Habit #5 “Get Your Finances in Order”

As a Registered Nutritionist, I have clients who come to me with a variety of ailments seeking to restore balance in their body. In this series of Lens "Habits for Vitality", I'm going to give you some basic habits to incorporate into your life to help you make the changes necessary to live an Optimal Life.

Stress is a major contributor to health issues. Most of my clients who are looking to lose weight and are struggling are under some kind of profound stress in their life. Whether the stress is from working too hard, raising kids, going through a divorce, many of these stresses boil down to financial issues.

A friend of mine recently had a very bad cold and terrible cold sores on her mouth. When I went to visit her, she told me she and her husband had been fighting non-stop because he lost his job and they were out of money. There was a lot of finger-pointing going on. I suggested to her that her current health situation was a direct reflection of the fighting. I sat them both down together and we talked about a plan to move forward.

When couples fight, 7 out of 10 times it is about money. It may not be directly about money, but indirectly it is there.
“You are always at work”
“Why do you need more shoes?”
“How are we going to pay for the kid’s education?”
“Why can’t you get a better job?”

So what does money have to do with Health? Well, humans have what is known as the “Fight or Flight” mechanism, which you have probably all heard of. Here’s how it works.

Rewind to 1000’s of years ago and you are a caveman out hunting when a sabre-tooth tiger suddenly appears. Adrenal starts to rise very quickly and your instincts take over. You have 2 choices; you can either try to kill the animal or run like heck in the opposite direction. Both these choices involve physical activity. In the fighting or running, you burn off the adrenal that has built up and you are fine.

Now, let’s fast forward to modern day and the scenario changes. You are sitting at your kitchen table staring at your credit card statement in disbelief. Your husband walks through the door with a new big-screen tv and tells you he has invited all the guys to come over on Sunday to watch the game on the new tv. Adrenal starts to rise very quickly and your instincts take over. Do you have the same 2 choices; try to kill your husband or run like heck in the opposite direction? Not really, but the alternative is actually worse for your health. You may start yelling and screaming or worse yet, you just sit there seething building up resentment. Neither of these involves physical activity so the adrenal does not get burned off.

The result is that your body produces cortisol. This in turn creates inflammation in your body which causes you to store fat in your abdominal area to protect your internal organs from the inflammation. Inflammation is a great source of health problems from arthritis to heart disease.

Autopsies are showing that even thin people have fat surrounding their internal organs as a protective mechanism. Fatty Liver Disease is one of the fastest growing diseases in North America because of this mechanism.

Here are some suggestions.

- Meet with a Financial Planner and get some professional advice. They are objective and knowledgeable and are not emotionally attached to your situation.
- Look into refinancing and/or consolidating your debts.
- Be clear about all your fixed monthly expenses: rent/mortgage, hydro, gas, insurance, phone, taxes and how much is left over after those are paid.
- Look at your variable expenses: food, entertainment, gifts and see where you can cut back.
- Research ways to make some additional income.
- Stop focusing on what you should have done and instead learn from this experience and move forward together as a team with a common goal.
- Eat healthy food. The impulse when you are stressed is to dig into that bag of potato chips or box of cookies. However, this will further suppress your immune system making you more susceptible to illness. Also the weight you gain in the process will make you feel even more stressed.
- Go for a long walk or get some form of exercise every day to help clear your head and re-energize your body.
- Have sex regularly. Often when you are angry or stressed, this is the first activity that ceases and that is a big mistake. Remaining intimate with your partner is an important key in being a strong team and reducing the chance of building up resentments. Also, having sex releases endorphins in the brain which are the “feel good” chemicals that you need more than ever when you are stressed.