Love And Be Kind To Yourself

For anyone who has reached the third week of January and is feeling like you screwed up your diet or healthy lifestyle changes.  Be kind to yourself, you can start fresh right now.  You got this.

If you skipped working out today and are beating yourself up, stop and love yourself instead. Then get up tomorrow and with love, move your body. Put some music on and do a little dance right now to celebrate you are amazing. 

Looked in the mirror today and were unable to find something nice to say and just felt like smashing it instead?  Don’t let the crap you have heard or were told get to you. You are beautiful. You are worthy and you are enough. 

Got out a pair of your favorite jeans and when you were finally able to zip them up the muffin top wasn’t as cute as it sounds?  Or maybe you couldn’t even get them over your thighs. It’s ok. You will get there. You can do this. Go through your clothes and right now while you are working on your goals, put away anything that makes you feel less than. Were only what makes you feel beautiful. 

Maybe that pizza looked a lot better than the healthy meal you had planned.  Yeah, that was my weekend too.  Don’t toss the changes you set for yourself.  You are not a failure. Love yourself.  You got nutrition and hopefully some delight in that treat. We all need a treat. 

The number one thing we need show ourselves when we are trying to make lifestyle changes, is a little love and kindness.  Change is hard.  Things happen.  Eating clean 100% of the time is possible for some, but not everyone.  Working out daily is easy for some, others it is a little harder. Don’t compare. Find your starting point and work from there. 

It’s been proven that showing yourself love and kindness is one of the fastest ways to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle.  It’s mandatory honestly. Why? Because if you can’t be loving to yourself there is no way you are going to really make choices that are good for you most of the time.  So be gentle and speak lovingly to yourself.

Now, please don’t get into a habit of being so loving and kind to yourself that you slip to the other side and get passive about pushing yourself to do better.  Set goals and if you slip, don’t beat yourself up.  Keep going, you can do it. You are worth your love and kindness. One step at a time, one kind word to yourself at a time. 

I saw this on Tiny Buddha and had to share.

Mindfully Mindful

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Mindfulness. I am sure just about everyone has heard this term. If not, mindfulness means to be aware. Eating in a mindful way is to eat with awareness. Awareness of your mood, your hunger or thirst. Feeling the sensations of both hunger and fulness.  The smells, sites and tastes as you enjoy your meal.

I am sure we all have been in a situation where we we’ve sat down to eat a meal, without much thought woofed it down.  It’s an easy thing to do.  I used to work out of my car as a field hospice aide. One of the down sides is that my appointments were scheduled back-to-back. Only down time I had was driving to my next appointment.  I would pack a cooler with foods I could eat and drive at the same time because there was were to many times when thought maybe I would get 10 mins in my car in a parking lot to eat a salad to only find my schedule changed and my salad a wilted mess at the end of a long day. Finger foods became my go to. Unfortunately, I was not focused on what I ate and when. I would just reach in and grab just a little something.   Often it would be 1pm and I would be driving and reach into the cooler on the passenger seat and find it empty. I would think, where did my lunch go, did I really eat it all?  I will be honest, I would then go find a way to get more food I could eat while driving or worse yet, back more the next day and do the same thing all over again. 

So how do you mindfully eat?  Here are few of my favorite ways:

• Plan ahead- If you start with a plan it’s easier to not to mindlessly eat something that is not so great for you. Shop for items you like that appeal to you. Beautiful produce is a great place to start and to add a lot of color to your plate.   
• Make it a date- If at all possible, make mealtimes special. It’s ok if it’s just you. Use that china you save for a special occasion, or a beautiful glass. Have a candle, play music. Use cloth napkins. Stop and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells, just like I hope you would on a date with someone special.  Reality is, you are a date with someone special, YOU! 
• Feel It- Getting in touch with how you actually feel is a good thing. Are you hungry or are you bored?  Do you need a snack, or would a walk do you better than an afternoon snack at your desk while you get through the rest of your day?  Are you full? Learn what that feels like for you and when you feel full, stop eating. 
• Chew, chew and chew some more- Part of mindless eating is not chewing and just getting the food down the old windpipe.  There is science to chewing your food more than you think so. One it helps break it down making it easier for your stomach to digest but also, your mind will have time to catch up with the fact you are actually eating and will send you a signal that you are full.  Science says to chew 20-40 times before you swallow.  Give it a try.

• Smaller bites- This goes with chewing, take smaller bites. I know it’s going to take longer to eat but that’s the goal. To savor and enjoy the food you have. Then you will learn to recognize when you are full. 
• Portion it out- Who has ever eaten an entire bag of chips or popcorn that is really meant for multiple servings?  I know I have. Instead of eating out of the bag or ice cream carton, portion out a serving. 

Now you have a few ways to eat more mindfully.  Try just adding in one over the next week and see how it feels.  

Earlier I mentioned how I use to mindless eat while I was driving around visiting my hospice patients. I eventually realized it was better for me to pull over in parking lot, a park that was near my lunch time stop, shut the car off, turn on some music and enjoy my meal. When I started doing that I felt better, had less heartburn and somehow there actually was time in my day to have a nice relaxing lunch instead of woofing down lunch on the turnpike. One of my longtime families told me they thought I looked like I had a new glow and wanted to know what I was doing. I had to stop and think about what I might have done differently but it was just simply taking a little time out for my own health. 

If you tried something from this post or another, I’d love to hear how it worked for you. Leave a comment below. 

Until next time!

Simple steps for a healthier you

The secret to weight loss.

I’m going to give it to you straight. What are the most important things  health coaches teach a person to do in their 3- or 6-month program.

First what any real health coach worth their weight in kale would tell you is that there is no way dieting works.   They also would tell you that there is no magic pill, shake or detox program that will do the trick.  Yes, you are going to lose weight, but you have to ask yourself if living the way that you are when you are doing keto, fasting or a costly detox/supplement program is really sustainable.  Like honestly.  Be real.     Some people honestly can live the rest of their days doing keto or a full-blown plant-based diet.  Some of us could afford to be on a concoction of supplements and detox every few months and do just fine.  Majority of people won’t stay on it but a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, before the life they once knew calls them back.

So how do you lose weight?  You already know some of these and maybe there is one or two you didn’t.  So, here’s my list:

• Drink water.  Most of us forget this one.  Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning. BEFORE your first cup of coffee or you eat breakfast. Hydration is important for a whole heck of reasons. Living be the top one. But having healthy hydration levels help you eliminate toxins from the body, keep your skin nice, help your bowels, and aide in digestion and your metabolisms.  Drinking a glass first thing when you get up in the morning is starting your day on a healthy foot and helps the mind make better choices. Start with a glass of water first thing in the morning and if you can do that for say two weeks straight. Add a set time in the afternoon to drink water. Fill up your water bottle and make sure to refill it in the afternoon. Set reminders with your phone to help you.
• Eat more plants.   No this is not saying you have to go vegan or vegetarian.  You should have more plants on your plate than animal products.  Not sure how to cook a vegetable or what to try. Don’t laugh but here’s my honest advice. Go check out a vegan/vegetarian website for ideas. Who else knows better how to cook some vegetables than folks who eat them all the time? My favorites are Bad Manners Kitchen (formerly Thug kitchen), Forks over Knives, Full of Plants, Plant strong by engine two.  Also, but not totally vegetarian, Love and Lemons has some amazing recipes. Oh, and I have some of my favorite recipes here on my website. Use the search engine to find more than what is listed in the index. Lastly, farmers markets are great for getting recipes. Heck farmers usually love to share how to cook the produce they just grew.

• Move your body.  Yep, good old exercise.  I think one thing the pandemic has shown a lot of us is that a sedentary lifestyle is not good for you. I know I have put weight on this year because I was recovering from a surgery for the first half of the year. I have officially hit menopause which comes with its own set of challenges. The covid numbers started soaring again had me back in the house. Plus a few other excuses I could dig up easily. Find a way you like to move that makes you feel good and you want to do it again. A quick work out of 7-10 mins every day is a great and easy way to do it. I laughed when I first heard this. If you haven’t worked out in a while. That 7 mins is going to kick your ass. I was doing jumping jacks, wall chair sits, squats, crunches, planks, pushups and lunges and I was sweating. Day three I felt a little taller and happier. Hate to work out like that? Crank up the music and dance while you clean the house. Do some yoga, take a walk. Ride your bike. Dance at each commercial break.  Heck start by watching Ellen and dance with Twitch in the beginning of the show. You don’t have to get the moves down to have fun and move. Oh, and Twitch and his beautiful wife do some dance party work outs on Instagram live. I never worked up a sweat and laughed so hard in my life.
• Meditate/quiet time. It sounds crazy to tell you sit still to help you lose weight but it’s true.  Taking quiet time to just sit. Is extremely helpful in make you more aware of your own thoughts and actions. Being more aware of who we are helps with binge eating and making better choice. A lot of us mindless shove food down our throats when we are not even hungry.  I’ve done it. Come in from a bad day, went to the kitchen and saw a large bag of chips and thought I will only eat a few. 15 mins later I am pushing the bag into the trash can with regret and guilt.  Don’t get too into the “how” to meditate. Start by sitting quietly. Set a timer for five or ten minutes. Focus on your breath coming in and going out. Your mind is going to start thinking about chores you need to get done, emails that need to be answered, is that a car outside my house, what is that bird I am hearing out my window, I should get into bird watching……yeah, it’s going to stray.  That’s ok. Just go back to noticing your breath. That is how this works.  Some people like to listen to guided meditation, or just music. Some folks just want to sit at a park and listen to the noise or the beach and listen to the water. Just take that time to sit with yourself.  As you get more comfortable increase the time.
• You are more than a number.  Toss your scale or promise to only get on it monthly or weekly if you must.  A certain number on the scale is not going to bring you good health and happiness. Doing all the above things will but focusing hard on some number is not.  I promise you.  Clothing sizes don’t define you either. Being a certain size is not going to make life magically better. I can think of a time I was at a size everyone around told me they wished they were. I was sick, tired and miserable.  Healthy is the size you’re shooting for. That is different for all of us. You have to find your version of happy and healthy and reach for that. But it all starts with dropping the numbers game and turning on the love light for yourself. 

For the next week I challenge you to pick one off my list and try it out. Just one. Take it for a test drive and see how it feels. While your at it, think of the one thing you don’t like that your currently doing and think about dropping it for the one thing your picking from this list. So say , eating cookies after work. Maybe for the next week try coming home and having a glass of water in your favorite glass.

Now this isn’t really everything you would get working with a health coach but these are the big things we help people with. Each person is different and a coach is there to do just that, cheer you on, help and give advice. A coach is someone who keeps you accountable, listens and is in your corner. There’s a lot more to a coaching relationship. But these tips I hope are helpful to get you started to a healthy you!

Next time I’ll share a few tips on mindful eating. Simple quick ways to help you be more mindful about what you eat.  Until then, I wish you a very happiness and health in the new year!!