Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Top tips for navigating holiday food!

I have posted this the past couple of years, but I think it is ALWAYS worth re-visiting.  Our diets are a work in progress.  Every year that we practice wading through the holiday treats we get better and stronger!  It is almost impossible to expect that we will be able to bypass every single treat and not-so-nutritious food out there for the holidays.  But there are some things you can do to make it a little more successful - so you don't have to make such a huge New Year's Resolution to lose weight, or get back on your food plan, or whatever the goal.  And so you can simply feel good and more peaceful over the holiday season.    My holidays are so much more happy now that I don't overeat or eat sugary, fat-laden treats.  It took me a long time to get to that point, but it was worth the hard work!  Here are my top tips for navigating holiday food...

1.  Have a plan for what and when you will eat.  Without a plan it is impossible to navigate the food.  For example, eat a healthy meal before you go to a Christmas party or somewhere where there will be lots of treats.  Or instead of buying Christmas candy for stockings and having it around the house where you will graze on it all day, buy trinkets.  Or if you can't stand the thought of not having candy in the stockings, buy it at the last moment so it's not sitting around.  Another example (that I used in my last year's post) was to find other yummy crunchy treats, such as nuts, to put in bowls around the house rather than candy.  Now, of course you can overeat on those too.  But I can stop eating those much easier - yet get my crunchy fix!   

One of the most helpful things I did when I was trying to kick the sugar habit was to make a rule for myself that I had to eat my sugar at the end of a meal.  No eating it as a snack or snacking on it between meals.  You wouldn't believe the difference it made.  I didn't feel deprived because I knew I would be getting my fix.  But I had to eat it as a dessert after a meal.  After a while I ate less and less sweets, and eventually the treats just faded away because I stopped craving them.

2. Find some new recipes for tasty, healthy treats so there are things you can enjoy without the guilt.  Finding new recipes is super helpful in the quest to substitute old habits for new.  And there are lots of healthy treats you can make that taste good too and that use natural sweeteners. 

3. Don't beat yourself up if you do eat a few treats.  Just move on to the next meal and make a better choice next time.  This may take some practice...at least it did for me.  I was an "all or nothing" person.  So I had to learn how to be gentle and accepting of myself when I ate something that I hadn't planned to eat or when I ate more than I had planned.  I had to erase the thinking that if I "messed up" at one meal, then I might as well mess up for all 3 meals.  The minute you eat something outside of your plan, just renew your efforts for the next meal.

4. Try to center your activities around things rather than food.  There are so many fun things to do over the Christmas season, that it is entirely possible to center your traditions around everything but food.  We do.  Of course we have a few things that the children love that they look forward to eating.  But for the most part the fun comes from things like the nativity set that the kids play with all season long, decorating the tree, the advent calendar with little trinkets to look forward to everyday, the music, the lights, and, last but not least - the real reason for the season.  There are soooo many things to fill your season with fun without the food.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Believe!

As I have helped people with their health the past couple of years, I have thoroughly enjoyed helping people find the beauty of natural healing.  It makes so much sense.  It is gentle, noninvasive, and it works!!!!  Maybe not overnight.  But it is a wonderful process and creates permanent healing. 

HOWEVER, I have struggled with one blaring thing.  I have been working on letting go of it, because it is not my issue.  But it is a blaring thing, nonetheless.  And it is worse with people you know and love.  This is it...no matter how much you say you will try anything, no matter how much you want something to be better and feel better -  if you don't truly believe that it can happen then it won't.  Simply put. If you aren't quite sure that essential oils will work better than tylenol or other pain meds, if you aren't quite sure that a supplement like ASEA can heal you starting with every little cell in your body, if you don't believe that changing the way you eat will dramatically improve your quality of life in every way, then dabbling in it and trying it and doing it for a little while and then saying it doesn't work - that's just a formula for failure.

I challenge you to believe that there is another way!  Believe that you can figure out a way to relieve your pain, believe that you can reverse diseases like diabetes and heart disease, believe that you can let go of your weight and leave it by the wayside.  Get to the root of your problem and truly HEAL.  FOREVER!  Believe that there are tools that God has given us in this world, to naturally heal us!  Believe that there are solutions.  I can't wait to build my business and guide more people to heal naturally.  My life has been greatly enriched and continues to be enriched as I find new ways to heal and feel GREAT.  Not just good, but GREAT!  It has been a long journey for me and taken a while to navigate and figure out what really works best for my own body.  But it has been so worth it!  I don't miss eating what everyone else eats, for I have found food that makes my body sing that tastes wonderful to me.  I don't miss going to the doctor's office to get antibiotics.  I don't miss relying on doctors to tell me what is wrong.  I feel so empowered to have learned how to be the healer in my own home.  I challenge each of you to look deep inside, see what is missing, and BELIEVE that there is a solution to your problem!  And if you need help, I am here!  Email me at wholefoodswholelife@gmail.com for pricing and coaching programs. We will be Certified Health Coaching soon!  But for now check in with Whole Foods Whole Life.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Welcome to Certified Health Coaching!


We have created Certified Health Coaching as a means to help strengthen families.  We believe that the importance of a strong family in today's society is paramount and many of the societal ills today can be cured by the collective effort of strengthening families.  Enter life's stresses, unhealthy food, lack of exercise, and all-around lack of time, it is hard for parents to help in creating this change.  Our hope is that through this coaching, we can help transform you, and in turn you will help transform and strengthen your family!  There is nothing better than a happy home.  We are here to help you attain that goal!

These are some changes you can expect to see through the work you will do with us at Certified Health Coaching...

Increase in energy
Increase in mental clarity
Decrease of stress and overwhelm
Increased immunity (i.e. milder and less frequent illnesses)
Decreased cravings
Weight loss