Doing construction on your home? Getting it organized? Aside from beauty and functionality, let’s consider how to make it conducive to a diet as well!

-Bench or a couch close to dining room table: So that when the meal is over but everyone is still talking you can still be there without being near all the food.

-Homework station that isn’t the dining room table: Maybe in the study or even their room. This will benefit you when helping the kids and the kids as well, so they’re not mindlessly munching while doing their homework.

-Office placement: Ideally on a separate floor from the kitchen, but certainly not IN the kitchen.

-Cabinets: High cabinets for the stuff you DON’T want to easily reach and lower cabinets for the healthy snacks, salad containers, etc.

-Mini Fridge upstairs: For baby bottles and drinks, this way if you need this in the middle of the night you don’t go down and sabotage yourself (especially since exhaustion leads to poor decisions).

-Separate drinks fridge: Even in the kitchen, so when you need a drink you don’t get distracted by everything else.

-Filtered water: So you never have an excuse as to why you didn’t drink your water.

-Make your kitchen NOT visible to other rooms or the entrance when possible: This way if you need to hold off cleaning for when you’re not going to pick on stuff, the fact that others can see it won’t pressure you.

-Organization: Cakes and stuff you made for the future in a downstairs freezer. This way, it doesn’t turn into today’s cakes and stuff.

-Combo locks: On junk drawers or cabinets to protect the kids (and adults). Even if the locks aren’t 100%, just having a lock there isn’t an instant reminder to “stay away unless necessary”.

-Placement: Higher for junk and lower for healthy foods. Remember to keep the healthier stuff at eye level and within easily reachable distances.

-Mini bags or containers: This helps with portion control so try to opt for mini bags or separate a big bag of whichever snack into containers.

Makeup, self care, and health… what’s the connection?
Very often when I hear that someone overate due to stress/emotional eating, I try to figure out if there are any practical tools to avoid this or at least reduce the frequency in the future. We all experience stress which can lead to emotional eating but you are definitely able to handle stresses that come your way more easily, both physically and emotionally if you “self-care”.

Self-care positively affects your physical health. The relaxation you experience from pampering yourself actually triggers the relaxation response, which prevents chronic stress that leads to damaging your health or eating to “chill out”.

In case you think this is selfish, think again! Self-care even makes you a better caregiver! Individuals who abandon their own needs and fail to nurture themselves have higher levels of low self-esteem, resentment and unhappiness towards themselves and others. In other words, take care of yourself and not only is your physical health better and emotional eating less likely, you’re even a better person to those around you!

Here are some ideas:
-Nourish your skin Get a facial Listen to the instructions and continue doing your own routine. Use good creams (Good doesn’t have to be expensive)

-Get your makeup done and Get easy to wear makeup so even when in a rush you can apply some basics and feel great without spending too much time.

-Perfume/lotion scents:
Among all our senses, scent is the most powerful trigger in emotion and memory. You’re 100 times more likely to remember something if you smelled it. Your sense of smell sharpens in the summer and spring due to the extra moisture in the air. So if you’re in a space with a good scent, you’re more likely to be in a good mood and vice versa!

Surprisingly, even an ambient scent makes employees more helpful and interactive. Individuals themselves notice that they are in a better mood in a pleasurable aroma.

Here are a list of different scents that elicit positive emotions and feelings:

❤Lavender: Lavender has strong healing properties and has been used as aromatherapy for a longtime. One feels way less stressed out and irritable when they are around the lavender scent.

❤Lemon: Lemon has the power to improve attitude and performance. If you have an ambient lemon scent around you, you are more likely to feel calm.

❤Patchouli: Patchouli has a big effect on emotions. It is shown to increase confidence.

❤Jasmine: Jasmine is also use to calm nerves, as well as stimulating energy and positivity leading one to feel happy.

❤Peppermint: Peppermint is great for invigorating the mind, brainstorming and having clarify. Therefore, it leads one to feel focused and motivated.

-Get a massage

1. Stress: In a study on the affect of trigger point therapy, there was a decrease in heart rate, diastolic and systolic blood pressure. Oxygen consumption, salivary cortisol feels and blood pressure were also all lower after a 10-15 minute massage.

2. Pain: In a recent study, 41% of American adults who had massages in the past 5 years stated that they did it for pain relief.

3. Anxiety: There is a reduction in anxiety, mood, anger and an increase in serotonin levels when one gets a massage.

So the next time you’re about to open the cabinets, fill up a bathtub, get your lotions out, and engage in some self care!