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How to Manage Stress

Yum

January 7, 2019 By Laura Ligos, MBA, RD, CSSD Leave a Comment

Happy Monday! Finally back to the routine and it almost kept me up all night. Why? Well, because I’ve switched to coaching Monday mornings and I was paranoid I was going to miss my alarm. Mind you, I’m not sure I’ve missed an alarm in my life before so I (in theory) shouldn’t be concerned but in reality, I am ALWAYS concerned I’m going to miss important meetings/times.

We call that STRESS my friends.

Why do I bring this up?

Well on my Instagram stories the other week I had mentioned that you should be managing your stress. Someone asked what that meant, and I was like well, I should, in fact explain this concept further! Managing stress does not mean that stress goes away, it just means that you get a handle on it so that you control it, it doesn’t control you. So whether your method is to write everything down, speak to someone or acknowledge the fact that combining CBD with coffee is popular these days, finding a way to manage your stress will help you out in the long run.

The thing is, stress doesn’t go away. You can’t magically wave a wand and expect it to go away. Sure, on vacation you probably notice it gone, but as soon as you’re back in the swing of things, BOOM, there it is again.

What Causes Stress?

Short answer: Almost anything & everything

Long answer: it depends. Everyone handles “stress” and “stressful” situations differently. Some might find traffic to be stress inducing, others might embrace it and find it relaxing and a means of putting off getting to work. Some LOVE exercise and find it rejuvenating, others, not so much. The list goes on.

So, the thing is that A LOT of things can cause stress it’s just a matter of how you respond to said stress that matters. It also matters how you perceive said stress.

Rank Your Stress

Something I tell all my clients to do is to rank their stress. Why? Because perceived stress is a BIG deal. While, certainly you can have stress without perceiving it, the number tells me a lot about your health situation and can help me guide you better.

So here’s the question:

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being none in your life, 10 being the worst in your life, where would you rank your stress ON AVERAGE?! If your answer is higher than a 5, something needs to give. If it’s less than 5 it’s still good to do the steps below to make sure your stress is in check.

Why do I care? I’ll write another post on this, but stress can wreak havoc on your health and on your life, and by not managing it you put yourself at risk for so many health & life issues. Stress matters, let’s manage it!

How to Manage Your Stress

Write down the top stressors in your life.

Take a pen & paper & write down what your major stressors are. Examples: work, relationships, finances, food/diet, fitness (or lack thereof), sleep (or lack therof), commute, the news, social media, etc.

Pick 3 that you can change & focus on them.

There are obviously some things you can’t change right now, like you may not be able to quit your job right now, so let’s see what 3 things you can impact right now. For example, one could be relating to your financial situation. Alongside it, you could write potential solutions, like learning more about online line of credit. This way, it shows that you are willing to make a positive change. Come up with two more.

Recruit Help

With those 3 stressors in mind, recruit help. Have people HELP you help yourself with no shame. For example, need help with food? Hire a dietitian. Need help with fitness? Hire a trainer/coach! Help with finances? Find someone like this lady.

Prioritize Yourself

Make time for YOU. If you don’t the stress will continue to manifest. Get a massage, or a pedicure, or take a short vacation. Whatever you do, take care of yourself. Try some CBD products from yoursnutrition to help you relax. Maybe it’s 5 minutes a day of meditation or stretching. Maybe it’s leaving work at a reasonable hour to make it to the gym. Whatever you do, make sure you prioritize yourself.

Unplug & Recharge

This is HUGE. I find that when I intentionally plan time off of social media or my phone I feel a huge wave of relief. Find ways to unplug. Instead, read a book, do a puzzle, hang out with friends, etc. You’ll find you are recharged and probably less stressed because you aren’t constantly looking at people’s highlight reel.

Monitor & Re-evaluate

Always re-check, monitor, and re-evaluate. Are you still under a 5? Or has it creeped back up. If so, what are the stressors this time?! Go through the steps again and start to manage your stress.

What are your main stressors?

Write them down (feel free to share) and start tackling them!

xoxo,

Laura

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@thesassydietitian

We’ve made it over a week together and it feels We’ve made it over a week together and it feels like it’s always been this way.

Motherhood is a wild ride & it’s only getting started. I have never been so tired & simultaneously so fulfilled in my life. That’s not to say it’s not filled with tears, worries and doubts but what fun would it be if it were all sunshine and roses anyway?

Going into this all I have felt so supported by friends going through this with me BUT I felt so unsupported by the general public. It seems like we want to fear and shame moms because misery loves company, right?!

The focus quickly shifts from mom to baby (still shocked that I only have an appointment at 6 weeks even though my body went through the biggest event of its life) and there also seems to be this shift from joy to shame & guilt.

Here’s some of what I heard from people:

😕Sleep when baby sleeps. You’ll never sleep again.
😕Don’t let baby sleep in a car seat, or a bouncer, or anywhere but their crib EVER. 
😕You’ll never have time to shower again, enjoy it now. 
😕Cry it out is cruel and harmful to the baby. 
😕Get baby on a schedule/never put baby on a schedule.

These are all things I heard and that truly led me to believe I was going to lose all sense of who I was and my life as I knew it.

What I wish people had said instead were:

🥰Your heart will grow bigger than you could imagine.
🥰You’ll cry the happiest tears you’ve ever cried.
🥰You’ll feel like a giant hole was filled that you didn’t even know was there.
🥰You won’t feel guilty about cleaning your house, it just won’t matter anymore.
🥰Babies pooping will make you laugh so hard you will feel like a kid again.
🥰You will have time to eat and shower and you don’t have to neglect yourself.

We need to do a better job of building each other up, supporting one another and our decisions while refraining from offering unsolicited advice and opinions. 

So for all you future mamas and new mamas out there, I see you, I’m proud of you and I cannot wait to share our stories with one another and the world.

Let’s stop fear mongering (just like the diet world) and start building one another up.

Xoxo,
Sassy & lil sassy man
🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s b 🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s been a long year of loss, unknowns and worry but it’s all been worth it to get to meet my lil man🥰
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Now time to introduce this sassy human who is already so well loved to the world...
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Introducing 

💙 Connor James Ligos 💙
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After an almost 24 hour labor, Connor joined us over a week past his due date on 2/12/21 at a whopping 9lb2oz & 22.5 inches long with a full head of hair and lungs to scream hello to us with.
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We are so in love already and cannot wait to share him with the world. Thank you for all the love and support from friends and family and to all those that helped us in the hospital. Holy cow labor & delivery teams are truly magical and I cannot imagine doing it without all of their support.
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Now back to snuggling this human of mine and trying not to cry at every last thing he does 🥰 
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Mom, Dad & Bode are all doing well!
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#babyboy #pregnancyafterloss #rainbowbaby #birthdayboy #birthannouncement
I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk t I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk to others about what worked for us. That's great!
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What's not great is when we push our nutrition and eating behaviors onto others ESPECIALLY when we are not qualified to do so.
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So often when people meet me for the first time they are worried to eat around me and/or buy groceries around me. My friends can attest I am not judgemental around food and will gladly eat that cake, queso dip or sip on that glass of wine right alongside of you. I am not the food police and do not offer unsolicited nutrition advice unless it's a client who is paying for my help OR on Instagram and other social media platforms where my goal is to educate.
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Why do I share this? 
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Because I see far too many people diving down diet rabbit holes, finding success & then claiming to be nutrition experts purely because something worked for them. 
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I've also seen this alot being pregnant, everyone wants to tell you what worked for them. IF you use that stipulation of "this worked for me" then fine, share away but if you start doleing out advice please pause, take a breath and think about NOT doing it.
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People are OVERWHELMED by diet culture and some so badly want to change but YOUR way is not the only way and it most likely is not what will work for your friend/coworker/cousin/neighbor so please, stop trying to be an expert in something you aren't.
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Got it!?! 
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Ok, carry on.
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xoxo,
Sassy
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#nutrition #nutritiontips #nutritionist #dietitianapproved #rdapproved #rdchat #dietitiansofinstagram #dietitian #dietitiansofig #albanyny #albanynutrition #albanynutrition
Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. I'm not saying you have to find perfect balance (does that even exist?) but I am saying that we shouldn't feel like either we have to eat perfectly or that we might as well give up.
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Instead we should look to the grey area in between for our nutrition guidance. 
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What do I mean?
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I mean that we need to realize that we can still eat cookies but we probably should throw some veggies in there. 
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We can have a glass or 2 of wine but we should probably also drink some water. 
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We can take rest days but we should also find ways to move our bodies regularly.
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And the list goes on.
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It's not about all or nothing it's about doing something daily to help your health and nutrition without it feeling like a set of rules or a free for all.
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How do we find that grey area in between?
👉🏻 stop hopping on and off fad diets
👉🏻listen and trust your self, not your coworkers and cousins 
👉🏻focus on the simple things (ie drinking water instead of worrying about supplements)
👉🏻work to remove guilt and shame around food & body
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Where do you currently fall Right now?!
🤪 all
👍🏻in between 
🙅🏻‍♀️ nothing 
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Xoxo,
Sassy
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#dietitian #dietitiansofig #dietitiansofinstagram #nutrition #nutritionist #nutritiontips #thesassydietitian #rdchat #realtalk

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