Are you an emotional eater? “I deserve this milktea!” Replace milktea with whatever comfort food you wish. Does that sound familiar? You don’t deserve more empty calories, sugar, and fat inside your body

Invest in wearable tech. You may feel well but your body may undergo involuntary physiologic changes that increases blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, and even muscle tension. Wearing devices that can measure your body’s response to physical and psychological stress can help you take control and do something to decrease these values. These devices can also monitor the quality of your sleep and even your stress levels throughout the day. It can also make you more aware about your movement. Wearable tech like smartwatches need not be expensive. In fact, there are reasonably priced ones that have features similar or even more than the expensive ones. You can also get a portable blood pressure monitor. Unbeknown to many, their blood pressure is elevated yet they don’t feel anything unusual. This is dangerous and is highly preventable. How can we prevent something that we aren’t aware of?

Curb your cravings. Are you an emotional eater? “I deserve this milktea!” Replace milktea with whatever comfort food you wish. Does that sound familiar? You don’t deserve more empty calories, sugar, and fat inside your body. What you deserve is optimum health. Nourishment. While it isn’t bad to have occasional treats for as long as your intake of fresh produce far exceeds in quantity and frequency of consumption, it isn’t beneficial to make it a habit to turn to food for comfort. Instead of grabbing that bar of chocolate, why don’t you have a cup to tea to calm your nerves as you take deeper and slower breathes? Why don’t you hug a pillow? Why don’t you go talk a walk or pace inside the room to let the steam off? Why don’t you try to pause and pray? Even when you don’t know what to pray for, simply say: “God, I don’t know what to pray for anymore but I am still praying.” It’s not about having the right words, because when we’re upset, words evade us. God sees our hearts and knows our innermost being. All we need to do is connect to combat our cravings and say adieu to emotional eating.

Pour your heart out on paper.

When it gets overwhelming and you can’t have a meltdown, go to your room or somewhere private.

Get a pen and paper and just write whatever you want to say and whatever it is that you’re thinking and feeling at that moment with no holds barred. Journaling or simply writing puts you in a meditative state. It is calming. You will eventually find yourself more composed and have a clearer state of mind. You don’t need to keep what you wrote. You can simply tear it up and discard. Don’t bottle up your emotions. It will literally make you ill.

Feed your soul. Just like the body needs daily nourishment from nutritious food, our soul needs spiritual food as well. What do you feed your mind and heart? God’s word from the Bible can give life, purpose, and hope. Even if it isn’t about spirituality or faith, make sure that what you’re reading, watching and listening to are not content that don’t bring joy and cause negative emotions to skyrocket. These resources aren’t beneficial to one’s health and are even detrimental.

Ladies, you are precious. Take care of your spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. Happy International Women’s Day!