Article:
Ha Ha Ha your way to health
By Roslyn Franken
I recently went to a comedy club with a group
of friends and can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. Have you ever laughed so much that your face and
stomach actually hurt? It felt great. It reminded me of how important it is to make the
time to get together with friends and have some good hearty laughs.
In this article we will look at the role and
power of laughter for proper eating, healthy weight management and positive living and how
to make it work for you. The key points
we’ll look at are critical to remember all year round but are especially worth noting
around holidays and when bringing in the New Year. Why? Because we often use these times as a perfect
excuse to let go of our regular health,
diet and exercise routines leading to the unwanted guilty weight gain. Let’s look at how to turn things around and
laugh your way to a happier and healthier you.
To control your
eating, manage your weight and change your lifestyle for greater health and happiness, one
of the most important things you need to look at is your stress levels. If you tend to have lots of stress in your life,
especially around the holidays with gift buying, planning family gatherings and additional
social commitments, then the resulting abundance of stress hormones coursing through your
system may be having a direct impact on your ability to eat properly, manage your weight
and have a positive and balanced outlook on life. If
this is true for you, then the first thing you need to do is look at healthy and positive
ways to get the stress hormone levels under control. The
reason being that stress hormones such as cortisol increase cravings especially for less
healthy sweets and starches, the foods that are often the most difficult to have control
over leading directly to improper food choices and unwanted weight gain. Therefore, in order to help curb the cravings you
need to manage your stress more effectively.
Laughter is a
great means to reduce the level of stress hormones because:
- It
increases the
levels of health-boosting hormones
like endorphins, the number of cells that produce antibodies and the effectiveness of T
cells all of which are important to a healthy immune system as well as fewer physical
effects of stress.
- A good
hearty belly laugh provides a physical and emotional release plus a physical workout that
leaves you feeling more calm and relaxed afterward. Imagine
deriving comfort from laughter which is calorie-free?
If anything you’re burning calories when you laugh. You feel better and can shed weight at the same
time.
- It
takes your mind off the negative thoughts and feelings that are at the root of your stress
to give you a mental and emotional break
- Finding humour in
your difficulties and being able to laugh at yourself can help you take the edge off the
physical effects of stress and gain a more positive perspective on your situation.
When you keep your
mouth busy laughing you will also be eating less because you can’t eat and laugh at
the same time. So next time you’re
reaching for that less healthy snack or about to overeat, try making yourself laugh
instead. Even if you have to fake it, just
trying to laugh will help you lighten up and maybe even prevent you from giving in to your
craving. Just remember WHY you’re trying
to improve your eating, health and lifestyle to begin with and hopefully you’re long
term goals will outweigh your desire for immediate gratification.
How to get some more
laughter in your life
Next time
you’re looking to get together with your friends, suggest going to a comedy club or a
funny movie. Or have your friends over and
play some fun games like Cranium or Sherades. Surround
yourself with positive people who like to laugh as much as possible. Remember that laughter is contagious so get the
laughter ball rolling and keep it going. Sometimes
you’ll even forget what you’re actually laughing at and won’t be able to
stop. That is the best case scenario.
Remember that no
matter how bad things seem in the moment, you can find a way to get through it. Just think back to what you’ve already come
through in your life and what worked well for you then.
Try and always find the humour in life, stop taking yourself and others too
seriously and let yourself have a good chuckle.
Roslyn Franken is
a proud cancer survivor and acclaimed author of The A List: 9
Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living and Death Can Wait: Stories from Cancer Survivors. She is a motivational speaker and host of the How to Thrive after 35 internet radio
show. Roslyn also offers one-on-one
coaching by telephone and email conveniently accessible world-wide. For more
information, send email to info@roslynfranken.com
or visit www.roslynfranken.com.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN
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You may use this article, but only if you clearly include this
complete statement with it:
Roslyn
Franken is author of The A List: 9 Guiding
Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living. She is a Weight Loss Coach and
Motivational Speaker on positive living solutions for positive results for greater health,
success and quality of life. She hosts How to
Thrive After 35 Internet Talk Radio and is co-author of Death Can Wait: Stories from Cancer Survivors.
Diagnosed
with cancer at age 29, Franken fought back to become a long-term cancer survivor. Then at
age 39, at her heaviest weight ever, and concerned for her health, she decided to fight
back once again, only this time to overcome her battles with food and weight once and for
all.
Roslyn
owns Roslyn Franken Group, committed to helping people lighten up their lives one bite at
a time by reaching and maintaining a healthy weight, balanced lifestyle, and positive
outlook.
For
more information, visit www.roslynfranken.com
or view her video at http://www.roslynfranken.com/highlights.wmv
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