My Perspective on PYM Mood Chews, As A Nutritionist

Stress.

It’s a six letter word that we hear and experience all too often. Not only are we constantly seeing or hearing about it in the news and media, but it’s that sudden heart racing feeling when the dog throws up and you're already late to a meeting, it’s your mother birthday and you forgot to send flowers, and, oh, cars out of gas. As you are watching the minutes tick away, your hypothalamus, a tiny control tower in your brain, decides to send out the orders, “send in the stress response!”. This stress signal is the same one that triggers your body’s “fight or flight” response. Your heart races, your breath quickens, and your muscles are ready for action. While this response is great to protect you from impending danger, when it keeps firing day after day it can actually be putting your health at risk.

As a professional nutritionist one of the most common questions, I get asked is, “How do I get healthier?”

This is a loaded question for many reasons. One, the definition of healthy is purely subjective. And two, everyone has a different path to obtaining results. However, the one common thread people asking this question share is that they are trying to feel their best.

To start the conversation of “How to get healthier” I always tell my clients there are 3 pillars of health: sleep, exercise, and nutrition, but there is one bedrock that supports all three, your mental health. When any one of these aspects starts to struggle it is not long before the others buckle under the excess weight. In order to achieve optimal health, it requires taking care of your mental health, and this includes managing stress.

As a new mom and a professional nutritionist, I will be the first to admit that I fall into the stress trap. It is that all-or-nothing anxiety pit where as soon as one thing goes wrong, then it’s not long before you have convinced yourself everything else will soon topple. The feeling that one non-perfect conversation with your boss must mean you are getting fired tomorrow morning, so you might as well just quit now. This daily stress and anxiety is what can directly affect your sleep quality and hormone production throwing off your metabolism and cascading into a variety of other harmful consequences. I knew I needed to do something about this and that’s when I discovered PYM Mood Chews.

PYM stands for Prepare Your Mind which is essentially what the components in each of these chews is helping you do, preparing your mind for whatever you need to accomplish that day.

PYM is composed of adaptogens and amino acid complexes that help our bodies regulate our natural response to stress.

So how does stress tie into nutrition? Cortisol is the number one culprit for unexplained weight gain. When we reduce stress, we reduce cortisol, and usually that tricky 5 lbs that you just can’t seem to lose goes away. We also have to remember that our body runs off of the fuel we feed it. Provide your race car with Formula 1 gasoline and it will run smoother, swap that out with oil and water and you have serious some problems.

When we experience stress, our body reacts in a three-stage response: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Adaptogens allow our bodies to hold the fort in the resistance phase longer and therefore also hold off exhaustion so instead of crumbling in the anticipation of a stressful situation we are able to recalibrate and remain calm. PYM Mood Chews provide a natural, non-habit-forming way to override stress which allows your body to exhale in the presence of a stressful situation rather than holding your breath even tighter. The adaptogens and amino acids found in PYM specifically support the production and regulation of hormones including serotonin and dopamine. So how do these adaptogens and amino acids essentially vaccinate us from stress?

From the dawn of time our bodies have been naturally designed to cope with stress.

When we were running from lions on a regular basis there were no pharmaceuticals we could take to just chill out for a quick beat. No Xanax to take the edge off of worrying about your next meal. But our bodies did have our natural neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters like GABA, serotonin, and dopamine. So, what has happened to our bodies ability to naturally regulate the production of these chemical gems responsible for helping us keep it all together? Prolonged stress, inadequate diet, and the introduction of other toxins caused our bodies to no longer be able to regulate and produce these neurotransmitters the way they once did. Essentially our vulnerable brains have now become even more fragile because they lack the building blocks to support our natural coping mechanisms. And that is what PYM Mood Chews has set out to do. Provide your body and ready your brain with the nutrients you need to naturally help your body cope with stress.

When I discovered that all of the ingredients in the PYM mood chews were not only scientifically backed but also made with all natural ingredients, I decided it was time to put these stress fighting ninjas to the test. After playing around with when to take PYM Mood chews, I found that eating one 30-minutes prior to a demanding task allowed me to better relax and focus. If I started to notice more intense under currents of stress later in the evening, then I would simply take two. The real question through was could they handle Monday?

Mondays are funny and simultaneously scary topic in my home. Funny, because we always know how they will end (my baby covered in food and myself in bed before 9pm) and scary because they always arrive sooner than anticipated.

6AM We hear the first chirp from the baby means it’s time to rock’n’roll.

8AM Baby is off to daycare and it’s time for me to get ready for a local TV nutrition segment

9AM Local show goes live and I need to be ready to zoom in by 9:15am

*Here was when all of that morning energy was slowly starting to take the plunge and my mind started filling with the thought of “what if my internet goes out mid-segment? What if I flub the words on camera…then they will never want to work with me again, then how will I promote my book with no media deal? Will anyone even like my book? My baby probably won’t even like my book? I probably should just quit everything and move back in with my parents.” This was when I knew it was time for my secret weapon, my PYM Mood Chews.

I took 2 that morning because I knew my adrenaline would be high. But then I took a deep breath and went about my prep work.

30 minutes later the show segment went live from my kitchen and everything went off without a hitch. After the show I calmly cleaned everything up and was back to client meetings within the hour. Now, I tell this story because things didn’t always go this smoothly. Historically prepping for an early morning segment requires spilling at least one hot beverage, tripping over the dog, possibly yelling at my husband to either help or get out of the way (whichever one he is not doing is the one he is supposed to be doing), and most definitely yelling at myself. But it was the effects of the PYM mood chews that I noticed helped me to slow down and realize the things I was “stressing” over were arbitrary and out of my control so why spend any more time on them. I now make taking PYM Mood Chews part of my routine. I know that if I am going to be in a high stress situation it is best to eat one or two 30-minutes prior. I think of them as my stress busting wingman and so far, they haven’t steered me wrong.

By coping better with stress, we are less likely to get sick as well as resort to those less healthy coping mechanisms such as that comfort croissant or extra glass of wine each evening. So, how do you beat stress? How do you tackle anxiety? What works is small daily changes that add up to the big results. For me this small thing came in the form of an all-natural, cruelty-free, convenient gummy.