Relationships with those close to you — parents, siblings, peers, teachers and other important contacts — are important to your self-esteem. Many beliefs you hold about yourself today reflect messages you’ve received from these people over time. If your relationships are strong and you receive generally positive feedback, you’re more likely to see yourself as worthwhile and have healthier self-esteem. If you receive mostly negative feedback and are often criticized,teased or devalued by others, you’re more likely to struggle with poor self-esteem.
With healthy self-esteem you’re:
*Assertive in expressing your needs and opinions
*Confident in your ability to make decisions
*Able to form secure and honest relationships — and less likely to stay in unhealthy ones
*Realistic in your expectations and less likely to be overcritical of yourself and others
Larry’s Brain heath advice:
Turning 50 started a milestone process where I examined my choices of what I eat and how much I exercise. After getting an awesome way of life dietary plan from a nutrition expert he said I also needed to look at how I feed and exercise my brain. So the research began and the changes began to transform the way I think and work.
My first steps were to add brain exercises into my routine. I joined Luminosity and have been a regular user for the last four years. I began reading anything other than technical manuals because as an IT professional and it was all I was interested in. I bought a guitar and am learning to read music and recently I’m learning how to draw.
Here are some of my notes that may help get you started. Flavonoids (also anti-inflammatory) help boost blood flow to the brain. Flavonoids are known to affect our cognitive process – now and in the future. This may help protect against vascular disease like stroke. These foods are organic blueberries, strawberries, blackberries,spinach, apples, citrus, green tea, cocoa, beer and wine. B vitamins, foods for the heart and mind – B12, B6, B-complex. Food sources: seafood, liver, lentils, dark leafy greens, asparagus, beets, turnips, bell peppers, spinach. Vitamin D3, Tulsi tea –adaptagenic herb. Omega-3 fatty acids help the brain communicate using the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, powerful players in the regulation of mood.
What foods to eat: fatty fish like salmon and sardines (2x week), walnuts, flaxseeds, spinach and kale. Indian populations suffer from Alzheimer’s disease much less than Americans and it turns out curcumin actually fights the development of amyloid-beta plaques in the brain, so I added Turmeric into my daily routine. This also includes walnuts, coconut oil, healthy fats and seaweed (iodine).
It’s also important to be wary of damaging foods. SUGAR, Alcohol, Poor quality fats, trans fats, Gluten, Soy, Table salt, MSG, Caffeine, Artificial flavorings/dyes. These were easy changes and have made a difference. I’m feeling confident that as I age toward 100 my brain will.
Larry Kaplan
