7 days of being kinder E-Book

Marie Glaeser

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 101

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

A cookbook, journal and guide to help you learn to manage stress, low mood and anxiety. This little book takes you on a seven day journey to help you create a retreat for yourself in your own home. It teaches you to nourish yourself with food, your thoughts and movement to help you feel your best no matter your current situation. Fully evidence-based, this book uses principles from nutritional therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness therapy. All sales go to Brot Fuer Die Welt - a charity providing food and opportunities for people across the world.

Leseprobe

To Trish, who I wish could have read this book.

Table of Contents

Introduction

A note on feelings

A note on circumstance

Some practical things

3 Key Concepts

Blood Sugar

Inflammation

The Gut

How to use this book

BREAKFAST – Raspberry & Chia Overnight Oats

LUNCH – Salad Bowl

SNACK – Sliced Banana

DINNER – Maharagwe (East African Bean Stew)

SNACK: Sourdough with Hummus & Cucumber

DINNER – Noodle Soup

SNACK - Applesauce with Walnuts & Cinnamon

DINNER - Falafel, hummus & pomegranate salad

BREAKFAST – Banana & Peanut Butter Overnight Oats

SNACK - Sourdough, Manchego Cheese & Radishes

DINNER – Butternut Squash with Ragout

SNACK – Juicy Dates with Peanut Butter and Cocoa

DINNER – Green Pasta

BREAKFAST – Fluffy Pancakes

SNACK – Raspberry and Coconut Ice-cream

DINNER – Baked Sweet Potato with Tuna Salad

SNACK – Oat Flapjacks

BREAKFAST – Omelette

DINNER – Mustard-y Broccoli Rice

How to use the Meal Plan and Shopping List

Meal Plan

Blank Meal Plan

Shopping List

Alternatives

Bibliography

Introduction

we don’t

expect a plant to grow

when we don’t

give it water,

sunshine

soil

or food

so why do we

expect to grow

when we don’t

care

for ourselves?

I’m so happy you are here, reading this book.

I wrote it for those of you who want to spend a week taking good care of yourself – to see what happens when you do.

Those who want to build new habits in the way you eat, think and get up in the morning – to see what happens when you do. Those of you who are feeling low, stressed, overwhelmed or get up with a knot in your stomach each morning. Those who have no idea how to make room for all the ‘good for you’ things you hear about. Those of you whose internal voice is your worst critic, a never-ending stream of unkind thoughts.

I wrote it for you if you want to re-discover the joy of good food, good sleep, friendships, kindness, movement, the outdoors and all the other pleasures the world has to offer.

This little book will accompany you for 21 meals and seven days. Each morning it will greet you with words of encouragement and a challenge for the day. It will also ask you to write down some things you are grateful for each morning. There will be daily recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a snack inspiration if you need it. Each evening this book provides a space for you to reflect on the day, how you found the challenge and to write down one (or a few) things you learned that day.

At the back of this book, you will find the entire week's meal plan, as well as a shopping list of what you will need. I would recommend you make sure you have everything on this list before you start working through the book.

This book is for people with all sorts of different amounts of time, money, physical challenges and energy, dietary patterns and access to shops and products – that means I have tried to provide a few options for each recipe. I hope this means that getting what you need to follow through with this week’s plan is manageable, but if it isn’t – then take it as your first challenge to think of some alternatives that you could buy/make/eat this week.

I have provided 19 different recipes so that you have several inspirations for new meals to include in your routine. This doesn't mean you have to make 19 different recipes this week! If you particularly like one recipe you can just make it on a few days, whilst skipping those that don't interest you.

A note on feelings

Recognising the role of emotions

I am writing this book to help you spend a week engaging in practices that improve your wellbeing. I am not writing this book to stop you from feeling sad, angry, scared or stressed.

Before you close this book and say ‘That’s not what I am looking for, I want to stop feeling those things.’ keep reading for a little longer to understand why this book isn’t written to help you stop feeling those things.

Feelings and emotions have a purpose [1]. Read that again. Feelings and emotions have a purpose. Always.

When something bad happens to us, such as losing a family member, we grieve. Grieving allows us to say goodbye to that person and to seek support from loved ones around us in a time where we need more social connection. When we are in a dangerous situation, such as getting into a car with a drunk driver, we may feel scared. Fear allows to consider the consequences of a situation and to help keep us safe by changing the situation.

The problem with depression, stress and anxiety is that we don’t always know why we are feeling that way. When there is no concrete cause we conclude that we must be feeling that way because something is wrong with us, our world or our life.

I would argue that’s not true. But your feelings are not wrong either. Because feelings and emotions have a purpose.

If a child was sad, what would your natural instinct be? It is likely that you would comfort her, say nice things to her, give her cuddles, distract her with a fun activity.

If a child was scared, what would your natural instinct be? It is likely that you would try and find out what exactly he is scared of, then you would encourage him, help him solve the problem or offer him support in doing what he is scared of.

The needs that are expressed by these emotions may be social connection, support, comfort, encouragement or many other things. These emotions have a purpose.

When you are sad or scared, what is your natural instinct? It is likely that you tell yourself off, that you tell yourself something is wrong with you for feeling this way, that you can never solve the problem, that there is no point trying to change anything or that nobody around you will understand or help. Or you might try and push the emotion away, force it to be silent.

There are three things that are important to keep in mind.

Your emotions have a purpose. And I’m aware I am repeating myself here, but I need this to sink in. Throughout the coming week practice noticing your emotions and trying to understand the need behind them. Then think about how you could meet that need. It is okay to feel sad or stressed or scared or angry.

Try to treat yourself as you would treat a child or a friend experiencing your emotions.

You may also have other feelings. These may include feeling worthless, like a failure, ashamed, inadequate, useless and so on. These feelings are often related to the way we think and on day 2 of this journal we will look at how this affects you in more detail. For now, I would just like to point out the difference between an emotion having a purpose (such as grief or sadness) and an emotion meaning something is a fact. So, for example, feeling like a failure does not mean you

are

a failure. Feeling alone does not mean you

are

alone. Feeling scared does not mean there

is

definitely danger. Feeling incompetent does not mean you can’t do something.

Throughout this week practice recognising your feelings as feelings and noticing when you are interpreting them as facts.

The more we try to push away an emotion the more we feel it [

2

]. It’s like trying to hold a ball filled with air under water – have you ever tried that? On the other hand, the more we try to hold on to an emotion the more likely it is to dissipate. Trying to hold on to a feeling is like trying to hold on to smoke with your hands.

Throughout this week practice noticing your emotions and leaving them as they are.

Notice where you feel them in your body, notice how they shift and change, notice what happens when you turn your attention from the emotion back onto the activity you are currently doing.

A note on circumstance

Recognising the role of live events.

Whilst it is true that we don’t always know why we feel the way we feel when we are anxious or depressed [3], [4], sometimes we know exactly why.

Your situation right now might be extremely difficult and could be the cause of how you are feeling. Actually about 80% of people struggling with depression have faced one or more difficult life events that could have triggered their depression [5].

Common causes are job insecurity, job stress, relationship difficulties, divorce, loss, financial problems, problems with accommodation, social isolation, ill health and being a carer for someone who is ill [4], [5]. Other factors that can play a role include having too much or too little responsibility at work, your commute, past experiences, travel, moving house, getting married, changing work and much more [4], [5].

These are things that you might be going through right now, or things that happened to you in the distant or recent past [5]. Sometimes we cope incredibly well during a difficult situation, only to feel completely unable to face the day weeks after the situation has already past.

This book focuses on things you can do right now to take care of yourself in or after difficult situations. It introduces thought experiments that can help you think differently about these situations or to shift your focus away from thinking about them.

It does these things not because the way you think or spend your days necessarily caused your feelings. It isn’t trying to resolve the situation you are experiencing or experienced, it isn’t trying to say that what you have gone through was ‘not so bad’.

Not at all.

The reason this book focuses on those things is that those are the things you can change. You may not be able to change your current situation right now, you definitely can’t change what happened in the past and you can’t predict the future. But you can make damn sure to take the best possible care of yourself right now. You can make sure you are in the best possible place to work through whatever it is you are going through right now.

Think of it this way – if you were planning a cross country road trip from North Africa all the way down to South Africa – what would you do with your car before you start the journey? I’m guessing you would fuel up, check the oil, change the tyres and organise a spare set, check the engine is in the best possible condition and so on. We know that a car needs to be in good condition to get through a long, difficult journey safely.

The problem is that we often forget that we, and our bodies, also need to be in good condition to get through long, difficult journeys.

Take a moment to write down some of the life circumstances that you feel are affecting you at the moment:

Recognise what you are dealing with. Now turn the pages to begin focusing on how to care for yourself on this journey.

Some practical things

Always make sure that any fruits and vegetables you use have been well washed.

Having said that, I recommend not peeling your vegetables because the peel contains fibre and nutrients.

Make sure you don’t mix up raw meats or animal products with foods that you will be eating uncooked.