Hi friends! Hope you’re having a lovely week. So excited to share today’s podcast episode with you! I’m chatting with Lauren Papanos, MS, RD, CSSD about fitness, hormones, and nutrition.

118: Strength training, carbs, and happy hormones with Lauren Papanos, MS, RD, CSSD

Here’s what we talk about in today’s episode: 

– Strength training and its impact on hormone function

– Why we need carbs and which carbs to choose

– How our habits affect hormone function

– What an ideal day of nutrition looks like for her

and so.much.more.

 Here’s more about Lauren and her background:

Lauren Papanos is a nationally licensed and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. She holds her board certification in Sports Nutrition as well as advanced specialties in integrative medicine and women’s endocrine nutrition. She is the owner of the private practice, Functional Fueling Nutrition where she offers consulting, group programs and courses. She has been featured on national television and in Women’s Health, Shape Magazine, Insider and Today’s Dietitian magazine. She is the host of the Strength in Hormones Podcast where she educates and empowers women on sensible and natural solutions to hormone healing. You can learn more about Lauren and her practice at functionalfueling.com and connect with her on Instagram.

Resources from this episode:

The weather is cooling down, and I’m still obsessed with my sauna blanket. It feels even BETTER when it’s chilly outside and you can use the code FITNESSISTA15 for 15% off! This is one of my favorite ways to relax and sweat it out. I find that it energizes me, helps with aches and pains, I sleep better on the days I use this, and it makes my skin glow. Link to check it out here. You can also use my discount for the PEMF Go Mat, which I use every day!

I love love love the meals from Sakara Life! Read more

Christmas can come with additional challenges for kids with ADHD, so here’s how you can make things easier for them

Christmas is one of the most exciting times of year for children. They love all the pretty sparkly lights and the decorations and will be very excited about receiving presents. They will love having time off school and they will enjoy all the extra fun, games and activities on offer.

However, for children with ADHD, all this means is that you need to accept that they will be more hyperactive and possibly emotional than usual. So here are my top tips for navigating the festive season with your ADHD children.

1. Keep them occupied

Being bored is never good for ADHD children. So try to include them in the Christmas preparations such as shopping, wrapping presents, making decorations, and cooking.

Try and have something planned each day, especially during the period between Christmas and New Year. The ADHD child’s brain will need something to look forward to. So, look for child-friendly activities and events that are happening near you, and see if you can include one each day. You can also plan some play dates with friends.

Try and get your child to go outside as much as possible so they can expend some of their energy. If it’s snowing, they will love nothing more than playing in the snow, but any outdoor time is beneficial!

2. Stagger the presents

While ADHD children may want everything now, it’s a great idea to ask relatives or friends who are visiting after Christmas day to save the presents and bring them with them. Unexpected presents after Christmas day always give the ADHD child something new to be interested in and excited by. And it’s also a good idea to hide away a few presents which you ‘miraculously find’ later on Christmas Day afternoon.

3. Monitor sugar intake

An ADHD brain will be very excited by the chocolate and sweets in their stocking, in their presents and on the tree! Denying never goes down well, but delaying ‘just for a bit’ usually works. So, if you ask them what they would like to eat later on this afternoon and then what they would like to eat this evening they will happily tell you, and usually wait if they know it’s coming.

4. Prepare for downtime

Even the most hyperactive ADHD kids will want some downtime, so make sure you’ve got plenty of art and craft materials ready for days when they just want to sit at the table and draw or paint. It’s always handy to have some felt tips and some colouring-in books, or something new that will excite the child.

5. Consider buying noise-cancelling headphones

If your ADHD child is very sensitive to noise, consider making sure one of their Christmas presents is a very good set of noise-cancelling headphones. This means that when it all gets too much, they can retreat into their own world.

Buying yourself your own set isn’t a bad idea either. Then when they are at their hyperactive, noisiest best, you can disappear into your own world of peace and relaxing ballads.

6. Factor in some time for you

Whether that is an evening out with friends or a romantic dinner with yo

Cream Cheese Mints melt in your mouth with a sweet peppermint flavor. They’re an old-fashioned holiday candy recipe that is a favorite for many people.

Kept pure white or colored however you like, pressed into molds or simply rolled and pressed with a fork, however you make these mints, they’re one of the easiest candy recipes of all time.

This recipe brings back a flood of memories for me. I remember sneaking to the dessert table more than a few times during my cousin’s wedding reception when I was a little girl and discovering these amazing little mints.

Wedding Mints

The mints I first tasted at my cousin Helene’s wedding were sweet minty delights that melted in my mouth. I was completely obsessed at first bite. I’d never had them before and they were irresistible!

After discovering cream cheese mints, I ate myself sick on them almost every time they were within reach. I grew older but my inability to control myself around these mints remained.

Years later, I discovered how easy they were to make when my friend Augusta shared her cream cheese wedding mints recipe with me.

I couldn’t believe how simple it was to make these candies! There are just three ingredients and you can dress them up however you like.

Cream Cheese Mints Recipe

Thanks to that childhood memory of gorging myself on Cream Cheese Mints at a wedding reception, this recipe for cream cheese mints is what I think of as a classic wedding mint.

Homemade mints are so much easier to make than I ever imagined. Unlike many homemade candies, cream cheese mints and old-fashioned butter mints don’t require any fancy ingredients or special equipment.

A combo of these mints on a dessert table is the perfect finishing touch for a holiday party. They’ll make a great addition to your cookie trays too.

You’ll only need three ingredients to make these cream cheese mints:

• cream cheese
• powdered sugar
• peppermint extract

That simple combination of ingredients creates a creamy sweet base that’s delicious just as is or as a canvas for adding fun extras.

Feel free to play with the recipe and find your favorite way to make them. You can press them into these silicone molds, roll them in sugar, or add food coloring if desired.

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New data from the ONS reveals that a third of unpaid carers are experiencing depressive symptoms. Will Donnelly, co-founder of Lottie, shares his thoughts

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that as many as one in three unpaid carers in the UK are experiencing depressive symptoms following the rising cost of living.

Recent economic difficulties in the UK have affected everyone across the country, but unpaid carers are being hit hard by the current crisis. 4.3 million people become unpaid carers each year and now, with one in three experiencing symptoms of depression, “we’ve reached crisis point”, Will says.

Will Donnelly is the co-founder of Lottie, an online marketplace for later living. After struggling to find a care home for their grandmother, Will and his brother Chris launched the company - a digital elderly care platform connecting those looking for care to the UK’s best care homes for a fair price.

The social care sector in the UK right now is severely damaged. It remains underfunded by the government, with little support for unpaid carers and often with poor working conditions. At the edge of breaking point, there has never been a greater need for unpaid carers to receive the support they need on a practical, emotional, and financial level.

Will Donnelly believes that this lack of support has caused the rise in unpaid carers experiencing depressive symptoms. “Unpaid carers provide £193 billion of the UK’s social care system each year”, he says. “They are a fundamental part of the UK’s healthcare system. With an ageing population, the number of older adults requiring elderly care support is only expected to surge, and it is time the Government placed the social care sector at the top of their agenda to support all carers across the country, both paid and unpaid.”

There’s a lot going on in the world right now that can put a strain on our wellbeing, so it’s important to be aware of any changes in yourself, a partner, a friend, or a family member.

What should you do if you are worried about depression in yourself, or a loved one?

Will shares some tips on how to recognise the symptoms of depression, and what you can do if you feel that you may be experiencing depression.

1. Spot the signs

No matter what age you are, depression can affect you and your loved ones, so it’s important to be aware of the signs. You, or your partner, friend, or colleague may lose interest in activities they used to enjoy and become less motivated to spend time together.

Everyone’s experience of depression is unique, so it’s important to look for a ch

Learn how to improve your emotional communication, and watch your relationships flourish

Lost in translation, mixed messages, crossed wires – how many metaphors for ‘miscommunication’ does one language need? A lot, apparently, as it seems that not ‘being on the same page’ as the people around us is far from a unique experience. Add in tricky emotions, uncomfortable truths, and matters we’d prefer to sidestep, and communicating how you really feel becomes quite a daunting mission.

Even so, getting it right is of the utmost importance. In fact, a study published by BMC Public Health in 2020 found that poor family support and communication can significantly increase the probability of emotional and behavioural problems in adolescents, and one American study by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers found that 67.5% of marriages that came to an end had some kind of communication problem.

With such high stakes, you’d think that we’d make mastering this skill our top priority – but, as is so often the case with these things, that’s a lot easier said than done.

“If the thought of sharing your feelings makes you want to run for the hills, then I can assure you you’re not alone,” counsellor Melanie Kirk says. “I work with many clients and couples where an inability to do this becomes a real block to effective, healthy communication.”

But why is it that we often find emotional exposure and vulnerability such a challenge? Melanie suggests three main reasons:

1. We fear the reaction we will get. Perhaps we have experienced someone responding negatively to us in the past when we have tried to be open about how we feel. Maybe it led to conflict, ridicule, misunderstanding, or disappointment.

2. We are not always clear, in our own mind, how we feel and what we need. Sometimes it can be a challenge to translate our thoughts and feelings into something tangible that can be communicated to someone else. It can be difficult to recognise, or name, what we are experiencing.

3. We may anticipate that our needs won’t be met or that we won’t be understood. Again, this could be based on experience, an internalised sense that we can’t be helped, or a belief that nothing would change.

Family relationships can be hard to navigate