North Shore Children & Families
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In Good Health balance the checkbook. Sound familiar? Although you may not say to your friends, “Excuse me, I am currently experiencing sympathetic nervous system dominance!”, you certainly recognize the symptoms of everyday stress. This occurs in active families living busy lives with considerable commitments and time constraints.
It’s Not Just What You Eat… by Andrea Cohen, M.Ed. This month, we inaugurate a new column – In Good Health – devoted to food, nutrition, exercise and healthy family nutrition. You won’t find any diets here! The author of In Good Health is Andrea Cohen, a food psychology coach who works out of Salem, Massachusetts. Andrea specializes in helping people transform their relationship to food. Healthy living must be a life-long process. The path to the development of healthy eating habits is to change the ways in which you and your family think about food. That’s what In Good Health is all about. Great nutrition is not just WHAT you eat. Great nutrition is also HOW you eat. Slow, relaxed eating is fundamental for good health and optimal metabolism. Being in a state of stress creates a challenge to the process of digestion. It is a less than ideal way to eat, digest and assimilate our food. When we are experiencing a stress response – even low-level, chronic, everyday stress – our blood flow gets re-routed away from our digestive system and travels urgently to our limbs and brain. This innate physiology is crucial when we are in real danger. It allows us to think, to fight or to run. Commonly called fight or flight, this sympathetic nervous system response can save our lives and helps to ensure our survival as a species. Problems arise, however, when we engage our stress response when we do not need it; this can occur when we are eating and metabolizing our food. We metabolize food most optimally when we are in a relaxed state. In fact, after the first two or three minutes of stress response, our digestive system slows down. Depending on the level of stress, it
can come to an almost complete halt. Now, of course, we all know what stress is. The classic definition is “any real or imagined threat and your body’s response to that threat”. What we don’t all know is that chronic, low-level, every day stressors can also engage our sympathetic nervous system, creating stress chemistry, impacting our oxygen intake and re-routing our blood flow. Ultimately, this can greatly inhibit our metabolic power. What are chronic, low-level, everyday stressors? Well, you know them as the frantic, last minute drop off to school, getting stuck in traffic on your way to the doctor’s appointment,
missing a deadline at work, not to mention, having to pick up groceries, make dinner, clean the house and
So, without making sweeping changes to our routines, what can we do to shift dominance to the parasympathetic nervous system, at least during mealtimes? The answer is easy. Moreover, it’s free and can be done anywhere: eat slowly and breathe. Eating fast causes stress. Eating fast sends signals to our bodies that something is wrong and we are at risk. When we slow down and breathe, we engage our relaxation Continued on page 18
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North Shore Children & Families
It’s Not Just What You Eat Continued from page 17
response. Our oxygen intake increases, our stress hormones rebalance, and our blood flows back to our digestive system. (Quick tip: eating slowly also increases thermic efficiency, that is, the capacity of your body to burn calories!) You may be aware of some of the symptoms of eating under stress (too fast), such as heartburn and bloating. But, did you know that eating under stress can also decrease nutrient absorption, increase nutrient excretion and increase insulin (an energy regulating hormone) and cortisol (a stress hormone)? We can teach our children to eat for healthy digestion and optimal metabolism by modeling this behavior at meal times. If breakfast in your home is eaten standing at your kitchen island while putting on socks and shoes, try sitting down for just five minutes. If you are
already enjoying a sit-down family dinner, consider adding ten minutes to the meal. Taking three to five deep breaths before eating is a great way to start. Eating slowly is a powerful way to enjoy great health and wellbeing; it can instill in us all a gratitude for the food we eat, a deep respect for our nutritional metabolism and a commitment to outstanding health. In summary, here are some ways to experiment with slow, relaxed eating: • Sit down while eating your meals. • Take three to five deep breaths before eating. • Consider adding five minutes to breakfast and ten minutes to dinner. Enjoy your eating experience. Pleasure releases endorphins and promotes relaxation! Andrea Cohen, M.Ed., is a food psychology coach serving the greater North Shore Area and beyond. Visit her website at www.fullcirclefoodcoaching.com.
Supporting Your Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Child Continued from page 16
out people who disagree with you. If you truly listen carefully, do you find anything convincing about what they have to say? More than anything, remember: This is your child – the person who looks to you for love, support and direction. It is already difficult for gay, lesbian and bisexual children to create a healthy sense of self. They will need your love and support more than ever. Some Suggestions • Provide acceptance and support and then more acceptance and support. • Be available to discuss any issues your child wishes to discuss in an open and accepting fashion. • Monitor your child’s emotional state over time. If your child is encountering difficulty, find a qualified psychotherapist. • Become active in your child’s school.
Family & Friends Continued from page 2
progress. Some of my gay friends suspected they might be attracted to members of the same sex back in high school – but they did not admit it, often to themselves even. They hid it and struggled with it and got taunted for it. And then I entered a big city college to study musical theatre – and the small world as I had known it changed in a second.
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I was suddenly smack dab in the middle of a new community that included all kinds of people, some who even flaunted their identities. My formerly and primarily homogenous world was suddenly filled with new colors – new religions – new identities – new ideas – new options. I was there when two of my best childhood friends discovered that they were gay – and together we all paved our various ways. We had no road maps – no teachers – no role models – no examples – no guides – and I remember how cruel the world could be to my friends back then. The secrets, the lies, the fears, the taboo
Find out how others in the school react to your child. Is there teasing or taunting going on? • Encourage and support your child’s association with gay, lesbian or bisexual organizations. Encourage attendance at a support group if needed. Help your child make contact with other gay, lesbian or bisexual individuals. • Discuss the meaning of love and sexuality with your child. As is true for all children, make sure that your child has access to information about safer sexual practices. • Show interest in your gay, lesbian or bisexual child’s life. The more you are able to share – without boundaries that you and your child find acceptable – the more your child will understand that you truly accept him or her and are there to provide support.
nature of their being, the belief that they had to hide themselves and who they truly were from most of the world saddens me. They were just my friends, first and foremost, after all. When I see how far we’ve all come – I am proud and honored that we are discussing this important topic in this issue, as a guide of sorts – a way to begin the conversation for some people. And if it helps just one kid who is struggling with their own sexual orientation identity – or helps even one parent to be more informed and open and willing to do anything and everything they can to support their developing child – then that’s a great start! It’s not a topic for other people – it’s a topic for all of us that make up the human race. Every one of us deserves to live a life of our own truth. And while I may never personally know or understand exactly what it’s like to be GLBT – I will continue to educate myself and support my friends so that we can all develop into our fullest potential – as individuals, communities, societies and the world at large. Whether my Continued on page 22