Category Archives: Lifestyle

The Trouble with Safe Foods

When I was in college, if I would have ranked (by frequency) the foods that made their way into my mouth, bagels, Diet Snapple, yogurt covered pretzels, dry cereal, pasta, fat free frozen yogurt, and rice would have topped the list. These were my Safe Foods – the ones I was sure were the ticket to weight loss. I wasn’t actually losing any weight, but that didn’t seem to matter. I just kept eating the same things day after day thinking, I suppose, that one day the pounds would just start to drop off!

Looking back from my current vantage point, I can see how misguided that was, but at the time no one could have told me I was wrong. I’d constructed this security blanket of Safe Foods and was terrified to veer from it. Being asked to eat, say, a steak and a baked potato, was scary. Pizza? Terrifying.

This behavior of maintaining a mental list of Safe Foods is quite common, but it is fraught with issues.

1) The lists are often illogical – they include some junk foods (like frozen yogurt or Twizzlers) while omitting nutritional powerhouses (like avocado or nuts or oils) without good reason.

2) They’re trend-based instead of science-based. The diet trend of the year rules. In my day it was low fat (but anything with the word “yogurt” in it was deemed healthy as well!) Then it shifted to low carb, then NO carb, now gluten free. People seem to get stuck in any one of these phases and can’t get out.

3) They’re limiting! Safe Foods rob us of the chance to experiment, to sample, to dabble. In my view, eating should be a pleasure, not an exercise in vigilant self-deprivation.

Are you feeling constrained by a list of  foods that you turn to again and again? What would it take for you to open your mind to new possibilities and make selecting from a menu fun again? Does the idea exhilarate you or might it actually scare you?

To get started, perhaps you could try one of the recipes in this archives of this blog. Or contact one of our Nourish Health coaches – we’d love to help you rediscover the vast world of healthy foods out there for you to explore!

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Have your healthiest December ever!

It’s almost here – the most challenging month of all when it comes to healthy living – December! Amid insanely busy schedules and countless holiday parties and all those cookies, scores of otherwise healthy women are throwing their hands up in surrender. It’s so easy to write off this month and allow yourself to abandon healthy habits you’ve worked all year to build. Don’t do it.

Instead, decide which rituals you’ll commit to maintaining throughout December. Choose the ones that make you feel terrific and when the going gets tough, remind yourself that keeping up with these practices is a TREAT to your deserving body and soul. You don’t have to do everything on the list below; just use it to help you decide – what will you do for yourself this December that will help you arrive at January 1st feeling one step ahead of the game?

 

Healthy December Habits:

– 7+ hours of sleep each night

– Breakfast

– Vitamins

– Water, and lots of it

– Fruits and/or vegetables at every meal

– Strength training (even more important than cardio!)

– Your skin care regimen (stress, alcohol and lack of sleep can wreak havoc on your skin!)

– Yoga or stretching

– Meditation or prayer time

– Breathing exercises (like the ones Dr. Stevenson recommended in last month’s newsletter)

– Phone time with a close friend or relative every day

– Herbal tea as an afternoon or evening relaxation ritual

What will you choose? Tell me in comments and hold yourself accountable…you’ll be so glad you did!

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Stop and smell the pumpkin pie

Seriously. Who decided that we should start celebrating Christmas in November….or October?! This week we’ll celebrate Thanksgiving, which, in full disclosure, is my favorite holiday of the year. An entire holiday dedicated to food, and beautifully set tables, and giving thanks…what could be better than that?! And yet everywhere I looked this weekend I was confronted not with turkeys and cornucopias and Pilgrims, but rather with twinkling lights and evergreen wreaths and flyers advertising “40% off.” Really?

This jumping-the-gun phenomenon is a symptom of our cultural predisposition to rush through life looking ahead rather than savoring each and every moment. We plan for what we’ll do when we get the promotion, or lose the weight, or finish the class. We wait until the weather improves or the construction is finished or the kids grow up. And all the while, magical moments are regularly occurring and we’re too busy to notice. It’s hard to be in the moment when you’re focused on racing to that spot just up ahead.

This Thanksgiving, give yourself a gift. Choose to be in the moment. Gather around a table with the people you hold most dear. Break bread. Give thanks. Reminisce.

And when you’ve cleared the last of the Thanksgiving dishes and put the children to bed, you can turn your attention to the next holiday with renewed energy and wild abandon.

My admonition to relish each moment applies to December as well. This year, will you remember that it’s not all about one BIG EVENT, instead recognizing that some of your best memories will come from the days and weeks leading up to your family’s gift-opening extravaganza? Baking cookies with Grandma. Wrapping gifts. Unpacking decorations. Lighting the fireplace and making hot cocoa with marshmallows. Opening cards from distant friends. The Nutcracker. The Grinch. The first snowflake.

Each little moment holds its own magic. Drink it in.

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