Mid Week Motivation 7: Giving a + spin to life events can be healing

Hello Loves!

Happy "hump day". Hope you're all having a good one so far.

So yesterday I read a really good article in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Healing Power of a Good Spin" and decided it would be the perfect topic to share for today's post.

So, what is the article about? in a nutshell, it narrates the story of Bill Baker, someone who found extreme joy in running triathlons and simply being a stellar biker and runner. He spent countless days training for competition after competition- that's until he was diagnosed with a serious health condition that prevented him from doing any of the things he enjoyed.

The article then continues on to explain recent studies which have found that, even when we are faced with devastating circumstances and we feel that our life is "over" (as it was the case with Bill), changing the "story" regarding the circumstances in our minds can have tremendous benefit for us not only mentally but also physically speaking. In a general sense, the study reinforces the idea that everything is about perspective and our attitudes and approach towards life going forward always depends on how we CHOOSE to see things.

"We all create narratives to process information and make sense of events, whether explicitly or in subtle ways. The way we construct these stories has a large impact on our mental health, research show".

Also from the article:

"In a study that followed 54 people, half of whom went on to receive a diagnosis of a major illness- cancer, heart disease, or diabetes in the six months after they recorded their life stories. The researchers measured their mental health every 6 months for two years...they found that people whose personal narratives- the stories they told themselves- contained more agency, communion and redemption, and less contamination, saw their mental health improve, even after getting a serious illness".

"When re-framing negative events. acceptance is crucial" says Hal Shorey, a psychologist and assistant professor at the institute for Graduate clinical psychology at Widener university.

Bill ultimately realizes that being unable to compete and train as much as he used to turned out to be quite the blessing in disguise. He was able to find other very effective ways to remain fit and healthy
and was finally able to spend more time with his loved ones, people he would tend to ignore and disregard almost completely, specially during training season.

The article ends with the subject coming to this amazing realization:

"...I am pretty upbeat about how the closing of the triathlon door opens up a whole bunch of new ones". 

What are your personal thoughts on this story? are you also a believer that we can gear our minds and lives towards any way we desire, simply by the way we think? (I am.)

Thank for reading!

Love,

Mabelle

Love chocolate bars? You may love them a little more after you read this

Good day sunshine.

Another early morning for me. Had time to prep myself some breakfast and read a bit of the paper before starting work today:

Cinnamon-raisin whole wheat English muffin & some avocado, boiled eggs, cafe w/ soy milk.

I read a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday and feel the need to share.

As a lover of chocolate (who isn't?!) I was happy to see chocolate executives appear to be listening to the new wave of health-conscious consumers-- the consumer that makes a legit effort to eat less processed foods and  be a bit healthier, without having to fully sacrifice the flavor of things we know and love.

This week Nestle announced that by the end of the year they will completely eliminate artificial flavors and colors from their most popular chocolate bars which include Nestle Crunch, Butterfingers and other popular flavors. For example, the company will replace the artificial flavor 'Vanillin' from it's crunch bar with actual natural vanilla flavors. They'll also replace the artificial food coloring from Butterfinger with actual 'Annatto'-- which is a natural fruit which comes from the seed of Achiote trees.

Despite the fact that the company admits this new strategy to make chocolate bars less processed will require more operating costs for Nestle; they will not be raising prices.

The article explains that it may be easier for Nestle to carry this out as it is a small company which has about 5% of the 'chocolate bar makers' market share. To put this in to perspective, bigger companies such as the infamous Hershey's and Mars own a whooping 65% of the market combined. Sometimes it is more difficult for larger companies to implement such changes as it can become increasingly costly and cumbersome. Nonetheless, this doesn't mean these companies wont be following the same footsteps.

As a matter of fact, this past December, Hershey announced their plans to replace High Fructose Corn Syrup with actual sugar in all its candies. Mars (makers of M&Ms) also indicated that, although the food coloring in the famous candy is deemed 'safe', they are exploring the possibilities of using natural colors in the future. Neither Mars nor Hershey have specified specific deadlines for said changes to take place.

After Nestle is done with 'reinventing' their chocolate bar ingredients they are said to move on to also making changes in the ingredients of other products such as Nerds and SweeTARTS, which they also own. As many of you may have heard; the issue with artificial flavoring is not simply that is artificial but that it seems to trigger allergic reactions and hypertension in some children and adults. Not to mention we are putting 'fake' stuff in our bodies with every piece of deliciously made chocolate we pop in to our mouths.

Although the argument that popular food coloring such as 'RED40' is not good for us has been around for a very long time; truth of the matter is that the ingredient has been used for many years and has been deemed safe by the FDA.So my question is, is it the artificial flavors that are making kids hyperactive? would natural sugars in candy change this? Something worth exploring for all health-conscious moms out there or simply health-conscious lovers of chocolate like myself.

Have an amazing day!

Tell me, what are your thoughts on artificial colors or flavors? Would you feel better about eating these standard chocolate bars if you knew their ingredients were more natural?