Can what you eat build resilience?
What is Resilience?
Resilience is defined as:
“the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties”
The past 18 months have given most people more than their fair share of difficulties.
Those lacking resilience can become easily overwhelmed.
It is these feeling of overwhelm, hopelessness and helplessness that can lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Self-comfort rather than self-care.
Resilience gives us the strength needed to protect ourselves from becoming overwhelmed.
It protects us from mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression and helps us maintain a healthy balance in our lives.
How to build Resilience
We build resilience by becoming self-aware.
This is where self-care comes into play.
Self-care doesn’t have to be a fluffy time with a bubble bath and candles it’s also about being mindful of your needs, checking in with how you are feeling and putting your needs as a high priority just as you do everyone else.
This however can be easier said than done. The good news is that resilience is a characteristic you can build with intention.
Here are some ideas:
- Make connections – Accept help and support from those who care about you and will listen to you.
- Learn to relax
- Practice thought awareness
- Maintain perspective – accept that change is part of living
- Take decisive action – rather than avoiding or detaching from a situation, face it.
- What are your goals? – Do one little thing towards them every day, if possible get this done first as it will add to your feeling of accomplishment.
- Develop a positive outlook – use positive daily affirmations that resonate with you.
Here is a scenario for you:
You’ve had a shit day. One of those days where nothing seems to go right. You meet a friends for a walk or a coffee and chat and moan and laugh. When you leave you feel recharged. Maybe you’ve seen things from another perspective or have a plan of action to make tomorrow easier…
Your connection to someone you care about has built resilience to overcome your bad day.
Building good, positive relationships is an important part of our resilience.
Nutrition for resilience
Good nutrition is part of self-care.
It is something that is within our control and can have a positive effect quickly.
Good nutrition will make your body resilient to disease. A healthy body is less stressed, anxious and depressed. It can also help reduce the adverse effects of life on the body such as:
- Sleep issues
- Inflammation
- Excess weight
Fresh fruit and vegetables along with whole grains supply our body with essential vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) which all improve the function of our body and reduce cellular damage.
Cellular damage contributes to disease and the ageing process (more on this coming soon!).
What if you are really struggling with stress, anxiety or depression and the thought of spending hours in the kitchen preparing healthy meals just adds to the feelings of overwhelm?
You don’t have to be a kitchen goddess.
If you don’t want to cook maybe grab a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket along with a bag of veg to steam and a packet of rice or a jacket potato. This will give you a balanced meal that will nourish you more than something fried or overly processed.
Note: This is not a time to go on a diet. This is a time to learn to listen to your body and honour its needs. This is all part of how I teach Intuitive eating.
What next?
Start small.
Make small changes to current habits that can set you on the right path.
Once you start building your resilience by consistently taking care of yourself you will gain momentum and this will have a compound effect.
While writing this post I was reminded of a book I read a few years ago, How full is your bucket? There is also a children’s book called, Have you filled a bucket today: A guide to daily happiness for kids.
I highly recommend these books.
If you would like to chat further about this subject or anything else to do with creating a healthy balanced lifestyle book a virtual cuppa and a chat and we can discuss your individual needs further.
For further information on health and wellness products I recommend follow this link.