For most of us, stress is a total libido sucker.  When was the last time you remember looking over your taxes or credit card bills, and all of a sudden felt very much “In the mood?”  If it has happened to you, you are not only lucky, but also in the minority of our species!
When we experience stress, our body’s physiological response is to secret cortisol to help us cope.  This secretion of cortisol is not only very normal but also quite helpful in times of acute stress.  We experience acute stress when we are in the “fight or flight” mode.  Braking violently for a car that just pulled in front of you, lunging for a baby that is about to crawl down a huge flight of stairs, and running when you are being chased are all examples or acute stress, and where the sudden secretion of cortisol and adrenalin help us to react fast.  When we are chronically stressed, at our jobs, in our relationships, and/or with our families, our bodies secrete cortisol (the “stress” hormone) on a consistent basis.  This is where stress can cause serious problems with our health.

Chronic stress has been related to:
Heart disease
Strokes
Weight Loss/Gain
Insomnia
Miogranes
IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)

One of our body’s ways to handle stress is to shut-down certain systems such as digestion, immune function, and reproductive systems.  You can now see why your libido might be the first thing to go when you begin to experience chronic stress.  Cortisol also constricts the blood vessels, making necessary blood flow for arousal next to impossible.

That’s the bad news.  The good news is that sex can actually help your body release toxic levels of cortisol.  Orgasms are not only our biologically-given right to pleasure, but every time you orgasm, your body experiences a huge cortisol flush that releases it from your system.

There is a clear dilemma here:  If you are chronically stressed, it will difficult for you to get in the mood to experience a fantastic cortisol-flushing orgasm.  Stress management is a great place to start.  To begin to balance out your hormones and achieve a rockin’ libido try these few tips on how to manage daily stress:

1- Maintain a diet high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and healthy fats
2- Establish a regular exercise routine
3- Put on relaxing music and light candles when at home doing chores
4- Take a bath with soothing essential oils (Lavender) and epsom salts
5- Go for tea with a close friend for quality conversation and LAUGHTER!!
6- Attend a yoga and/or meditation class
7- Download a meditation CD and listen to it at home
8- When you are stressed at work, take 2 minutes to focus on your breath.  Inhale for 4 counts, exhale for 6 counts.

The message to take home is that you don’t have to completely do away with stress in order to have a healthy libido.  Learning to manage stress/cortisol levels on a daily basis will support your body’s efforts in maintaining balance.  Our bodies are extremely capable of maintaining balance given the right tools to work with.  When you begin to experience more balance, your libido will respond beautifully!

I think that I picked a great month to not drink.  Of course it was genius because it is the shortest month of the year, but along with that I was so busy finishing school and starting a business that I needed all the energy I could get.

The biggest change that I felt from not drinking for a month was that I had more energy.  I was able to stay up a little later at night to study or just hang out with Jeff and I was also able to wake up earlier and feel even a bit chipper!  I also have to say that not drinking for a month was pretty easy.  The only times that I felt a little bummed were the two times I did anything social at night.  Going out with friends and drinking “Mocktails,” as they called them, didn’t really have the same effect as the real deal.  I now have a greater understanding for those who have gone through AA and struggle with sobriety and being social.  Alcohol acts as our co-pilot in social scenes and we feel surer of ourselves with a drink in our hands.  They don’t call it “liquid courage” for nothing!

The reactions from my buddies and family were also interesting.  I thought that I was going to get a lot of grief from my friends and family, and I was especially concerned about the “Oooo, Lisa must be pregnant” whisperings.  I didn’t want to give any family members false hope.  Much to my surprise I got a lot of pats on the back and tales of past experiences with going sober for a spell.

To be perfectly honest, I’m a little sad to see “Sobuary” go, but not sad enough.  I finished school yesterday and will celebrate tonight with Jeff and some friends over some yummy food and a glass of red wine (I know it’s a day early but I have to work tomorrow night).  This has been a wonderfully introspective experience and study.  I highly suggest you try it some time.

The infamous, Bill King!

My posts have been any thing but consistent in the past few weeks.  My justification is Sundance and the holidays.  Boom, I said it.  Always good to have a few justifications on hand to make you feel better, right?
To make up for my lack of presence I thought I’d try something brave, courageous, and challenging.  My best friend, Julia, has a really cool dad named, Bill.  Bill has made it a tradition to take the entire month of February off from drinking alcohol.  I always loved the idea and thought that one day I’d strive to follow in his footsteps. The time has come.  With Bill King as my fearless leader I will take the month of February off from drinking alcohol.  Not that I even drink that much, but I have noticed that when I am stressed I tend to reach for a glass of red wine, or at least I think about how much I ‘d love one at that moment.  And why February?  It’s the shortest month of the year, of course!  Bill King is a genius.
So when school work piles up, the dogs are begging to go for a walk, the house has dog hair-tumble-weed  rolling through it,  I’m waiting on 7 tables at once, and I haven’t seen my sweet husband except for in bed for a week, I will not reach for a glass of wine.  I will instead rely on much more creative and healthy ways to de-stress.  Here are a few of my favorites:
1- Take two minutes out of my day to do breathing exercises (inhale in through the nose for four counts, exhale out through the nose for eight counts)
2- Get outside for at least 30 minutes (sit, walk, run, ski, etc..)
3- Exercise for at least 30 minutes (You can kill two birds with one stone with #2!)
4- Eat healthy.  Lots of veggies, whole grains, and healthy fats!
5- Stay on target.  Manage my time.  This is the most difficult for me!

This is what I plan to do for the month of February.  Any joiners??  Lets do it!!!  Thank you to Bill King for being my inspiration and for being such a cool guy.

By now many of us know that buying organic is not just for “crunchy granola types,” or only for the rich and famous.  We know that buying organic means fueling our bodies with what every person in this world deserves: real food.  Unfortunately in our current day and age we have to make the distinction between “real food” and chemically altered food.  We need to know that eating GMOs and foods treated with pesticides harms ourselves, our children, and the planet.  On the other hand, until the US government decides to subsidize organic produce instead of corn, soy, dairy, and meat we are forced to remain practical with our spending.  Fresh vegetables, especially organic ones, cost more than processed food.  This is a fact.  Here is an extremely helpful list that makes buying organic a little less painful on the bank account.

12 Most Contaminated / Dirty Dozen™
1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines (Imported)
7. Grapes (Imported)
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries (Domestic)
11. Lettuce
12. Kale / collard greens

15 Least Contaminated / Clean 15™
1. Onions
2. Corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet Peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe (Domestic)
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushroom

My GORGEOUS mom!

I remember when my mom was going through menopause.  We would be having a casual conversation, when in one millisecond she would have stripped her clothes off, down to her “skivvies.”  As she’d madly fan herself, she’d explain to me what was happening.  She was having a “hot flash.”  I thought it was pretty funny, to be honest.  My mom, with a great handle on humor, would make me laugh so hard standing there in her bra swearing she was going to go on hormone replacement therapy that day.  All humor aside, my mom was suffering from symptoms of menopause that most women face.  I also realize that she was not privy to the information that I have now; that there are holistic options to managing menopause.

Many women in America look at menopause as yet another thorn in their side.  From a monthly cycle for 30 to 40-ish years, to hot flashes and the continuous ride on the hormone roller coaster, many women simply feel inconvenienced.  This tends to be the way that our culture looks at women’s transitional phases of life.  We are “put out” by our body’s natural changes.  Interestingly, many other cultures of the world view this change as a major spiritual shift in a woman’s life; she is revered even more than she was before.  Susan Weed explained that, “During the process of menopause each woman finds herself immersed in and creating the three classic stages of initiation: isolation, death, and rebirth.  Menopause brings the individual woman and thus the entire community face-to-face with the dark, the unknown.”

What a wonderfully powerful time in a woman’s life to reflect, reevaluate, and reinvent life.

Here are some helpful tips to naturally manage symptoms of menopause, primarily hot flashes:

1-      Cut down on foods that raise blood sugar and adrenaline levels.  Examples are: caffeine, wine, sugar, white flour.  Dramatic rises in blood sugar create imbalances in the body which lead to stress and therefore more hot flashes.

2-      Take vitamin E (100 to 400 IU) two times daily.

3-      Limit animal protein and dairy.

4-      Eat more food with phytoestrogens.  Two particularly rich sources are soybeans and flaxseeds.  Be sure to buy soy products that are “Non GMO Verified.”  Other good sources are cashews, peanuts, oats, corn, wheat, apples, and almonds.

5-      Herbs such as black cohosh, vitex, dong quai, red clover, and wild yam have all been shown to reduce menopausal symptoms.  All of these are available in natural food stores.