Author: Maria Runs

Guest post- What stress can do to your body

Hey peeps

I hope you are all doing well. I was sent this article for my blog, and I was really interested to read it. I am someone who can get stressed very easily indeed. Generally I think a lot of it is to do with my personality- I can be a bit of a worrier and a bit jumpy, and very nervous about things too. I have got a lot better at dealing with stressful situations- I remember reading once to ask yourself “will this matter in a year?”. That really helped me, as I find it helps me to realise that I need not worry about a lot of things. But I still get that feeling of being overwhelmed with things on my “to-do” list, and worry about having time to fit everything in.

Anyway, read on and let me know what you think (or if you have any good tips of your own).

What can stress do to your body?

Your kids are arguing.  The house payment is overdue.  The cat’s sick. Your car needs a tune up and the hours at work aren’t enough to keep anything extra in savings.

Sound familiar?

You’re not alone.  The day to day stresses of life can pile up and it can be overwhelming.  Not only does stress make you feel frazzled and anxious, but it can also lead to serious issues with your body.  Stress is a normal part of life and to an extent our bodies were made to handle it. But when stress goes overboard and becomes a dominating force in your everyday life, your body and your mind will suffer.   Often, stress may be affecting you and you won’t even know it!

When you’re stressed, your body changes secretions of chemicals and hormones in your body to react to it.  Your adrenal glands are the main part of your body that controls your “fight of flight” reaction –this is where cortisol is released. The adrenals also help maintain blood sugar and normalize your body’s balance of salt and water.  It doesn’t matter if you are running for your life, or just trying to finish your next series of deadlines at work – your body doesn’t know the difference and it will respond in the same way. If the adrenals are in constant overdrive, there can be huge negative effects to the rest of your body. Our bodies simply weren’t designed to be stressed all the time.

Did you know that when cortisol is released on a regular basis, it can weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to sickness?  It can also suppress your appetite and increase your levels of blood glucose so you’ll naturally desire unhealthy carbohydrates and fats.  If you’re stressed, your body also releases adrenaline into your bloodstream.  Imagine you’re being chased by an angry colony of bees. What happens? Your body reacts: your heart starts pounding, you feel a rush of blood to the head and heart, and there is a natural burst of energy.  You’re ready to run.  Well, even in your daily activities, stress can cause adrenaline to course through your body.  And if this is happening for an extended period of time, you’ll see effects on your body: acne, back pain, muscle tension, throbbing headaches, and even increased blood pressure or high cholesterol.

In men, stress can affect testosterone and cause fatigue as well as a lack of sex drive.  For women, stress can cause increased cortisol and decreased oestrogen production.  This is a recipe for painful and irregular menstrual cycles.

Furthermore, stress will affect your sleep. In stress mode, your body is in that fight or flight state – it’s going to have a hard time shutting down enough to rest calmly.  So, not only are you dealing with stress, but you’re dealing with fatigue, which can affect your brain’s ability to think clearly.  And without sleep, your body isn’t given the chance to recharge or refuel to keep your immune system strong.

If you feel that the stresses of your life are starting to control you and are seriously affecting your quality of life, look closely at your health insurance policy and find a doctor that specialises in stress disorders.   Be sure to explain to your doctor your detailed medical history so a thorough plan can be made based on that.

It’s time to get out of survival mode and into a life free of constant stress.  Talk to your doctor about ways you can reduce stress while still living a healthy, active lifestyle!

Do you feel that you get affected by stress? What are your top tips for staying stress-free?

*Sponsored post

Birthday weekend in Dorset

Hey peeps

Gosh the bank holiday weekend seems like ages ago now! It was my birthday at the start of May, a great time to have it as it often falls on the long weekend. Not this time, but we decided to go away and make the most of the lovely weather, and our National Trust memberships.

After dinner on Friday night we drove down to Bournemouth where we had a hotel in the town centre for the night. I really wanted to have a run over the weekend, so on Saturday morning we headed out for a run along the seafront. It was grey and cloudy, but still lovely to run by the sea for a change. Our run went steeply uphill for a short time, and then along the top (not really the cliff edge, but up high)- this wiped out my energy for the rest of the run! We ran along the top, down some steps and out a bit further, for just over 2 miles, and then turned around and ran back along by the sea. My, it was tough! The wind was strong and blowing up the sand, which was stinging my face and legs. We were going to go out for breakfast, but took too long having showers, so by the time we were done we had to check out. We went for a wander looking for a nice cafe we had read about on the internet, but after a while could not find it and went to Starbucks instead. That was OK- I love a cinnamon roll after a run, and we were going to share one, but the person in front of me got the last one! And I asked- no, they had no more. So we shared a lemon muffin instead- quite nice, but no cinnamon roll.

The view from the tearoom- so beautiful.

After a walk around the town in the grey, we drove to Corfe castle. The car park was full so we went to the signposted park and ride. This turned out to not be a park and ride, but a pay and display car park for an old railway line.

We had bought some lunch in M&S, so we sat in the sunshine and had that first. I had most of the lovely salad (squash and pomegranate and a lovely carrot dip), Andy had most of the wrap (which I think was roasted veggies and falafels or something) and we shared the fruit salad. Lovely. Then we walked to Corfe castle as it was maybe a mile away- not that far.

Me squinting in the sunlight!

Of course we decided to have tea! We were going to have cake each, but the carrot cake was so huge we just shared that instead.

Then it was off to the castle- there was a battle re-inactment going on which was a bit strange, but we could still walk around and see it.

It is so impressive that so much of the castle is still there. You can see the tents and things of the battle all around, and also the tearoom!

After that we walked back to the car and drove to Weymouth, where we had a B&B for the other two nights.

That was the view from our window! So close to the sea! We could hear the waves lapping on the shore at night; so relaxing.

The next morning we headed to Lulworth Cove- I had been there on some school trips at Primary school, but Andy had never been and the weather was just beautiful so we were looking forward to just being outside.

The sky was blue, the sea was blue. Perfect.

We walked along to see Durdle Door- some of the path had been in a land slip so we had to walk inland a little bit on the cliff. That was a steep walk and I wished I had packed my proper walking shoes as my trainers have such thin soles.

Lots of people in the water too.

We walked down to the beach and sat there for ages just soaking up the sun (luckily I had put suncream on).

So pretty.

That’s the landslip- pretty crazy.

Then we walked back to the village and had some lunch. Well, Andy had lunch, and I had tea and a scone as that is one of the best bits about holidays!

Apple and mint Suki tea, and a scone with jam. The man was most concerned that I didn’t want cream with it!

Then we saw a place selling local ice cream, so shared a pot of mango and coconut- delicious 🙂

In the afternoon we went to a couple of National Trust places- Thomas Hardy’s house, and where he was born which was this place:

A very pretty cottage in the woods.

Then we headed back in the direction of Weymouth- we stopped for a walk along Chesil beach before going out for dinner and walking around the town for a bit.

On Monday morning we went to a wonderful National Trust place called Kingston Lacy. It had such beautiful gardens- we spent about 2 hours walking around them I think.

We did go in the house- I think they are OK but I much prefer the gardens (but seeing as we are members we may as well go for a look).

The woods were so pretty too.

And there was a very pretty Japanese garden.

Of course, we then stopped for tea once more, this time sharing some Dorset apple cake (had to be done- when in Rome etc).

We were going to stop somewhere else along the way, but the traffic was bad so we came straight home instead.

What a lovely weekend filled with a lot of tea and cake it seems!

I did get some lovely gifts for my birthday. Mine and Andy’s birthday presents to each other was our trip to the cirque show in Vegas, but he did get me some peanut butter cups 🙂 I was also given some very pretty things- a photo frame, lovely candles, and smellies. I was given vouchers by mine and Andy’s family, which I put towards a blender! How exciting! I picked it up last Tuesday but it has not been warm enough weather just yet. Perhaps tomorrow we might use it to make an iced chai.

I think Dorset is one of my favourite places to visit in England- it is just so pretty. And filled with tearooms. Where is your favourite place?

White chocolate and peanut butter blondies- my signature dish

As part of the blogger network I was asked by Sainsbury’s to do a post about my signature dish. It could be sweet or savoury; anything I fancy so long as it included one Sainsbury’s ingredient. I pondered for a while, and in the end I decided on brownies. They are my go-to baked good. I can make them quickly, with minimal equipment. The batter takes maybe 10 mins to mix,and then it just gets poured into a tray and baked. No worrying about measuring the same amount in each cupcake tray, no needing to wait for it to cool to ice it, no worrying about the cookies spreading on the baking tray. Plus they can be adapted so easily- add in spices or nuts or dried fruits, add in different flavours…..

Andy requested blondies, so I used my recipe which is loosely based on one from Rachel Allen’s Bake. I used Sainsbury’s peanut butter, and then whatever make of sugar, flour etc I had in my containers. You can use smooth, but I prefer crunchy pb as then you get little pieces of peanut in the blondies.

Ingredients:

100g pure spread

170g Sainsbury’s crunchy peanut butter

175g soft brown sugar

100g white chocolate

1tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

125g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

50g white chocolate chunks

Line your brownie pan, and preheat the oven to 170C.

Place the spread, sugar, peanut butter and 100g white chocolate in a pan, and heat gently. Keep stirring until it has all mostly melted. You can then turn off the heat, and the heat from the pan will melt the rest of it. Leave it to cool for a few minutes while you weigh out the flour. Stir in the vanilla.

Once it has cooled, add the beaten egg and mix. You need to do this quickly as you want to mix the egg in and not scramble it! Then add the flour, baking powder and mix again. Pour this into the brownie pan, and then sprinkle with the chocolate chips.

Then pop the pan in the oven and bake for 20-25 mins.

Before it went in the oven.

Leave to cool on a rack. They are much easier to slice once they are cold, however if you really want a warm one then slice yourself one and leave the rest to cut later. Of course you could serve them warm with ice cream, but I think they are perfect on their own with a cup of tea, of course.

Do you have a signature dish? 

I was sent a Sainsbury’s voucher for writing this post, but of course all opinions are my own.

Lavender and lemon scones

Last week I was sent some lovely baking sugars from Sainsbury’s.

Lavender sugar, cinnamon sugar and vanilla sugar (the lavender container had cracked so I put it into a jar straight away). I really wanted to try the lavender sugar, as I thought it sounded so unusual, but pretty, so today I made some scones.

I used a basic scone recipe from The Great British book of Baking, but adapted it a bit. It made 6 huge wedge scones, but if you have patience to use cutters you could easily make 8-10 I would think.

Ingredients:

250g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder (I used 3 sachets of Dr Oetker baking powder)

35g caster sugar

15g lavender sugar

1 medium egg

50g pure spread

100ml soya milk

zest of one lemon

I used my food processor to make them, as the recipe had instructions for that and I wanted to see if it was any easier. I am not sure if it was in the end? Pre-heat the oven to 220C and grease a baking tray. Then, pulse together the spread, flour, baking powder and sugars for a minute until it forms breadcrumbs (or rub in with your fingers).

Whisk together the milk and egg, add in the lemon zest and pour this over the flour mixture, keeping the mixer going, until it forms a dough. I ended up with dough slightly too wet, so had to add in a tbsp of flour, so keep an eye on it!

Tip this out and gently knead, and shape into a round. Then slice into wedges or use a pastry cutter to make round scones.

Place on the baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes until well-risen and golden. Then cool on a rack.

Because they didn’t look very lavendery I made a little bit of icing to drizzle over the top with icing sugar, lemon juice, water and a teeny bit of violet food colouring.

Then we sat down and enjoyed afternoon tea.

So civilised 🙂 The lavender flavour came through- I didn’t want to add too much in case they ended up a little “soapy”, but I think next time I would add a little bit more, or maybe infuse some milk with the lavender and then use that for the icing.

Yesterday we went into London for the day- we had tickets for the Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition at the British Museum. We went in early to go to Borough market- I had never been there before and it was fab, it reminded me of the big fresh farmer and food markets from America/ Canada (eg the one in Seattle or Vancouver)- stalls selling freshly baked bread, freshly picked fruit and vegetables and food stalls everywhere. I had a spicy lentil salad for lunch, which ended up being super spicy! I bought some honeycomb to take the spicy taste away- I still have not mustered up the courage to try making my own.

We walked about 2 miles I think from the market to the museum, and had a little look around before it was time for us to go to the exhibition. I found it very interesting, I always liked learning about the Romans anyway, and it was set up really well. I could not believe it when we finished as we had been in there for 90 mins! It felt more like 30.

The downside with being out all day was that I had to cover up my shoulder graze. We tried to make the dressing in a sort of arch shape, so it would not touch the graze, but as soon as I put my cardi and coat over the top it was pressed down onto it. Some of it has sort of formed a scab, but some of it is still sticky, and when I got home I had to then peel the dressing off which was very painful (and also ripped off some of the stuff that had formed).

This is my collection of dressings I panic bought on Thursday morning- then it turned out that the dressings were not big enough so Andy went to Boots and got some 10cm ones, which only just cover it.

OK it does not look that bad in the photo, but it is really massive! And the bruise on my face is going a lovely yellow colour too!

I decided that today I would leave it uncovered (I need an 80’s style off the shoulder top to wear!) to try and make it dry out a bit. Also need to tie my hair in a bun as otherwise the ends keep brushing over it. And this is harder than you would think as I can’t really raise my arm above my shoulder.

Andy went on a run this morning, and I was planning on an 8 mile run, but I decided that a rest was more sensible. I am a bit worried as I have a 10k race next weekend (I think that should be OK) but then 2 weeks later I have a half marathon. I really have not managed to increase my long run recently, so I think it might end up being a bit of a challenge. But when I move my shoulder hurts, and there is no point in making it worse I don’t think.

I had a lot of work to do as well, so I read for a bit, did some work and then made pancakes. These worked out quite well. I didn’t want to open a tin of pumpkin for the puree, so I used 20g peanut flour, 20g wholegrain spelt, some baking powder, vanilla, about 100ml soya milk and then 5g chia seeds. I let it all gel while I did more work, and then cooked the pancakes. I burnt one side of one batch, but they turned out pretty well.

The rest of the day has been spent baking (see above!), catching up with housework, watching the grand prix and football, and generally chilling out.

Have you ever tried lavender before? I had some tasty dark chocolate with lavender, so I think the next thing I try could be cookies with chocolate chips and lavender sugar.

30 runs and a fall

Hey peeps,

I hope you are all doing well. Last night was time for the weekly Sweatshop run, I was most excited to be given my “30 runs” t-shirt. When I saw them on the wall I thought they were thick cotton, but it is actually really light polyester, so I think it will be good for running it. (On the little yellow tab at the bottom it says “30”)

We were doing the route across the fields again (I did that on my own on Monday evening too) which I was looking forward to. All was going well until about a mile and a half in. There is a short downhill section, not that steep, but the ground is very rutted where tractors have driven over and then the ground had hardened. Suddenly I was falling.

This has happened to me once before when running (I think 5 years ago- luckily that time I was only half a km from home, although people waiting at the bus stop didn’t even stop to see if I was OK when blood was pouring from my wrists and I ended up having to have them cleaned and bandaged at the hospital because so much grit got in the wounds from the pavements- I still have a scar on one wrist).

Anyway, it is surprising when you are not running that fast that you skid along the ground at an awfully fast speed. I think I mis-stepped and tried to catch my balance (to stop myself twisting my ankle) and fell sort of sideways and forwards. I hit my head on the floor, and immediately sat up and checked my glasses were not broken (weird that they were my first concern). My knee and hands hurt, but it was only when someone else pointed out my shoulder that I saw the worst wound. Ouchy. A couple of girls were right behind me so they stopped for a few minutes (so nice of them) and then the guy from the shop caught up with me and checked me (so embarrassing asking me what was the date/ what did I have for breakfast…). We walked for a little bit, but I felt OK so we jogged the last mile and a bit back to the shop. They were so good about it- honestly I felt like such an idiot. I knew the ground was uneven and thought I was concentrating on it, but I must have misjudged it. They gave me a wipe to clean my shoulder, but it was so sore so I decided to leave it until I got home, someone also noticed that my head was bleeding a little bit- dearie me. Luckily my brother was there so he gave me a lift home as I normally run home but wanted to get home as quick as possible (although another runner offered me a lift too, how kind).

I managed to clean it in the shower, although today it is still rather weepy, I think it is deeper than I first thought. So no body pump this evening 🙁

Apologies in advance for the gross photo!

It has also made me think about what would happen if I was on my own or further from home. I have my ID on my shoe, but I don’t routinely carry a phone, especially in the summer as I have no pockets. I think I need to get a pouch that it will fit in to make sure I take it with me.

Look at the bruise/ cuts on my head. It has been sore today and I think there is a little lump too. I took some painkillers when I got home and that has helped.  I am still not sure how I managed to scrape there and not get my glasses damaged at all as I kept them on and they didn’t fall off.

Anyway, by the end of the day my arm was so sore as I think I have been holding it in a very tense way as every movement is sore, so when I got home I took time out from work to sit with it resting on a cushion.

Night!