7 Habits to Instill To Make Your Life Healthier and Happier

#1- Spend at least a couple of hours outside every day

A study done by the app Mappiness in 2010 found, via 20,000 participants, that people are least happy either at work or while sick in bed.

They are most happy when they’re with friends or lovers.

And their moods tend to reflect the weather at hand.

But, one of the biggest variables is not who you’re with or what you’re doing. It’s where you are.

On average, study participants were significantly happier outdoors, in an all green or natural habitat type, rather than in an urban environment.

We are growing increasingly burdened and inundated by chronic ailments made worse by time spent indoors, from myopia and vitamin D deficiency to obesity, depression, diminishment of eyesight, loneliness, and anxiety, among others.

Since the dawn of the internet, researchers say we have grown more irritable, less sociable, more narcissistic, more distracted, and less cognitively nimble.

This might be due to both, to the internet’s effect on our ability to focus, as well as the barriers created between connecting as deeply emotionally as we once did (now, our screens tend to distract us much of the time).

This can also be due to things like advertising and media, posting selfies (look at me, look at me!), the sense of competition and comparison that social media ushered in, the seeking of status and popularity, the branding of ourselves via crafting our online images for viewers, the diminishment of wisdom, and reading articles and bits of information in short bursts, as opposed to focusing at length on, say, a book for an hour or two.

The fact that we have grown more irritable, less sociable, more narcissistic, more distracted, and less cognitively nimble, though, is also because we are spending way more time indoors.

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Gluten-Free Chocolate Pie

Chocoholics, this one is for you. It’s wheat-free and gluten-free (not the same thing, contrary to some people’s assumption), and lower in sugar than many typical desserts. The base of this cake, though, is fudgy and rich, and the other two layers are whipped, creamy, light, and delicious.

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The Best Raw Carrot Cake with Maple Cashew Frosting

Hi Fellow Foodies!

I realize it’s been a long time since I posted a recipe, but, better late than never, yes? So, here we go. I have a gem for you.

This one is super easy to make. It’s delicious, with a fun texture, and is way healthy to boot.

No wheat or gluten, very little sugar, no dairy, and made with raw ingredients which are excellent for your health.

Yes, it’s raw, which means that texture-wise, it will not be comparable to cake made with flour, however, this aside, the taste is fantastic. Don’t take my word for it, though. Whip it up and taste yourself. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

This is a cake you need not feel guilty about eating!

Continue reading “The Best Raw Carrot Cake with Maple Cashew Frosting”

Other Aspects of the Pandemic Are Hurting Our Health Beyond COVID

Beyond the fear of getting COVID, or actually contracting it, there is much else happening right now in the atmosphere of the pandemic that is harming our health. This is important to be aware and take notice of so that we might do things that counteract and prevent these other potential things as best as we can.

I will discuss those issues below, and then offer some ideas for some possible solutions following.

Depression and Anxiety Have Increased, Which Hurts Your Mind and Your Body

Everyone’s mental health is suffering right now, in one way or another. Some are suffering more than others, but still, we are all feeling it.

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Ways to Strengthen Your Immune System and Defense Against COVID.

Do these things to boost your chance of remaining healthy…

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The Food You Eat is Either Feeding Disease or Fighting It.

The things we put into our body, food and drink, as well as other factors in how we treat our bodies, like getting enough sleep and controlling our levels of stress, all of this is either contributing or encouraging toward disease, or, helping to fend off disease from building.

Here is how.

Continue reading “The Food You Eat is Either Feeding Disease or Fighting It.”

Pesto Quinoa Bowl With Egg, Tomato, & Kale

Hi all,

Happy winter months.  It’s the ideal time for all things 1. easy to whip up and 2. cozy and delicious.  This quinoa bowl will do just the trick.  It can be made in less than a half an hour, it tastes awesome, it’s grain-free, gluten-free, and sugar-free, with a small amount of dairy in the pesto (assuming you use regular pesto, which has cheese in it).

Make extra so you have a totally tasty lunch for work tomorrow too!

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The Age of Addiction. Why?

Cell phones, the internet, opioids, workaholism, all with steadily rising rates of anxiety and depression. What’s going on here?

America seems to be moving steadily down a rapidly darkening path, one of addiction, social isolation, anger, and general unhappiness. Why might this be?

Continue reading “The Age of Addiction. Why?”

Wheat-Free Carrot Cake

Autumn is my favorite season. I love the subtle downturn in temperatures, though the air isn’t quite cold enough to prevent people from still wanting to be outdoors just yet. That smell in the air of something sharp, crisp, of leaves and chill.

The foliage- don’t even get me started. At least 20% of why I came back from Europe when I did. Sure, the leaves turn elsewhere around the world of course, but they don’t quite catch flame with the same vibrancy as here in New England. Leaf peppers are onto something (for those who haven’t heard that term, these are people who travel from all over the US during fall to revel in and spectate over the changing colors here in New England). I have yet to encounter anywhere else where the shades are as vivid as they are here. Guess I’ll have to do some more traveling to find such a place, or, just accept that back home is where it’s at in terms of autumn.

Autumn is the perfect time for thick books. A towering, layered, gripping plot, allowing it to suck you in and keep you hooked, blowing through the pages while (ideally) sitting in a cozy café, cuddling up on your couch in front of a roaring fire, or lounging in a park somewhere as red and orange leaves dance in the air above.

More awesomeness about autumn: the re-emergence of boots, scarves and wool coats (especially cute red ones- my top pick). A welcoming back of comfort foods- macaroni and cheese, butternut squash soup, carrot cake, pumpkin pie, stuffing, oh man. Don’t even get me started.

Speaking of carrot cake, this recipe is subtly spiced, fluffy and light, scrumptious to be sure.  All while it’s wheat/gluten-free, and lower in sugar than usual carrot cakes. It’s also easy to whip together.  Happy autumnal baking!

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Sleep is Critical to Our Well-being, and Most of Us Aren’t Getting Nearly Enough.

Turns out that more than two thirds of us are not getting the recommended eight hours of necessary sleep each night.  That probably doesn’t shock anyone. However, what may surprise you is the vast havoc and damage this wrecks upon all areas of your physical and mental health.

There is not one major organ in the body, or process in the brain, that isn’t optimally enhanced by sleep (or, detrimentally impaired when we don’t get enough).

Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset and heal our brain and body health every day, even more so than diet and exercise.

Shocked?  Read on for more.

Continue reading “Sleep is Critical to Our Well-being, and Most of Us Aren’t Getting Nearly Enough.”