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What Are You Thankful For? The Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude

11/14/2021

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Here at The Pilates Center, we have a lot to be grateful for. We’ve successfully weathered (and are weathering) the pandemic, we’ve got an amazing team of passionate instructors, and our Pilates community is growing stronger by the day. It can be easy as we come into the Thanksgiving season to relegate this season of gratitude just to a holiday, but we shouldn’t! Focusing on what we’re grateful for is actually a scientifically proven way to improve your life year round! A growing body of research is showing that expressing gratitude--even going through the motions of it if you don’t feel it--can make almost every aspect of our lives better--physically and mentally.


Like Pilates, Gratitude is a Practice

Don’t get me wrong. These times we’re all going through right now are really tough. But if you’re worried that there’s too much going on in the world right now that makes you feel worried, stressed, or unhappy, it’s important to remember that gratitude is a choice. We can choose to be grateful even when we are experiencing hurt, resentment, or anger; even when our circumstances or life situations are challenging or difficult. Gratitude doesn’t have to be something that just wells up inside us, and you don’t necessarily need to feel it to practice it. Choosing to focus on what we can be grateful for is a choice we can make at any moment. And if you can make that choice, the benefits are enormous:

  1. Gratitude improves physical health and sleep: A 2003 study found that people who kept a weekly gratitude journal exercised more often, reported less pain, slept an average of 30 minutes more each night, and had higher quality sleep. A 2012 study echoed these findings, showing that grateful people experience less aches and pains and were in better physical health than their less grateful counterparts.

  1. Gratitude can help you achieve your goals: Two recent studies have shown that focusing on gratitude can help us beyond our physical health. In the first study, participants who focused on gratitude were able to delay gratification more often in order to realize greater rewards (for example, when offered the choice between receiving $50 today or $100 in a week, those who felt more grateful were able to delay their gratification in order to realize a greater financial reward). The more that the participants focused on gratitude, the more patient they were able to be. In the second study, those who focused weekly on gratitude made more progress toward personal goals than those who were not focusing on gratitude.

  1. Gratitude improves mental health and wellbeing: Gratitude can reduce a multitude of negative emotions, such as anger, resentment, frustration, and regret. Dr. Robert Emmons, a leading gratitude researcher and professor out of UC Berkeley, has conducted multiple studies that confirm that gratitude effectively increases happiness and reduces depression. Other researchers have backed this up, showing that gratitude is more effective than other positive psychology interventions at increasing happiness and wellbeing.

So what are YOU grateful for? Next time you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed this holiday season, take a step back and think of three things that you are thankful for. Have you tried this practice? Share your comments on our Facebook page!
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Super Food: The Sweet Potato

11/7/2021

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Superfood Focus: The Sweet Potato

Fall is upon us: the season of red and yellow leaves, cooler weather, and all things pumpkin spice! It’s also the season when people go nuts for a food I like to incorporate into my diet year round: the sweet potato. Guys, let me tell you- this baby is the unsung hero of the vegetable group-- she’s full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and healthy carbs! A true a staple in a healthy diet, which is important to see the full benefits of a Pilates life. Pilates and nutrition go hand in hand!

Sweet Potato Nutrition Highlights

You’ll be amazed at all the vitamins and minerals in these bad boys. 1 large sweet potato (baked, skin on, about 200 grams) contains just 200 calories and is a powerhouse of the following nutrients:

Healthy Carbs: 41g
Protein: 4g
Fat: 0.3g
Fiber: 6.6g
Vitamin A: 769% of your daily value (DV)
Vitamin C: 65% of the DV
Manganese: 50% of the DV
Vitamin B6: 29% of the DV
Potassium: 27% of the DV
Pantothenic acid: 18% of the DV
Copper: 16% of the DV
Niacin: 15% of the DV

The Sweet Health Benefits

Protection against free radicals
Sweet potatoes are rich in antioxidants that protect our bodies from free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that can damage DNA and trigger inflammation in our bodies. Free radicals speed up our aging process, and have also been linked to chronic illnesses like cancer and heart disease, so antioxidant-rich foods are very good for our health.

Promotion of gut health & a healthy immune system
These days you REALLY don’t want to be getting sick. The sweet potato is awesome for promoting gut health and a health immune system. The fiber and beta-carotene in sweet potatoes is very advantageous to gut health (our “microbiome”), a topic that is getting a lot of coverage these days. An imbalanced microbiome--or dysbiosis, as it is scientifically called-- is being linked to all sorts of things: depression, anxiety, eczema, rosacea, psoriasis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autoimmune diseases, allergies, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and osteoarthritis!

Sweet potatoes have both soluble and insoluble fiber, and these fibers are fermented by the bacteria in our colon, creating compounds called short-chain fatty acids. Short-chain fatty acids fuel the cells in our intestinal lining to keep it healthy and strong. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that adult females age 31-50 get 25.2g of fiber per day (22.4g for females age 51+), and adult males consume 30.8g (28g for males age 51+).

Sweet potatoes are one of the richest sources of beta-carotene, a plant-based compound that our bodies convert into Vitamin A. Vitamin A is critical to a healthy immune system and the maintenance of healthy mucous membranes-- especially the lining in our gut. Recent studies have shown that vitamin A deficiency increases gut inflammation and reduces the ability of our immune systems to respond properly to potential threats.

Support healthy vision
Beta-carotene is also used by our bodies to form light-detecting receptors in our eyes. One cup of sweet potato with the skin provides more than seven times the amount of beta-carotene needed by the average adult!

Ways to incorporate sweet potatoes into your diet
  • Microwave/bake and add them to salads
  • Slice and bake for “sweet potato crisps”
  • Microwave them and eat them as a side dish instead of rice/pasta
  • Microwave or bake, and top them with avocado or greek yogurt

How do YOU love to incorporate these into your healthy diet?



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    Heather Gradke

    I'm a BASI Certified Pilates Instructor by day, somewhat competent housewife by night. I used to have hobbies but then CHILDRENS. I am married to the love of my life and somewhat charismatic Rustin Gradke. I have 4 kids that are wonderful sometimes but mostly they just eat a lot. I'm a lover of God and movement and the occasional bowl of queso.

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