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(Image credit: The Almond Eater)
I love when a simple addition completely transforms a dish. Take this roasted tomato appetizer, for instance. Just a drizzle of honey (yes, honey!) is all you need to turn up the volume on an otherwise standard appetizer.
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As a Southern Californian living in New York, I thought I would find my go-to beach destination in the Hamptons. My first summer, I packed my bags and headed out on the first post-work Jitney my friends and I could get on. I soon realized, though, that the Hamptons just wasn’t my (beach) bag. The schlep is brutal, the restaurants are crowded, and the reservations are hard to come by. Plus, it just didn’t have the laid-back California vibe I was used to.
It wasn’t until I moved out of the city and across the river to Jersey City that I learned — I mean, really learned — about the Jersey Shore. Of course everyone’s heard of the television show, but that is definitely not the destination that I found. The Shore is actually a bastion of amazing food, drink, and culture.
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From Apartment Therapy → The Ultimate Guide to Cleaning & Caring For Kitchen Cabinets
https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/
There are many benefits to spending more time outside, like soaking up vitamin D and engaging in physical activities such as hiking, swimming, biking, and running. In addition to the physical benefits of spending time in nature, going outside can go a long way in helping you feel mentally, physically, and emotionally better.
Have you ever found yourself feeling super stressed and thought, “I just need to go outside for some fresh air!” Maybe a friend has suggested that you go take a walk because “it will help you relax” when life is feeling particularly tough.
It’s not a coincidence that more often than not you just feel better after a quick nature break.
Whether it’s the fresh air, the sounds, the colors, the physical activity, or simply time spent away from screens and technology, nature has a way of healing, supporting, and nurturing.
1. Nature reduces stress and relaxes the brain.Spending more time in nature can be beneficial not only for immune function and combatting inflammation but for several of the greatest public health issues in our modern life as well, like obesity, depression, and eyesight. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Researchers from the University of Glasgow found evidence to suggest that physical activity in natural environments can improve mental health and reduce stress, and a 2015 study out of Stanford University found a significant difference in the positive effects that taking a walk in nature can have on mental well-being compared to going for a walk in an urban setting.6, 7
While I encourage you to go outside and engage physically with nature, even looking out at a view of nature through a window when you’re feeling stressed out can provide some relief.8
If you’re experiencing mental fatigue and can’t seem to concentrate or make decisions, go outside! Spending time in nature has been shown to have positive effects on brain function for adults as well as kids.9, 10
Not only can natural environments improve your attention and ability to focus, according to a study led by psychologists at the University of North Florida, when you engage in dynamic physical activities outdoors like climbing a tree, balancing on a beam, or even walking barefoot, you can increase your working memory by 50 percent.11, 12
Moving in a new or unfamiliar environment or terrain not only challenges your fitness and physicality, but also engages your cognitive function in ways you don’t get to when you only move in the same terrain or environment like a traditional gym.
When you are balancing or climbing a tree, for example, you are moving in an unfamiliar and unpredictable environment which challenges your proprioception (that is, your awareness and ability to sense the position and movement of your body parts in your surrounding space without visual assistance). This engages the “problem-solving” part of the brain (your working memory) to process the incoming information and helps you adapt to the environment, which results to improved working memory performance in general.
Spend some time moving outside, and you may notice that you can focus more own your studies or your work performance.
I’ve noticed this myself, when hiking on a trail I’ve have never been on. I am much more aware of my surroundings and how my body is moving in that space. It’s new information for my senses, my body, and my brain that requires me to be fully present to navigate this new terrain and avoid injury. It can feel like you’re working out a real-world puzzle for the body and mind.
We spend most of our days indoors, looking at screens and very rarely needing to look beyond a few feet. It is no wonder why myopia (nearsightedness) is increasingly prevalent.13 Just like the body requires natural movement to function optimally, so do our eyes.
Numerous studies have found that children who spend more time playing or participating in sports outdoors have a lower prevalence of myopia.13, 14, Researchers in China found, over a three-year period, that children who spent as little as 40 extra minutes outside during the school day were less likely to develop myopia. 15, 16
At the very least, it is beneficial to take a break from the computer every 20 minutes to look out the window at the farthest point for a few minutes, and even better to step outside regularly and scan the environment and give our eyes a break if we spend most of our time indoors, under artificial light, or in front of a screen.
Studies suggest that spending time in nature reduces our cortisol levels and heightens our sense of well-being.6 Simply going for a walk has been shown to reduce anxiety and help with depression.7
Going outside and sitting by a lake or stream and allowing myself to melt into a state of relaxation has helped me to cope with depression and anxiety. There is research linking both, movement and nature to improved mood, though it’s hard to say what exactly is responsible for that result. Is it simply being outdoors? Is it the physical activity? Is it a combination of both? 17, 18 Does figuring that out even matter?
I think Dr. David Strayer, a cognitive psychologist from the University of Utah sums up the body-nature relationship beautifully in an interview with National Geographic Magazine on this topic: “At the end of the day, we come out in nature not because the science says it does something to us, but because of how it makes us feel.”19
We have a pervasive disconnect from nature and the more we can re-immerse ourselves in natural settings, the more it can help us feel more alive, vibrant, and strong, benefiting in ways physical, mental, and spiritual in the process.
If you’re ready to start reaping the benefits of spending time outdoors, here are a few things you can do:
Go outside, lay on the ground, and look up at the sky. Feel all your senses come to life as you breathe peacefully and take it all in.These are just a few ideas. However you choose to do it, get outside today and fuel your body, mind and spirit with some vitamin N!
References
The post Get Your Vitamin “N” — The Benefits of Spending Time In Nature appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
The brains behind the incredibly popular food blogs How Sweet Eats and Two Peas and Their Pod have launched a meal planning subscription service. Called Sweet Peas Meals, the goal is to get people to cook balanced and delicious meals without having to spend too much time in the kitchen.
“When we first started talking about Sweet Peas Meals, our main goal was to create something that would simplify your everyday life, every single day,” reads the website. “We do all of the work for you to plan delicious, family-friendly menus week after week, giving you the time to focus on enjoying the joy and fun that mealtime should be.”
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In theory, artificial sweeteners offer consumers the promise of sweet without the extra calories. In the U.S., a quarter of children and 41 percent of adults report eating artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose and stevia. But a scientific review of 37 studies on non-nutritive sweeteners, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that there is no evidence to suggest sweeteners help in weight management.
“We were really interested in the everyday person who is consuming these products not to lose weight, but because they think it’s the healthier choice, for many years on end,” Meghan Azad, lead author of the review and an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics and child health at the University of Manitoba in Canada, tells NPR.
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(Image credit: Noosa)
In the seven years that Noosa yogurt has been on the market, it has gained quite a loyal following. Compared to the low-fat Greek yogurt trend of the last decade, Noosa doesn’t shy away from fat. The resulting yogurt is decadently creamy and rich, making it an equally viable option for breakfast or dessert.
The latest innovation from the Colorado-based company goes a little more mainstream along the lines of Chobani and Fage. Last month Noosa announced it was going to release a new line of yogurt called “mates,” which basically combines their yogurt with a small packet of mix-ins.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
(Image credit: Joe Lingeman)
I like to think of plums as the silent heroes of summer, sitting patiently among other more celebrated stone fruit like peaches and nectarines. Biting into a perfectly ripe, juicy plum is a rite of summer, and turning plums into dinner is one of the best ways to give them a place in the spotlight. When roasted with bone-in pork chops, plums get a bit jammy and turn into a sweet-savory sauce built around a few pantry staples and finished with a fistful of soft basil leaves. All this quick one-pan dinner needs is a crisp salad and a crusty loaf of bread for capturing all that saucy goodness.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Vacation is the best. Until it’s over, that is, and everything catches up with you – the yummy but maybe-a-tad-too-rich foods, the day drinking, the hours knotted up in a plane criss-crossing time zones. No wonder we come home feeling worse than when we left!
The good news is that something as simple as a few basic yoga moves can make you feel so much better after your globe-trekking trip.
Just back from a whirlwind, six-time-zone, trans-Atlantic, three-day trip myself, I was thrilled to talk with Canyon Ranch fitness instructor Mona Glasgow (who just so happens to be a former flight attendant) for some tips on how yoga can help us recuperate from some of the biggest pitfalls of vacation.
For now classes are 6pm and 640pm at 2840 Wildwood st in the Boise Cloggers studio.
Book your class NOW!
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