!

REMINDER:

“I have been through some terrible things in my life,
some of which actually happened.”

Mark Twain

See you tomorrow.

. . .

Week 3 Day 6  

Face It or Erase It

. Generated by Gemini A.I.

MINDSET RESET

• Deal with only what’s real and important.
  Otherwise, “Don’t sweat the small stuff. And it’s all small stuff.” (R. Carlson)

• Urgent matters need focus and speed.
  Important matters need a calm and clear head.

• Can’t make it better? Make yourself better.

• Unless the milk is already spilled, milk the most good out of a bad “shituation”.

• If nothing is working…then do that – Nothing!

  
  

  Breathing Room

• Sit still and focus on one drop of water after another slowly trickling down. No need to analyze; just observe. Do it for a few quiet moments. After a while, you’ll find your open, quiet, clear mind more ready to absorb like a sponge. Try again another day.  

  
  

MOVING

• On your workout, like walking, categorize your biggest problems into urgent, important, and futile. More appropriate solutions will come to you in those 3 buckets.  

• Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
  (Sadly, Sitting and Sitting is Sickly as Smoking)
  Stop Sitting Still. Stand-Stretch-Smile. Smarter Still, Stroll.
  Set to do this for Several minutes every Second hour or So:

Stand and show one side of you.
Stretch and show other sides of you.
Smile and show all sides of you.

EATING

• Wine and Snacks — Are you nuts? Yes, but never drunk.

• Only if you happen to like it, a 5-oz glass of wine a day (or up to 2 glasses for male) can enhance your meals. Getting buzzed on life without alcohol is even better.

• Beer is bent on building a ‘beer belly’, biochemically.

• If you get hungry after trimming portions, eat a small scoop-size snack—a good opportunity to try out healthier items, like nuts and low-fat cheeses, from the Mediterranean menu.

QUOTES / QUIPS

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to tell the difference.”

Reinhold Niebuhr

Give me the willpower to eat what’s good for me,
the won’t-power to push away what I shouldn’t,
and the food labels to tell the difference.

Metacardio©

THOUGHT FOR FOOD

Podcast – (WATER) Random splashes
Textcast –  

• Some people equate money to water. If it doesn’t circulate, it’ll stink. If you don’t pass it, it’ll swell you up and kill you. Any possession that you cannot freely give away, you don’t really own it; it owns you.

• Quiet the mind, like stilling the water to let the mud settle. Then truth and wisdom will flow through, like a natural stream.

REMINDER:

• No-calorie sweeteners can grow your sweet tooth and may increase the risk of some cancers. The World Health Organization banned most of them in 2023. Watering down sweet drinks is safe.

See you tomorrow.

. . .

Week 3 Day 7 

All-or-Nothing to All Things Balanced

.                                          Image curated from iStock with subscription

MINDSET RESET

• Just do what you can. There's plenty.

• Know how it really is, not how you imagine it.
  Don’t like it? Change it.
  Can’t change it? Then change what you can – you.

• Perfect can be the enemy of good.
  If something is imperfect, it’s more likely real.

• In worthy endeavors, success is while you’re doing it, here and now, not just at the end.

  Breathing Room

• To some people, meditation seems like a waste because they’re doing nothing. To every person, doing nothing when that is called for is the most difficult thing to do, and it is all you must do.

MOVING

• If you are not yet close to your daily steps target, as long as there’s progress, you’ll get there.

• Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
  (Sadly, Sitting and Sitting is Sickly as Smoking)
  Stop Sitting Still. Stand-Stretch-Smile. Smarter Still, Stroll.
  Set to do this for Several minutes every Second hour or So:

Stand and be solitary.
Stretch and be multitude.
Smile and be uncountable.

EATING

• If you truly savor your food, by eating it slowly and mindfully you won’t overeat. Feeling fulfilled is not just filling your mouth full or feeling full.

QUOTES / QUIPS

Everything is as it must be,
or it wouldn’t be as it is, by definition.
But if you don’t like it,
change it, by all means.

Metacardio©

THOUGHT FOR FOOD

Podcast – (WATER) Like water, like us
Textcast –  

• Water looks like it’s nothing and nowhere; it is everything and everywhere. Full of opposites, contradictions, and paradoxes, it is just one whole entity, like you.

• In the ocean of life, why drown ourselves by fighting over our differences?
  In it, we’re all just waves, so why not just wave? And frolic like froth?

. Generated by Gemini A.I.

REMINDER

• Weigh yourself and track your steps daily. Take a full-length selfie once a week.

What you do not measure,
you cannot prove, approve, or improve.

Metacardio©

Another Ex-excuse:

“I’m too stressed out to deal with this now.”
Exactly why you must do this now and de-stress for good.

See you next week.

Metacardio© 2024

Coming Up Next : 

Week 3 — DAVIE vs. GOLIATH, The Food Industrial Complex

A Free Enhancer:

Get the Metacardio® mobile app on your iPhone for all 12 weeks of daily prompts with illustrative graphics, animations, audios, and videos. (All non-monetized. No one could pay me enough to have this much joy.)