Author: coconutoil

Americans are literally running out of time. Achieving a work-life balance, which is still a luxury for tens of millions of working parents, has been overtaken by an even greater demand: a work-life-nutrition balance. Unfortunately, this increasing demand for nutrition has not been accompanied by a useful strategy that allows people to reclaim time from their harried lives. The result of this dilemma has been a further layer of stress applied on top of an already demanding life. This has further highlighted stress as Americas top health problem something that was first brought to public attention in the early 1980s, and has since more obvious in the 2 decades since then[i]. Once both time mismanagement and stress are linked, it’s far apparent at this point that this connection exists[ii], an extent of nutritional problems typically occur. This leads to a vicious cycle which can be traumatic for some individuals as they either experience it directly or watching it agonizingly unfold through their family members, [friends], or colleagues. Stress can — and infrequently does — result in unhealthy eating[iii], which in turn, results in even more stress as a result the body is not receiving the essential micronutrients and vitamins that it requires. As this occurs, unhealthy dieting is also associated with unwanted weight gain, which adds another degree of psychological stress as a result of body image issues. This is already a confirmation of a major problem at this point, even if the cycle ends here, however the issue might continue and can only turn out to be worse from hereon. The psychological stress brought about by the body image issues and/or weight gain can typically lead to “emotional” eating. It is estimated that 75% of all overeating is the result of emotional eating[iv]. This, in turn, leads to yet more nutritional deficiency, because the emotional eating is typically of unhealthy comfort foods which might be rich in saturated fat. As can be anticipated, this results in yet more stress and the cycle never ends; if unchecked, this can result in malnutrition, obesity, and even suicide (which–happens way more often than individuals realize). The virtually detached portrayal of this vicious cycle as talked about above, does not even come conceivably close to capturing the indescribable anguish and affliction that tens of millions of Individuals encounter on a regular basis due to the mix of stress, time-pressure, and poor diet. While no description could accurately capture the devastation that this unfavourable loop causes, it’s enough in the context of this article to firmly declare that it is a profoundly significant crisis. There isn’t any instant resolution to a problem of this magnitude, and any one saying otherwise ought to be met with great uncertainty. To deal with with a scenario of this degree requires an identification of the root cause and then present cures that may lessen, or in some circumstances, preclude the damaging loop from starting off in the first place. One of the main causes of this problem has been identified already: the shortage of time. The stress that comes with not having sufficient time would not be strong enough to drag them under and into a adverse nutrition spiral if only more Individuals had better control of their time, or a minimum of felt as if they had more time. Hence, a solution that also considers the time factor would be necessary to be able to alleviate this problem to some degree. It is within this consciousness that time is of the essence that numerous nutritional supplements have been created. Sadly, although many supplements can be ingested shortly, a few of them do not necessarily provide for the body’s need for macronutrients and vitamins. Furthermore, and quite irresponsibly, many so-called energy bars are very high in calories and carbohydrates, and as such can result in emotional eating and set off weight gain. It is even more unfortunate than this to observe that the race to market many nutritional supplement products have been more about being profitable via clever advertising and slogans, than it has been about helping individuals save time, eat healthy, and keep away from potentially life-altering destructive stress cycles. This is evidenced by the number of so-called nutritional supplements which are little more than costly and pretentious candy bars. However, there are some products which have risen to this moral challenge, products that have been truly inspired by actual nutritional scientists who see a dire need in society, and have engineered a useful product to help meet that need. The best solution to identify such products is to find those that deliver a complete, balanced source of nutrition for time-starved people, including: adults, children, athletes, sedentary people, and all those in between. At the same time, these elite products should provide a spread of essential nutrients so that, in effect, the nutrition source might be relied upon as a complete meal when time is severely limited. Solving Americas time-starved dilemma is bigger than any one product, or series of products, to solve. However, although the proper answer to this complicated problem stays elusive, it’s clear that part of that eventual solution will rely upon resolving causes, and not chasing symptoms. In this regard, nutritional products such as properly-researched and scientifically-developed meals and supplements will have a giant role to play in the resolution of this explicit dilemma.