Guckenheimer Insights

Our diet has much more to do with our mood and mental health than we often realize – the foods we eat affect our mood on a chemical level.

Have you ever lingered in front of the open doors to your refrigerator or pantry and thought, “There’s nothing to eat”? Or come home too late or too tired to feel like making an extravagant meal? Don’t throw in the towel! Healthy eating does not have to be complicated or time consuming. But, to be successful, have these food staples on hand to help build a healthy home environment that can keep you from ordering take out (or calling that pint of ice cream “dinner”).

Hunger is the only thing that affects how much we eat, right? Wrong! Research has shown that multitasking—like eating while watching TV or working—and distracted or hurried eating can prompt us to eat more. Paying attention to a meal, however, was linked to eating less later on. How do we do this successfully? Enter the practice of mindful eating!

Fighting traffic, shouldering a huge workload, juggling our family’s busy schedules…let’s face it, life can be stressful! But when stress becomes chronic, it can take a serious toll on your health. Chronic stress can increase your risk for heart disease and diabetes, weaken your immune system, increase appetite and cravings, disrupt sleep, and impact mental health. Manage your stress with the following self-care tips.