Shake-Up Your Diet with an Earthquake!

The epicenter of the 5.8 magnitude earthquake yesterday was less than 30 miles away from me and my family. Sometimes it takes a big "shake" to make us wake up and really commit to drinking our veggies and whey protein on a daily basis.

Our ability to deal with a stressful event, such as an unexpected earthquake that's nowhere near a fault line, is directly influenced by our diet. Eating a diet that is predominantly raw fruits, vegetables, and protein sources with supplemental minerals and nutrients gives us the most bang for the calories and money.

Stressful events make us secrete cortisol and adrenaline into our body. Our busy lifestyles have created a phenomenon where most people today are walking around with excess cortisol in their body. We are not giving ourselves enough time to get the cortisol out of our system, and we are not doing enough of the right things to get the cortisol out of our bodies.

Men's stress-reducing hormone is testosterone.

Women's stress-reducing hormone is oxytocin.

Men need time to replenish their testosterone. Feeling needed is one way men replenish testosterone.

Women need to nurture, comfort and connect with themselves or others to replenish their oxytocin. Caring for others and subsequently not feeling alone is one way women replenish oxytocin.

So what can you deduce from this? One way men and women who live together in harmony can compliment one another, and reduce their own stress at the same time...is through being mindful and taking time to plan and put together well-balanced meals. When everyone can sit down, relax, and share a thoughtful meal together--they win. Stress levels are reduced, but more importantly we've made the choice to focus our time and energy on what matters: our relationships with one another.

As we feel the remaining aftershocks--so far we've had a 2.8, 2.2, 4.2, and a 3.4 magnitude--make sure you're filling your body with good nutrition so you can deal with the extra stress of dealing with unexpected life events. And take the time to sit down with the people that matter to you. We never know how long we have, but whatever we do to and for and with our body counts.

What we're putting into our body is only one thing we can do to keep our stress levels low. Other ways we keep stress levels low is by learning how to listen to our feelings and thoughts--so the actions we do take reflect our highest self and are done for everyone's highest good. Stay tuned for more ways for women to increase their stress-reducing hormone, oxytocin, and for men to increase their stress-reducing hormone, testosterone.