Emotional Vitamins

You need emotional and psychological nutrients whether you are sick or well. Here are a few of them:

Love
Encouragement
Praise
Touch
Hugs
Laughter

These "nutrients" strengthen your immune system and play an important role in your health. A great way to get support and encouragement today is through discussion boards.

Simply communicating with others who share your experience will give you comfort in knowing you’re not alone.

Time for Yourself

All of us need our “alone time”. Of course it's very difficult to find quiet time for yourself in your busy life. But this reflective time is vital when you have a chronic condition like yeast overgrowth.

Here are a few ideas to squeeze those stress relievers into your day:

• Take a 15-minute early morning walk all by yourself. Smell the flowers. Listen to the birds. You’ll not only de-stress, but you’ll get a head start on your all-important exercise regimen.
• Get up 15 minutes earlier than the rest of your family and spend a few minutes in meditation. Read an inspiring poem, or sip a cup of herbal tea. The key is to do only one thing and nothing else.
• Take a midday break. You can even make it part of your lunch hour. Do some deep breathing exercises, close your eyes for five minutes or have a light chat with a friend, which is in itself a great stress reliever!
• Adopt an "attitude of gratitude". Before you go to bed at night, think of five things for which you are grateful. It might be something as simple as the smile on a child's face, or a small gift, or something big, like your health or the abundance that’s allowed you a roof over your head. This exercise goes a long way toward banishing tossing and turning in the middle of the night.

You might at first wonder what this all has to do with yeast. A healthy, balanced body requires daily replenishing with a fresh supply of energy. Our suggestions will feed you physically, emotionally and spiritually. And you have your own ideas about what you need. Use your intuition to expand the list we’ve started.

Dealing with Resistance to Change

Change can be challenging. You'll run into resistance and frustration. You probably already have - many times. Remember these blocks are normal. And the benefit of dealing them? Better health.

So don't be surprised or quit when you hit a bump. Just note which stage of change you're in and keep moving. See Connecting for support and help from others as they work on changing, too.