Cooking Class in January 2014

Have you tried cooking leafy greens before and were disappointed to find that they taste and look lousy?

Have you heard that leafy greens are really great for a healthy balanced diet but have no idea what to do with them?

Do you believe that leafy greens are only for salads?

In this class you will learn about the many benefits of glorious greens, how fun and easy it is to cook these fantastic veggies and the tools you need to prepare and enjoy them on your own.
That old saying "you are what you eat" is still true today and cooking your own food is the best way to eat whole nutritious foods that will give you energy and vitality for the life you deserve!

Join me for a fantastic opportunity to:

• learn how to cook greens properly so they look and taste good
• energize your diet and your life
• Feel lighter and think clearer
• Do something positive for yourself and your family 

Included in this class:

• 4 Recipes for the meals prepared in the class and 2 additional recipes to try on your own.
• A packet of nutrition information about glorious greens.
• A sampling of the food prepared in the class. 
• A special gift to take home.

Sign-Up Now!

Don't wait, space is limited, sign-up by January 4th and get the early bird rate of $20.00(reg $35).

                                    

Do you have a picky eater in your house?

Eeew! Not Broccoli!

Most children have an aversion to vegetables and some more than others. Then there are children who seem to be the pickiest eaters in the world with aversions to almost every food! I encountered one such child when I moved in with my husband and step-son.

I was surprised to find out that my 3 year-old step son would only eat; chicken nuggets, french fries, mac and cheese in a box, white rice, buttered white noodles, PB&J sandwiches, apples and a few other very specific white foods.

I soon realized his pickyness went further than just a preference for specific foods; he would only eat a very specific kind of french fry and when he started eating pizza (which he refused to eat at first) it had to be a specific kind/brand of pizza. Any variance of any kind from the usual, sight, smell and/or texture and he would refuse to eat it, even if it still tasted the same! So, for about two years I would make food for myself and my husband and then make his foods for him. If we tried to give him something else he would not eat anything, and then he would be up all night because he was hungry. Hungry three-year-olds who are not sleeping are very cranky come morning time!

However, there came a point when getting vegetables into him and teaching him about a healthy diet became too important to ignore. He was about 5 years-old when we decided to implement a rule that he needed to try one new food every night at dinner time. It is now three years later, he likes most vegetables I serve him and he is no longer afraid to try new foods. Ya!

If you have a picky eater here are some tools and tips that may help you both try new foods and enjoy vegetables:

1. Start out simple: start with very simple vegetables. Steamed broccoli, add a little butter and a smidgen of salt. Or boiled carrots with a small amount of butter and salt. Complex flavors usually turn picky eaters off. Also if they cannot easily identify what is on their plate they will not want to eat it. 
2. Start with very small portions, one bite of a “new food” at dinner time every day. Then over time start to increase the serving size. If you give too much to start with, the child will feel defeated before they have begun and will not even bother trying one bite. 
3. Give praise for trying new foods: even if they make a face and tell you very clearly that it is disgusting, it is important to give them positive reinforcement. Tell them they did a good job trying that new food. 
4. Don’t take it personally. Children, especially small children, live in a world that revolves around them. So when they tell you that your cooking stinks they don’t understand that they could be hurting your feelings, they are thinking about how the food affects them and that is all they are capable of right now.
5. Get your child involved in the cooking process. It was always much easier to get my step-son to try a new food when he was the one who prepare it himself. He still enjoys helping in the kitchen and is not afraid of the vegetables!
6. Admit when you have botched a recipe. If you have made something that did not turn out good and you don’t like it yourself then say that. It will lend credibility with your child. They need to know that vegetables can be cooked in a way that makes them gross and they can be cooked in a way that makes them taste awesome! Remember that if the vegetable is not completely delicious to you, it is probably gross to your child’s sensitive palate. 
7. Try new foods with your child. Pick out a food that you have never had before either, prepare it together and talk about what you like and don’t like about it. Show your child that you practice what you preach and try new foods with them!
8. Patience, above all else is mandatory! It took about three years of continuous effort, love and patience for my step-son to be able to enjoy and eat almost everything I put in front of him.

Here is a great Kale recipe that my whole family enjoys including my 8 year-old step son:

Basic No-Fat, No-Fuss, Colorful Kale

From the book: Greens Glorious Greens by Johnna Albi & Catherine Walthers

Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients:

3/4 Pound Kale (about 6 cups, chopped)

2    Cups Water

3    Carrots, peeled and quartered lengthwise

8    Ounces of Frozen Corn

      Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Wash kale and strip leaves from the stalk. Discard stalks and chop leaves into bite-size pieces. Set Aside.
2. Bring water to boil in a large skillet that has a tight-fitting lid.
3. Meanwhile, cut the quartered carrots into ½ inch pieces. Place carrots and corn in the boiling water, reduce heat. Cover skillet, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Add prepared kale to carrots and corn. Cover and cook for 4 minutes. Water should be bubbling rather vigorously but not boiling over. 
5. Sprinkle on salt to taste, stir to combine, and remove to a serving dish with a slotted spoon. Serve hot.

Wishing you patience and love in your journey to trying new foods!

Eating Greens

This week I have been trying out a new recipe almost every day from this great book that was recommended by IIN. 

Greens Glorious Greens! By Johnna Albi and CatherineWalthers is everything you ever wanted to know about greens and how to cook them. I for one am very surprised at how wonderful they actually are.

I was not a vegetable eater six years ago. I didn’t know how to cook anything that didn’t come in a box with directions. I grew up only enjoying canned green beans, corn, carrots and potatoes in every form. I also enjoyed the typical iceberg lettuce salad drenched in creamy dressing. I was offered other vegetables but vowed that I hated all of them. After joining a weight loss program six years ago, I realized that if I was going to be serious about following their plan I had to learn how to cook and how to enjoy vegetables. I wouldn’t be eating much if I didn’t start eating vegetables! At about the same time I read that in order to enjoy vegetables you have to train your palette to get used to the taste. This means you have to eat vegetables every day and the more often you eat the same ones the quicker you will like them. I decided to start with broccoli (a common, yet long hated vegetable for me), after some notable failed attempts a cooking in general and also at cooking broccoli, I began to figure out how to cook it in such a way that I could tolerate it. Over time I really started to enjoy it and now I love it!

I  have since broadened my horizons and now enjoy other “exotic” vegetables such as; onions, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, summer squash, peppers, romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, sprouts, garlic and many others.

Leafy Greens are an area of the vegetable kingdom that I have not explored much, mostly because I would see them in the store and think: “Wow, those look great and I know they are so good for me… but what the hell am I going to do with them?” As synchronicity would have it IIN recommends the Greens Glorious Greens book as a give-away to our clients. I am not about to recommend or give away anything I haven’t researched and tried myself so I decided to purchase this book on greens and then after reading it I was so excited I decided to design a cooking class around it. Seven day ago I started to try the recipes so that I could compile the ones I thought would be best for my cooking class.

I was surprised to find that after three days of eating greens, I was really enjoying them and looking forward to eating more every day. One afternoon I chose to be hungry for 3 hours and wait for greens instead of ordering at a pizza place :-) Feeling tired and overly hungry is usually my trigger for not cooking and then ordering out something greasy and heavy. But on this afternoon I wanted my next helping of leafy greens more than anything else!

Another great side effect is I have rediscovered my joy of cooking! The greens recipes in this book are easy and quick so I can make a different one each night and only spend 30 minutes doing it. This really gets my creative juices flowing and energizes me to want to do more for my own health and the health of my business.

My family is really enjoying the new recipes as well. I am so happy to have finally delved into this great new world of leafy greens, yummm!

Here are my thoughts on the greens I have tried this week: The Arugula was surprisingly yummy, the collards and Kale were mild greens that took on the flavor of what they were cooked in and were delicious. I found the broccoli rabe to be bitter and hard to enjoy in the recipe I chose. I put fresh shredded parmesan and baked chicken on mine and was able to mostly enjoy eating it. I’ll keep trying until I find the right recipe to make it tasty.

Here is a PDF of the recipes I have tried and enjoyed this week, I encourage you to broaden your horizons and try them too!

Alicia's Top Five Greens Recipes

Happy leafy green eating!

Circle of Life - 3 Month Check-In

In September I published a post called Primary Foods in which I talked about what Primary Foods are and I described the Circle of Life exercise and what it is used for. Primary foods are sources of joy and satisfaction in our everyday life that help us feel fulfilled and purposeful. Primary foods sustain us in all the ways food nutrition cannot. The Circle of Life in the two pictures to the right is an exercise to help you figure out which Primary Foods need attention in your life.

Here's a refresher on how the Circle of Life exercise works:

1. Place a dot on the line in each category to indicate how satisfied you are with each area.
   
   Place a dot at the center of the circle to indicate dissatisfaction or on the periphery to indicate satisfaction.
2. Connect the dots to see your Circle of Life. 
3. Identify imbalances. Determine where to spend more time and energy to create balance.

As you can see my Circle of Life in September was not a circle at all and had some very out of balance areas. In the past three months I have been posting about my efforts to address my Primary Foods that needed attention. I completed the exercise again last night which is the second picture:  “My Circle of Life – December 2013”. I was very surprised at the significant change. I knew there was going to be a difference in the two, but I was not expecting it to be so drastic. Since September all of the areas have improved and my circle looks a lot more like a circle!

The biggest change I have made that has had a positive affect on all of the areas of my Primary Food is in my Career. I made a decision that my job was having a very negative affect on the rest of my life and took steps to change it. You can read about how I came to my decision and the outcome in these two posts: Primary Foods - Career and Primary Foods - Career Part 2. Making the decision to empower myself has increased my Joy/Confidence, and improved my areas of Health, Relationships and my Career. I still have areas to work on and now I have the desire and ambition to do it!

This exercise has been eye opening for me and I believe it is a great way to first find the areas in your life that need balance and then to track your progress. I encourage everyone to try this exercise, see where you need balance and then make a list of action steps that will help you get there.

If you are interested in completing the Circle of Life for yourself please leave me your email in the comments section below and I will send the form to you.

Wishing you balance and joy!

Going Dry - Follow Up

Time for the follow-up! It’s been more than a month since we decided to "go dry" and here is what happened. For each level that I thought alcohol consumption affected us, we have noticed great improvement J

1. Money - we spend money on wine, beer and tequila on a pretty regular basis: We saved about $150 per month between not buying alcohol and less eating out
2. Poor Eating - when we drink we make extra trips to the store to buy the alcohol, while there we usually decide we want junk food to go with our alcohol, so we spend more money to eat junk food and don't use the good food we have in the house: The poor eating has been reduced to about 10% of our diet as opposed to 30% before going dry. I think this is a good ratio as eating healthy 90% of time is a healthy balance.
3. Unwanted Habits - drinking on a regular basis the way we do encourages us to sit in front of the t.v. for a couple of hours every night instead of doing all the other things we are always saying we want to do; i.e. exercise, read interesting books, work on our respective businesses we're starting, etc.: This one was the biggest for us. It became very apparent to us just how much the alcohol consumption was affecting us physically and mentally. When we decided the dry spell was over and started having some drinks again, we both noticed how horrible the alcohol made us feel. We noticed these negative affects in the same night we drank and then the next day as well even though we only had two drinks each. We are now positive that drinking alcohol saps us of energy and motivation needed to pursue anything other than sitting in front of the t.v.

My motivation, energy and clarity increased ten-fold:

• I made a proposal to my boss to change my working situation
• I started a newsletter
• Created my Logo
• Found my Target Market
• Finished setting up my website.
• Created a Facebook page for my business

My husband also noticed the following changes for himself:

• He is finishing multiple projects and starting new ones
• He is less “groggy” in the morning
• He drinks more tea and water throughout the day
• His thoughts are focused on more things besides the next drink in the evenings
• His stomach has stopped aching at night
• He believes that he never would have known any of this if he hadn’t stopped drinking and then started again while carefully monitoring how he felt and acted.

This has been an eye opening experience for us both. I personally have decided that drinking alcohol will be reserved for special occasions and will not be consumed regularly like I was doing. My husband is much more aware of how it affects him and is choosing the times he consumes more carefully.

Here are my top five benefits for stopping or reducing alcohol consumption:

1. More Energy
2. Increased Mental clarity and Motivation
3. Improved physical comfort
4. Monetary savings
5. Improved out-look on life

If you are consuming alcohol more than once a week I encourage you to think about how it is affecting your life. How do you think your life could be different if you stopped? What goals and dreams could you achieve if you had the mental clarity and motivation needed to start taking action?

Wishing you balance and clarity in living your dreams!

Write a Book!

In the past three months I have encountered the idea of writing a book twice. Once through a webinar by Andrea Beaman about her Master Coaching in Action Program and again when I visited the website of one of the IIN lecturers Karen Witzig Rozell. Karen and her husband Drew wrote a book called Write Now.

According to both websites the reasons to write your own book as a Health Coach are; to get clear about the message you want people to know, narrow down your target market, attract the kind of people you want to work with and to increase your sales. You can use your book as a glorified business card!

I am intrigued by this idea and after thinking about writing a book for my Health Coaching practice I decided that just starting with the first steps; writing my thesis/mission statement and creating an outline, would really help me get focused on what I have to offer my clients. I will be able to answer questions such as: What am I an expert in and what will my clients gain from working with me? Once I have completed these steps I can then tailor my program around that message and have a solid direction to move in.

I believe this concept can be applied to other areas of life as well. Are you feeling like you are floundering or wandering aimlessly through life with no real direction? Or maybe you know where you want to go but the process of getting there is overwhelming and cloudy?

Try creating a thesis/mission statement and an outline for your life. What is the single most important goal in your life right now? Use that as your mission statement, now start creating an outline for accomplishing that goal. When you start filling in the pieces of your outline you will begin to understand the action steps needed to achieve your goal.

Here's a very simple example:

Mission Statement: Cooking with Greens is an important part of a healthy lifestyle.

Outline:

Chapter 1: Cooking Utensils

Chapter 2: Purchasing and Storing Greens

Chapter 3: Methods for preparing and cooking greens

Chapter 4: Recipes

When you fill in all the chapters of this outline you will have the knowledge and experience necessary to increase the greens in your diet and become more healthy. You can apply this strategy to going on vacation, getting the job you want, and any other goal that you have.

I will definitely be doing this for my Health Coaching practice and I encourage you to try it out for your own goals, see if it helps you get a clear picture of what you really want. Who knows, when you are done maybe you will even have a book to publish ;-)

Wishing you success in reaching your goals!

Primary Foods - Career - Part 2

Reference: Primary Foods - Career - Part 1

Just two weeks to get a response in writing! My boss took my proposal seriously and we were able to come to an agreement. My last day as a full-time employee will be on the 22^nd. After that day I will continue working on a temporary part-time basis at an hourly rate. I am very happy to say that is the outcome I had hoped for!

This experience has been empowering to say the least. Sending the email to my boss was very hard for me because I knew once I did, there was no turning back. I was scared to step outside of my comfort-zone and take a risk. I have never been a risk taker and living that way landed me in a career that I didn't enjoy and was sapping away the love and joy from all it was providing. Fear can be debilitating and it can rob you of your dreams. One of the most valuable things I have learned from IIN and something they say a lot throughout the curriculum is “Feel the fear and do it anyway”. It is okay to feel afraid but don't let it stop you from going after what you really want.

It is scary to follow your dreams, to step outside the box and move in a direction that is full of unknowns. However it is also exciting, energizing, amazing and life-saving to take a chance and go for what you truly believe in and live your life as you know you were meant to.  Since I made a decision to stop being “comfortable” and start living authentically for me I have had unbelievable energy and motivation. I am actively working towards getting my Health Coaching business started, I sleep better at night, I am completely motivated to take care of myself and I am finally losing weight! I know it’s going to be challenging from here on in and I am absolutely ready for it.

Are you ready to step outside your comfort zone, move forward inspite of your fear and take a chance at what you really love?

Wishing you strength and ambition as you follow your dreams!

Target Market??

As part of the IIN program there are scheduled “Coaching Calls” once or twice a month where seven
students are paired up with a practicing Health Coach so we can get real-world guidance from an actual practicing Health Coach. It's not a requirement to attend every call and this week I was the only student to call in. It was a great one-on-one session with my Coach.

The topic for this call was Target Markets. My response so far to this idea has been, "Ugh! What?! Do I really need one?! It seems to me that almost everyone needs a Health Coach so why do I need to Target a specific group or market?" The answers to these questions are:

1. Yes, I do indeed need to know what my target market is. 
2. Without one I will be floundering around and not attracting any clients at all. 
3. Not every person who needs a Health Coach will be a good fit for my coaching style.

So, for the past five months I've been struggling to figure out what my target market is. The few ideas even worth writing down didn't resonate with me or get me excited, and when I started thinking about how to market to these groups I completely drew a blank. I was feeling frustrated!

During my call with my Coach she was able to give me seven questions that I can ask myself to help me figure out what my target market is:

1. What types of people are in need of Health Coaching?
2. What types of people do I relate to the most?
3. What am I most passionate about?
4. What do I already know? – What motivates me?
5. Who do I already know?
6. Where do I find these people?
7. How do I create a message directed to these people?

I was surprised to find that after answering these questions, the three target markets I had been struggling with were either not specific enough or were targeting types of people that I don’t actually relate to or agree with. Your target market should be people you relate to and enjoy spending time with, otherwise your clients will drain you of energy and joy and you will not be excited to practice. 

I think this exercise applies to our personal relationships as well. Are the people in your life people you relate to? Are they passionate about the same things you are? Do you enjoy spending time with them?

When I was thinking about my answer to question #3, I realized that the things I am most passionate about are not things that I have been actively engaging in lately. Why is that? Could that be the reason for the nagging feelings of un-fulfillment? Ask yourself this question and think about whether or not you are spending time doing things you love. This is Primary Food and incredibly important!

I haven’t finished working through the seven questions yet and I still don't have a target market, but I now have a way to move forward with choosing one and a new perspective on my life as a whole. Whether or not you are working on your target market, I encourage you to consider and contemplate questions #2 and #3 and think about how it applies to your life as it is right now.

Wishing you fulfillment in your passionate pursuits!

Primary Foods: Career

Wow, this is a huge one for so many people and definitely a big one for me! I have been struggling with dissatisfaction at my job for about 4 years now. The past two years being the hardest. While I am on the path to changing my career with my schooling at IIN, the level of stress and negative energy that comes from working at my job has gotten to a perilous level.

Two days ago I came home from work in a state of such anger, sadness and resentment that it oozed out of me and right into my husband. It was so palpable I could almost see the actual bad energy being absorbed by him. This sent him into a state of extreme stress and he closed himself off. For anyone who knows my husband you know that closing off is a stark contrast from his usual demeanor and a cause for high concern. While he had been dealing with his own stressors at the time, I do believe that what I brought into the house with me that day was the last straw and completely overwhelmed him.

So there we were both feeling terrible and there was happy-go-lucky Asa not having a clue as to what just happened. The rest of the night was shrouded in negative energy. We all went to bed. In the morning I felt better and Asa was happily oblivious still, but when Aaron got up it was clear that he did not feel better. By the middle of the day, after a few cajoling texts from me, he finally texted me to say that he was sorry he was feeling extremely stressed and didn’t know where it was coming from… I knew where it had come from and I felt awful! I told him I thought it was mostly because of my bad mojo and I was sorry for bringing it into the house.

It was at this point that I made a decision. This crappy job has got to go! The money and security is absolutely not worth the hardship it causes me and my family. I started writing a proposal to my boss to figure out the best scenario for me and my family that will also benefit the company. I have worked out three different scenarios, two in which I will work part-time and either get paid as an employee or as a contractor, in both the company saves money and I get more time to pursue my passions. The third scenario is I give a one –month notice and resign. While I am hoping for one of the first two scenarios I am fully prepared to accept that they may just let me resign without offering me anything to stay. If I do have to resign I will look for another job, but rest assured I will be enjoying the hell out of the time off!

I have needed to practice self-care for the last 10 years. When my best friend died ten years ago I needed a break. I was working full time during the day and going to school full-time at night. I stuck it out and paid the price five years later when I was diagnosed with cancer. I needed a break then as well. The diagnosis surgery and subsequent radiation treatments were overwhelming to say the least, but I pushed through and did not take a break. Through all of this I continued to work in a job that created high levels of stress and dissatisfaction. Today, I am 100 lbs over-weight, stressed to the max, my body is in constant pain everyday and I have a hard time doing any of the physical activities I enjoy. I am at a point now where I feel if I don't make drastic changes soon I will be setting myself up for another health disaster.

Witnessing how my stress level affected those I cherish and how my suffering every day affects my husband was the last straw for me. Money does not buy happiness, doing it for the money or the stability is a piss poor excuse for not taking care of myself. It is not an excuse I will be using anymore!

Now is the time to take care of myself! Life is now, it does not happen yesterday or tomorrow, it is now in every single moment we are alive and breathing, life is now and now is the time to live life authentically and to our fullest potential.  

Wishing you a fulfilling and authentic life!

Tis the season for soup!

Left: Spicy Black Bean / Right: Root Vegetable

Fall is my favorite time of year, I love the cooler weather, the pretty colors on the trees, the clean smell in the air and hot soups to warm me up.

I love soups! Pretty much every kind of soup is a friend to me, so I was very happy yesterday when I spent time turning those wonderful veggies in the photo into soothing soups for the week.

Here are my tops six favorite things about soups:

1. They are easy to prepare.
2. You can throw in almost any ingredient, which is great when you have leftovers or a lot of veggies you don't know what to do with.
3. They are great as a lunch or dinner. 
4. You can make them light or hearty depending on whether or not you want them to be the main attraction or a side dish.
5. They only require simple tools and techniques so that anyone can prepare them.
6. Soups are a great way to add more veggies into your diet.

Yesterday I used the veggies and beans in the picture above to make two different soups. One soup I made in a crock pot and the other I cooked in a pot on the stove. Crock pots are great if you really don't want to do anything. You just add your ingredients and turn it on, 4 - 6 hours later you have hot and yummy soup! Cooking soup on the stove is great if you want is to be done sooner. You can make it in about 30 minutes on the stove depending on what you want in your soup.

Here are some basic tools and ingredients to make your own yummy soups:

Kitchen Tools and Appliances:

• Large pot with a lid.
• Bowls with lids(can be glass or plastic)
• Measuring cup for liquids(2 cup measure).
• Soup Ladle
• Mixing spoon or spatula
• Good kitchen knife for chopping, slicing etc.
• Measuring spoons for Tablespoon and Teaspoon.
• Vegetable Peeler
• Cutting board

Basic Ingredients:

• Canned Diced Tomatoes
• Canned or boxed Vegetable Broth
• Water
• Brown Rice or other whole grain
• Beans - any kind
• Onions
• Carrots
• Celery
• Spices you enjoy. 

I found this basic and easy vegetable soup recipe on www.chow.com.This recipe allows you to easily substitute any vegetables, grains or beans you want to use:

Basic Vegetable Soup Recipe

INGREDIENTS

·         4 teaspoons olive oil

·         1 medium onion, medium dice

·         Kosher salt

·         Freshly ground black pepper

·         2 medium carrots, medium dice

·         2 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped

·         1 celery stalk, medium dice

·         2 cups additional vegetables of your choice (such as red pepper, cabbage, asparagus, mushrooms, fennel, or peas), medium dice

·         1 bay leaf (optional)

·         1 pinch dried thyme (optional)

·         1 quart low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

·         1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, medium dice

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  Heat the olive oil in a large cooking pot over medium-high heat until simmering. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the carrots and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is fragrant, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the celery and, if using, any hearty vegetables (such as cabbage and fennel) and the bay leaf and thyme. Season again with salt and pepper and cook an additional 5 minutes.
4.    Add the broth, potatoes, and any quicker-cooking vegetables (such as asparagus and peas). Let the soup come to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and gently simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork, about 15 to 25 minutes. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper as needed.

 Happy Soup Making!

All you need is Love

Today is my 33^rd Birthday. When I came downstairs this morning to get ready for work there was a large vase of beautiful yellow roses and lilies, a giant over-sized card that my step-son Asa made for me himself and a prettily wrapped box from my husband Aaron and Asa.  My Mom called me this morning to wish me a Happy Birthday. There was a card in the mail box from my Mother-in-Law and her Husband and I received many well wishes from friends and family on Facebook and through text messages.  All  acts of love and kindness.

I believe the purest love a person can experience is the love of a child. There is something that pulls at the deepest level of your heart when you know you're loved by a child.  The love of my step-son Asa is even more meaningful to me. We do not have the same kind of parent-child bond that he has with his Mom and Dad, but we have built our relationship over the past five years and have grown to love and respect each other very much.

Asa called me from his Mom’s house this morning to wish me a Happy Birthday, to tell me he loves me and he hopes I have a good Birthday. This expression of his love moved me to tears of joy. I am a very fortunate person to have earned his love and I am grateful for it.

I realized after my phone call with Asa just how much of an impact a small act of love can have. It was three minutes out of his day but it meant the world to me.

In reflecting on my life today I asked myself “So what have I learned in 33 years of living?”. I came to the conclusion that the one most important thing I have learned is that The Beatles were right… All you need is love and love is all you need. Giving and receiving love is paramount to any other activity of life; without love babies fail to thrive and grow, without love elderly and sick people die sooner, without love no human is happy and fulfilled. Love is all we need and love is all around.

Please spend five minutes every day, starting today, thinking about what you are grateful for, the people you love and those who love you. Commit one small act of kindness and love everyday and see what fulfillment comes into your life.

Wishing you much love, health and wellness!

Primary Foods: Social Life

I have no social life to speak of outside my household. I work all day in a cubicle by myself, then I spend my nights and weekends with my Husband and Step-Son, whom I love very much and enjoy spending time with. However, everyone needs to disconnect from their life sometimes, to socialize with someone who is outside your immediate circle and to talk about your struggles with people who are experiencing the same things.

What better way is there to improve this Primary Food than to start a weight-loss support group? This will be addressing two Primary Foods at the same time; Social Life and Health. I have weight loss goals of my own to reach and going it alone is proving to be ineffective. I have used weight-loss support groups in the past and they were very effective. This group will be more intimate and will  focus on bio-individuality to help members achieve their goals. 

In one of our modules for IIN we watched a lecture from Dr. Mark Hyman, author of the "Blood Sugar Solution" and many other books. He spoke about a plan he created called the Daniel Plan. To implement this plan he approached a church community of 14 thousand people and had all these people agree to enroll in the Daniel Plan. They met in small groups for six weeks and in that time they lost a total of 160,000 pounds! In the lecture Dr. Hyman states that our social networks determine our behavior, for example;  if your social network is a community of like minded people with similar goals to your own, you are more likely to reach your goals and vice versa. I agree with Dr. Hyman wholeheartedly, it is much easier to make permanent healthy changes when you have support from people who are doing the same thing. 

In the right Weight-Loss Support group you can:

• Find a solid support system.
• Stick to your goals for your health and weight.
• Learn from your fellow members, and figure out what works for your body and lifestyle.
• Have Fun and Socialize!

If you are trying to lose weight I urge you not to go it alone, look for a weight-loss support group in your area or start one of your own. If you live in my area and are looking for a support group to help you achieve your weight-loss goals please consider joining mine! My Flyer is below.

Wishing you whole health and happiness!

Going Dry

Last weekend on the drive home from our semi-weekly shopping trip, my husband and I discussed how much money we have been spending on alcohol in the past few months and as result how much we have been consuming.

While my husband does not believe that our consumption of alcohol is having any negative effects on us, I suggested that we try to go "dry" for a length of time; in this case stop purchasing and drinking alcohol for a month, maybe two. My theory is that our consumption of alcohol affects us on three levels;
1. Money - we spend money on wine, beer and tequila on a pretty regular basis. 2. Poor Eating - when we drink we make extra trips to the store to buy the alcohol, while there we usually decide we want junk food to go with our alcohol, so we spend more money to eat junk food and don't use the good food we have in the house. 3. Unwanted Habits - drinking on a regular basis the way we do encourages us to sit in front of the t.v. for a couple of hours every night instead of doing all the other things we are always saying we want to do; i.e. exercise, read interesting books, work on our respective businesses we're starting, etc..

My husband has agreed to stop consuming alcohol as long as I track our expenses so we can compare this next month of no alcohol to our previous month of drinking alcohol and see if we really do save money. I already do this tracking on a regular basis as part of our budgeting so it will be no problem to track it going forward. We agreed last Sunday that once the alcohol in the house was gone we would not purchase anymore for a month and I would start tracking. Today starts our first week of alcohol free living and I am very interested to see how it affects our daily lives as well as our bank account.

Ten good reasons to reduce your consumption of alcohol:

1. Extremely Diuretic: causing dehydration; and as a result other health problems.
2. Highly Addictive
3. Weakens the immune system
4. Increases risk of cancers: mouth, esophagus, throat, liver and breast.
5. Liver Damage: Fibrosis, Cirrhosis, Steatosis (Fatty Liver)
6. Heart damage: Cardiomyopathy, Stroke, High Blood Pressure
7. Expensive: alcohol can be a monetary burden due to high costs and repeated expenditure.
8. Drowsiness
9. Lethargy
10. Weight gain – calories from alcohol have no nutritional value for the body,can cause cravings for fatty and sugary foods and mindless eating. 

Just in case you were wondering exactly how many calories you are drinking, here are a few examples:

Tequila: 1.5 ounces = 100 cal =
3 1/4 cups of broccoli.
Hoegaarden Beer: 1 bottle = 176 cal =
25 cups of spinach.
Red Wine: 4 ounce glass = 100 cal =
3 3/4 cups of cherry tomatoes.

That is an incredible amount of veggies for three drinks! I don't think I could eat 25 cups of spinach in a day, but I know that I definitely have consumed three or more bottles of beer in less than six hours.

This week try to substitute one of your alcoholic drinks for a calming herbal tea, a glass of water, or a couple of giant salads!

Wishing you whole health and happiness!

Water - The Magic Elixir

I noticed the other day that I have, for some reason unknown to me, almost completely stopped drinking water in the past two-weeks. Sometimes when we are running through our busy day it is really hard to remember to eat lunch, say nothing about remembering to drink the amount of water our body needs! So I wanted to post a friendly reminder about how important it is to drink water and what it does for our bodies.

Nine reasons water is important:

1.       The human body is made up of 75% water and the human brain is 85% water.

2.       Water is in every cell, tissue and organ in our body.

3.       Without adequate water the body cannot be healthy and is at higher risk for disease and illness.

4.       Water is the foundation of life

5.       Water generates life on the planet

6.       Water helps your body keep a normal temperature

7.       Water lubricates and cushions your joints

8.       Water protects your spinal cord and other sensitive tissues

9.       Water gets rid of wastes through urination, perspiration and bowel movements

Here are some signs that you may not be getting enough water:

·         Backaches

·         Headaches

·         Digestive problems

·         Fatigue

·         Hunger

·         Sugar cravings

·         Confusion.

There is no substitute for water; Coffee, tea, soda, alcohol and energy drinks are not water!  They contain water, but they also contain dehydrating agents. These drinks will not replenish the water supply your body needs.

In your travels today try drinking a glass of water when you feel hungry, tired, have a headaches or a sugar craving. Have an 8oz glass of water first, before you eat, take a pain reliever or go for another cup of coffee, see how it makes you feel… I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Primary Foods - Week 2

A short road that runs behind my work office

 To follow-up from last week, I did successfully implement my walking plan at work. It was incredibly helpful!

Getting up every two hours and taking a brisk five minute walk was refreshing and the pain I usually feel in my knees, hips and lower back was not there at all. It also really helped with my overall mood at work.

Near the end of the week when deadlines were looming I was waiting longer to stop and take a walking break and I could definitely feel it! It was very clear to me how important it is for my wellbeing and productivity to get up and move. When I am in the thick of deadlines and time constraints I get caught up in the stress and I believe that I need to keep going, taking a break of any kind will be a distraction and cause me to miss my deadline. I discovered last week that the opposite is true, I am more productive and clear headed when I get up and walk outside for a few minutes. While it is a distraction from work, in the sense that I stop working for five minutes, the movement of my body and breathing fresh air keeps my mood up and my head clear. I am actually happy to be working on the projects I am working on and feel good about getting them done instead of feeling overwhelmed and angry.

Shieling Forest

Shieling Forest

I am still working on adding in activity after work. With work, school, being a Step-Mom and a Wife I have found that it is not as easy to fit in 20 minutes of walking at the end of the day as I thought it would be. Over the weekend my husband and I stopped at Shieling Forest, which is a 10 minute drive from our house and about 5 minutes from my office. I have included some pictures of the trail we walked. This place has short and easy trails through the forest that are beautiful. While we were there I thought, "I need to spend more time here, this place is perfect!" My goal for this week is to continue with the five minute walking breaks through-out the day and then go to Sheiling Forest twice this week after work before I go home so that I can take a quick 20 minute walk through the beautiful forest.

I am very happily surprised at how small changes can make such a big difference I am excited to continue working on increasing my activity and then also working on my other Primary Foods that need attention in the coming weeks.

How have your own efforts to increase activity been going? What are you finding difficult or easy? Have you noticed any improvements since adding in more activity? I encourage you to keep trying and keep increasing in whatever way works best for you.

Wishing you whole health and wellness!

Primary Foods

At IIN (Institute for Integrative Nutrition) we learn about the concept of Primary Foods versus Secondary Foods. Contrary to what you may be thinking, Primary Foods are not actual foods. Primary foods are sources of joy and satisfaction in our everyday life that help us feel fulfilled and purposeful. Primary foods sustain us in all the ways food nutrition cannot. I believe that a person can have the healthiest diet and exercise regimen in the world and still be unhealthy and sick if they have imbalance in their primary foods.  

My next step in addressing my mood issues and bringing balance and fulfillment into my life is to work on my own primary foods. The picture to the right is called the Circle of life, it is part of an exercise to figure out the areas of Primary Foods that need attention. It can also be used as a tool for tracking progress. I can do this exercise every month or at other intervals to see what progress I have made.

This is how the exercise works:

1. Place a dot on the line in each category to indicate how satisfied you are with each area. Place a dot at the center of the circle to indicate dissatisfaction or on the periphery to indicate satisfaction.
2. Connect the dots to see your Circle of Life. 
3. Identify imbalances. Determine where to spend more time and energy to create balance.

You can see from the dots and connected lines on my Circle of life that there is some imbalance. My Circle of life is definitely not a circle! My primary foods that need attention are Career, Health, Physical Activity, Social Life, Confidence and Spirituality. Over the next four weeks I am going to address these areas of imbalance and let you know how I am doing it.

In the 1st week (Starting today) I am going to work on Physical Activity and Career. Two areas that are connected and have a large impact on my daily well being and level of happiness. I have a job that requires me to sit in front of a computer for about 8-9 hours a day, spending my days like this has caused back and neck issues for which I go to a chiropractor and a massage therapist. There is a lot of pain on most days and this situation is not helped by the fact that 50% of time my job is so stressful, with tight deadlines that I don't get up from the chair for up to four hours at a time. Couple that with a complete lack of exercise outside of work and you have a stiff, painful and out of shape body. Therefore my goal for this week is to take a 5 minute walking or stretching break every two hours while at work and to add in 20 minutes of walking every night after work.

I will be implementing this by creating alarms on my phone to go off every two hours while at work to remind me to get up and move as well as reminders in my calendar so I don't forget to walk after work. If you are also trying to increase your level of activity I invite you to join me; create reminders and/or alarms for yourself to get up and move, whatever it is that you like to do for movement is great! Let me know how you are adding in daily activity by posting a comment at the bottom of this post.

 Wishing you whole health and wellness!