3 Ways to Invite Peace Into Your Life This Holiday Season

Uh-oh, it's almost holiday time again! For some, just the thought makes them shudder like a January snowstorm. It's the stress and expectation and worry if everything isn't just so.

This year, I invite you to bring Peace into your holiday season! And I have three ideas on how to accomplish this.

Idea one is to simply announce, before the season gets into full swing, that you would like to have everyone consider bringing peace into the holiday! Peace can be so many things... it can be old traditions and new ones... it can be asking people to say nice things to each other... it can be giving a bit more than the year before.

                                          Source: http://anna-bownesspark.ca/

Idea two is about remembering good things in the holidays - not just today but from yesterday and desiring to take good things with you into tomorrow and beyond! People just try to get through the holidays... dreading them, wishing they'd hurry up and be done. But then, in a year or ten or more, what can you look back upon? What memories can you share with the loved ones of tomorrow?

Idea three is about bringing old traditions forward and merging them with new ones. I personally love thinking about our old family traditions. When I do, I get the opportunity to reunite with my lost family members like my mother, father, and grandparents. It also gives me a chance to share memories with my nieces and nephews.

One of the things we had always loved to do growing up was cook together. Mama had loved cooking, especially at holiday time. She had cooked for the family as well as the church. And when I have the chance to cook with my niece, it's a beautiful reminder of the past as well as a new memory for the future.

Another memory I had of the past was sitting at the Thanksgiving table. One year we had just started going around the table and have everyone say something they were grateful for. It had been new that year and an old tradition ever since!

Some of our old traditions had faded or changed. When Mama had been alive, she'd put together baskets to hand out to the less fortunate in the church. It had been a wonderful feeling; giving to others. Though, when Mama had gotten sick, the tradition had fallen away. We compensated by giving monetary donations to the church instead.

Probably the greatest memories of past and present are the times when our family members join together - sharing food, song, laughter and memories. There truly is no greater peace for the holidays than giving, sharing, and family.

Frances is an author, vocalist, and speaker. She focuses on Latino traditions, music, and faith. She is inspired by her mother, Flora, and her family of seven brothers and sisters. She has inspired people through sharing her mother's legacy and encourages others to share their family's legacies. Visit her website to sign up for inspirational messages, monthly newsletter, and updates at http://www.floraslegacy.net.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Frances_C_Rodriguez/2166378

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I'm A Dietitian. Here Are The 5 Food Rules I Follow Every Da

I'm a dietitian who loves food. What I've realized after working with many clients over the past few years, is that we tend to make food way too complicated than it needs to be. It’s just food.

I don’t believe in dieting, restricting certain foods, or calorie counting. That’s not healthy mentally or physically. And health is so much more than the food on our plates. It’s also about stress management, getting enough sleep, and exercising appropriately. But I do believe you need cake to balance out the kale, just as much as you need kale to balance out the cake.

I’m a dietitian. And here are the food rules I follow (most of the time!):

1. Include a healthy fat at every meal.

If for some reason a meal doesn’t include some sort of fat — I love nuts,coconut oil or avocado — I’ll be hungry within an hour or two. Not only dofats provide satiation since they empty your stomach the slowest, they’re imperative for good hormonal health.

2. Always eat breakfast.

I can count on one hand the number or times I’ve skipped breakfast. It’s my favorite meal of the day and I’d feel lethargic and cranky if I didn’t eat it. I might sound like a broken record, but breakfast replenishes your glycogen stores after a night of fasting, and suppresses counter regulatory stress hormones that get released when you’ve gone too long without eating.

3. Sit down whenever you eat.

I used to eat standing up, eat while walking to the train, eat while cleaning, eat while doing a trillion other things. And then I’d get done eating and feel like I never ate at all because I was multitasking while eating. This would then lead me to feeling snacky and wanting something else to eat, because I felt like something was lacking in my previous eating experience.

Eating while sitting down is the first step to creating awareness around what you’re eating, making eating a restful experience, and allowing you to actually taste your food.

4. Eat dessert.

Every night I eat dessert to some extent. And it absolutely doesn’t include fruit. Sometimes it’s a few pieces of dark chocolate dipped in peanut butter. Sometimes it’s a slice of banana chocolate chip bread smeared with butter. Sometimes it’s a cupcake or an ice cream cone. But I eat dessert every night.

By de-villainizing dessert and eating it often, I’m satisfied on less and I never have the urge to eat two three or five cupcakes because I know I can eat dessert anytime I want.

5. If I’m hungry, I eat.

You wouldn’t let a baby cry and never give him a bottle, right? So why do we let our stomachs grumble and not feed them? Hunger cues are the only justification you need to eat something. If you’re hungry, you eat. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is, when the last time you ate was, or how much you’ve exercised that day. When you’re hungry, you should eat. It’s as simple as that.

Photo courtesy of the author

Source:http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-22464/im-a-dietitian-here-are-the-5-food-rules-i-follow-every-day.html?utm_source=mbg&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=151113-im-a-dietitian-here-are-the-5-food-rules-i-follow-every-day