Want to be Healthier and Lose a Few Pounds? Try a Little Self-Care.

            Believe it or not, many people neglect making time for self-care because they feel it’s a selfish act or there just isn’t enough time. We’ve become far too busy and stressed out to take the initiative for self-care. This is quite unhealthy to do, and I’ll explain why you should adopt a self-care routine of your own.

1.     Self-care is an act that actually reduces stress. Too much stress leads to heart problems, hypertension, anxiety, chronic renal fatigue, anger, sadness, physical, mental, and emotional burn-out, gut issues as well as skin issues. Bottom line, the list is endless because stress has so many bad effects on our health. In my own experience, self-care helps to soften the blow of stress to help make things more figure-out-able.

2.     Self-care helps you to focus or refocus. I wrote in book, Tara's Choice: A Mother-Daughter Cancer Journey, about how the power of self-care helped me to focus and see my goals after losing my daughter to cancer. Whatever you’re going through, needing a break in life is just, well, needed at times. Self-care helps to bring clarity, allowing you the calmness to better perform at tasks. Make time to focus on healthy eating, exercise, and getting enough sleep. You’re worth it!

3.     Self-care allows for us to be more compassionate with others. Who couldn’t use more compassion in their life, huh? I see this as “filling up your cup”. When our cup isn’t filled, we lose motivation and the fuel to stay positive. We began to care less and are unhappier with ourselves and our surroundings. Self-care is an act that refreshes and replenishes you, so that you can give to yourself as much as you give to others.

4.     Lack of self-care can be the reason we don’t lose those unwanted pounds. Self-care includes things like de-stressing, re-focusing, calming anxiety to improve sleep, exercising, eating well, and boosting mental power. When all of these falls out of balance, our body not only holds on to those extra pounds, but also increases our BMI. These trigger hormones like ghrelin and leptin in a negative way. Ghrelin is a hunger-stimulating hormone. When out of balance, ghrelin says, “Hey! We’re hungry!” Leptin is a hormone that tells our brain we’re not hungry; that we’ve had enough to eat and we’re full.  When Leptin is out of balance, it says, “Wait a minute! Did we eat anything today? We better keep eating to be sure.” Cortisol is a hormone that gives us energy. When we have a constant flow of cortisol, we develop insulin-resistance which stops us from burning fat, especially in our belly. Over all, we don’t want to exercise, and we crave sweet things to eat.   

At the end of the day, self-care is loving yourself enough to make healthier choices. You will be more productive, more balanced, and just plain happier. Self-care helps all the natural processes of our body. What are three things you can do this week to make more time for yourself?