In this mesmerizing episode, we embark on a transcendental quest to consciously embrace joy, each and every day. Delve into the mystical dance between the sustenance we consume, the vitality of our movements, the profound self-reflective journey into our self-worth, and the sacred treasures that touch the very core of our souls. Whether it's the invigorating act of gratitude, the gentle art of self-kindness, or the daring pursuit of our wildest dreams, we uncover the pathways that truly kindle euphoria.

Yet, in this dance of delight, sometimes we must courageously confront the illusions of joy, which, upon closer inspection, might just be cloaked in shadows of sorrow.

So, as the effervescence of green beer bubbles up in honor of St. Patrick's Day, come, be my companion in this spirited expedition! Together, let's unearth the joy that infuses magic into every moment of our lives. Cheers to reveling in boundless bliss!

Read the full transcript: 

00:04

This is Laura Lummer, healthy lifestyle coach, personal trainer, and clinical Ayurveda specialist. You're listening to let your lifestyle be your medicine, your resource for creating and living a healthy life. In this podcast, we talk about nutrition, healthy thinking, exercise, and lots of other ways to connect with your body and live a healthy, vibrant life.

00:34

Hey, everybody, welcome back. This is Laura Lummer. And this is our fourth episode of Let your lifestyle be your medicine. Today is St. Patrick's Day. And when I was thinking about what I was going to do this show on, I was thinking, well, let's see what what can I tie in with the theme of St. Patrick's Day? Could we talk about something green? Well, let's see vegetables. Pretty sure no one's gonna listen to that show. Could I talk about good luck or holidays? Or what would tie in and be a nice way of tying in a healthy lifestyle to St. Patrick's Day. And it occurred to me that that topic would be joy. Because what do holidays bring for us but joy? Fun, right? Laughter happiness, St. Patrick's Day, we wear green, I have green, sparkly nail polish, we wear green socks, we drink green beer and make green cupcakes. And we just have fun, we make light of the day. And we find things to enjoy because it's a holiday. So when we're building a healthy lifestyle, we can build that joy into every single day, why wait for a holiday, we need to look for that source of joy in our life, all the time, every day in everything that we do. And this is really an important topic for me this week. Because over the course of this week, I have had conversations with three different breast cancer survivors. And all three of those women were in a struggling with a really difficult place in their lives, a place where they were stuck in the fear of cancer and cancer recurrence. And the place where they just couldn't find joy. And so I want to talk about little ways that we can find joy, as they relate to creating a healthier lifestyle. So first of all, just being joyful, and being happy, adds to a healthier lifestyle. And there are all kinds of studies that back that up that talk about and see that people who are happier actually live longer. People who are happier actually have less disease, less heart disease, less inflammation. And there are all kinds of ways for us to choose happiness, and to cultivate joy in our life. And that may sound a little bit weird. So let me explain. Years ago, when I was studying yoga, the gentleman who is teaching the theology of yoga, or I don't even know that you can call it the the philosophy of yoga. And he told me the story. And I thought about this often, and I still do, and I relate it to other people. We were talking about anger, and sadness and being stuck in that place of anger and sadness. And he said to me, just drop it. And of course, my reaction was like, and how are you supposed to do that? Right? Like, you could just drop how you feel. And he said to me, think about if you had a fight with someone, an argument with your spouse, you're really upset at home, and you're really angry. And you were just steaming mad, and you drove all the way to work. And when you walked in the door at work, and the front desk receptionist looked up and saw you, you would smile and say, Good morning, how are you? And you would leave that anger out the door? And he was right, I would, that is what I would do. I wouldn't take that out on someone else or you know, snap at them or bark at them. And I never thought about it in that way that I would consciously make a choice to drop feeling angry. Just as later on in the day. If I were still upset and coming home to to that spouse I'd argue with I might choose to pick it up again, right and walk in the door and be angry. So let's take that into our lives a little bit deeper here. And let's see where we can add more joy in. So first of all, studies show that people who keep gratitude journals are generally happier than people who don't because you know that old saying count your blessings. And when you count your blessings, even though there may be some things in life that aren't going the way you planned, which oftentimes in everyone's life, that is the case. But there are probably more things that are going well and more things that we could be grateful for. So, for instance, we wake up in the morning, and as a cancer survivor, I know my first thought in the morning is, thank you. Thank you for letting me have another day. Another chance to see my children to see my husband, to feel the sun on my face, another day to celebrate my life. And when you're making your food, you know, a lot of people say Oh, I don't cook, I don't like to cook, I don't enjoy that process. So how do you bring joy into that process of nourishing your body? Joy into the food that you bring into your body and take it in with that energy of happiness? Maybe you don't like to cook, that's okay. But at some point you have to eat. So how do you bring joy into that? Do you sit and just consume while you're watching TV or talking on your iPhone and never really stop and think about the food that you're taking in. This is more of a process of mindful eating, where we sit and really notice that food and consider the source of where that food came from, and what has touched the food and who's cultivated the food and how it became to be sitting on the plate in front of you. And every step of the way. You can express gratitude for that every action that took place in order to get that food on your table is a blessing for you. And something that you can think about, and then incorporate joy into your food. So look at that from the opposite perspective, from the perspective of food bringing you joy. Let's talk about I did say in the beginning, we weren't going to talk about vegetables. So I digress. We actually are. Let's talk about if you eat dark green leafy vegetables, spinach and collard greens, which are a rich source of vitamin D and magnesium, did you know that those vegetables are important in crude and converting tryptophan and tyrosine amino acids into serotonin and dopamine, which are the neurotransmitters that are responsible for making us feel joyful. So adding some joyful greens into your food can actually help you to feel a little bit happier. What about blueberries and raspberries, and we hear all about these wonderful antioxidant foods that are rich in vitamins and phytonutrients. Did you know that they actually can help us to reduce the feelings of stress in our body, that those plant nutrients are excellent stress reducing antioxidants. So when you're expressing that gratitude for this gorgeous blueberry that grew in the light of that wonderful sun, that blueberry is giving joy right back to you. And let's talk about the happiness that food brings us when we actually eat the right foods often enough. And to illustrate that, I'm going to tell you a little bit a little story, a personal story about my youngest son. Some people are affected more by eating and not eating than others. But especially for my youngest son. When he doesn't eat regularly. He becomes very moody, very cranky, very angry. And when for instance, he comes home from school, or I see him one evening, and I'll say hey Connor, and I'll get a grumble back from him. My very next question is When was the last time you ate. So when we talk about staying joyful and choosing happiness in life, nutrition actually plays a very significant role in that. And I don't think that enough people give that the credit that it deserves. If we're not nourishing our bodies and giving ourselves the support that it needs through the food that we take in. It really can have a dramatic effect on our nervous system, and our ability to feel good and to feel joyful. In fact, foods that are high in folate and B 12. like broccoli, lentils, oatmeal, dark leafy greens can actually help ease depression because of adding all that folate in. So if you think that the food that you eat or when you eat or how much you eat, isn't that important? Trust me, you're wrong. If we want to have a joyful, healthy life. We have to make sure or that we're nourishing our body and giving it the support that it needs.

10:05

Includes also taking in enough fiber rich foods. So fiber rich foods are great because they can slow down the absorption of sugar in our bloodstream and increase serotonin, the feel good chemical in our blood, which helps to decrease mood swings. So make sure that you're incorporating lots of oats and, and maybe celebrating tonight, St. Patrick's Day with some lovely split pea soup, or some roasted Brussels sprouts, do get that green in there and get that happiness going. And the thing that you do want to avoid, especially if you're finding mood swings, and especially if we're struggling to keep that joyful mentality is eliminating processed sugar, refined sugar and processed foods out of your diet because those really do have an effect on your blood sugar. And having those the peaks and the falls of your your blood sugar has it wreaks havoc on your mood, on your levels of energy, as well as skipping meals. So we want to make sure that if we're living a joyful, healthy life, we're eating regularly. And we're eating the right things, and especially eliminating sugar and sorry, St. Patrick, but cutting back a little bit on alcohol consumption as well since that is a depressant and nervine depressant. And we want to keep that under control so that we can feel happier while we're celebrating our holiday. And of course, another benefit of not indulging too much in green beer on St. Patrick's Day is that you're going to feel good enough tomorrow to do something else that will improve your mood. And of course that is getting in some exercise. So have you really thought about exercise and your mood? Or do you think about exercise as something that you have to do just because you're told you have to do it in order to stay healthy. Maybe you've had a regular exercise program in the past. And if you have think back that we're even if you haven't had a regular exercise program, actually. And some days you get up and maybe you go for a walk or you just get out and ride the bike somewhere or even just go outside and play it, the kids are just hanging out outside and maybe you come back and you say well, I'm really glad that I did that because I feel so much better now. Well, that's actually very true. Because exercise has a huge effect on your mood and can really help with joyfulness. In fact, there are studies that have been done on people who have really major depressive disorder. And even though these people could use antidepressants and prescription medications to get a really fast response in helping to counteract their depression. What the studies have shown is that people who exercise at least three times a week actually helped to improve their moods. And then further studies showed that if someone has a regular consistent exercise program, that the effects of exercise actually last longer than antidepressants, and people who exercise regularly are less likely to relapse into depression. So that's really exciting. I mean, that's just amazing that you can completely counteract that kind of very serious mental state with exercise. But when we exercise, our brain makes happy chemicals. It releases things like endorphins, and mono amines and things that help us to feel just happy, that helps us to feel get a little bit more of a sense of euphoria and have positive thoughts. And not only on the positive side, that they're helping us to feel better. But they're also counteracting stress and relieving anxiety. And those are all great things that are going to add a lot of joy to our life. So we can get joy through food, we can infuse food with joy. We can feel happier by moving our body exercising and treating it well. And then there's this other category that women oftentimes are really challenged by and that is doing something for yourself. Now of course eating right and exercise or for yourself, but you know what I mean? It's that special thing. It's that thing that you love to do? Is it getting a manicure and a pedicure? Is it getting a massage, going to a yoga class, taking time to sit away from everybody else and write that book, record a podcast? What is that thing? Do you want to volunteer somewhere? There is it giving back to the community, but you just don't make the time to do it. Well, ladies, I'm here to tell you that you are worth it, you're worth the time, you're worth the money and life is short, find joy, infuse it into your life every single day, pursue those dreams, you survived cancer, you're still here. And there's a reason for that. I really believe that. And as a healthy lifestyle coach for breast cancer survivors, this is the thing that I work with people the most, be good to yourself, be good to yourself, buy that grass fed animal protein that you want, you know, buy those organic brussel sprouts. And you know, budgets are confining as they can be sometimes, but find a way that every now and then you give yourself that treat, that treat that just makes you feel special, because you did something for yourself. Because finding joy in our life, every single day is paramount to staying healthy. It is just finding the joy, as we just talked about in the beauty of the food that you take into your body, finding the joy and celebrating the fact that your body is able to move still that it's capable of walking or stretching or moving, that it's alive and has awareness and that you can make that even better and celebrating that fact, I sometimes feel like I meet women who've survived cancer and other people to have survived cancer, not just breast cancer, but almost feel like we kind of fall into two schools of when we get out of cancer. And sometimes we're stuck in that fear around, you know, having cancer again. Or we've really realized, wow, I just stare death in the face, and I walked away. And I'm gonna make every single minute of this life count from now on, I'm going to find happiness, I'm going to give happiness, I'm going to feel good. And I'm going to find out what makes me feel good. And sometimes that's a whole effort on its own figuring out what it is that you love figuring out what it is that makes you feel good and figuring out what it is that doesn't make you feel so good. So for this episode, in this podcast,

17:41

I just want to encourage you to find the joy in your life, to feed your body well, to treat yourself well. And to find every single day, a way to express gratitude for your life to yourself to your god to whatever it is that that you express gratitude for or to and know that by doing this, this is really going to help you stay healthier, it's going to help you stay present and realize where your life is at right now. What you have right now. And what you have as far as the ability and the capability to become whatever it is that you believe is going to bring you joy. I mean, you're limitless, and you need to embrace that. You need to embrace that and love it and nurture it. And together, we will all empower each other and support each other. And you're going to take that joy and run with it and spread it around. We have the ability to impact and affect the world around us with that joy. I think people tend to look at as a healthy lifestyle so often as some kind of a deprivation, you know, oh, if I have to eat well, I have to give up these things up. I have to exercise I have to give up those things. But in fact, living a healthy lifestyle is a treat, it's a blessing. It's wonderful, to feel good every day, to have energy, to be outdoors to be engaged in activities, with friends, with family, with kids with grandkids, and to have the strength and the independence and the energy to participate in anything that you want. That is what having healthy lifestyle is about. It is nothing about deprivation. In fact, I know a woman who has you know, said to me that there are other things in her life that she's having challenges with now. And so she eats very poorly and she says you know well what other Joy do I have? But this junk food, but really if you stop and notice This, how you feel when you consume that junk food, that's not helping you feel any better. And in fact, it's causing a lot of weight gain. It's probably causing inflammation in her body when she's dealing with lots of inflammatory issues. And so when you stop and look at it, you really punishing yourself rather than treating yourself. So once you've stopped and you've recognized in your life, those things that affect your body through mindful eating and mindful practices, you're going to have a little bit of a paradigm shift, and you're going to suddenly start to realize, Wow, those things we've always considered treats because marketing companies tell us their treats, or because we were rewarded with food as we were growing up, those things aren't making me feel good. And the things that are making me feel good are things that I once looked at and saw as deprivation. But now I look at and see as this bounty of wonderfulness that helps me feel amazing. That's a lot of superlatives. There's some good stuff. So I hope you all have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day. And I hope that you carry with you today and beyond the fact that every day is another opportunity to find joy in your life, every day is an opportunity to embrace the fact that we are still here alive, that we have the opportunity to support our health, to increase our health, and that the choice is always ours, to drop everything else, and to choose happiness. I thank you for listening to let your lifestyle be your medicine. And I thank all of you for the support of a positive feedback that I've received on the previous episodes. And I want you to know that you can find me at facebook at Laura Lummer follow me there where I put out daily goodness and exercise tips and nutrition and healthy thinking advice as well. You can also find me on Instagram at one fit grandma. That's the number one and Twitter at one fit grandma. My website is Laura lummer.com. And I'd love it if you go there and you check out my book six habits of healthy happy breast cancer survivors. You can download that for free. And in a couple of weeks. It's about two weeks out now you will be able to join my read vivify program, which is a completely online eight week program, where we give our lifestyles and makeover through good nutrition, understanding what we put in our body, learning and practicing mindfulness, meditation, yoga, exercise and a community of wonderful positive breast cancer survivors to support each other, and to just build that community and empower each other along the way. So check it out Laura lummer.com forward slash books. And I just want to also thank the sponsor made it possible for me to do this show Beautycounter which is a wonderful company with a mission to provide safer products, body care and cosmetic products for women, which is so absolutely important to especially to us as cancer survivors, but to any woman who doesn't want to find herself in the position of being a cancer survivor. If you want to learn more about Beautycounter check out their fantastic range of safer products. Check them out at beauty counter.com forward slash Laura Lummer Thanks again for joining me today and I'll talk with you in two weeks

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Give it all you know you've been waiting on

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