‘Beginning with the early dawn each day, I will radiate joy to everyone I meet. I will be mental sunshine for all who cross my path. I will burn candles of smiles in the bosoms of the joyless. Before the unfading light of my cheer, darkness will take flight. Let my love spread its laughter in all hearts. In every person belonging to every race. Let my love rest in the hearts of flowers, of animals and of little specks of stardust.’
– Metaphysical meditations, Parmahansa Yogananda
I love how inspiring a new year can be. We leave behind last year’s worries, bad relationships and work frustrations with the intention to start fresh and make the most of the year to come. It’s a chance to take up cycling, travel to a new destination, or simply slow down a little more. As excited as we may feel working towards our resolutions in mid-January, many of these ambitious goals fall by the way-side by March. Before we know it we’re back watching Friends re-runs and drinking one too many martinis on a Tuesday night – so much for that early morning pottery class.
Why does this happen? Why do most people make the same resolutions year after year without ever accomplishing anything? The difference between people who make things happen versus those who simply give up is habits. We are products of our habits.
Being able to recognize, isolate, and change these habits is the only way to accomplish lasting change.
When we are out of our comfort zones we make the most progress in any area of life- business, spirituality, fitness, relationships– staying in the same cozy routine doesn’t get anyone anywhere. Risks reap rewards.
Here are some tips to reach your goals and make healthy habits stick. Whether it’s losing ten pounds, getting a promotion or simply learning to be on time, remembering these tips will make a difference in your journey for real change.
1. Pick one thing at a time and do it now
There’s nothing more impossible than trying to overhaul our routine, habits and personality all at the same time. There are very few people who can effectively get in shape, change careers, volunteer with the elderly, and start a knitting club all at once. We are products of years of doing the same things, the same way, over and over again. We do not change quickly.
Pick one thing and stick to it. That way you can focus on it and after thirty days of consistency, whatever you’ve chosen to change, learn or exclude will feel very natural. For added inspiration watch this video http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days.html
2. Offload your power onto your environment
Schedule your time, don’t tempt yourself with bad food, develop self-control, prepare for success. Look at the fillers in your life – what is your tendency to do in between meetings, meals or phone calls? Do you scroll around Instagram or do you write a thank you card to someone, read an inspiring article or take some deep breaths?
If you know that when you go home you’ll sit down in front of the computer searching for the end of the internet every night, take your exercise clothes to work and go straight to the gym afterwards. You may feel tired after a long day but a few minutes into lifting weights or running will be energizing and refreshing.
If you always get a pastry with your morning coffee, invest in a coffee machine for your house and brew it at home. This will save you money, reduce paper cup use, and protect you from some seriously unnecessary calories and butter.
Discover where your weakness is and plan to avoid it. Develop an opposite, healthy action that will help you realize your goal.
3. Seek good company
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Think about that. Who are your closest relationships with? Do those people inspire and motivate you, or do they enable bad habits and detract from your growth?
Find people you admire and spend time with them. Get coffee, play tennis or make a dinner together. Positive, inspiring people are extremely energizing and can make challenges seem a lot more manageable. Don’t know where to meet these people? Find a meet-up group, go to a Chamber of Commerce Event or attend Toastmasters. There are exciting, interesting people everywhere who love to connect. Find them and develop genuine relationships. It will change your world.
4. Think of others
If you want to be miserable think about yourself. It’s so easy to get caught up in our own troubles and worries that we feel we can never change or accomplish goals. Sometimes you have to forget about fighting habits head on and go and help someone else. By being of service to those less fortunate we increase our capacity for love and find more gratitude in our own lives. We must learn to be happy and consider others’ happiness as our own joy. Find children to tutor or volunteer at an animal shelter once a month. It’s worth the effort.
5. Be cheerful
Make up your mind to be happy. Have confidence in yourself and in your life. Surprise people with light heartedness and be kind to strangers. Be grateful for everything and consider obstacles to be tests of your character. If you’re reading this article you have access to a computer, which means you probably have a bed and a home and an education. These are big blessings that we must be thankful for every day.
Take this opportunity to choose one thing you want to change and start today. Be resolute, write it down and make a brief plan. Good luck and happy new year!
Living in Los Angeles there are so many amazing options for dining out. Restaurants pop up every day, and who doesn’t love trying out the new Korean-French-Icelandic fusion where they tell you what you want before you even look at the menu. Unfortunately though, eating out can mean huge portions, a bloated walk back to the car and even a rough night’s sleep when it’s all over. It doesn’t have to be this way, so here are a few tips to help you enjoy your meal without feeling guilt and discomfort afterwards.
1. Start with a glass of water
When you sit down at a table drink a full glass of water. Thirst is often confused with hunger so many times we eat more than we really want because we’re not feeling satiated. Drinking water can cut back your chance for overeating and prevent you from drinking during or after the meal, which makes it difficult for you to digest your food properly and leaves you feeling heavy and bloated.
2. Don’t let that bread touch your table
We all know warm bread is delicious and irresistible, but no need to fill up on it before a meal. Most importantly, you don’t want it hindering your ability to enjoy and finish that $17 dollar Hamachi plate, so politely decline and enjoy your main course fully.
3. Only drink water or wine
Sugary drinks, be it soda, lemonade or a Jack and coke, are a bad idea in the first place, but during a meal they are especially harmful. A very important hormone in regulating hunger and satiety is leptin- in basic terms it tells us when we’ve had enough to eat and signals our brains to tell the body to stop eating. Sugar interferes with that hormone, compromising our ability to eat moderate portions which can end in overeating and horrible guilt. Additionally, drinks should be sipped during a meal, so slowly enjoy a glass of water or a tasty red while eating.
4. Order Sides or Starters for your main dish
Generally, the portions served in restaurants are absolutely huge. Many times we tell ourselves we’ll eat half and take the rest home, but I don’t know anyone who really has that kind of self-control. Side dishes are much more reasonably sized and if you order a few as a table you can try different things. Keep in mind, ordering a side of garlic bread and mac and cheese does not count. But, a veggie plate and a salad might be nicely complimented with a small side of fries. Enjoy yourself, just don’t overindulge! Sharing a small starter and a main course with a friend is also a good way not to overdo it (and save money!)
5. Have a desert at home for yourself
If one look at the desert cart gets you salivating, having self-restraint can be difficult at the end of a meal. This is why it’s good to have a desert at home to look forward to that’s half the size and half the sugar content of that chocolate-mocha-caramel cheesecake. Personally, I love Hail Merry chocolate peppermint tarts. They are delicious and very satisfying (not to mention raw and vegan) – half of one is usually enough for one person. Find a desert that you look forward to having at home so you won’t give it up for a seductive treat on the menu. Taking time between dinner and desert also gives you time to digest and for your body to realize that you’re full, so at home you’re likely to eat less than you would have at the restaurant.
Eating out should be fun, not stressful, so use these tips and you’ll sail through the holidays with ease and keep your body trim.
Have you ever eaten a really healthy meal like wild rice, fresh wild caught fish, and a big salad but then felt groggy and tired afterwards? Why are you feeling sleepy and slow after eating a meal that should give you energy? Probably because you are combing the wrong types of food! Kimberly Snyder, clinical nutritionist and author of The Beauty Detox Solution introduced me to the theory of food combining.
Our bodies digest enzymatically, means different enzymes are used to breakdown the different types of macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Unfortunately, we don’t have one universal enzyme that can digest everything. Since it takes so much energy to digest our food, food combining helps take the burden off of our bodies and allows that energy to be used elsewhere like burning fat or detoxing heavy metals. If you don’t properly combine your food, it will get stuck in your digestive tract and the undigested food stays there and putrefies, creating a toxic environment that makes your blood more acidic and allows yeast, viruses, cancer cells and parasites to grow inside you. In short, it makes you more prone to illness. Proper food combining is a system of eating foods that combine together efficiently to assist digestion so that your digestive tract does not have to work so hard to give you the nutrients you need for energy. It is the easiest most non-restrictive way to get rid of bloating, drop some pounds, and allow your skin to glow!
Here is how is how it works:
Proteins + Starches = do not mix
Proteins + vegetables = mix
Starches + vegetables = mix
Different starches = mix
Different proteins = do not mix
Fats + protein = do not mix well, pair moderately
Fats + starches = do mix
Fruits = ALWAYS eaten on an empty stomach
Fruit + raw greens = mix
Bagels and cream cheese, egg sandwiches, sushi rolls, meat and potatoes are all bad food combinations! In the stomach, protein requires an acidic environment in order to break down, whereas a starch requires an alkaline environment. When an acid and an alkaline are put together they neutralize each other. Since these enzymes neutralize each other, the food is not breaking down naturally but your body continues to try to break it down with more enzymes and this cycle results in exhaustion. All of your energy is going to this process and it’s not making any headway. Other side effects can include gassiness, bloating, or heartburn. Now this food is passing through your digestive system very slowly, and since our bodies are a warm 98.6 degrees, this allows the food to literally rot. Improperly digested foods have no nutritional value which means all that work was for absolutely nothing!
Vegetables are very easy for our body to digest and are great to pair with protein. Fruit is the quickest for our bodies to digest so should be eaten first, on an empty stomach. It passes through our digestive tract in about 20 minutes. That means if you eat fruit after eating say, scrambled eggs, it is going to get stuck behind food that is going to take a lot longer to digest. This gives the fruit time to rot and putrefy.
A simple way to think of it is eating light to heavy. This is the order of fastest digesting foods to slowest:
Fruit
Greens
Non-Starchy vegetables
Starches
Protein
So start with your salad, then eat your rice, and finish with your grilled fish. This will give your optimal results and not create any digestive issues or drain your energy. Remember, this doesn’t mean you can’t have something, it just means you need to change the order in which you eat it. Obviously, we can’t be perfect and eat this way all the time. Don’t stress yourself out but give it a go and see how you feel. I promise that it works!
My dear friend Meryl and I discuss juicing and some of the common questions and concerns when it comes to doing a cleanse.
‘Freedom is the power to make the decision today that is the best for our future self’
Habits are behaviors that are acted out subconsciously. They create grooves in our brains, which is what makes them so hard to change. A habit can be lighting up a cigarette first thing in the morning or lacing up your running shoes first thing in the morning. Both are subconscious, behavioral and automatic.
Our habits define us. They are what encourage us to make the decisions we make every day. The decisions that we make shape our lives and lead us to blissful self-expression or a downward spiral of self-destruction.
The body loves routine, so when we settle into one it becomes very comfortable and difficult to change. Is your routine energizing and exciting or is it causing you to gain weight, feel lethargic, and take you out of touch with yourself?
When it comes to nutrition, having good habits is everything. Will I have a croissant for breakfast or a fresh organic mango? Will I pick up a bag of walnuts for a snack or a donut? Will I eat fast food for lunch or something from the Co-op?
So many decisions are made in haste and have only short-term benefits: I’m in a hurry, I’m craving something sweet, it’s the only thing in my house/office/purse.
Being mindful enables you to break out of habits that inhibit your ability to make the best decision for yourself, and to instantly become more energized and joyful.
What’s important to know is that changing one habit creates a domino effect, so making more changes becomes very natural and enjoyable. This is why it’s crucial to focus on one thing at a time.
Drink a latte every morning? Switch to green tea 3 days a week. Those caffeine (and dairy) cravings will quickly quiet down. Love snacking on candy bars or ice cream? Try natural sugars such as berries, and when indulging look for delicious and chemical free dark chocolate covered pretzels, or coconut-based ice cream alternatives. Used to unwinding at happy hour after work with your colleagues? Try hitting a spin class or finding an interesting talk to attend.
The key is not to cut out things you love, but to replace them with more wholesome habits that you can still enjoy and that create positivity in your life.
A huge part of emotional and physical health is paying attention to your mind-body connection. If you constantly fall prey to habits that you know aren’t good you create a conflict in your system. When you make positive, mindful decisions, your personal environment becomes harmonious, leading to more overall happiness and wellness.
Steps to changing habits
Remember that change comes from will power. You must have the will power to want to get the most out of your life. When you commit to doing the best for yourself your life will become a lot more harmonious, with love, opportunity and happiness appearing in abundance.
Health doesn’t mean abstaining from things that make you happy, like champagne and chocolate, it means waking up everyday feeling inspired and ready to experience new things. I believe that the first step to this is by taking the best care of yourself and living a life you are proud of. I am here to help you on that journey.
Good nutrition is our best protection against aging, stress, and disease, and is what keeps life exciting. As a holistic nutritionist I provide my clients with support and guidance to reach their health and fitness goals. Whether it’s to lose ten pounds, have more energy, or sleep better at night, I develop a personalized roadmap to get my clients to their optimal health.
My philosophy doesn’t focus on counting calories or using diets. My nutrition philosophy is based around organic, whole foods that are local and sustainably sourced. Food nourishes our bodies and minds and brings friends and family together, it’s not here to stress or fret over! I believe that the only way to successfully overhaul one’s diet and improve one’s quality of life is to make sustainable and mindful changes one step at a time.
There is no combination for perfect health, and food plays a very different role in everyone’s life, so working one-on-one with myself provides the framework and support for success.
Raw//Live//Local 