• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

everywomanover29

Food, Mood and Women's Health – Be your healthiest, look and feel great!

  • Blog
  • About
  • Services
  • Store
  • Resources
  • Testimonials
  • Media
  • The Book
  • Contact

Gratitude

Chilling out with cheetahs – using nature for stress relief, joy and pure awesomeness!

October 3, 2014 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

0 skye

I was recently visiting family in South Africa and promised to share pictures from our incredible trip to the Kwa Cheetah Breeding Project. My sister Woo and I decided to do the early morning 50 minute bush walk with Skye, one of the male cheetahs. All I can say is wow! What an experience!

I’ve written about how nature and exercise can help to boost mood and reduce stress and this certainly did this and more. I hope you get to enjoy some of it via my photos.

 

1_meeting skye

Here I am getting to meet Skye before we head out. And what a meeting it was – he purrs just like a kitty cat only louder and deeper! Incredible first encounter!

 

2_skyes sister comes over to say hi

Skye’s sister comes over to say hi and can I come for a walk too.

 

3_walking with woo

We took Skye for a 50 minute walk through the bush around Kwa Cheetah – or maybe he took us for a walk! At one stage he spotted his sister and bolted to say hello and I got kind of dragged behind him. Here is with the ranger and my sister Woo.

 

4 woo and skye

Woo getting to know Skye

 

4 trudy and skye

Skye has spotted a warthog in the far distance

 

6_woo and I with skye

Woo and I with Skye

 

niece and cheetah-1

After the early morning bushwalk we all got to spend the next two hours watching cheetahs being trained to run and hunt, and various other fun activities. This is my 7-year old niece in one enclosure – fearless!

 

7 kwa cheetch breeding

Of course we both highly recommend Kwa Cheetah Breeding Project: “The main goal behind the project is not to sell cheetahs to zoos or any other likewise place, but to release our cats back into the African wilderness.”

Here are some stats on why they do what they do: “The reason we are trying to do this is because there are only between seven and ten thousand cheetahs left worldwide. About two thousand cheetahs are dying every four years due to three main factors: natural predators (like lions and hyenas), humans (poaching is a big one, so is farming) and poor genetics. You can read all the stats here.

Next time you’re in South Africa, go and visit – you’ll be giving back and making a difference, and you’ll find you’ll get back so much more: joy, awe and an amazing sense of calmness!

 

Filed Under: Environment, Gratitude Tagged With: africa, cheetah sanctuary, Kwa Cheetah Breeding, stress relief

Gratitude: more optimism, more happiness and less anxiety

August 22, 2014 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

Husky Service dog who helps veterans
Husky Service dog who helps veterans

Here is a great description of gratitude from Psychology Today:

“Gratitude is an emotion expressing appreciation for what one has—as opposed to a consumer-oriented emphasis on what one wants or needs. Gratitude is getting a great deal of attention as a facet of positive psychology: Studies show that we can deliberately cultivate gratitude, and can increase our well-being and happiness by doing so. In addition, grateful thinking—and especially expression of it to others—is associated with increased levels of energy, optimism, and empathy.”

Gratitude also helps reduce anxiety. A 2014 paper in Aging and Mental Health discusses a program which consists of training based on autobiographical memory, forgiveness and gratitude.

“The results revealed that participants who followed the program (experimental group) showed a significant decrease in state anxiety and depression as well as an increase in specific memories, life satisfaction and subjective happiness, compared with the placebo group.”

I’m in South Africa visiting my family and feel so much gratitude despite a few setbacks that almost prevented me from being here. I was in Palm Springs the weekend before my departure and missed my connecting flight back to Sacramento but I am grateful for:

  • having the Phoenix hotel night paid for and for not paying two bag fees
  • meeting a lovely woman from Oakland, CA who gave up her seat on the flight so someone could get home to the funeral of a loved one
  • “meeting” a beautiful huskie Service dog in the hotel elevator and finding out from his owner that his job was to be petted by veterans – to help lower blood pressure and to calm them down and make them happy. A 2012 paper discusses how a Service dog training program benefits the treatment of posttraumatic stress in service members and how it “enhances the sense of wellness.”
  • having travel food with me so I could stay nourished until I got home. I tucked in to apples, sardines, oysters, pemmican, a boiled egg and yummy coconut wraps

travel-food

  • making it back in time on Tuesday morning in order to catch my New York flight that very same evening!
  • getting to South Africa and spending quality time with my wonderful family, enjoying good food with them (one night we had roast lamb, steamed Brussel’s sprouts and baby marrow/zucchini and a delicious creamy cauliflower dish; and last night we had a yummy Paleo-type pasta-free lasagna from the new Tim Noake’s book “The Real Meal Revolution”), reminiscing, laughing, and getting and giving lots of hugs!

trudy-and-family

Let’s end with this great quote by Zig Ziglar:

The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more things you’ll have to express gratitude for.

What are you grateful for today? And how does it make you feel when you express your gratitude?

Filed Under: Gratitude

Primary Sidebar

FREE REPORT

9 Great Questions Women Ask about Food, Mood and their Health

You’ll also receive a complimentary subscription to my ezine “Food, Mood and Gal Stuff”

Success! Check your inbox for our email with a download link.

Connect with me

Recent Posts

  • 5-HTP benefits both adopted daughters who had prenatal exposure to alcohol: they are happier, more focused and can stay on task
  • Imposter syndrome and neurotransmitter support: I feel like the person I’m supposed to become
  • Tryptophan for my teenager: she laughs and smiles, her OCD and anxiety has lessened, and she is more goal oriented and focused on school.
  • The Thyroid Reset Diet: Reverse Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s Symptoms with a Proven Iodine-Balancing Plan by Dr. Alan Christianson
  • The effect of emotional freedom technique on nurses’ stress, anxiety, and burnout levels during the pandemic

Categories

  • 5-HTP
  • AB575
  • Addiction
  • ADHD
  • Adrenals
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Amino Acids
  • Antianxiety
  • Antianxiety Food Solution
  • Antidepressants
  • Anxiety
  • Anxiety and panic
  • Anxiety Summit 5
  • Anxiety Summit 6
  • Autism
  • Autoimmunity
  • benzodiazapines
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Books
  • Caffeine
  • Cancer
  • Candida
  • Children
  • Cooking equipment
  • Coronavirus/COVID-19
  • Cravings
  • Depression
  • Detoxification
  • Diabetes
  • Diet
  • Drugs
  • EFT/Tapping
  • EMF
  • EMFs
  • Emotional Eating
  • Environment
  • Essential oils
  • Events
  • Exercise
  • Fear of public speaking
  • Fertility and Pregnancy
  • Fish
  • Food
  • Food and mood
  • Functional neurology
  • GABA
  • Gene polymorphisms
  • General Health
  • Giving
  • Giving back
  • Glutamine
  • Gluten
  • GMOs
  • Gratitude
  • Gut health
  • Heart health
  • Histamine
  • Hormone
  • Immune system
  • Inflammation
  • Insomnia
  • Inspiration
  • Introversion
  • Joy and happiness
  • Ketogenic diet
  • Looking awesome
  • Lyme disease and co-infections
  • Medication
  • Mental health
  • Mercury
  • Migraine
  • Mold
  • Movie
  • MTHFR
  • Music
  • NANP
  • Nature
  • Nutritional Psychiatry
  • OCD
  • Oxalates
  • Oxytocin
  • Pain
  • Paleo
  • Parasites
  • People
  • Postpartum
  • PTSD
  • Pyroluria
  • Questionnaires
  • Real whole food
  • Recipes
  • Research
  • serotonin
  • SIBO
  • Sleep
  • Special diets
  • Stress
  • Sugar addiction
  • Sugar and mood
  • Supplements
  • Teens
  • Testimonials
  • Testing
  • The Anxiety Summit
  • The Anxiety Summit 2
  • The Anxiety Summit 3
  • The Anxiety Summit 4
  • Thyroid
  • Thyroid health
  • Toxins
  • Tryptophan
  • Uncategorized
  • Vegan/vegetarian
  • Women's health
  • Yoga

Archives

  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • July 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • November 2009

Copyright © 2021 Trudy Scott. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy | Terms of Use | Refund Policy