Day 13 #SelfCareSeptember

Friday 13th September 2019
"A hug" said Pooh, "is always the right size!" 

How do you greet your loved ones in a morning?  I've started to get on moms bed with her and give her a hug and then we'll snuggle for five minutes when I can, she likes it and it helps me remember my mom isn't 'Alzheimers', she has Alzheimers!  You can't deny the undeniable power of a hug, hugging is the most beautiful form of communication that allows the other person to know beyond a doubt that they matter to you.  When was the last time you hugged your loved ones?  That's your Selfcare task today, because trust me as much as they'll appreciate it, you'll enjoy it too, it'll make you feel good and that's what self care is, it's about making your feel good. 

As I was reminded by my bestie this week, our skin is our bodies largest organ, she was talking about taking care of it with skin care - also really important and why I'm going to be treating myself to some gorgeous smelling body lotion and shower stuff, but I digress, but you could do similar, that's good self care too. 


Yeah so back to the hug, here's some reasons they're worth sharing (with the right people of course - don't forget yours and others boundaries, not everyone appreciates being hugged when you're not what they consider 'close' to them)

• Hug's make you happy!  Yeah biologically so and that's quite the something, squeezing the heck out of someone lowers stress hormone levels and raises their levels of oxytocin (also known as the love/trust hormone).
• Hugs reduce stress!  Yep they are a signing of showing your support, scientists say that giving someone support through touch can reduce the stress of the person being comforted and also reduce the stress of the person doing the comforting (result) 
• Lowers blood pressure!  Yep hugging triggers release of hormones that help lower your blood pressure, how cool is that. The touch of your loved one on your skin sends signals to your brain and it lowers, ain't the body brilliant. 
• Are good for your health! Yeah apparently they can boost your immune system (another study, but we don't need the results, let's just trust google) Oh go on then if you need the why and how, the emotion, warm physical contact and the slight pressure on the sternum stimulates the thymus, which is a gland that balances and regulate the white blood cell production in the body. White blood cells keep your body diseases free.

Hugs show appreciate, love, boost self esteem because when you're being hugged, that physical contact tells you you are safe and loved which in turn boosts your self esteem, all those hugs we receive make us more self-confident and happy.  Let's get our hug on!  How many hugs are needed a day - as many as you can get, hell yeah, can you get too many, it ain't like they have calories in them.  

Oh and if you needed another reason, according to yet another study, the heart beat of participants who received hugs was lower than those who did not receive any, decreasing your heart rate will help to lower the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure.  

And it feels good too, I love a good hug, it makes me feel safe, cared for and comforted, we were never a hugging kind of family, I was probably in my 30's when people starting hugging me and it was a long time before I was comfortable with it, even now sometimes when someone goes to hug me, I'll tense up because it's not my norm.  Yeah so if you've ever gone to give me a hug and felt me do that, I'm sorry, I blame my upbringing, lots of love but no physical affection.  

That's the Self-care bit done.  Here's a quick summary of my meals and day yesterday, I ate this; 

Bit of a random breakfast I know & apologies if I smell of garlic this morning but this was lush! Homemade hummous-ish with salmon, 1SP at most. I will eat chick peas

How did I make it?  2 cans of chick peas, drained, keep the liquid though.  Add to food processor, some frozen garlic, 1tbsp tahini, diced spring onions, juice from a lemon, salt and pepper, whizz then add some of the juice to get the consistency you want.  
😋

Pork Chop & creamy leeks with spuds, best recipe yet out of the new 30min WW cookbook, video here https://www.facebook.com/WWBev/videos/393294124708630?sfns=mo #bevsww

The potatoes, I cubed and used 1 tablespoon of oil for 4SP (served 4), then crushed an oxo over the top and roasted for about 25 mins on 180 degrees (fan oven) or gas mark 4

Sooooo good! 8SP cod, chips chunks and peas 😋

Right I'm off to enjoy my day, got some work to do, then a massage, got my dinner ready as I cooked it whilst making yesterday's pork dish, I'm in the zone, on it again and focused, cooking from scratch and realising it can be done in under half hour has helped me there.  Just gonna finish off my online shopping, then I'll have all the ingredients to cook some more out of the Freestyle cookbook, might even bore you with a few more live videos.  

Gonna give mom a lot of attention today, she had a fall yesterday poor love, this getting old lark is frustrating the hell out of her.

Ooo it's Friday 13th and a full moon but remember, we make our own look and don't worry about werewolves, I ain't seen one lately, stay indoors and cuddle in front of the tele where it's safe ;)  

Mwah, I'm off, luv ya xx

Love me