How I'm Currently Managing My Anxiety

Mental health and the increasing importance of talking about it has come to the forefront in recent years and as someone who struggles daily with anxiety, I am so thankful for the spotlight it’s been shown. Looking back I realize anxiety is something I have always struggled with. Even as a kid I would have moments where my heart felt like it was going to come out of my chest and I no-longer could think logically, but I had no idea what was happening. As an adult my anxiety hasn’t gone away, its triggers have just evolved from fear of getting a bad grade to fear of falling short in my job performance or letting down a friend or significant other.

Knowing that I am not the only person who struggles with anxiety, I wanted to compile a few things that I have found throughout my journey with anxiety that have helped me learn to manage it. Anxiety ebbs and flows from day to day. Sometimes you feel like you’ve got it figured out and then BAM you can’t remember how to breath normal. If you’re in a good place with your anxiety right now, celebrate that — it’s a victory, but keep these tools in your back pocket for the days when you can’t think straight. I hope this list helps you, even just a little. We’re in this together.

Remember You Are Not Alone

Remember this. Always. On the days I’ve felt the most alone are the days my anxiety has spiraled out of control. The anxiety that probably stemmed from something completely different bounced off my additional fear that I am the only person who has ever felt this way. Believe me, you are not alone in your feelings.

Let Someone In

Anxiety happens in your mind. Unlike food poisoning where someone can see you physically throwing up and runs in to help, people don’t know there’s something wrong until you tell them. You have to LET THEM IN. I suggest having a go-to person that you can call at anytime of day just to talk to. My husband is this person for me. He doesn’t struggle with anxiety to the same degree I do, but I know without a doubt that when I need someone to calm me down, he will. Maybe you don’t live near the person that comes to mind for you, but as long as they’re a facetime or a phone call away, they can be that person.

Exercise

Moving my body has given me the opportunity to release built up energy and bring my mind back to a healthy state. It temporarily distracts me from how I am feeling and helps me work through some of the painful moments I’ve experienced with anxiety. Running, hiking, Barre workouts, and biking have been my current go-tos.

Eat Mindfully

This is an easy one to skip over because it feels like there’s not actually a connection, but our guts and minds are connected. If we eat terrible, we feel terrible. Too many processed foods can wreak havoc on your digestive system which then wreaks havoc on your brain.

Meditate

Meditation has helped me so much . It has given me so many tools to use in a stressful situation —breathing exercises, mantras, etc. I’ve used the Calm app and recently started using the app Headspace because of it’s wider variety of options. I used to think that meditation was a little woo woo, but it’s become a part of my life that grounds me so much that I truly can’t imagine life without it.. My goal is just 10 minutes a day and then sometimes i’ll try to sneak in a second session prior to bed. If you’ve never tried it, give it a shot.

Remember Healing is not linear

Give yourself space to have good days and bad days. Sometimes you’ll feel like you can handle anything life throws at you and other times getting out of bed is enough of a trigger to send you into a frenzy. Be gentle with yourself and take it one day at a time. One bad day after a long stretch of good doesn’t mean there won’t be any more good days ahead or that you’re doing something wrong. It just means you’re having a bad day.

Give Grace to Others

just as others might not know your struggle with anxiety, you don’t know theirs. Give grace to people for the actions you see. You never know whats going on in their mind.

I hope that these couple little tips help you create a toolbox that you can access to help you navigate your anxiety journey. If you need a safe place to talk, let me be your safe place. Let someone in, we are all in this together.

Non-Toxic Skincare That Won’t Break the Bank

Before I get too far gone here, I have to make a disclaimer. These products work for me, but unfortunately that doesn’t automatically mean they will work for you! Finding a skincare routine that works for you often takes some trial and error to figure out and this is just the current rotation I’ve found that works best for me.

I’ve alway longed to be the girl that didn’t wear makeup. The girl that effortlessly looked like she stepped out of a movie without even trying. Unfortunately I’ve found that is impossible for me to achieve.

First it’s important to note that flawless skin in real life doesn’t exist. We’re human and we have imperfections. But finding the right skincare routine that leaves you with skin you feel confident walking out of the house in, is important and totally achievable!

I’m the kind of girl who’s always struggled with her skin. It’s always been too dry and too covered in acne for me to ever consider going without makeup.

I’ve tried it all. Seriously. ALL OF IT. So believe me when I tell you that the products I’ve found are GOLD. Like I said at the beginning, this is what works for me, which definitely does not mean it will work for you, but in search for a routine that I felt worked for me, hearing what others were doing was very helpful so I figured this was worth a share.

All the products I use are under $20 and easily ordered online and made with quality ingredients that I feel good about. This was incredibly important to me because good skin should not cost an arm and a leg and it also shouldn’t be filled with words I can’t pronounce. I hope that you find this post helpful in your skincare journey!

Morning Skincare Routine

• warm wash clothe - press it against my face to open my pores

• Cocokind Raspberry vinegar toner ($16)

• Cocokind Chia Facial Oil - ($16)

• Eva Naturals eye gel ($15) - to keep bags away from my eyes

• Primally Pure Everything Spray ($18)

Evening Skincare Routine

• coconut oil + lavender + tea tree oil face wash

• Young Living Satin Mint Face Wash ($17)

• Cocokind Matcha Moisturizer ($16) - deep moisturizing for night time

• Eva Naturals eye gel ($15)

• Primally Pure Everything Spray ($18) - I mist this on my face to reset skin PH

WEEKLY

• Indian Healing clay mask with apple cider vinegar, tea tree oil, lavender ($10)

3-Ingredient DIY Face Wash

As with most things, this face wash was discovered while searching for something else. I was searching for something to heal a scar that I had gotten on my lip. While researching, over and over both lavender oil and tea tree oil came up as solutions to my problem. I figured, if one of them would be helpful, BOTH would be unbelievably healing. I used the combination faithfully on my scar and what was supposed to leave a very prominent mark, has become hardly noticeable. Somewhere along the way I began using this little spot treatment as a full face wash. and I absolutely loved the results. While my scar isn’t completely gone and my skin is FAR from perfect, this oil based face wash daily leaves my face feeling dewy and fresh. It’s all natural so I feel super good about using it, but more than that IT WORKS. It’s gentle and powerful at the same time. If you’re not completely satisfied with your current face wash, give this combo a try and let me know what you think.

3-Ingredient DIY Face Wash

• 1/3 cup coconut oil

• 6 drops lavender essential oil

• 6 drops tea tree essential oil

Heat the coconut oil in a microwave safe container until fully melted, 30-45 seconds. Add in the lavender and tea tree oil drops. Stir. Store in an airtight container in the bathroom and use daily as a face wash. I like to use mine nightly to get all my makeup off and leave my skin feelin’ all dewey before I crawl into bed.

Note: Depending on the temperature in your bathroom, the oil will fluctuate between liquid and solid. Above 76 degrees it will be liquid. Below that and it will be solid. No matter which state it is in it will work well as a facial cleanser.

January Sugar Detox

Hey there, friends! 

In an attempt to kick 2018 off on a healthy foot, I'm hosting a sugar detox in January and I would be so thrilled if you joined in! 

When does the sugar detox start? 

January 1st - January 30th 

What does a January sugar detox look like? 

For 30 days I'm going to avoid all forms of sweetener --- natural, artificial, and refined. 

Wait, but aren't natural sweeteners totally cool? 

I am totally cool with natural sweeteners in moderation, BUT they are still sugar. Technically natural sweeteners ARE better for you, because they're natural, BUT they still spike blood sugar levels and can leave us hung over in an afternoon slump if we don't manage their use wisely. I also wanted to include the aversion of natural sugars in this detox because when we detox from sugar, but simply replace our evening refined sugar cookie with cookies made from maple syrup, our body and brain aren't really going to learn that they don't need to depend on a sugar source. Moral of the story, natural sugar isn't bad, but in order to fully reap the benefits of the sugar detox, I'm cutting them out too. 

But what about fruit? 

A line must be drawn somewhere, so for me I am totally cool with eating fruits during the sugar detox. Both dried and fresh are fine, but read your labels because a lot of times dried fruit can be loaded with added sugar. 

How do I KNow if a food contains added sugar? 

Read your food labels. Ideally most of your food is going to come from your kitchen, so you'd know exactly what was in it, BUT that is certainly not real life 100% of the time, so look at the ingredient lists on food labels to see if that food contains sugar. If you're dining out, a lot of restaurants list their ingredients online so take a look before you head out to dine. What makes things a bit tricky is that sugar can go by A LOT of different names. Here are a list of a few that you should be aware of. If an ingredient list contains any of the below ingredients, then it is not free of sugar and isn't compliant for this sugar detox. 

• Fructose
• Sugar
• Beet sugar
• Blackstrap molasses
• Brown sugar
• Buttered syrup
• Cane juice crystals
• Cane sugar
• Caramel
• Carob syrup
• Castor sugar
• Coconut sugar
• Confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
• Date sugar
• Demerara sugar
• Evaporated cane juice
• Florida crystals
• Fruit juice
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Golden sugar
• Golden syrup
• Grape sugar
• Honey
• Icing sugar
• Invert sugar
• Maple syrup
• Molasses
• Muscovado sugar

• Panela sugar
• Raw sugar 
• Refiner's syrup
• Sorghum syrup
• Sucanat
• Treacle sugar
• Turbinado sugar
• Yellow sugar
• Agave Nectar
• High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
• Barley malt
• Brown rice syrup
• Corn syrup
• Corn syrup solids
• Dextrin
• Dextrose
• Diastatic malt
• Ethyl maltol
• Glucose
• Glucose solids
• Lactose
• Malt syrup
• Maltodextrin
• Maltose
• Rice syrup
• Crystalline fructose
• Brown sugar
• Buttered syrup

Why would you cut out sugar for 30 days? 

Sugar is addicting. It tastes good and temporarily sends your brain signals that make it super happy. Unfortunately though, after that super intense happy feeling comes a lethargic dip in energy. I know that sugar has a strong hold, both physically and emotionally, on so many people's lives and I wanted to create a space where people felt motivated to take a step towards gaining control of what they put in their mouth as well as give myself a source of accountability in this journey. Although I wouldn't say my sugar consumption currently is at it's all time high (it has been real crazy at times!), I still feel that I could benefit from resetting my body and regaining awareness of how prevalent sugar is in foods.

Wait, Does this mean I should never eat sugar again? 

Committing to this detox for 30 days does NOT mean that you should never, ever consume sugar again. My hope is that by completing the 30 day detox you will become more aware of the amount of added sugar in food and find that you feel amazing without it, but I am all for balance and am totally into having a donut now and then (when you are not doing the detox). 

How to be successful during the 30 Days 

1. Know that you might start to feel bad before you feel good. And by "might" I mean "you will." That is an unfortunately reality. As any detox process goes (whether form drugs, alcohol, etc.) there is a period of feeling bad (read: terrible). The severity of that feeling corresponds with the amount of sugar that you were consuming prior to the detox. So the more sugar you were consuming, the likely the more severe your detox symptoms will be. 

2. Read your food labels! There is sugar in so many hidden places.

3. Cook as many meals from home as you can. Knowing the ingredients that you are putting into your food will make it so much easier to follow through with the sugar detox. 

4. Most importantly though, do your best and do not let the guidelines discourage your from trying your hardest to cut out or limit your sugar consumption. You've got this! 

Leave any questions you might have in the comment section! If you would like to join the challenge, sign-up for my email list (right corner of this page) and you can stay updated with all of the sugar-less recipes I'll be posting in January.