Posts Tagged with healthy eating

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Expert Wellness Tips for a Spring Reset

My Related Life reached out to me for their article, Expert Wellness Tips for a Spring Reset. Check out what I and other health and wellness experts had to say – I hope the tips are helpful. Wishing you a happy and healthy Spring!

With the disruption to life that lockdowns have brought, many of the routines that help us feel our best are out of whack. Whether that means fitness practices abandoned, healthy eating habits discarded, sleep schedules disrupted, or some combination of these and then some, spring is the perfect time to lean into habits that make us feel good. To help you feel better about your habits, we spoke to a number of experts from the wellness space, including fitness, nutrition, and skincare pros. Their number one tip? Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to change your habits all at once. Instead, adopt small changes that you can improve upon over time to get you feeling good.

Baby Steps Build Stamina

Motivating yourself to work out is difficult these days. Equinox instructor Or Artzi shared a few tips for getting back into the habit of raising your heart rate:

“Here are some tricks that I find helpful:

∙ Set up weekly goals—make sure they’re measurable and reasonable.
∙ Work out in the morning before your day starts, so you can’t find reasons to skip it later on.
∙ Just go for it! Once you get the ball rolling, you’ll have an easier time keeping the momentum going.”

Artzi also emphasizes how physical fitness ties into mental health. Her encouraging words? “Don’t compare yourself to others, stick to the plan you set for yourself, and celebrate the small wins. You’ll thank me later, I promise.”

Be Kind to Your Liver

It’s been a long, cold, and possibly boozy winter. Consider scaling back on the alcohol consumption by replacing it with any of the spate of nonalcoholic aperitifs on the market today. Seedlip, Ghia, and MeMento are just a few out there.

Molly Lee of Energizing Nutrition also reminds us that adjusting our diets can be beneficial to the liver, too. “Dark leafy greens (especially the dark leafy bitter ones like kale, dandelion and mustard greens) are fantastic for Spring as they are energizing, naturally cleansing and detoxifying for the body,” Lee says. “They also support lightening up as well as nurture the liver, the organ that helps our body detoxify.”

An Uncluttered Home Inspires Peace of Mind

organizing closet, organizing drawers

The return of warmer weather – and the reshuffling of clothing it brings – is a perfect time to reevaluate which of our belongings still serve us. “The changing of seasons is a great opportunity to clear out some of your clothing. Take a look at your winter duds. What didn’t you wear this year? You probably don’t like it very much, and can create space by giving those items away,” says professional organizer Sharon Lowenheim of Organizing Goddess. “Similarly, when you greet your long-neglected spring wardrobe, which pieces are you excited to see and which make you say ‘meh’? Clear out some space now by ditching items that you aren’t excited about wearing again.” Crucially, Lowenheim adds: “Living in a less-cluttered space will improve your outlook and allow you to enjoy your home even more.”

Read the full article here

*Ready to for a Spring reset?  CONTACT Molly to discuss your health and wellness goals.

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Energize Your Year with Spiritual Nourishment

This New Year, as you are reviewing your health and nutrition goals, I invite you to examine, energize and prioritize your spiritual nourishment.  Without spiritual nourishment, no matter how healthy you eat and how much you exercise, you may still be left feeling unhappy, unfulfilled and lacking true health.

What is spiritual nourishment?  It looks different for everyone – taking time to walk in nature, spending time with pets, or even washing the dishes with mindfulness, can all be acts that feed your spirit. 

Spiritual nourishment can be as simple as carving out ten to fifteen minutes of silent time in the mornings or listening to relaxing music rather than the news.  It can also be a more formal type of meditation practice based on what you’re drawn to or what your religious faith is.

In today’s society, we are bombarded with stimulation everywhere we go.  Our senses become overloaded and this, along with a lack of spiritual nourishment can lead to anxiety, stress, low energy, depression, burnout and unhealthy weight gain or weight loss.  Shut off the TV, get off the computer, put the phone away and take a social media fast.  These are all ways to help quiet the noise, connect internally and nourish your spirit.

Creative or artistic outlets are also forms of spiritual nourishment.  For some, it may be painting, journaling, or writing.  Movement such as dance, yoga, martial arts, or a combination of these activities is also wonderful.  You will notice that the more regularly you carve out time for such activities in daily life, the more you create a greater sense of calm, satisfaction and less of a need to fill yourself up with food for comfort or entertainment.  Your physical and emotional health will benefit and you will begin to experience true health, well-being and fulfillment.  

I invite you to begin the year by prioritizing your spiritual nourishment and see what happens.  Here are a couple of simple questions to help you begin:

 

  • What feeds you spiritually?  (ie: journaling, walking in nature, listening to music, drawing, meditation?) 

 

  • Have you devoted part of your day or week to spiritual nourishment? What are two simple action steps you can take to include spiritual nourishment in your life?

 

Wishing you a happy, healthy and energizing 2019!   

*We’d love to hear from you!  CONTACT US to discuss your health and wellness goals.

(Content adapted from Molly’s book, Energizing Nutrition: A New Food Paradigm)

 

 

 

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How to Shift from Emotional to Empowered Eating

When it comes to emotional eating, most of us experience some degree of it, whether conscious of it or not.  Emotional eating is defined as “eating when feeing stressed, angry, frustrated, lonely, anxious, bored or depressed.”  Some experts estimate that 75 percent of overeating is a response to our emotions.  Like a drug, eating certain foods act like a vice or a temporary fix when experiencing challenging situations or emotions.

Emotional eating is closely related to cravings.  When it comes to your body’s cravings, you may tend to judge yourself in a negative light, feeling like you have failed each time you indulge in chocolate chip cookies or a bag of chips.  In order to redefine and transform your relationship with food, it can be helpful to look closely at how you are relating to your cravings. 

There is a strong belief that food cravings are something to fight and giving into them reflects a lack of willpower. However common this belief is, it’s completely false.  To shift how you are relating to food and your cravings, first let go of your inner critic and exercise self-compassion.  View food with a fresh perspective; see yourself as an experiment and simple observe. Doing so helps release any negative mind chatter and self-judgement which tend to perpetuate self-punishing repetitive cycles and food drama.

Are you ready to let go of the food drama?  The first step to shifting to empowered eating is to change your perspective.  See that your cravings are actually valuable messages, signals from your body pointing to what you are needing in the moment.  Due to the overwhelming amount of information about health and nutrition out there, you may have learned not to trust these signals and feel confused about what to eat.  You may be following a particular diet plan and therefore fighting or ignoring your body’s signals in order to stick with the plan. Although well intentioned and temporarily workable, the majority of outside prescriptions around food are not sustainable or helpful in the long run because of their fixed nature.  They do not address your changing individual needs or teach you how to listen to what your body is calling for each day, week or season. 

Once you clearly recognize what your body is calling for rather than following what you “should” or “shouldn’t” be eating, you will begin to trust and know what you truly need to nourish yourself in each moment – and it’s not always food. Sometimes it’s a physical need and often times, it’s as simple as getting some fresh air, taking a nap, mental break or self-care day.

It is possible to shift from emotional to empowered eating. 

[Adapted from Molly’s book, Energizing Nutrition: A New Food Paradigm]

*To continue the conversation and discuss your health and wellness goals, CONTACT US