Self-care
WHO defines ___-___ as “the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider.”
What is self-care?
Research shows that people who take time for self-care are more creative, happier, and more successful.
The Environmental Working Group, or the EWG, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the natural _______ we live in.
What is environment?
The EWG researches what's in our tap water, the safety of our cosmetics, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and the amounts of pesticides in and on our food, among other things.
Eating at least 10 portions of ____ and _____ per day has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels and blood pressure, boost the health of our blood vessels and immune system, and reduce the risks for heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
What are fruits and vegetables?
Try including vegetables in your breakfast by making veggie omelets or frittatas in place of cereal or bagels, and eat fruits for snacks instead of packaged sweets.
The average American household spends over $3,000 a year dining out. If you buy healthy ingredients that are versatile and can be used for a wide variety of dishes you can reduce the ___ of eating healthy.
What is cost?
You’ll save even more if you make and use leftovers.
Having easily accessible bags of chips or boxes of snack cakes in your pantry only entices you to make ____ decisions when it comes to food choices.
What is poor/bad?
Removing the unhealthy choices from your kitchen, or making them less accessible, minimizes temptations and reduces the decision-making process when it comes to making good choices.
An important aspect of physical self-care is eating a whole foods diet with plenty of colorful fruits and _____?
What are vegetables?
Research consistently shows that people who eat at least 5 servings of vegetables a day have the lowest risk of many diseases, including cancer and heart disease.
The EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in produce is also known as the Dirty Dozen and the ____ 15.
What is Clean?
This guide is updated each year and ranks pesticide contamination on 48 popular fruits and vegetables. It's based on over 35,000 samples tested by the US Department of Agriculture and the FDA.
Nuts such as almonds, pecans, walnuts, cashews, macadamias, and Brazil nuts, and ____ such as flax, hemp, pumpkin, sunflower, and chia are tiny packages of dense nutrition.
What are seeds?
Nuts and seeds are rich in protein, healthy fats, fiber, minerals such as magnesium, potassium, calcium, plant iron and zinc, and vitamins such as B1,B2, B3, and vitamin E.
An easy option for purchasing produce is buying ____ vegetables, as they are just as nutritious as fresh, can be used in many dishes, and have a much longer shelf life than fresh veggies.
What is frozen?
Frozen vegetables are often more affordable than fresh, especially if buying in larger amounts.
When grocery shopping, stick to the outer edges of the store where the fresh foods are located (produce, meats, dairy products, eggs, etc.). At home reduce temptation by making ______ foods less convenient.
What is unhealthy/junk?
Put packaged treats and processed foods in a kitchen cabinet that's difficult to reach (or get rid of them!), and leave nuts, seeds, fruits, and snacks like celery and carrots with almond or peanut butter in plain sight so they are easily accessible.
Good examples of mental/emotional self-care include treating others and _____ with kindness, and practicing gratitude and self-compassion.
What is yourself?
Being kind to yourself promotes happiness and confidence; how you treat yourself sets the tone for how others will treat you.
Although some conventionally grown fruits and vegetables have higher levels of pesticides used during the growing process, eating any fresh produce is always better than ___ produce.
What is no?
When possible, buy organic produce when it's on sale, or buy from locally grown farmers. Frozen organic produce can sometimes be less expensive than fresh.
____ such as black, adzuki, kidney, lima, white, and pinto are a good source of complex carbohydrates, protein, minerals, and vitamins.
What are beans?
Beans are an excellent source of potassium, copper, phosphorus, manganese, magnesium, plant iron, and vitamins such as thiamin, folic acid, riboflavin, and vitamin B6.
Try making large batches of things like soups, stews, chili, meatloaf, and casseroles and freeze leftovers for later in the week to save ___ and money, and to reduce food waste.
What is time?
You can also put entire meals into a freezer-safe container (like gallon plastic bags) and freeze them. Then when you are ready to cook one, thaw the meal in the fridge and cook as desired.
Read labels and choose foods and condiments that don't have added sugar, artificial sweeteners or other artificial ingredients, preservatives, or unhealthy fats, and toss any foods that have ingredients that you cannot ____.
What is pronounce?
The more ingredients in a food product, the more likely it won’t be good news for health. Aim for five or fewer ingredients in any packaged food — and the fewer, the better!
Finding a sense of meaning and enjoyment in your ____ is important for professional self-care.
What is work?
Understanding your deepest values related to caring for self and others, and then actively looking for ways to live those values, even in small ways, in the everyday work you do helps to increase meaning and enjoyment in your work.
The EWG's Guide to Healthy Cleaning (which you can find on their website) provides scores from A to F to determine the toxicity levels on 2500 different types of laundry detergents, floor cleaners, air fresheners, and other products used in our homes to keep our houses _____.
What is clean?
Eco-friendly products can help to improve your overall indoor air quality and thus contribute to reducing certain health risks, such as: chemical poisoning, skin irritations, and eye and respiratory infections, just to name a few.
When choosing dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt, the best choices are those made from ____ milk as opposed to low-fat milk.
What is whole milk?
Milk contains 9 essential nutrients including vitamins A, B, and D, calcium, potassium, protein, riboflavin, phosphorous, and niacin. Without the fat in whole milk, fat-soluble vitamins, such as A & D, will not be absorbed by the body.
You save ____ when you buy ingredients, not products. Another advantage to buying and preparing your own food is that you know what all of the ingredients are and you can avoid mystery additives, preservatives, and sweeteners.
What is money?
Eating a lot of low-quality processed food can eventually harm your health, and you can end up paying much more in the long run for medicines and treatment.
When making healthy changes related to food selections, don't overthink things or make it complicated, and reduce anxiety by choosing ____ and recipes you are familiar with.
What is foods/ingredients?
You can quickly stock your kitchen and make healthy meals and snacks by picking out 3-5 favorites from each of these categories: proteins (meats, eggs, beans, etc.), fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, and whole food carbohydrates (potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, oats, etc.). Also adding herbs and spices can easily improve the flavor of any boring meal.
Learning to comfortably say ___ when asked to do something that is not in alignment with your values or is not something that would be good for you, is a way to practice relational self-care.
What is no?
Saying no at appropriate times helps you establish healthy boundaries and enables others to have clarity about what they can expect from you.
The EWG also provides a Consumer Guide to Seafood where they analyze the levels of the toxic element ____ in different types of fish and seafood.
What is mercury?
The lowest levels of mercury are found in wild salmon, sardines, mussels, rainbow trout, and Atlantic mackerel. The highest levels of mercury are found in large fish such as shark, swordfish, tilefish, marlin, king mackerel, orange roughy, and bluefin and bigeye tuna steaks or sushi.
Some of the healthiest protein sources include cage-free eggs, wild game such as venison, grass-fed beef, pastured lamb, pork, turkey, and chicken, and wild-caught ___.
What is fish?
If you don't have access to grass-fed or pastured meats, choosing a healthy cooking method is the next best thing. Choose baking, broiling, stewing, grilling, slow-cooking, or pressure cooking rather than deep frying, avoid marinades and sauces that are high in sugar and sodium, and avoid meats and fish that are breaded.
It's easy to waste money on nonessential packaged treats, protein powders, and luxury coffee drinks. Instead, trade them out for real, ___ foods, or find a way to make healthier versions of snacks or special treats at home with real ingredients.
What is whole?
When you buy snacks at the store, you pay a lot more than the actual cost of the food. Production costs, packaging, shipping, and store markup all work together to escalate the expense for the consumer.
It's often helpful to pick a day to shop for groceries each week to keep your kitchen stocked with healthy ingredients. Also, stick to the grocery list and avoid shopping when you're _____ to reduce impulse purchases.
What is hungry?
If you don't have the right food in the house, the chances of choosing the wrong foods greatly increase.