From refilling your wine glass to digging into a pint of Ben and Jerry’s after a stressful day, post-dining guilt can be seriously damaging to your psyche, and it’s rampant among health-conscious women.

“It happens when I’ve been very good and diligent, and I eat something I know I shouldn’t be, “ says Kristy A., a 30-year-old New Yorker. “Afterwards, I’m really upset with myself, and I feel like I’ve ruined everything.”

So, why can’t we give ourselves a break?

Media messaging doesn’t help. Women’s magazine headlines are full of “guilt-free” burgers, snacks, and desserts. The underlying message is clear: If the foods in this article are guilt-free, then those others you’re eating are guilt-y.

But it’s deeper than that. “It comes from the perspective that we’re not good enough and always need to be perfect, which is inherent in our culture,” says Jeanette Bronee, the founder of the Path for Life self-nourishment center. “Making food choices becomes a performance of being good.”

Click here to continue reading at Well+Good NYC.

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Post from: Blisstree

Breast-feeding moms have long warred with Facebook over their photo restriction policies, and now Joanne Jackson, a 40-year-old breast cancer survivor, is also taking a stand against the social network for banning her post-mastectomy photos from their site. She commissioned the photos–some of which show her mastectomy scar–and posted them on her own Facebook page and that of some cancer organizations; she was promptly notified by Facebook that they’d been removed because of their “offensive” content.

Jackson has been through what most people would call “hell and back” in the past two years, discovering a lump in her breast after losing 70 pounds through UK weight loss program ‘Slimming World.’ Doctors found two types of breast cancer in her left breast; thankfully, she underwent treatment, which included a mastectomy, and her cancer is in remission.

She commissioned the photos to celebrate her survival, telling Daily Mail:

I am not one who is shy but these pictures weren’t as much about me as about other women who had maybe just been diagnosed with breast cancer. It doesn’t have to be a death sentence and there is life after a mastectomy. The images aren’t fluffy, they are real and I am very proud of them.

But soon after she posted them to Facebook, she received a message that they’d been taken down, explaining:

Content you shared on Facebook has been removed because it violated Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Shares that contain nudity, pornography and graphic sexual content are not permitted on Facebook.

This serves as a warning. Additional violations may result in the termination of your account.

Jackson is now campaigning against Facebook’s ban on her photos, enlisting friends and supporters to re-post the photos in protest of what she considers censorship:

There is nothing pornographic or explicit about these pictures. That was not the idea at all. I took breast cancer and the mastectomy in my stride and decided it wasn’t going to stop me living my life. It wasn’t going to define who I was, and it didn’t make me any less attractive as a woman. My attitude was to just get on with it. I knew I could kick cancer’s ass and I did.

Her story—and photos—are inspirational, not pornographic, if you ask us. You could argue that she and all the breast-feeding moms out there are showing more skin that some would like, but Facebook’s actual policies are muddy, at best. Until last February, their official policy was that breastfeeding photos were ok, but administrators regularly removed them just the same. But after Emma Kwasnica, a breastfeeding educator, staged a protest at their headquarters, they updated their policy to specify that the photos were permissible, so long as the child was actively engaged in breastfeeding (acting as a “human pastie,” as Forbes put it).

So, when TIME’s now-infamous cover featuring a young mom breast-feeding her 3-year-old son, Facebook let it loose on their site, but Jackson isn’t armed with a baby to cover her nipple (just a mastectomy scar). Meanwhile, fan pages exist for all kinds of morally reprehensible beliefs and activities…

Photos: via Daily Mail

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Post from: Blisstree

Post from: Blisstree

Pre-wedding weight loss has gotten a little crazy in this country (hello, Feeding Tube Bride), but the truth is that having a clear goal, like a wedding or a vacation, in mind when trying to lose weight (or get stronger, eat healthier, or do anything that requires a little motivation) may be the best tool in your proverbial shed. According to Reuters, having an achievable goal with a set end-point can help ward off fitness fatigue, and help you get where you want to be.

Of course, crash-dieting three days before your vacation isn’t going to get you anywhere (except maybe into a sad state of tired-and-hungry that will make you unpleasant to be around, if not actually sick) but laying out clear, specific goals in advance, and then meeting smaller, easy-to-attain milestones may be the most effective at fending off boredom, whether it be with a specific exercise (like running or cycling), or a plan (like trying to reach a personal best time). The goals have to be challenging, but not so difficult that you’re going to throw in the towel. Which is a pretty sensible way to live your life overall.

This has been shown to be true on both the macro and the micro level. For example, you may not quite be ready for ultramarathons, but setting small, achievable distance or speed goals on the treadmill, or small increases in weight during lifting can help keep your brain from wandering, and thus, keep your body going steady.

It works in the long run, too–knowing that you’ve got a set end point or date when you’d like to have met your goal (like a wedding, whether it’s yours or someone else’s, or a family gathering, or even the end of a big project at work) means you’re less likely to slack, because time is of the essence.

This is especially true if you’re planning a trip which will include physical exercise, like a cycling vacation or one that will involve diving and swimming. You’ll want to be in prime shape to take advantage of all the fun stuff you’ve got planned, so a little extra training will seem more than worthwhile–which is just one more reason to plan vacations that involve biking, hiking, or other exercise.

Our need for motivation may also explain the explosion in popularity of fitness trackers, like the Nike+ FuelBand and the FitBit, both of which feed our data-hungry, reward-seeking brains with tiny integers of success. Walked an extra half a mile today? Hooray for you! Took the stairs instead of the elevator every time you had the chance? Yay! Just by seeing these little milestones add up, and keeping a long-term goal in mind, you may be better off than if you’re just heading to the gym because you think you should.

But even without fancy fitness gear, you can set yourself up for success by a.) not crash-dieting and b.) setting goals that are sensible and achievable, but will still result in big changes. Equip yourself with the right mindset, and meeting your health and fitness milestones will be easier than ever before.

Are you setting attainable goals this spring? Share them with us in the comments to hold yourself accountable!

Image Halina Yakushevich via Shutterstock

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Post from: Blisstree

This may shock you, but there are films coming out right now other than The Avengers and Battleship. A handful of this weekend’s new releases—Hysteria, Virginia, Mansome—might even be described as “health related,” though that covers a broad spectrum of health topics (including: male body image, pregnancy, schizophrenia and the mental health possibilities of vibrators). Here’s our quick guide to new health-related movies—we promise, nothing based on comic books or video games (just pregnancy manuals and bizarre history).

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Post from: Blisstree

This isn’t the first time that research based on self-reporting has indicated that staying at home with young kids can be emotionally difficult and lead to a lack of overall life satisfaction. In 2010, New York Magazine released a featured entitled “Why Parents Hate Parenting,” which ignited the anger of many a mommy-blogger. And earlier this year, Blisstree writer Deborah wrote about a study that found that being a stay-at-home mom is depressing; the stay-at-home moms were not amused. Immediately, a lengthy battle ensued in the comments, as mothers who didn’t work outside the home adamantly defended their choice to stay at home, and refuted the study’s findings.

What’s interesting about this poll, however, is how happy working moms seem to be. Despite the message that is consistently repeated in films, television, and the media, women who continue to work as parents are not only less stressed, when asked how they felt “yesterday,” they report more feelings of enjoyment and fulfillment than either childfree women or stay-at-home moms. Here’s a graph from Gallup:

As you can see, working mothers not only report getting smiled or laughed at more, they also experience the most happiness, and report that the word “thriving” best describes how they feel. And who doesn’t want that? Additionally, in several studies, working moms have also shown to be physically healthier,  and better at managing stress.

Finances, too, seem to have a lot to do with it (don’t they always?). Stay-at-home moms on the tightest budgets report the highest levels of stress and depression, while working moms–even low-income ones–experienced more joy. However, in situations where the median household income was under $36,000 per year, employed women without children were found to be the happiest and most thriving.

It shouldn’t be as surprising as it is that a career, which has long been shown to give women greater feelings of self-efficacy, empowerment, and even enjoyment in their personal relationships, would be part of the mix for a truly fulfilling life–and yet, there are so many societal forces telling women that staying at home is the best way to raise healthy, smart, engaged children. Could it be that working moms are the victims or poor PR, and that they’ve actually got the secret to awesome lives? Or, are they just more likely to report positively about their life choices in the face of scrutiny?

Each mom (or child-free woman, for that matter) has to choose what’s right for her life and her choices–but it seems that, for the most part, working moms really do have the best of both worlds.

Image via Politico

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Post from: Blisstree

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, over 34,000 people commit suicide each year. Of those, more than 90% have depression and other mental disorders, or a substance-abuse disorder (often in combination with other mental disorders).

The Psychiatric Times also states that these mental health disorders can be especially dangerous:

Although it is difficult to compare the relative impact among different mental health problems with the risk of suicide, alcohol and drug use disorders have been found to be strongly related to suicide risk.3,5 Individuals with a substance use disorder (ie, either a diagnosis of abuse or dependence on alcohol or drugs) are almost 6 times more likely to report a lifetime suicide attempt than those without a substance use disorder.

No one knows if Kennedy was still battling these problems, but the mother of four, was reportedly battling depression along with drug and alcohol addictions two years ago when she separated from her husband. She was also arrested for a DUI in May 2010 with a blood alcohol level of 0.11 percent.

Months later, she was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs. But the judge dismissed that charge, saying that there wasn’t evidence Kennedy was aware her prescription drugs would impair her ability to drive.

According to what a neighbor told the Daily News, Kennedy seemed “lost and alone” recently:

She always seems lost these days, whenever she came into the village. Lost and alone and sort of out of it.

It’s especially sad when someone cannot get the mental help they need for depression and drug or alcohol addictions. It may seem like an easily treated disorder, but we all know that it’s not.

Our hearts go out to the entire Kennedy family.

Photo: politico.com

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Post from: Blisstree

Post from: Blisstree

It’s easy to point fingers at “bad” mothers who make questionable choices about the health of their kids (ahem, Tanning Mom), but the truth is that many of us learned what we know about nutrition, fitness, and taking care of our amazing female bodies from none other than our own mother. And even if you didn’t have a mom full of great advice, it’s never too late to hear what other great mamas have to say. So, as Mother’s Day approaches, here’s some really valuable, real-world health advice from Mom.

Often, we get bogged down in the negative and blame mothers for all the world’s problems, but that’s just unfair. Instead, we decided to highlight the amazing knowledge that moms have, by asking around about what unforgettable, awesome advice women received from their mothers or mother-like figures. We got tons of responses, ranging from body-positive messages of self-love, to little, everyday tips, like eating whole grains. It turns out, moms are pretty savvy.

Thank you, moms of the world, for instilling in us a love of health, fitness, and taking care of ourselves. And thanks, readers and friends, for sharing what your mom taught you.

What did your mom teach you about health and wellness? Share it in the comments!

Image via

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Post from: Blisstree

Post from: Blisstree