When self-doubt creeps in on your journey to optimal health, remember this: it’s about progress, not perfection – and 'set-backs' are normal.
Why is it so hard to lose weight? Because your body has a set point. This is the point at which your body knows it’s safe and can survive. It takes time, work & patience to change the set point. What determines your set point? The foods you eat. How much food you eat. How much movement your body gets throughout the day. All you daily habits - your lifestyle - add up to your set point.
Habits are a hard thing to change. And I get it – sometimes you just need that sweet treat. And that’s okay! Even health coaches have cravings sometimes, and I personally let my body have what it’s asking for – within reason.
We all know processed sugar isn’t good for you. There really isn’t such a thing as 'healthy' ice cream, 'healthy' cookies or 'healthy' cake. If it has processed flour and sugar, it’s not “good for you”, and foods go one way or the other - it’s either fighting disease or feeding it. Be mindful of this, but also don’t deprive yourself to the point where you will binge at your breaking point & quit.
With this in mind, remember there are healthier options when it comes to sweet treats. Arctic Zone is my favorite ice cream sweet treat. It doesn’t have all the sugar and icky ingredients most ice cream has. As far as cake, if you can make your own from scratch, that’s amazing. Just be mindful of the quality of ingredients you’re using. If it’s a box cake, pay attention to the ingredient list. Are there ingredients in there you can’t pronounce? Is the list so long you can barely read the font? Those are the kinds of things to consider when you’re trying to make healthier choices, but don’t want to deprive yourself.
Just remember, in a journey to weight loss – or just a journey to feel more energized, less bloated, and just better – there will be ebbs and flows. That’s natural. That’s what is supposed to happen. You won’t fail if you don’t quit. You won’t quit if you don’t deprive yourself and make small adjustments as needed. Any time you think you let yourself down or you ruined your day with a food choice or two, remember it’s not a failure.
You’re learning how to navigate what your body needs. Be gentle with yourself.
If this was helpful for you, join my Facebook group where you can find more wellness tips – free of charge. <3
You can also grab my free guide on 3 Easy Steps to Lose Weight and Feel Amazing here.
Do you ever skip breakfast? End up having lunch at 2? Eat your dinner just an hour or two before you go to bed?
I’ve definitely been guilty of this, and it does not make for a happy digestive system!
When I don’t stick to routine mealtimes, it completely throws everything off. I end up having a late dinner, and when this happens, I’m usually going to bed full.
At least for me, this makes for a night of less-than-ideal sleep, not to mention it’s not a healthy habit for keeping a healthy weight.
We all get busy. Life happens. Work gets overwhelming. You name it.
But know this: our bodies thrive on routine.
Don’t skip breakfast
Having a healthy breakfast in the morning will help curb cravings throughout the day. Have your breakfast at approximately the same time every morning to start your day off on the right foot. Plus, having your breakfast too late may cause you to have a late lunch, which pokes holes in the rest of your daily routine.
Eat lunch at the same time
Skip the snacking and go straight to lunch. Not only is this a great way to maintain a healthy weight (or lose weight if you’re a big snacker), but this will help keep your body in its routine and give you time to get hungry for dinner. Of course, if you really do get hungry between breakfast and lunch, don’t deprive yourself of food. The idea here is you’re not filling yourself up on snacking between breakfast and lunch that you don’t end up eating lunch until 2pm.
Have a set “dinnertime”
If you’ve followed the steps for breakfast and lunch, you’ll be hungry for dinner! The same idea goes here with snacking. Don’t overdo it to the point where you’re not hungry for dinner until 8pm. Having a stable eating schedule gives your body the routine it craves.
Don’t let busyness get in the way - and turn screens off
Make mealtimes a priority and set time aside to nourish your body. This is self-care! And if you can, turn the screens off while you’re eating. Most of us already have too much screen time in the first place, but the screens are also a distraction. While you’re eating, focus on eating. This will help keep you from overeating, and will help get some family bonding time in – or just some me-time.
If this was helpful for you, join my Facebook group where you can find more wellness tips – free of charge. <3
You can also grab my free guide on 3 Easy Steps to Lose Weight and Feel Amazing here.
Have you ever had such a busy weekend that you’re more exhausted than rejuvenated once it’s over?
Or when you get back from a trip and feel like you “need a vacation from your vacation.” Have you been there?
What about when you’ve had to put in HOURS of overtime at work and you’re just SO burnt out?
My suggestion to you…is not to just push through these feelings of overwhelm. My suggestion to you is to take care of yourself. Listen to your body. Take a personal day. Dedicate a day to doing absolutely nothing.
It’s okay to not have productive days. The funny thing is, having non-productive days can make you have more productive days. Knowing when to give yourself a break is self-intuition. It’s self-care. Self-love.
Your body is talking to you always. You just need to love yourself enough to listen and give your body what it needs.
The majority of health issues these days are stress related. Which means they’re lifestyle related. Which means we have the power to take back control!
If you’re not sure what to do on your “personal day” here are some of the things I do:
1. Clean. Sometimes I just need a day to catch up on housework. Dishes, vacuuming, laundry. This isn’t exactly “doing nothing” but sometimes it’s really just what I need.
2. Stay in your pajamas ALL. DAY. LONG.
3. Sleep in. Or take an afternoon nap. Or both.
4. Indulge in some Netflix binging.
5. Aromatherapy. Breathe in relaxing essential oils like lavender, stress away, orange.
6. Yoga. It’s awful but when life gets busy, self-care practices are the first to go. But this is when we need it most! When I fall out of my yoga routine, my muscles tense up. My neck, back & shoulders especially. And after my body has had enough of my ignoring of this need, it screams for attention via a massive headache and very stiff neck.
It’s okay to have days where you do nothing. Don’t forget to treat yourself like someone you love, take care of yourself & give your body what it’s asking for.
If this was helpful for you, join my Facebook group where you can find more wellness tips – free of charge. <3
You can also grab my free guide on 3 Easy Steps to Lose Weight and Feel Amazing here.
I had been on a journey trying to figure out the root of my eczema for years before discovering the undeniable connections between skin issues and gut health.
I had absolutely no idea the two were related until my first health coach introduced the concept to me, and it made complete and total sense.
When there’s something wrong on the inside, it shows up on the outside. Eczema, acne, almost every single skin issue is a reflection of an imbalance within. A microbiome in dysbiosis (AKA an imbalanced gut) trickles down to almost every physical & emotional aspect of your body. Infertility, depression, anxiety, inflammation - it’s all related to the health of your gut! Your microbiome!
So what does that mean for your skin?
The first thing my dermatologist told me to do was stop using products with fragrance. This one piece of information completely rocked my world.
Do you know what fragrance is in?
Literally almost everything in the personal care product section of the grocery store.
Do you know what fragrance does?
Not only is it a skin irritant (which is why any doctor will tell you to avoid it when dealing with eczema – or even a UTI) but it’s an endocrine disrupter.
What does this mean?
It means it makes a mess of your hormones, and many of your hormones are housed in your gut. If your gut is out of whack, this shows up on your skin. You can read more about this in my blog post “Why I Never Buy Products with Fragrance.” Acne & eczema are the biggest examples I give for this because that’s what I’ve struggled with most in my life.
For the past 5 years or so, I’ve become much more aware of the ingredients in the personal care products I use. And I’ve been much happier using more natural products! It just makes sense to me. So - go check the products in your bathroom! Do any of them include fragrance? Switch them out one by one, and reference my previous blog post as needed. :)
If you loved this blog post, there's more where that came from in my free Facebook group here.
You can also grab my new guide on 5 Steps to Taming an Eczema Flare Up here.
Spoiler Alert: You don’t need to count your calories to lose weight.
As a Health Coach, I do not agree with the rule of “burn more calories than you consume.” I’ve never been a calorie counter, and you don’t have to be either.
Do you think 100 calories of soda and 100 calories of broccoli are processed the same by your body? Not at all! It’s time we think less about calorie intake and more about the quality of food that goes into our bodies.
I actually don’t look at the calorie count on ANYTHING I buy. I simply don’t care.
I DO look at the ingredient list.
How long is the list? Does it contain dyes? Are there really long words I don’t know how to pronounce?
Good rule of thumb: The less ingredients the better. This applies to literally everything.
You want your food to come FROM a plant, not be produced IN a plant.
Eating as close to the source as possible is ideal. More whole foods, less processed foods.
Make half your plate vegetables at lunch and dinner! Snack on carrots or apple slices and peanut butter instead of potato chips.
Counting calories puts emphasis on the wrong thing. It can also lead to obsessive behaviors and eating disorders. That’s not our end goal! And it’s not sustainable. Do you really want to be counting calories in and calories out for the rest of your life? Of course not!
All you need to do is eat more foods with less ingredients. Eat REAL food. Not the fat-free, sugar-free junk you see on store shelves. On that note, I only buy whole milk for my family because the reduced-fat versions are filled with chemicals (the fat has to be replaced with something!).
Same with sugar-free items. The sugar is replaced with chemicals. If you think soda is poison, diet soda is even worse.
Don’t think about it too hard. Look at the ingredient list and see if you recognize the ingredients. If you can pronounce them. Extra bonus points if there’s no ingredient list at all!
Stop counting your calories & start enjoying your life. Just eat real food.
