

What is stress anyway?

Stress is anything that makes us uncomfortable physically, mentally, spiritually, and/or relationally.

A couple things to consider related to stress:

1) Stress isn’t not going anywhere.

2) Opportunities to be uncomfortable in life aren’t going stop.

3) Stress/Load can be an opportunity for life growth

Keys to enabling our body to better metabolize and utilize the stress or “load” in our life.

Identify the life factors that have the greatest contribution to our life load.


Eat colorful foods, loaded with nutrition.  Most of us are eating foods loaded with energy (calories) but devoid of nourishment.  Consider flipping the food equation and overload on colorful foods.  Aim for high volume foods as opposed to calorie dense foods.  Vegetables have the highest volume with the lowest calorie content.  Meaning they give us the biggest benefit with the least amount of metabolic stress.


Sleep on a consistent schedule.  Turn your bedroom temperature to 65F.   Turn off all or even better, remove all electronics from bedroom.   Keep all animals out of bedroom.  Black out your bedroom, so it is like a cave.


Perform daily physical activity.  At some point during the day we want to make sure we get our heart rate into the 75-95% of our max heart rate range. We owe it to ourselves to prioritize 10 minutes a day to create longevity in our body.   If we exercise for a shorter time period then we would want to be on the higher percentage of our max heart rate.  If we are exercising for an extended period of time then being on the lower side of our max heart rate would be most beneficial.

Estimating Maximum Heart Rate Equation: 208 minus 0.7 times Age.

So, my maximum heart rate would be: 208 – (0.7 x 36) = 183 beats per minute.


Drink a moderate amount of water throughout the day.  For general living drink about 1/3-1/2 your body weight in ounces of pure water per day.  A person weighing 150lbs would aim for 50-75 ounces of water per day.  This would also include tea and carbonated water.  If you are currently drinking city water, then getting a water purification system is high priority.


Write down three (3) different things you are grateful for before bed each night.  Keep it simple.  Write it down with a pen on paper, do not type into your phone or computer.

Supplemental Intervention

As necessary utilize adaptogenic herbs, B vitamins, antioxidants and phytochemicals.


Remove the following statements from your life testimony: “I am so busy.” “I am so stressed out.”

Try, “I have a full life” or “My day is full” or  get really crazy and say, “I have everything I need to excel today.”


If your bodies response to life seems completely irrational and you are eating a nutrient dense diet, getting regular activity, hydrating and sleeping consistently.  Then getting blood, urine or saliva testing to look at nutrient deficiency, hormone imbalance,

Habit Building

Now don’t go out and try to do everything on the help stress response list today.  That in and of itself is going to create stress.  Just pick one thing that you are not currently doing and start TODAY!

Health is a lifestyle.  Lifestyles are developed through habits.  Habits are created over an extended period.  We can’t force habits on our body, we can only feed them.  So, keep sowing the daily seeds that will propagate the habits you hope to develop.