A Simple All Natural Cure for Stress and Heartburn
Could something as simple as relocating your next meal cure stress and heartburn or other digestive issues?
I’ve been traveling for the past few days, and that would normally mean eating out several times a day.
While I’m not opposed to dining out, and enjoyed a few nice restaurants, I also had the great pleasure of a simple picnic.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, defines picnic as:
- an excursion or outing with food usually provided by members of the group and eaten in the open
- a pleasant or amusingly carefree experience
- an easy task or feat
To ensure stress relief, heartburn and other ailments, a picnic should be all of the above. Include other people or go alone. Picnics are great for romantic getaways, family gatherings or to seek a little solitude.
The location or ingredients are not important, as long as your experience is pleasant, carefree and easy. Saturday morning, I walked through the Portland farmer’s market and picked up all the makings for a simple picnic.
- small baguette
- tiny block of Gruyere
- two honey sticks
- a bottle of Syrah by Twist Wine Co.
- one fresh pear
- two salted caramels
Even though I wasn’t in a stressful situation, as soon as I decided to plan a picnic, my mood softened.
5 Picnic Perks
- Planning. As soon as I started to plan my picnic, my steps got a little lighter and I slowed down. Instead of rushing through the grocery store, planning meals for a week, I was searching for small amounts of high quality picnic goods, from small homegrown businesses.
- Anticipation. It is often said that the anticipation of something is as good as the something itself and that was the case for my picnic. I thought about how the flavors of my meal would complement each other and what I would see and hear as I sipped spicy red wine and broke open a crispy baguette. My vision was different than the actual setting, but both were delightful to experience.
- Immediate gratification. Other than picking a few things up, there was no recipe to follow, chopping, cooking or baking to be done before I got to enjoy the fruits of my very little labor.
- Joy. I didn’t build my meal to satisfy hunger or by following any nutritional guidelines. My picnic was about small tastes of big flavors. My picnic was about pleasure.
- Health. I understand that a block of cheese and loaf of bread isn’t winning any health awards, but the way I ate it cured any stress I had lingering and prevented heartburn, and other digestive issues. I ate slowly and stopped eating when I was full. Because my picnic was about joy, not food, I had no desire to overeat. Because I intentionally set aside time, I didn’t have to finish up and get to the next thing. My slow, joyful consumption left me feeling relaxed and light, instead of stuffed and sleepy.
If you decide to indulge in this cure for stress and heartburn, keep it simple. Each step, from shopping, to prepping, eating and cleaning up should be enjoyable. I didn’t have a special picnic basket, any utensils or even a napkin. Bring only the essentials so you can focus on the flavors of your food, simplicity of the setting, and joy of the time you’ve carved out for yourself
Remember that you don’t need to hike into the woods to enjoy a picnic. You can visit a local park, go in your backyard or anywhere away from your kitchen table. I enjoyed my picnic on the train from Portland to Seattle. A picnic will lighten your mood and your meal, creating less stress and more health.
Create anticipation. Share your perfect picnic vision in the comment section below. What would you bring? Where would you go?
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Be More with Less & connect with me on twitter.
20 Responses to “A Simple All Natural Cure for Stress and Heartburn”
Comments
Read below or add a comment...
please comment
subscribe your way …
After my brain surgery, I had acid reflux and heartburn so severe that I was in constant burning pain. I went on drugs that stop stomach acid for many months but it didn’t help at all. I tried changing my diet, eating small meals, having my bed elevated, everything we could think of to try and get well. Nothing worked until I listened to Dr. Marshall. He said that acid reflux and heartburn are caused by too little stomach acid, not too much. He said no one has too much stomach acid. The reason you get that burning pain is because your food isn’t digesting well and is rotting in your intestines. This creates lactic acid which pushes up into your stomach and esophagus and burns like stomach acid. The way I got better was to take hydrochloric acid and digest pills after every meal. I also started eating a lot of kefir (organic, whole yogurt is good also). So if you are having lots of gut problems, I would suggest getting HCL, digest, and eating kefir. I get my HCL and digest from Healthline because it has worked so well for me. Also, make sure you are eating good air-dried sea salt. The sea salt helps produce stomach acid which we NEED…Hello…to digest food.
@Lori – how very interesting. I work as an RN in the ICU. Almost all of our patients receive an acid reducing medication secondary to the fight or flight body syndrome reaction to trauma. I will follow up on your recommendations.
Picnic is a very nice idea and action. Because I can’t swallow, “eating” pleasantly on a picnic does not appeal to me BUT the other parts of the definition certainly do. I am flooded in here in southeast MO. I was able to walk my dog up on some different land because our normal path is now a river (with boats!). Per your definition, it was a short chance to relax, pay attention to something other than the troubles of the moment and share time & joy with my lovely Doberman/German Short Hair mix (best guess), Justus.
Thanks for a very good post.
What a nice idea. My husband and I find that as our kids get older, we have more time for dates than we used to. I don’t think we’ve ever taken a picnic together. I’m going to suggest this next time we have a free afternoon.
Sweet serenity. I picnic with my kids a lot in the summer, but can’t say it’s relaxing with two young ones.
For me, the ideal picnic would be one someone packs for me
Juicy, tart fruit. Cheese & crackers. Yummy drink. No dishes – a little bit of heaven. Set in a park, under a big tree, on a soft blanket, with my shoes off. Take me there…
Marci, I say leave the kids with a sitter or family member and go there! If I lived closer, I’d take you there.
(or watch the kids)
My anniversary is this month, and my hubby said he hoped the weather is nice, so I’ll nudge him. If not, I will definitely work on blocking off lunch hour and having a picnic someone green near my office! Blankets in my truck
What a great post. Thank you!
I love to picnic. It is a complete dining experience, which is what most of our meals lack in our busy lives these days. Most of the time we’re wolfing down meals quikcly, but a picnic is an excuse to slow down and enjoy the experience of eating.
Jason, That’s what I found too. Meals can be hurried, but picnics call for lingering.
One of my favorite picnic combos is a nice wheat crackers, some havarti cheese and red grapes. The flavors and textures complement each other so well. I would choose a blanket beside a babbling brook, either completely by myself, or maybe I’ll bring my hubby along!
Hmm, sounds like an idea for dinner!
Bernice
The weekend edition of Living the Balanced Life
Bernice, Try freezing your grapes before you go. By the time you get to your destination, they will be like little grape pops. So good!
I honestly can’t remember the last time I went on a picnic!
Sounds like it’s time Miss Britt!
The food I enjoy most while on a picnic is easy to nibble on such as nuts, grapes, dried fruit, chocolate pieces, crackers, chips and dip. Sadly it is pretty much winter here now in New Zealand so I don’t see a nice way of having a picnic outside at the moment! Any ideas? You have got me thinking about it now
Kristie, How about an indoor picnic? Set up a blanket in your house or maybe there is a public area like a recreation center or museum with an area that would work.
Picnics are wonderful…
Planned ones are nice but equally lovely are the impromtu ones. The ones where you just instantly gather up what you were going to have for lunch anyway and go somewhere close by [even the backyard] and eat, then pack up and go about your day – fab
We went on lots of picnics during our honeymoon. If the weather ever gets nice here in Montana, we’ll have to go on another one!
It will get nice Jackie! The weather finally turned in Utah so you can’t be far behind.
I am just the biggest fan of picnics. Still though I’m surprised you came up with a picnic as the “cure for stress and heartburn.” Of course you did!
What I like to take on my picnics:
bottle of red or white
block of super delicious goat/cow cheese
homemade bread
homemade chunky hummus
grapes
and I think I’ll bring some almonds next time around… and maybe a cucumber
Just that… just writing that out, was stress reducing. Thank you, Courtney.
I must picnic SOON.
Love your list Kristy.
What a lovely, inspiring post! I myself have enjoyed a few picnics so far this Spring, and you’re so right – they really do take your stresses away! Thanks for sharing