You are coming home after work and you're tired. Your kids need to eat, so you end up going to a drive-thru or ordering pizza because you don't feel like cooking. Not only does this type of food contribute to stress because of the poor-quality food, but now you feel guilty. ("My children deserve healthy food!")

So, then you give your children some ice cream to feel better. They deserve it, right? But then your kids feel even worse because the dairy inflames their nasal passages and now they can't breathe as efficiently!! (And you know how I feel about breathing!)

Now the body isn't transporting oxygen to the cells as efficiently, so the brain isn't getting the oxygen it needs, and now your kid is depressed. Or the body has to pump the blood faster to get the oxygen to the cells, and that puts stress on your heart (this will affect blood pressure as well).

Now do you see why we are so stressed and sick?

Dinner time seems to be the most stressful. Every time I check cortisol levels (which is the main hormone involved in stress) on a lab test the 5-o clock hour are off the normal chart. Here are some Time-Saving Dinner Ideas and ways to help reduce your stress during this crazy hour. (Photo Credit: Flickr)

Hippocrates said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." When it comes to you and your family's health, your first and most crucial step is changing your diet. This step is always the hardest because you must plan ahead of time—you can't just grab fast food and jump into doing the next thing on your list.

• Make crockpot meals: prepare the ingredients the night before in the ceramic part of the crock and then turn on the crockpot before you leave for work in the morning. A pressure cooker is also an awesome time-saving tool. My family loves cooking quinoa, rice, and sweet potatoes in it.
• Cook extra chicken to make a chicken salad later or to use in soups and casseroles for lunch or dinner the next day.
• Most grocery stores now carry very good organic salad mixes. I always have a bag on hand for an easy side salad at dinnertime or as a quick lunch salad. (Since my lovely husband works at Costco, we get all of our organic spring mixes there.)
• "Baking" sweet potatoes in a crockpot or pressure cooker is easy—they turn out fantastic!
• Place clean potatoes in crock pot and cook on HIGH for about 3 hours…
• Or place about a cup of water in the bottom of a pressure cooker, put the potato in a steamer basket and set it inside the cooker, bring to pressure, and cook for 12-15 minutes. (Timing may vary for different cookers and different amounts of potatoes.)

Remember, it's up to you as parents to change your own thinking, too. I know you love your family and want what's best for them. Your heart's desire is to improve your family's immune systems so they can achieve their best brains potential. You can do this!!

• When you're at home, you've got to eat the best you can, because sometimes you don't have control over what you eat (as in when you are eating away from home). 
• Learn how to make better choices when you eat out. Our favorite fast-food restaurant is Chipotle; our kids love it there. We get the burrito bowl with no cheese or sour cream—we add guacamole instead.
• Use this type of common sense about restaurant meals, but be open-minded and disciplined enough to know when things are getting out of hand, like when you need to eat at home more often.

Foods to Avoid: Bad Fats

We need good dietary fats for our brains and development. Fats from fish, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and coconut oil are good for you (unless you are allergic to any of these). Fats to limit or avoid entirely are saturated fats (except for coconut and palm oils) and trans fats. Cheeses, ice cream, dairy products, meats, and shortening contain substantial amounts of saturated fats, while baked goods are generally loaded with trans fats. However, high-quality coconut oil—although rich in saturated fat—no longer carries the stigma it once did. It has many health benefits and should be used for high-temperature frying.

To avoid bad fats, look for the words "hydrogenated," "partially hydrogenated," "trans fatty acids," or "trans fats", and "interestified" on ingredient labels. Put those products back on the shelf! Pretty soon these products will not be on the shelf but until then check your labels.

Foods to Avoid: Sugar

I know—sugar is in everything. But avoid all sugars and sweeteners! When you have a sick kid, you become a crazy person because you're looking at every food label before you hand that food to your kid to eat. I mean, really, there is so much artificial stuff in our food. No wonder our kids are sick and their brains are hypersensitive! We must be on guard at all times, because people love handing out candy and sodas to our kids. I don't understand why every holiday has to be surrounded by sugar. Come on, people! When are we going to realize that fake, sugar-filled food is making us sick??

More importantly, sugar inflames everything, including our brains. We don't have desserts in my family's house, or if we do, it's usually organic frozen fruit or a piece of dark chocolate with coconut chips.

Foods to Avoid: Caffeine

Remember, caffeine includes energy drinks! Caffeine is a drug that causes anxiety, fatigue, and depression, all of which leads to more stress for you. When people suffer from anxiety, the more caffeine they consume, the more anxious and depressed they feel. (Photo Credit: Public Domain Pictures)

Double-blind studies have shown that people with anxiety often experience worse symptoms of anxiety after ingesting caffeine. In addition, suddenly stopping regular caffeine ingestion may temporarily worsen anxiety.

Here is a useful thought that you can build upon based on your own experience and self-education: to have health like no one else, you must live like no one else. Open your mind to healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and healthy fats. Set small, achievable goals and make changes that you can live with for the long run. Consider what your family needs, and if your plan doesn't work, don't give up—adjust!

Make the Switch to Better Food

• Slowly eliminate sugar and caffeine.
• Replace these stimulants with exercise.
• Exercise with your family and make it fun!
• Start slow and develop new habits one at a time.
• Keep focused on your long-term development.
• Attend our Wellness webinars and classes to build fellowship with like-minded individuals, get on our email list for announcements, and become a Wellness member for added support.

I hope my column speaks to you and you can wake up each morning with a purpose. I believe in miracles, because I get to see them every day! If you would like to contact me with your health concerns email me directly at Dr@drcorinneweaver.com. For more information you can go to www.DrCorinneWeaver.com.

Keep Breathing,
Dr. Corinne Weaver

Email: Dr@DrCorinneWeaver.com
Website: www.DrCorinneWeaver.com

Dr. Corinne Weaver is a compassionate upper cervical chiropractor, educator, motivational speaker, mother of three, and internationally bestselling author. In 2004, she founded the Upper Cervical Wellness Center in Indian Trail, North Carolina. Over the last 13 years, she has helped thousands of clients restore their brain to-body function. When she was 10 years old, she lost her own health as the result of a bike accident that led to having asthma and allergy issues that she thought she would always have to endure. Then, after her first upper cervical adjustment at age 21, her health began to improve thanks to upper cervical care and natural herbal remedies. This enabled her to create a drug-free wellness lifestyle for herself and her family, and she also enthusiastically discovered her calling to help children heal naturally. 

Dr. Weaver was recently named one of Charlotte Magazine's "Top Doctors" in 2016 and is now a number-one internationally bestselling author to two books: Learning How to Breathe and No More Meds.

Upper Cervical Wellness Center is known for finding the root cause of health concerns through lifestyle changes, diagnostic testing, nutraceutical supplementation, and correction of subluxation (as opposed to just medicating the symptoms). The practice offers cutting-edge technological care at its state-of-the-art facility, including laser-aligned upper cervical X-rays, bioimpedance analysis (measures body composition), digital thermography (locates thermal abnormalities characterized by skin inflammation), and complete nutritional blood analysis, which is focused on disease prevention.

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