Tag Archives: healthy living

The Health Benefits of Green Matcha Tea

anti-aging

If you are concerned with remaining ageless, losing weight, or just boosting your intake of antioxidants, green matcha tea needs to be on your radar. I’m all about agelessness and skipping botox for life, so these days you will find me in my office alternating between sipping green matcha and getting my daily water intake in. Although green matcha tea comes from Camellia sinesis the same plant that green tea is derived from they do have some key differences. Green matcha is essentially stone ground tea leaves, and is grown by keeping the plant covered for 20-30 days which increases chlorophyll production, boosts amino acid content, and makes for a darker green hue.

To give you a clearer picture about how potent green tea matcha is, to get the effects and similar nutrient content of one cup, you’d have to consume 10 cups of green tea. Green matcha is extremely high in antioxidants, which are act as our bodies’ defense agents, lower our risk for chronic disease, and work to stabilize free radicals and slow the aging process. Green tea matcha actually contains more antioxidants than goji berries, pomegranate, blueberries, acai, broccoli, and spinach, all of which are antioxidant powerhouses. When it comes to weight loss green tea matcha has been shown in studies to increase the oxidation of fat, especially in women. Another small study that was conducted on men, showed that taking green tea extract during moderate exercise was able to increase fat burning by 17%.

Other researched benefits of green tea matcha include improved mood and mental performance due to some of the main constituents in the tea including: phytochemicals, small amounts of caffeine, L-theanine, and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). L-theanine promotes alertness and helps to keep energy levels stable after consuming caffeine, and has also been shown to boost alpha wave activity in the brain which can provide you with an awesome dose of relaxation and decrease your stress levels. Catechins are beneficial compounds found in green tea, and have been estimated to be 137 times greater in green tea matcha. ECGC is a type of catechin that has anti-cancer properties and is abundant in matcha.

After learning about all of the amazing ways matcha can enhance your health, you are most likely wanting to know how to best prepare it so you can reap the wonderful benefits. The good news is, preparing matcha is simple. You can buy matcha powder in bulk or in prepackaged smaller packets already portioned out, and mix 2-4 grams of matcha powder or 1-2 teaspoons into 8-10 oz of hot water. For thinner tea use more water. To spice things up you can also get creative and add milk or non-dairy milk and make green matcha lattes. -XO Raw Girl

References:

Dietz C, Dekker M. Effect of Green Tea Phytochemicals on Mood and Cognition.
Curr Pharm Des. 2017;23(19):2876-2905. doi: 10.2174/1381612823666170105151800.
Review. PubMed PMID: 28056735.

Willems MET, Şahin MA, Cook MD. Matcha Green Tea Drinks Enhance Fat Oxidation
During Brisk Walking in Females. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2018 Sep
1;28(5):536-541. doi: 10.1123/ijsnem.2017-0237. Epub 2018 Jun 19. PubMed PMID:
29345213.

Venables MC, Hulston CJ, Cox HR, Jeukendrup AE. Green tea extract ingestion,
fat oxidation, and glucose tolerance in healthy humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008
Mar;87(3):778-84. PubMed PMID: 18326618.

Yamabe N, Kang KS, Hur JM, Yokozawa T. Matcha, a powdered green tea,
ameliorates the progression of renal and hepatic damage in type 2 diabetic OLETF
rats. J Med Food. 2009 Aug;12(4):714-21. doi: 10.1089/jmf.2008.1282. PubMed PMID:
19735169.

10 Fundamentals of Self-Care

anxiety

One of the true markers of health is resilience, the ability to bounce back after any major or minor stressor. The regular practice of self-care to “fill your well” helps to increase your resilience and boost your overall health long term. Below are fundamentals of self-care to help you focus attention and create healthy rituals in specific dimensions of your wellness. -XO Raw Girl

Proper Nutrition: Eating properly is essential to good health and spending the time to really assess what your nutritional requirements are is key. All of us are different, and it’s important to remove any foods that cause inflammation, allergens, or even mild food sensitivities. You can also spend time assessing the appropriate levels of protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates that makes you feel at your best, and place emphasis on eating whole unprocessed foods.
Water is needed by your body to function properly and to encourage proper elimination. To determine the amount of water that is adequate for you, divide your body weight in half and drink that many fluid ounces of water. For a woman weighing 140 pounds, 70 fluid ounces of water will be ideal to keep her hydrated and the metabolic processes in her body functioning optimally.There is a thing as too much water, so you can generally try not to exceed 125 fluid ounces.
Sleep is the pillar of health that must be the foundation for other aspects of wellness like diet and exercise. Sleep deprivation increases our insulin resistance, influences the hormones that affect our cravings, decreases our memory recall and retention, and can decrease our alertness and motor skills while driving or at work. The sleep requirement for you is going to be unique to your body, but a good generally rule of thumb is to aim for a minimum of 7-8 hours.
Mindfulness when practiced regularly can change the course of your day for the better. Taking in deep breaths brings oxygen to the whole cellular structure and relaxation skills can help you counteract the effects of prolonged or chronic stress, and also learn to respond rather than react to stressors in your environment. Some of the most accessible forms of mindfulness include: mediation, prayer, meditative walks, journaling, yoga, Tai Chi, Qi gong, and deep breathing.
Time in Nature: Researchers are becoming more and more aware of the value of light on our psychological well-being. Sunshine can improve your attitude and boost your resilience. In tandem with this nature bathing has also been shown by scientific research to accelerate healing, reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood. Even if you are in a city environment, it’s important to find ways to occasionally engage with nature whether it be exercising in a park or visiting your local Botanical Gardens.
Exercise when practiced regularly helps sustain physical energy; reduce physical, mental, and emotional stress; and improves flexibility. In tandem with the aforementioned benefits it’s been proven that those who exercise are on average 10-20 years younger than their non-exercising counterparts. One study conducted at the University of Birmingham in the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing found that avid cyclists as old as 79 had healthy muscle and immune function equivalent to people 30 years younger than them who did not exercise. Researchers also reported the 79 year old subjects also looked as biologically as a group of people aged 20-36 who did not exercise.
Balance: Keeping an appropriate balance of those things which are important in our lives can renew our sense of well-being. A positive attitude and outlook on life is key to maintaining balanced emotionally boosting our overall resistance. Other things you can do to promote balance is to stay vigilant of your time spent working. If you spend weeks pushing super hard at work with absolutely no rest, you will eventually burnout. Learning how to add some rest and play even in a busy season is very important for maintaining g balance.
Pursuing Your Passion: One way we take care of our well-being is to pursue work and hobbies that make our hearts sing. It is essential to have engaging personal goals and objectives. The ability to accomplish our objectives provides us with a sense of accomplishment and reinforces an attitude of well-being.
Sobriety: Avoiding mood altering substances especially in excess is key to emotional and physical resilience. Besides the fact that overeating processed foods, doing drugs, or drinking excessive alcohol can wreak havoc on your health, these activities also keep you from tuning into your true emotions. You cannot maintain a lasting sense of happiness if you are constantly using substances to avoid difficult emotions that may be a signal that you need to make some changes in your life.
Self-pampering is finding time to engage in activities that reduce stress or just make you feel good. This aspect of self-care is best engaging in when you have covered the aforementioned fundamentals of getting adequate sleep, water, and proper nutrition. How you choose to pamper yourself will be unique for each person but can include activities like massages, facials, manicure and pedicures, colon hydrotherapy, acupuncture, eating gourmet meals, taking extended or mini vacations and more. Find what feels luxurious to you, and schedule in regular time to splurge on yourself, because you are worth it.

References:

Cartee GD, Hepple RT, Bamman MM, Zierath JR. Exercise Promotes Healthy Aging
of Skeletal Muscle. Cell Metab. 2016 Jun 14;23(6):1034-1047. doi:
10.1016/j.cmet.2016.05.007. Review. PubMed PMID: 27304505; PubMed Central PMCID:
PMC5045036.

The Benefits of Self-Care

anxiety

Self-care is a buzzword that is heard all too often these days. But what exactly is self-care? Upon deeper investigation it’s clear that different people have different definitions. Some see self-care as regular pampering; equivalent to the “Treat Yo’ Self” mantra from the hilarious Parks and Recreation episode. Others see self-care as attending to the basic physiological needs including water, adequate nutrition, sleep, and more. Neither is wrong, and in-fact, the core definition may lie somewhere in between the aforementioned ideas.

Even if you don’t know what self-care exactly means, there are tell-tale signs that you need some. These can include: running low on energy, dwindling enthusiasm, feeling stressed, anxious or out of balance. The simplest way to think of self-care is as time spent that “refuels your well.” For some that may mean a weekly massage, others that may mean making an effort to get baseline adequate hours of sleep each night and properly hydrate. No matter the practice, at the core of any self-love or self-care act is discipline and forming healthy habits. When we can regularly do something for ourselves to support our optimal well-being, it becomes an act of care.

Some benefits of self-care include:

lessened emotional reactivity
improved relationship skills
increased well-being
increased optimism and hope
better physical health management
improved mood
improved quality of life
decreased stress levels
increased ability to maintain a work-life balance

Another commonly overlooked aspect of self-care is that it’s important to think of it holistically as addressing mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our well-being. Meaning, we may be great at physical self-care, but not regularly engage in emotional self-care which leaves us stressed or holding onto unprocessed feelings. Or we could be excellent at mental self-care by consistently challenging ourselves to learn more, take workshops, read new books, while neglecting our physical well-being by getting inadequate rest. To create a balanced self-care routine we should consider all dimensions of our wellness. Below are some examples for each dimension. -XO Raw Girl

For mental self-care you can: discover new authors or topics of interest that excite us to begin reading, do regular mind puzzles or crosswords, watch videos or listen to podcasts that add to our knowledge, or try learning a new language. In addition to these spending time planning and dreaming out loud can be a part of mental self-care.

Physical self-care can involve getting adequate rest, engaging in exercise and movement that you love, setting aside time for rest and relaxation each week, planning pampering activities like massages or facials, and last but not least eating a balanced diet of nutrient dense but enjoyable foods.

Spiritual self-care tends to bleed out and effect every other aspect of our lives. Mindfulness activities should be at the core of spiritual self-care. Some of these include: nature bathing, praying, daily meditation, journaling, meditative walks, yoga (which can also be physical), honoring your values with activities, attending church or support groups and pursuing experiences that ignite awe and inspiration.

For emotional self-care you may need to see a therapist if struggling with life events or sudden changes, make time for close friends and family, express your emotions through a creative outlet, join a support group or prayer group, make journaling an active practice daily, and resist the urge to self-medicate and avoid emotions using food, drugs, or other substances.

6 Ways to Make Healthy Resolutions That Stick

2019

It’s basically December already! This month and next are probably the best months for new gym memberships, nutrition plans, and health classes because of all of the enticing discounts that hope to get you to commit to a healthier version of you in the New Year. We all say we want to make changes come January, but then what happens? For many, by mid-year their resolve to stick with that new diet or workout regimen is completely gone and they are back to square one, right before bikini season. Below are a few thoughts on how you can make some resolutions that you will stick with in 2019. -XoXo Raw Girl

Use Whatever Word Works for You. I personally don’t like the word resolution. I usually set goals for the New Year. Having a goal for me, is more activating than having a resolution. That’s just me and how the words affect me psychologically. Figure out what works for you and use the word that motivates you to make something happen, rather than just dream about it. Here are some other words you can use if you don’t like resolution: goal, objective, target, intention. Many people are afraid to even begin the process of resolution setting because they accept defeat from the beginning. Give yourself permission to dream but obviously don’t make your goals too far of a stretch so you don’t loose heart before you begin.
Make The Resolutions Measurable. Avoid the tendency to set vague intentions for the New Year. Don’t just say, I want to lose weight, say I want to lose 10 lbs and decrease my body fat percentage by five points. Use numbers, use a time limit if you want, just make sure your goal can be easily quantified. If you want to go plant-based or eat more vegetables, maybe you set a goal to eat completely vegetarian three or four days a week. You get the idea. This is super important because without the specifics you cannot know when you’ve reached your goal and should be celebrating, or what numbers or data you should be tracking on a regular basis to obtain the goal.
Find Someone to Hold you Accountable. It’s so much easier to fall off the healthy bandwagon if you have a goal an no one else knows about it. Then you can slip right back into your bad habits with no one to shame you but yourself. Having someone hold you accountable, whether it be a workout buddy, a trainer, a nutritionist, or your bestie may help you feel more motivated to stick with the plan. The trick here is that the person must be understanding but tough enough on you when you fall off so that you feel the need to get back on track. Don’t pick friends who will listen to your lame excuses for missing the gym for two weeks and tell you it’s OK.
Have a Plan. As the saying goings, vision without perspiration is hallucination. Don’t say you are going to loose 10 pounds but not have a strategic plan. Write down in detail what you need to do daily and weekly to see that goal through, and be willing to seek advise of someone more seasoned in whatever area you are trying to change if you need pointers on how to go about it. Having your plan is also a way to hold yourself accountable to whatever actions are outlined in it. It saves you from being vague and missing your mark altogether.
Write it Down and/or Visualize It. Apparently most people skip the essential step of writing down their goals. There is magic in writing it down, it starts the process of creation. It’s just on paper but its a start, now you can work from there to create steps to achieve it or even better let them come to you. As someone who is intense about goal setting, I have learned that it is possible and perfectly OK to have the goal and have no idea how to make it work. Just holding the intention can be magical and you will run into the right people or situations that point you to your final destination. However, that can only happen when you have a clear, written objective. You can also do something I love to do and vision board it. Cut out images that correspond to your resolution, collage them, and put them in a place you will look at daily. If you are extra about your boards and want to go beyond cutting out images with scissors use Canva, and easily collage your board online, or if you are fancy and graphic design savvy you can use Photoshop.
Track Your Progress. So you have the goal, you wrote it down, you visualized it, and maybe you also have a game plan. You are way ahead of the crowd, but still in danger of waking up mid-year wondering where the resolution went if you do not track your progress. A personal example I can use, is that I have workout goals I am trying to meet, so I track my workouts weekly and monthly. I have a calendar in my room and for each day I workout a sticker goes on the day with a brief description of what I did. This gives me a very visual evaluation of how I am doing. If I look at the calendar and its virtually blank by weeks end I’ve missed my mark. Find whatever methods of tracking work for you and make sure they are fun and not obsessive. For me the sticker on the calendar thing is fun and I feel awesome when I see a month where I really put in work.

4 Ways to Be a Healthy Living Rockstar in 2019

fitness

Hope you all had a very happy holiday and somehow made it through the weekend without overdosing on refined sugar and booze. Tis’ the season for sweets, apple cider, cocoa, and reflection on whether or not you actually achieved those health goals you set last January. We all know “those people” who get gym memberships at the beginning of the year, start cleanses, and become yoga natzi’s only to fall completely off the wagon come spring. We know them because if we took a good look in the mirror we’d realize that at some point we have fallen way short of the mark when it comes to our health. Oops! But as the late great Maya Angelou once said, “When you know better, you do better.” Here’s four quick ideas for ways to ensure you do better, and wrap 2019 a healthy living rockstar.

Stop Settling. You need a goal that will get you up in the early AM or make you want to put in a workout after a long day at work. Instead of making specific goals about weight loss or body fat percentage try imagining the kick-ass new and improved version of you at the end of the year. Get a clear vision of you at the end of the coming year. What is he or she doing? Is she entering a body building competition? Running a marathon? An expert fitness pole dancer? Stunting on folks with your catwalk in the office thanks to reformer Pilates? If you can dream it, you can achieve it.
Track Your Progress. There are so many apps nowadays that can help you keep a food diary, log workouts, or even track your daily steps. No excuses my friend. In order to keep the beginning of the year pep going a great way is to have a tried and true tracking system that works for you. When you start tracking, it helps to have an accountability partner or bff who calls you out on your cheat day. My favorite calorie tracking app is Lose It! and I have a few clients who love My Fitness Pal.
Celebrate Your Wins. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our goals that we forget to take a moment a do a happy dance when we’ve hit the mark! As you create a plan for your health in the upcoming year, make sure you give some sort of treat or reward on the road to achieving the goal.
Invest in a Trainer or Coach. We’ve all done a double take at some point in the gym at the random guy in the corner doing strange exercises with even stranger form. Just like you need a check up with your doctor or dentist every now and then, if you are looking to achieve health or fitness goals it cannot hurt to check-in with a health coach, nutritionist, or trainer. There is power in the meeting of minds and agreement. Not only will having a Sensei egg you on when you want to give up on that last rep, it may propel you much further than you can go on your own, and save you some time in the gym with more effective workouts. If you’ve hit a plateau or are in a food rut diet-wise, a nutritionist (like yours truly) or health coach may get you excited about new recipes to spice things up. Make sure you get referrals for health professionals you work with so you can ensure your investment will reap dividends. Interested in working with me? Check out my new site, and message me only if you are ready to transform your health! -XO Raw Girl

6 Benefits of Eating Seasonal & Local Produce

farmers market

As the weather changes, because we are all used to shopping primarily in conventional grocery stores, it can be hard to know what fruits and vegetables are in season. If you have never tried eating seasonally or buying local produce, you may be wondering why should I care? The wonderful thing about the seasons changing is that if you can find out what local farmers are growing you can get access to fresh, nutrient dense produce, at a bargain price. Some of the benefits of eating seasonal and local include:

More Flavorful Produce. If you have ever experience the glorious sweet and juicy taste of a tomato that was plucked from a local garden you will understand this point completely. Local and seasonal produce just tastes better, hands down. This is primarily because farmers aren’t pulling the produce before it’s ripe. The other difference between local and seasonal vs. produce in the grocery store is that the local produce is not transported from far away. In order to transport crops, they must be harvested early and refrigerated so they don’t spoil during transportation, and chilling will reduce the potency of the flavor. When the crops arrive to their destination some vendors will then heat them to artificially ripen them before the produce hits the shelves. The chilling process followed by heating greatly reduces the flavor, texture, taste, and nutritional density.

High Nutritional Value. As mentioned in the last point, there are several factors that can effect the nutritional density of produce. The produce may be picked before it’s ripe, and chilled and heated before it ever hits the shelves. When fruits and vegetables are stored for long periods of time, they will have a reduced amout of phytonutrients. In addition to this, some antioxidants such as vitamin C, folate, and carotenooids will rapidly decline when stored for long periods of time.

Cost Less. When there is an abundance of a particular vegetable or fruit, farmers need to get rid of them and so the price will go down. Another reason you may get local season produce at a bargain price is because travelling expenses and storage are not required therefore reducing the production costs that are usually then passed onto the consumer.

Supports Seasonal Nutritional Needs. Nature really does know best. In fact nature offers us produce during specific seasons that complement what we may need nutritionally to be at our best. For instance in winter we are provided with citrus and fruits and vegetables high in vitamin C; perfect for boosting immunity and proventing the onset of a cold or flu. Winter vegetables are also perfect comfort foods and are great in warm meals like soups, stews or roasted to give us a warming effect. Summer foods provide us with extra betacarotene and other carotenoids that help protect us against sun damage, provide more natural sugar to give us more energy to beat the heat, and vegetables that are great for cooling meals like salads.

Reduces Exposure to Contaminants. When you can look your farmer in the eye at a market to find out whether or not the produce is pesticide-free you are bound to get a more accurate answer than trying to research information about produce that was transported thousands of miles away. Some countries have different standards for the growing of produce, and the farther the fruits or vegetables come from, the more likely they are sprayed with a variety of pesticides before they ever hit the shelves in order to keep them fresh. For instance, produce such as garlic is irradiated, bleached and sprayed with methyl bromide to withstand quarantine and long periods of travel. This is the story for most fruits and vegetables shipped by sea that have a long journey to remain puchaseable by the consumer.

Supports Your Local Economy. The last but not least benefit of buynig seasonal and local produce is that you are supporting businesses operating in your local economy and allowing them to flourish. Buying local reduces the overall cost, emissions, and time involved in the transaction and means less transportation, less refrigeration, less hot houses, and less irradiation of produce.

Below is a short list of some fruits and vegetables that are available in the winter season. If you have never tried eating local, you can look out for your local farmers market, or also look for produce marked local in specialty health stores. – XO Raw Girl

Belgian endive
Brussels sprouts
Butternut squash
Cactus Pear
Cherimoya
Clementines
Collard Greens
Date plums
Dates
Delicata squash
Grapefruit
Kale
Kiwi fruit
Leeks
Mandarin Oranges
Oranges
Passionfruit
Pear
Persimmons
Pumelo
Red banana
Sweet Potatoes
Tangerines
Turnips

Two Delicious Thanksgiving Side Dishes

health

Happy Almost Holidays! It’s that time of year again to bond with friends and family, and hopefully count your blessings and all of the wonderful things you are grateful for. Tis also the season to make sure you are eating mindfully, and getting in a good amount of vegetables to balance with all of the other goodness at Thanksgiving. To celebrate I’m re-sharing some past posts with recipes that are guilt-free! The easiest way to add more nutrient dense vegetables to your table is to make really great side dishes. Below are two delicious and veg-friendly recipes for Whipped Ginger Sweet Potatoes, and Rosemary Green Beans with Shallots that you can add to your table next week. -XO Raw Girl

Mashed Ginger Sweet Potato with Fresh Nutmeg

4 cups peeled and cubed sweet potato or

yams

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoon organic unsalted butter

½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger

¼ teaspoon maple syrup

Pinch of ground cinnamon

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add the potatoes and salt and cook until tender about 25 minutes. Drain, reserve ½ cup of the cooking liquid, and return the sweet potato to the pot.
Add ginger, maple syrup, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg and some of the cooking liquid.
Use a potato masher or an immersion blender to mash the potatoes.
Taste; you may want to add a pinch or two of salt.
Serve & Enjoy!

Adapted from One bite at a time by Rebecca Katz pg. 72

String Beans with Caramelized Shallots, Rosemary and Garlic

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 lb string beans “tails removed”

2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoon diced shallots

2 tablespoon minced garlic

teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

teaspoon grated lemon zest

Spritz of fresh lemon juice

Fill a 4 quart pot with water about ¾ full bring to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Add the string beans and blanch them for 3 minutes.
Drain the string beans and place them in ice bath to stop cooking and to preserve the color
In a sauté pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the shallots and a pinch of salt. Sauté for 3 minutes, until shallots are golden, add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds
Deglaze the pan with ¼ cup of water. Add the blanched string beans and a pinch of salt. Taste to see if cooked through.
Add the rosemary, lemon zest and spritz of lemon juice
Serve & Enjoy!

Adapted from One bite at a time by Rebecca Katz pg. 46

References:

Katz, R., Edelson, M., & Tomassi, M. (2009). One bite at a time: Nourishing recipes for cancer survivors and their friends. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts.

5 Tips to Maintain Your Weight During the Holiday Season

christmas

So we’ve survived summer, and fall is upon us! You may be feeling great, getting in your weekly workouts, hitting your target calories, and have shed some weight or hit your body fat percentage. Just when you’d love to get comfortable, the holiday season threatens to derail all of the progress you’ve made and leave you back at square one at the beginning of the New Year, making yet another resolution to shed some unwanted pounds. The holiday season is supposed to be a time of good cheer, connecting with loved ones, and gifting, but it is also the time of year that excessive overeating can become the norm. The great news is with a few precautions you can make small adjustments that help you maintain, if not lose weight over the holidays.

BYOF – Bring Your Own Food! If you are traveling to visit family, and know for sure that there will be nothing green on the table, but an abundance of peach cobbler, sweet potato pies, cornbread and other high carb sweets, it’s always a good idea to get into the holiday spirit and prepare something to share with the ones you love. Make sure you prepare one or two options you know will work for you so that you aren’t left with a less than full plate at the table due to the scarcity of options.

Increase Your Physical Activity aka Earn Your Meals. Eating more is never an issue, the biggest problem is that we do not increase our level of activity to compensate for large holiday meals. It’s a wonderful idea and can be great to get some quality family or friend time to exercise before your meal! If you set yourself up already by burning what you may consume you are less likely to wake up the next day and notice an increase on the scale.

Pick Your Cheats. If you are currently reducing or eliminating certain foods from your diet, or limiting alcohol intake to hit a certain number of calories, it’s a great idea to decide before the meal what you want to indulge in and how much. When we set limits beforehand and give ourselves some room to enjoy, we are less likely to allow that one bite to become the gateway to overeating a lot of our restricted foods.

Find Healthy Substitutions. Making healthier choices should never be about complete deprivation. Most of the holiday foods you love can be enjoyed; it’s a matter of finding substitutions for ingredients to increase the quality of the nutrition. Instead of white flour you could do almond flour, instead of sugar you can use fruit without added sugars to sweeten desserts, if you are reducing carbohydrates rice can be substituted for cauliflower rice etc. Keep in mind that any dish you enjoy should be available to you, it’s just a matter of finding a good recipe with modifications.
Eat Mindfully. During the holiday season some of us can find that we save up our appetites for one big meal, and then end up overeating. Mindful eating is the practice of staying present while eating, pausing between bites, and really listening to your bodies’ cues so that you don’t end up too full. When you feel you have had your fill make sure you stop eating. If you still need to get in dessert you can wait a few hours until the rest of your food has properly digested. Keep in mind that leftovers will be around for you to indulge in the days after, so you don’t have to go overboard at dinner. If you have dishes available you know are triggers, you can actually give away those leftovers so you don’t have that temptation in your house for days afterwards.

Fundamentals of Change: Kill Your Excuses

athlete

To continue our series this week on change, I wanted to share with you another powerful interview from Impact Theory that features Rich Roll, the vegan endurance athlete. You may have heard about him from his ultra-endurance athlete feats like completing a double Iron Man, all while eating a vegan diet. What you may not know is that not too long ago Rich was overweight and addicted to alcohol, and after having an epiphany he took steps to completely transform his life and health. If you need motivation to get into gear before 2019, with any of your goals whether they be health or career, I think you will find this inspiring. One of my favorite quotes: “Pain is truly the only thing that’s ever gotten me to change. So, it’s been my growth accelerator as well as my reminder of when I’ve gone astray.” -XO Raw Girl

5 Steps to Break Unhealthy Habits

habits

Maintaining optimal health can seem daunting, but when you examine closely the lifestyles of some of the world’s healthiest people, it becomes evident that small daily rituals can make a very big difference. If you have the daily ritual of exercising vs. the daily ritual of binge eating while watching television, the trajectory of your wellness over your lifespan will be drastically different. Because habits can be formed unconsciously, it is important every now and then to examine the habits you engage in, and actively change any habits that are derailing your health. Below are some steps that you can engage in to help you break old habits that no longer serve you. -XO Raw Girl

Recognize that your actions are not supporting your overall health goals. The first step in making a change is to have the pain of where you are, surpass the pain or fear of making a change. If you are overweight, an addict, and can’t get up a flight of stairs without severe pain that feels like a heart attack, like the endurance athlete Rich Roll once was, you too have the opportunity for an epiphany. But what if things are okay but you just don’t feel your best? Your health challenge may not be as severe as his was, but even with smaller things it’s important to take notice. Maybe you no longer exercise, and although you have maintained your weight, your energy is much lower during the day. Or perhaps you have stopped meditating, and this has several encumbered how you deal with stress at work and at home. Whatever it is, hone in on it until you can make the firm decision to set a new habit.

Deal with the emotions that are keeping you tied to the behavior. My latest fascinating read is Dr. Joe Dispenza’s “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself,” where he discusses how we can get addicted to emotions. Without knowing it, us humans are frequently switching into fight or flight mode when there is no real life threatening danger present. Whether it be a difficult boss, or angry commuter cutting us off in traffic, we tend to memorize emotional states and program them as default when a similar situation arises even if there is no real threat. Our emotions can also be scary to us, and in order to avoid feeling them we may use food, alcohol or other substances to avoid moving through the emotion. It’s important to become aware of what emotions are tied to your unhealthy habits and find healthy outlets for them to address the root cause. You may need to journal each night, get a boxing bag and throw some rounds, or find some other outlet for your feelings.

Practice Mindfulness to change your mindset. At this point, once you’ve recognized that your actions are out of alignment, and you are also addressing the emotions that keep you tied to the unwanted behavior, it is time to change your mind. Changing our mind is literally easier said than done, but thankfully, mindfulness techniques, especially meditation have been scientifically proven to build new neural pathways, reduce reactivity, stress, and help us engage with our environments in a new way. It only takes around 2-3 weeks of meditation to begin to see changes. After meditating for over 5 years and going through the process of falling off and getting back on it again, I’ve noticed changes even after a few days.

Find Healthy Substitutions. Some people believe in restriction to change habits, but that can backfire easily. Most of us when restricted can yo-yo back and go crazy on the exact behavior we said we would stop. Instead of working against your cravings or behavior, work with it by finding healthy substitutions. If you are trying to give up fast food, perhaps you start by making whole food versions of some of your favorite junk food and begin to train your palette to adjust to less refined sugar and salt. If you are working with a behavioral change sometimes substitutions aren’t relevant or are not enough. For instance giving up drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes can be very challenging. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help or join a support group. When struggling with addiction, knowing that you are not alone and having accountability are both key to forming new habits and completing recovery.

Implement a new plan of action for a minimum of 21 Days. There is much debate about how long it takes to form a habit. Some say a minimum of 21 days, some say longer or shorter. At the end of the day you are going to need to give yourself at least a few weeks of repetitive action to adjust and form the new habit. You will know that the new habit is formed after you spend a consistent period following through and you are presented with the old option – food, behavior, etc. and the desire to indulge is gone. When you reach this stage, it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate yourself for the progress you’ve made.

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Need support, a personalized meal plan, or check-in about your health goals? Click HERE to learn more about a one-on-one session with yours truly.

References:

Dispenza, J., & Amen, D. G. (2015). Breaking the habit of being yourself: How to lose your mind and create a new one. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House.

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