Tag: Wellness

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Food & Nutrition

5 Nutrient Based Eating Recipes I’m Going Nuts On!

Mmmmm…..

 

 

You might think that because I am a certified nutritionist and creator of a nutrition program, called Nutrient Based Eating, that I must love cooking and recipe development. 

Well, my dear, you would be WRONG. ? 

I have so much respect for the food bloggers out there!  Truly, BLESS YOU!  I have created some recipe books and ideas before and I find the whole process (on that level) to be exhausting!  

So EATING….YES.  

RECIPES….not so much.  

But, I think this works out quite well as a nutrition coach because my clients now know that I am all about simple, delicious food that is NOT overly cumbersome to create.  Every once in awhile a detailed recipe is awesome, but unless it can last me for more than one meal, I usually will defer to the easier meal ideas.  

I like SIMPLE and QUICK meals that are BALANCED, HEALTHY, AND TASTY.  So that’s what I’m going go give you today with my….

TOP 5 (CURRENT) FAVORITE NBE RECIPES!

But first, a little 101 on the Nutrient Based Eating program so you understand the necessary components to make a meal truly #NBEapproved!

  1. Nutrient Based Eating is a LIFESTYLE-based approach to eating that takes you through the individual habit-formation steps toward holistic and balanced meals.   Meaning, these meals are ones that your family can eat too (or at least a modified version of it, with serving sizes varying).  
  2.  NBE has 5 Phases, the first of which, Phase 0, guides you through building up the “NBE Plate.”  These plates/recipes I will be showing you today are all under the “Phase 1” context, meaning that the habits are all already assumed.  If you were just starting out, this is not where I would start you, but eating this way would be where you would wind up after 1-6 habits are formed to automation. ??
  3. NBE components are as follows:  Water + Green Vegetable + Colored Vegetable (or low sugar fruit) + Starchy Carb (or high sugar fruit/sweets) + Protein + Fat.  You will (eventually) eat your meals about every 3-5 hours (once you get to that habit).  The serving sizes or portions of each food group are adjusted according to a plate graphic and hand measuring tools.    

 

SO, if this is enough information to at least allow you to understand the general framework, let’s get to the food shall we?


NBE Breakfast Tacos

Ingredients:

1 Whole Egg (Fat), 1/2 Cup Liquid Egg Whites (Protein), Kale or Spinach (Green Vegetable), Zucchini (Green Vegetable),  Red Pepper and Red Onion (Colored Vegetable), 1 Blue Corn Soft Taco Shell (Starchy Carb).  Served with fresh berries (colored veg/low sugar fruit).  

Directions: 

  1. Saute the kale, spinach, zucchini, sliced red pepper and onion on a hot skillet with light olive or avocado oil for 1-2 mins on medium heat. 
  2. Add in 1 whole egg and the liquid egg whites.  Cover with a lid to cook it “frittata” style.  You can also simply scramble them lightly.
  3. Heat up the corn tortilla in the microwave for 20 seconds.
  4. Once the eggs are cooked to your liking, put half of it in your corn tortilla shell and the other half on the plate to eat alone.  Add some fresh salsa (with no sugar added) if you like a little spice.
  5. I also enjoyed some fresh berries after for a fulfilling breakfast. 🙂

NBE Power Smoothie

Ingredients:

Handful of Spinach or Power Greens, Frozen (Green Vegetable)
1 Zucchini (Green Vegetable)
Frozen Berries (Colored Veg/Low Sugar Fruit)
1 Carrot (Colored Veg)
1/2 Frozen Banana (Starchy Carb/High Sugar Fruit)
Unsweetened Almond Milk (some fat)
Avocado (or coconut) (Fat)
Plant-Based Protein (or pasteurized egg whites) (Protein)
(Optional– chia seeds (fat), hemp seeds (protein), flax seeds (fat), cinnamon (n/a))

Directions:

Place all items in your blender and blend away!! You can add more or less liquid based on how thick you enjoy your smoothie. I own a blender for protein shakes so it can cope with lots of frozen fruits and tough foods however if your blender is a little more delicate, leave the fruit to defrost. Some blenders are fragile! Sometimes the frozen items can get stuck in your blender, to which I use the Vitamix wand to break it up.  You may need a wooden spoon or spatula.  



Taboule Turkey Salad

Ingredients:

Finely Chopped Parsley, flat leaf or curled (Green Vegetable/Herb)
Diced Cucumber (Cucumber)
Diced Tomatoes (Colored Vegetable)
Bulgar Wheat, or Quinoa if GF (Starchy Carb)
Lemon Olive Oil Dressing (Fat)
Smoked Turkey (Protein)

Directions:

  1.  Buy as much pre-made for you!  Lol.  I bought an organic sliced turkey breast instead of cooking my own.  I also bought a fast-cooking bulgur wheat (or quinoa) that I made a large batch of.  This entire salad keeps really well, so make it large and eat it throughout the week!
  2. Bulgur Wheat is made much like rice or quinoa. 1 Cup Bulguar to 2 Cups water.  Bring to a boil on stove top. Then reduce the heat and allow to simmer on low for ~15 mins until you can fluff with your fork. 
  3. Finely chop the parsley or use a food processor for even greater ease (minus the clean up!)
  4. Chop the tomatoes and cucumbers. 
  5. Mix 1/4 cup olive oil with fresh lemon juice and a pinch of salt.  
  6. Toss all ingredients together and top with some sliced turkey.  

Lettuce Wrap or Regular Tacos

Ingredients:

Butter Lettuce or Romaine Lettuce Hearts (Green Vegetables) for taco shells
Ground Turkey or Grass-fed Beef (Protein)
Red Bell Peppers & Onions (Colored Vegetable)
Portobello Mushrooms (Green/White Vegetable)
Refried Black Beans (Starchy Carb)
Sliced Avocado (Fat)

Directions:

  1. Cook the ground meat of choice all the way through stovetop on medium-high heat. 
  2. Saute lightly in olive oil the peppers, onions, and mushrooms.
  3. Cook the refried black beans (from a carton or can) in a saucepan or even the microwave!
  4. Slather the lettuce wrap with beans first, add on the meat and the veggies.  Top with the sliced avocado and even some salsa! 
  5. Enjoy!


Zoodle Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:

Butter Lettuce Cups or Romaine Lettuce Cups (Green Vegetable)
Sliced Peppers, Onions, Garlic, Portobello Mushrooms (Green/White Vegetables)
Red Peppers, Fresh Red Salsa (Colored Vegetables)
No Sugar Added Marinara (from a jar for me, but you can make homemade with crushed tomatoes) (Colored Vegetables)
Sliced or Ground Protein of Choice (Chicken, Turkey, Lean Grass-fed Beef, Grass-fed Bison) (Protein)
Olive Oil (fat)

Directions:

  1.  Cook the meat stovetop all the way through.
  2. Saute in olive oil the vegetables until the onion is translucent on medium heat.   (You can blend these or finely chop them if you live with family members who are more vegetable opposed).  
  3. Add the vegetables and marinara together in a saucepan on medium heat.  
  4. Spiralize or thinly slice 4-6 zucchinis for the “zoodles.”  For best results I microwave these on high for 2-3 mins to keep some “crispness” to the zucchini.  I find that boiled them leads to water retention and mushy noodles. 
  5. If anyone in your family is zucchini opposed, they can have regular noodles while you have zucchini (or another option which is spaghetti squash).  
     

 

Nutrient Based Eating eBook & eCourse for Sale!

If you are interested in learning more about the Nutrient Based Eating program that has led women to thriving lean bodies just one habit at a time, then this is YOUR week!  For a very limited time, I will be opening up this program for purchase outside of my normal coaching program!  

Cart OPEN on Wednesday, March 1 only until Friday, March 3!  But an early purchase opportunity (and discount) will be offered to my email subscribers on Tuesday, February 28!  To get on that early bird list, subscribe HERE.  

Categories
Fitness & Training Food & Nutrition

3 Simple Steps to Maintain and Not Gain This Holiday Season

Real quick, just a friendly reminder that today is the LAST DAY to save big on the A. Wright Fit Daniel Challenge!  For Cyber Monday, I'm extending my offer for this 6-Week Nutrition Course that starts in the New Year.  After tomorrow it will go back up to $97, but today, you can grab a spot for yourself or any friends in need of thoughtful and helpful gifts, for just 50% off!   Click this link to purchase and enter the coupon code: danielchallenge50.

Can't wait to see the breakthroughs that will come this New Year together!!  For more info, here's the info page. 

But, from now until then, we have a WHOLE LOTTA HOLIDAYS to get through and ideally, we want to do it without completely losing all self-control on the Christmas cookies or spiked Eggnog, #amiright? 

As I mentioned the other day, I recently lost about 7 lbs of weight and inflammation while doing just a 7-day Daniel Fast.  In spite of a glorious Thanksgiving back home in Colorado, I have maintained this weight loss and still feel SO MUCH better!  

The thing is that it is RARE to actually keep off the weight you lose, so I'm definitely brushing up my maintenance skills myself and want you to do the same! 

Over the course of being a Certified Nutrition Coach and personal trainer, I have seen time and time again that I could help HUNDREDS of clients lose 20, 40, 60 lbs of weight over several months of hard work and discipline, but I saw time and time again that MOST of my clients would GAIN BACK a significant portion of the weight they lost. 

Part of the problem was that I had put them on a "meal plan" where they would measure and count their macronutrients.  The tactic worked, as we both saw, but it didn't last because it wasn't a sustainable lifestyle!  

So, this, along with my own spiritual awakening, is what spurred me to create the Nutrient Based Eating program (which is also offered in the Daniel Challenge) AND also allowed me to transition to a more HOLISTIC approach to health changes. 

This is where the STRONG'her (body), WISE'her (mindset), SURREND'her (spirit) tag line came from.  I realized that your health HAS to this balanced approach in order to not just attain health results, but more importantly, MAINTAIN THEM once you achieve them. 

So, for this Holiday season, allow me to give you...

3 PART PLAN TO MAINTAIN THIS HOLIDAY SEASON:

1. STRONG'her TIP:   The 80% RULE

I call this the "Dating vs Married Principle" in my coaching.  Essentially, what you did to get her you're going to have to do to keep her!  But by "her" I mean, your body changes.  

You need sustain about 80% of the activity and clean eating strategies to simply MAINTAIN what you lost. 

So, if you workout 4 days a week to attain the results, you will need to still workout 3 days per week at about 80% of the intensity to maintain your results. 

If you typically eat really clean for 3 meals and have 1 treat per day to attain your results, you'll still need to eat 80% clean and maybe add in a 2nd treat to be able to maintain those results.

Now, if one week you're on real vacation and you won't have access to your regular routine, seriously don't sweat it.  Just try to keep things normal the week before and the week after and during your trip and walk a lot more and do some bodyweight workouts or yoga while away!  One week won't make a huge difference, but 40 days (between TG and New Year) will! So, set up your plan!

One really helpful tool I can give you is a simple weekly chart I call my "her Intentional Consistency."  I have all my clients write down the THINK, EAT, MOVE goals each week and check off the box when they complete it.  You can download your own copy here to help you track your own consistency.  

intentional

2. WISE'her TIP:   MANAGE YOUR "ALL OR NOTHING" THOUGHTS

The MINDSET is everything this time of year!  The truth is that you should enjoy anything that you want to eat, but STOP convincing yourself that this is the VERY LAST TIME you can have it since "it's the holidays."

It's simply not TRUE.  When you shift your thoughts away from the "FOMO" (fear of missing out) and start repeating the TRUTH that you can have whatever you want to eat and ANY TIME during the year, you realize that fear dissipates and it strengthens your self-control to enjoy SOME bites, but not the whole batch type of thing.  

So, pay attention to your thoughts in your head.  If you find yourself making excuses like,  "Well, I'll get started again in the New Year, it's just too hard to resist this time of year," then I highly suggest your correct those thoughts before you start to wear them.  

The truth is you CAN enjoy your favorite holiday treats in moderation and still eat in a balanced way the other 80% of the time.

And better yet, when you feel empowered and in control of your eating and don't see the weight gain, bloating and discomfort that comes from binge eating or drinking, then you will actually ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS more!  

Why don't you test it out and see?!

 

3. SURREND'her TIP:   WELL, SURREND'her IT!

Honestly, if we could all remember that God is with us to help us with e-ver-y-thing on our heart, we wouldn't try to do these difficult things on our own!

Have you ever thought that your eating and exercise is something that "I should be responsible for" and "not bother God with?"  I know I have.   I thought, "Why would I pray for help with my eating when there are people out there with real problems, like not having any food to eat!"

But this is an error in thinking.  When I realized JUST HOW ABUNDANT GOD IS and that when He offers me more self-control (one of the Fruits of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23), it's not like He has LESS power or love to give to others!  He's LIMITLESS!

If you struggle with the guilt or asking God to help you with your health, then here is a scripture for you to memorize and dwell on for several days.  

James 4:2b-3 NLT
"Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure." 

Overall, this holiday season is always meant to me a celebration!  There is a reason for the season, and it's not to overdo it on spending or calories.  It's to fully receive the incredible gift of our Savior's birth.  

Certainly enjoy your special occasions and those holiday favorites that are worth-it to you.  But remember, life is much more than food.  Get up, get active, focus on your blessings and enjoy every minute.  

 

danielchallenge-coupon-code

Categories
Food & Nutrition Spiritual Health

Transform Your Nutrition In 2016 Without Making A Single Change

Transform Your Nutrition in 2016

Without Making A Single Change…

This week in the TRANFORMher Health 2016 training, I am tackling the #1 most requested topic when I polled dozens of women on what they would like to learn in order to TRANSFORMher Health in 2016.  Over 98% of the women I polled wanted to learn this topic:  “How to Be Your Own Nutritionist in 2016.” It’s quite clear, that for most of us, our nutrition is our #1 struggle and point of confusion for most of us!
SO I’m thrilled to have some answers and I really am giving you MY BEST STUFF in this training!   I’m thrilled that I have years of experience with the good, the bad and the ugly nutrition habits from my own personal arsenal as well as dozens and dozens of clients!  This is really going to be a great training with a lot of step-by-step guidance that I know works!  (Again, it’s not too late to grab your spot for this training.  The times available are Tuesday evening at 5pm PST or Wednesday midday at 10am PST)
But, even as excited as I am about the potential ANSWERS and CHANGES I have to offer so many of you for your nutritional health in 2016, I KNOW that these changes are NOT going to be the END ALL BE ALL for your eating struggles.  

Why?  Because FOOD IS NOT JUST ABOUT FOOD.   We know this. 

Food is a reward.  Food is a coping mechanism.  Food is a culture.  Food is a celebration.  Food is a tradition.  Food is a temptation.  And quite obviously, we can’t just “quit” Food.
But I come with good news! 
Just I introduced in my blog a couple weeks back when I was speaking about the subject of TRANSFORMATION, this subject of food can be something that we can be TRANSFORMED in our eating without making a SINGLE CHANGE to our eating habits.  
How is that possible, you might think?
Well, if you remember, transformation happens when we “renew our minds” and we align our thoughts with the TRUTH of the Spirit of God within us. (Romans 12:2)

I explained in that blog that I knew I had truly TRANSFORMED my BODY’s HEALTH when I stepped up to the same old mirror, with the same old body, and I looked at those same old flaws, steady at that same old weight that I could not seem to lose to same old extra pounds, but I all of a sudden SAW MY BODY WITH NEW EYES.  

  
THAT is how God transforms us from the inside out.   He renews our MINDS and transforms our EYES to see in the Light of His Truth.  His Truth is the only truth that “sets us free.”  (John 8:32)

What society accepts as “true” will never set us free because it changes all the time.  

For example, what was “true” for our eating practices just a decade ago has all be proven false now.  This why our eating has been so frustrating to us– because the trends are always changing and our bodies are always changing!   
The BEST thing that can ever happen to your eating is to be met with the same old food, at the same old restaurants, with the same old family gatherings, and the same old traditions and yet see the food you choose with NEW EYES. 
To no longer be shackled to the food as though it is this thing that “you deserve” or this thing that “stresses you out” or this thing that will “make you feel better.”   
No, you will see it as JUST FOOD.  And you will eat it and you will enjoy it but you will no longer be a slave to it and will no longer worship it because you worship GOD and God fills up your WHOLE heart.  

For this very reason, I did NOT start the TRANSFORMher Health 2016 series with this topic on Nutrition, even though I knew that’s what the women who signed up really wanted to learn the most.  

I HAD to start with strengthening our SPIRITUAL health first and then tackle our MINDSET of health second ALL so then we could actually implement some potential changes with our eating and our exercising!

Real change can ONLY happen from the inside-out.  
The “Big Picture” of Health looks like this:

KNOW—————>  BE ———————> DO

Until you KNOW who you are created by, you cannot BE who you were created to BE and DO the things you were created to DO.    

This stands for your health and ANY change or improvement you want to make in 2016. 

It has to flow in this order otherwise it won’t stick for long term success and it won’t make you feel “fulfilled.”  
So, I invite you to this training where I will teach you how to monitor your EATING and make simple Nutrition adjustments that will TRANSFORM your True Health in 2016!  You will get a lot of great information and potential small changes you can make!  You’ll even get this awesome Nutrient-Based step-by-step infographic that will guide you all year long!
But know this to be true:   Your #1 way to truly TRANSFORM your health and your eating in 2016 is to know your CREATOR and put God at the center of your life and the center of your eating.  He will give you NEW EYES to see food in new ways and His truth will truly set you free in your eating! 

 So my question to you is, if you could see your food with NEW EYES in the NEW YEAR, how would you want to see your food?  Comment Below!  I’d love to hear what you have to say!

Categories
Spiritual Health

10 Scriptures to Help You Endure Your Race in Health

 

IMPATIENCE

The name of the game in most of our desired BODY health transformations is found in FAT LOSS.  As you have encountered already throughout the information included this program, the process of Fat Loss is SLOW.  In fact, there is a quote I’ve used several times to reiterate the “slower is better” mentality required for sustainable fat loss–

“What comes easy won’t last long, and what lasts long, won’t come easy.” –TWEET THAT!

What Lasts Long

In other words, it’s easy to go on a crash diet and muster up every last inch of your limited willpower to restrain yourself enough to see some FAST results, but inevitably those fast results won’t last long.   That’s we have a yo-yo diet epidemic in our country and why the damaged metabolisms from such actions are triggering the overall trend in being overweight and obese. 

Obviously, since we are talking about a True Health transformation, the name of the game for finding “A Wright fit” for yourself is to take the slower, smarter, God powered route to True Health and fat loss. 

If that’s the case, we are inevitably going to need a LOT of one major character value—-PATIENCE. 

Patience does not come easy for us humans in the fallen world we live.  But patience, forbearance, endurance and perseverance are ALL character qualities that can be instilled in us through the Holy Spirit and a change in mindset. 

While we saw several examples of the severely delayed consequences that came from impatient whining and grumbling of God’s chosen people in the Bible (see Exodus 16 for the raining QUAIL miracle)  God also showed us the sheer resiliency and endurance of His most beloved followers.

Abraham, Moses, Noah, Job, Joseph, Peter, Paul and the King of endurance out of love, Jesus Himself.

We see that God tests all of His chosen and loved ones so that He may reveal their true heart and expose all sin that needs correction (with the exception of Jesus, of course)  in order to establish true character and Faith.  It all serves His purpose.

Don’t think that your HEALTH goals are not a part of your test in endurance!  Every single part of your life is a test in your ability to improve your Faith and endure gladly for God’s great glory.

So, as I hope you are on the “slow route” to Fat Loss as you *should* be, here are some of my favorite passages and scriptures on Endurance, Patience and Perseverance so you can renew your resiliency and hope in the Lord greater yet.

10 Scriptures to Help You Build Your Endurance Today:

  1. On endurance Producing Character:  “We also boast in our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God’s approval, and his approval creates hope.” (Romans 5: 3-4 GNB) (Tweet that!)
  2. On renewing strength: “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and now grow weary.  They will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31 NLT) (Tweet that!)
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  3. On Paul’s Endurance: “But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach and how I live and what my purpose in life is.  You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance.  You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured.  You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra–but the Lord rescued me from all of it.” (2 Timothy 3:10-11 NLT) (Tweet that!)
  4. On learning patience from God’s word: “Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.” (Romans 15:4 NLT) (Tweet that!)
  5. On why God tests us:  “do not listen to them.  The LORD your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul.” (Deuteronomy 13:3 NLT) (Tweet that!)
  6. On eagerly awaiting with hope: “But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.” (Romans 8:25 NLT) (Tweet that!)
  7. On running with endurance the race of Faith: “let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.  And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our Faith.” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a) (Tweet that!)
    Therefore let us strip off every weight that slows us down
  8. On God’s blessing for persevering: “As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered.  You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.  The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” (James 5:11 NIV)
  9. On Waiting Patiently for God’s Promises: “When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.” (Hebrews 6:13-15)
  10. On enduring to the end: Jesus said, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13 NLT) (Tweet that!)

 BE BLESSED!  Endure gladly today!

Categories
Goal Development Spiritual Health

4 Ways to Endure the P.A.I.N of Growth

No Pain No Gain

There is no other area in our life where we choose PAIN as much as we do in the form of intense exercise.  Think about it, for those of us that have the real love for exercise, we seem to have some sort of masochistic connection to it.  “It hurts so good” we say!  “No pain, no gain” we shout!

We actually PAY MONEY for classes and trainers that practically torture us and we love it.  (Ok, maybe not ALL of us love it, but I do sincerely believe that every body out there can find one (or two!) forms of exercise that fits just (w)right with your body that you too will love to hate.)

It’s true, to build muscle we must first break muscle.  It is a physiological fact.  A design from God Himself. 

What we get from this truth is a strong life lesson that we must apply to all areas of our True Health. 

In order to “grow” in our MINDSET and in our SPIRITUAL life we must endure some pain and accept change.  We must dig deep and get uncomfortable and persevere through some pretty tough times in order to get the ultimate reward of greater health and a greater life.

How can we do this intentionally?  It IS slightly different than the PAIN you get from exercise, because often the emotional pain we may seek won’t have that wonderful “endorphin” high that exercise has nor will be it be over in the 45-min time frame that every good solid workout should fit.   

Here are 4 ways I think we can intentionally endure some PAIN to get the life GAIN in life of living God’s Greater Purpose for our life: 

P:  Plan—Set. some. goals.   To step out of your comfort zone and grow by taking some risks in life, make some goals that feel BIG and write them down! Then, set out a general plan on how you’re going to get there and #justdoit.  You’ll be surprised in how effectively motivating writing down your goals are, especially with a deadline! 

A goal for your MINDSET might be something like reading a certain # of books in a month or year about _______ thing you are struggling with or just want to learn more.  It might also be to take the risk a seek that guidance counselor or therapist to deal with that thing from your past your been subconsciously avoiding and “numbing” yourself from your whole life.

A SPIRITUAL goal might be to find a church home where you connect with the way the Pastor teaches or the community of the congregation (this usually takes a few “interviews” to find!).  It might also be to seek the answers to the HARD QUESTIONS you have about your Faith or beliefs by committing to reading God’s word or asking someone that knows more. 

“I know I am not yet what God wants me to be.  I haven’t reached that goal, but I keep moving forward to make it mine because Christ made me and saved me for this.” (Philippians 3:12-15 Living Bible)

A:  Adapt— As you write out some goals that allow you to take some risks and branch out of your comfort zone, you will find you might hit some bumps, delays and road blocks in your dream or answers you seek.  You might FAIL a couple (read: hundreds) of times too.  Here is your grand opportunity to really grow by adapting to these changes in your plans.  We have to constantly adapt our plan to God’s plan in order to find the path He has set out before us.    We cannot discount ANY experience we have because there are no accidents in God’s will for our life.   If you take every opportunity to assess and adapt to the trial you are facing, you will learn and grow in Faith!

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

I:  Invest:  To truly experience the life-changing and life-saving things that will transform your MIND and grow your SOUL, you will need to invest in your CHARACTER above all else.  When God guides you through life, He intentionally takes you through some challenging circumstances that make you wait, endure, and persevere. All of these things are designed to build your CHARACTER. 

As Rick Warren always says, “God is not interested in your comfort, He’s interested in your character!”  God is trying to give you the opportunity to grow and be more like His son Jesus.   Our character is ultimately what we take with us to heaven, not our bodies or our circumstances!  When you are being tested, you are given the choice to choose your human, fearful response, or to invest in character and choose the loving and Kingdom response.  Invest in your character by seeking God’s will more and more. 

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last long.  Yet they produce in us a glory that vastly outweighs them all and will last forever!” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

N:  Nurture:   Just as with our bodies, we are not designed to be in PAIN all the time!  Oh no, we are designed to need some rest, some recovery and some nurturing.  This is God’s role when we are branching out in our MINDSET and our SPIRITUAL health.  God is our refuge and is the only thing that we can find real comfort from in times of discomfort and pain.  He does not just abandon us and leave us to figure it out on our own!  No, he is there to give us His fruits of the Spirit and connect us to our God-given courage, strength and power to persevere.   

The purpose of our Greater Purpose pathway is to grow in our relationship with God.  You will find that the beauty of our Pain is that these are the times we feel God the most.  You grow in your Faith and Love with God at these times which allow you to keep going and even love this pain too! 

Just like Paul said, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV)

When you see how much you can GROW from intentionally enduring some pain in life, you will become just a “hardcore” for your  MINDSET and SPIRITUAL growth as you are for your CrossFit, Paleo or Vegan diets!  #imaginethat

Categories
Fitness & Training Spiritual Health Uncategorized

[Part 4] Wine Not?! How did I WINE-D Up Here?

You’ll find that a consistent theme in my writing and teaching on health is the importance of reaching the Spiritual Connection to any change you wish you make in your life, even your health goals. I believe it is not until you reach this pivotal moment of spiritual alignment that you can finally make a LIFE change, not just a short-term, will-power dependent, kind of change.

Over the course of this week in my 5-Part Series called “Wine Not?!”, I’ve charted the path at how I arrived at the life decision to step away, or as I said, “break-up” with my relationship with WINE.

This decision first started for me with some physical ramifications (which I explained on Tuesday‘s blog), which lead to some logical assessment and some tougher questions to answer (which I explained on Yesterday‘s blog).

Today, I want to go over how it all finally “clicked into place” as I explain how I reached a Spiritual Connection to the act of avoiding wine.

I believe it’s worth explaining here exactly what I mean when I say “Spirit” and exactly what I mean when I say “Spiritual Connection or Alignment.”

What Is Your Spirit?

As I’ve struggled to fully articulate the complexity that is our Spirit, I think I have settled on this finite explanation, for now:

To me, our Spirit is our Truest Essence and Being. It is our inner compass that directs our lives and guides each decision we make. It is the home to our values, our virtues, and our character. It can be both our Light and our Darkness.

Our Spirit is the place where God dwells, waiting for us to call on Him. It is also where the Evil One dwells, hoping we’ll believe his lies.

Our Spirit is not always in our consciousness and most people live their entire lives having never awakened their mind to their Spiritual being.

Spiritual Consciousness:

I am not actually referring at all to RELIGIOUS BELIEFS when I’m talking about being guided by our Spirit.

I don’t in fact believe that religion itself actually guides anyone to a conscious spirituality. In spite of growing up in a healthy, faith-based home, going to church every Sunday and attending a Christian university, I can admit that I only came to my Spiritual Consciousness maybe 4-5 years ago.

While I have gone through stages of loving and hating attending church, it has been only by a shift in my Spiritual Alignment that I have truly CHANGED MY LIFE.

It has been a shift in my Spirit that has opened me up to the purpose of this great life……which is to have a personal relationship with God.

Religion does’t necessarily get you that relationship. Religion can often be caught-up in traditions and rules and guilt and fear. Religion is more man-made where as I know my Spirit was God-made.

Step 1: AWARENESS

Even so, just because I was now “conscious” of my Spirit in MOST areas of my life, it does not mean I was truly letting my “inner compass” guide me in ALL areas of my life.

What I was eating and what I was drinking were certainly never things that I thought I needed to consult my Spirit about. These were actions that were still relegated to the subconscious part of my being. All my eating and drinking habits (i.e. the Strict Binger person I was) were largely due to having a narrow and mainly negative focus on how I saw my body.

As I struggled to cut back my drinking, in spite of knowing it wasn’t having a good affect on my body, I started to ask myself these tough questions:

-Am I dependent on wine?
-Do I need wine to have fun?
-Do I need wine to make people to like me?
-Do I need wine to like people?
-Do I need wine to feel like myself?

 

After some deeper connecting, I realized the reason why I was still resorting to drinking wine even when I was “trying to stop” was because of one truth:

I BELIEVED THE ANSWER TO ALL THOSE QUESTIONS WAS—-> yes_logo

 

That is not to say the answer IS yes to all of those questions. (The answer to all those questions is indeed a strong NO, I have found).

But, I was subconsciously believing that I was dependent on wine on a Spiritual level.

Somewhere, deep in my soul, there were still some lies that I was believing about myself. Lies that were telling me I needed a chemically induced way to truly alleviate stress. Lies that told me I needed a drink to have fun. Lies that were telling me that those around me would like me more when I’m drinking. Lies that were telling me I needed wine to feel like my real self.

LIES

LIES

LIES

 

They are LIES in my head and they are LIES in your head too. Whatever your “thing” is that you just can‘t seem to give up, in spite of suffering some body or mental consequence because of it, is because of some set of LIES you continue to believe in your Spirit. Whatever reason you give yourself for not being able to DO anything, is a lie. Because I’m here to tell you, LOUD AND CLEAR,

THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN’T DO, IF YOU DO IT WITH GOD.

Exposing these LIES through simple awareness and spiritual consciousness is the first step to replacing them with the TRUTH about you and the TRUTH about whatever it is you’re trying to change.

STEP 2: REATTACHMENT

Once I become aware of these lies, I couldn’t just tell myself to STOP BELIEVING THE LIES.

Ha! If only it were so easy.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

The only thing that casts out LIES is the TRUTH.

The truth is I CAN de-stress without wine. I CAN be fun at dinner without getting lubricated. Others WILL like me even if I’m not drinking and they are.

MY Truth, was that I was not put on this earth to be dependent on anything except my relationship with God. Not my husband, not my mom and not any of that Good Juice I call Wine.

I needed to REATTACH myself to my Greater Purpose in my life and see things how for their TRUTH.

Each one of us has a Greater Purpose. This is the term that I use to describe your destiny, your calling or basically your God-given purpose.

Each of us is built with our unique DNA, our unique character and our unique set of core values that all live within our Spirit. We find our Greater Purpose when we can SURREND‘her these spiritual gifts to God and align ourself on His path, not our own.

As I was drinking and depending on WINE so much, I realized this was because I was attaching this act to some old, subconscious VALUES of mine:

  • People-Pleasing
  • Approval
  • Harmony
  • Conformity
  • Meekness

 

But the Greater Purpose set of values I have identified from my Conscious Spirit (i.e. from God) are:

 

  • Health
  • Faith
  • Integrity
  • Love
  • Obedience
  • Serving Others

 

(BONUS, If you’re interested in investigating in YOUR Core Values to live your Greater Purpose, click HERE to receive my 6-Steps to Values Based Living straight to your inbox!)

When I REATTACHED my decision of drinking to my Greater Purpose set of values, my decision was much easier to make.

  • In Health, I’ll limit my intake to none or just 1 glass at a time to avoid the body consequences of drinking.
  • In Faith, I remind myself of ALL that I’m put on this earth to do, which right now includes a habit of getting up at 530am every day to have some quiet time and to practice the art of writing. Having to get up so early means that I DON’t want to have a foggy brain or headache the next day from drinking.
  • In Integrity, I’ll remind myself that if I say I’m going to do something, I need to follow-through and do it. Making promises to myself and breaking them is not allowed in this value.
  • In Love, I realized how slippery a slope alcohol can be to my relationships. Drinking always increases the chances of arguments or feelings getting hurt. Out of love for others and love for myself, I don’t want wine to be the excuse for these things.
  • In Obedience, I want to be actively obedient to my divine intuition. I want to obey what is coming from my spirit so I might avoid hurtful pathways that don’t serve my Greater Purpose. I want to be obedient for the blessings that come from that.
  • In Serving Others, I know that my Greater Purpose is to

    “Let my light shine before others, that they may see (my) good deeds and glorify (my) Father in heaven.“ (Matthew 5:16)

Put another way from Gandhi, I want to,

“Be the change I wish to see in the World”

I don’t want to see a world that suffers from alcohol addiction or dependence any more. I want to see more people acknowledging their problems and accessing treatment from places like Enterhealth. What can I do? I can serve others by holding myself accountable first.

When we align these aspects of our life to what God wants for us, we find that tremendous blessing ensue. A feeling of peace waves over you as you realize you are doing exactly what you need to do.

If something in your life isn’t working for you any more, it is likely due to the fact that this habit or entity doesn’t actually fit into your Greater Purpose and the Godly given character and values you could be following. It is worth revisiting your values to reveal more about your Greater Purpose.

(Again, if you want my Values Based Living Guide, HERE’s the link again to have it sent to you)

Step 3: PRACTICE

After I was able to reattach, and thereby re-engage, my Greater Purpose based approach to this act of drinking wine, the only thing left for me to do was PRACTICE.

But, yes, I am talking about practice! Even after all this CLARITY and after all of my deeper connecting, nothing was going to change until I put it into PRACTICE.

Check me out tomorrow in the 5th and FINAL part of the series, as I detail how I put into practice ALL of this decision work and didn’t let it defeat all of my relationships and my social life!

It’s a good way to WINE-D down the series! You won’t wanna miss it!!

Categories
Food & Nutrition

{Part 2} Wine Not?! The Wine:Body Connection

Making a tough social change for me with figuring out what was going on in my BODY!

Yesterday, I began a 5-Part series on how I made the decision to cut back, or basically, “break-up” with my good friend WINE.

It was not an easy decision to make and it came with a PROCESS like all good changes do.

Today, I’m going to take you through my BODY‘s process and why I knew this change for my health was a much needed change for my BODY.

To get the context of how this particular health decision came to fruition I should explain that my body has been through A LOT of ups and downs because of my constant struggle with “trying to lose weight” and taking more and more severe measures to achieve that.

I would out myself as a “Strict-Binger” in the yo-yo dieting circus of my life.

Because I was so motivated to always get “leaner and leaner” I would practice incredibly STRICT diets of eliminating sugar, candy, high fat foods, grains and other carbs and replace them with protein supplements, artificial sweeteners and other “fake” processed food.

I would do this with a goal in mind, like, a vacation or a weekend night out. I would be super STRICT on my diet, exercise like a maniac (easily 2-3 hours a day) and then on my night out or vacation……BINGE city baby!! One drink of wine…..led to some cheese….which led to dessert and REPEAT until I basically fell out.

Then, as I inevitably put on anywhere from 5-10lbs over the weekend, out of guilt and shame I would go even stricter the next time around.

Each time, I would need larger and larger goals to keep me motivated to lose weight and workout like a crazy person!

This yo-yo mini-cycle eventually led me to the decision to do the bikini competition which I spoke about in my blog HERE. This competition required 5 months straight of no cheating, no alcohol, low low carb and high high protein. It was the longest I had gone on my overly strict regimen, for sure!

This bikini competition, like for so many of my fellow bloggers HERE and HERE and HERE came with some severe body consequences. I suffered from amorrhea (losing one’s menstrual cycle) and definite signs of nutrient deficiency throughout my body as well as some hormonal issues that I haven’t even figured out yet.

What was more, was the whirl wind part of my life was coming into high gear. My “ex boyfriend,” had decided to show up to my bikini competition as a surprise after 18-months of not hearing from or seeing him. As we reconnected a little on the day of my show about 5 days later called me and confessed he knew I was “the one” and then all of a sudden we were engaged! WHIRL WIND!!

So after a 5-month period of single living, uber strict eating, no alcohol, no cheating and crazy amounts of exercise…..within just a few short weeks, I was celebrating one of the most exciting times of my life and eating and drinking my way to enjoying it! Everything was cause for alcohol-with no one better than my best drinking mate of course! Everything was cause for celebration and indulgence and vacation after vacation after vacation!
So this ULTIMATE YO-YO of dieting lead to some pretty severe stomach issues. I still suffer from
digestive tract issues that I am not sure what is going on,

still ………after 18-months post-competition. 🙁

I AM making progress though and I have completely changed my approach on eating food. Instead of the Strict/Binge nutzo cycle, I now eat and promote a holistic approach to eating where you eat whole, unprocessed foods most of the time without being overly strict about it. I advocate this eating not just because it works for me (and my issues), but because it’s the most sustainable and least binge-inducing form of eating there is! Period.

So, as I cleaned up my eating quite easily (for me), there was this whole WINE issue that was clearly needing to be addressed in my body too.

One thing was certain, as fun as she was to hang-out with, my friend WINE made me feel pretty bad. Like, really, really bad.

While from a nutritional standpoint, I know alcohol wasn’t the only cause for my body issues, it certainly was a huge culprit that exacerbated the affects of all that was going on in my body.

Here’s why:

Alcohol has no nutrition. It has calories of course (7 calories per gram) but it is void of all vitamins and minerals.

(As a reminder) Among other functions, vitamins and minerals are the essential components that allow our food to be broken down to be used as fuel.

Vitamins and Minerals are absorbed in the gut, mainly the small intestine, and then carried all over your body to do their functional thing.

Now, I know what you are thinking! Yes, wine does have some nutrients because of those antioxidants from the wine skins, but the problem for someone like me, who was having some digestive issues, is the good does NOT out weigh the bad.

When we ingest alcohol, our bodies want to get it digested FIRST before anything else! It is what’s called “highly reactive,” biochemically speaking.

(If I might pull out some random memory of my degree in Biology/Biochemistry) the hydroxyl ending of alcohol (-OH) is highly reactive in our bodies, so it gets first priority to biochemical reactions as it gets sent down to the stomach, to the small intestines and over to the liver to be oxidized and metabolized (i.e. broken down).

This action overall slows down your metabolism because of our body’s need to oxidize alcohol so quickly to “detox” will lead to a slow down of ALL other systems. Some people who want to support their detox system make use of glutathione mercury detoxification so I hear. This is why some of my smart friends and mentors write articles about how alcohol inhibits fat loss too.

The problem is that not only is alcohol void of any vitamins and minerals itself, it is actually worse because it still requires vitamins and minerals from our body to get metabolized.

For this reason, it’s actually called an Anti-Nutrient because it basically steals the much needed vitamins and minerals from our bodies without replacing them!

So alcohol has been that friend that just takes and takes and takes and never gives anything back! Soooo rude, right?!

In addition to this fact, it can also lead to a whole host of other unfavorable affects. According to an article on the Telegraph.UK, alcohol “to varying degrees it can deplete minerals, affect microbes and bacteria in the gut, tax the immune system, interrupt sleep patterns, accelerate aging and lead to dehydration.“

These adverse affects can get even worse for some of us experiencing digestive issues.

According to website Alcohol Rehab

  • * It can cause malabsorption so that the individual is not absorbing all the nutrients from food they need.
  • * It may cause leaky gut syndrome where unwanted toxins are able to leak through the intestine into the rest of the body. These toxins then cause problems and lead to ill-health.
  • * It can exacerbate irritable bowel syndrome
  • *Alcohol can cause both diarrhea and constipation

Well, no wonder I was feeling so CRAPPY grid-cell-5151-1407875654-5right?!

Obviously, there are certain things that may help some of the above. For example, I’ve heard of things like megasporebiotic probiotic or similar, possibly helping leaky gut syndrome. However, before you do anything, it would always be worth consulting your doctor first. Depending on your relationship with alcohol, your doctor may suggest different methods of treatment for your ailments. If you or someone you know is an excessive drinker or has an alcohol abuse problem, the doctor may suggest a visit to a rehabilitation center similar to The Holistic Sanctuary (https://www.theholisticsanctuary.com/rehab-centers/drug/) for extra support. This is because of the number of factors that could result from this kind of substance abuse.

In the same article, it also explains that for some really excessive drinkers, alcohol has actually not just shown poor nutrition, but MALNUTRITION. Malnutrition means that you are so severely nutrient deficient in macronutrient or micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), you are actually suffering sever body consequences and life threatening disorders. (wikipedia.com)

The reason is that because you are getting so many calories from the anti-nutrient alcohol, you are not hungry. When you’re not hungry, you’re not eating enough food to get the protein, energy and vitamins and minerals you need (or you’re just eating Taco Bell at 2am, which, let’s face it, is also not getting you many vitamins and minerals, either). It can become a very serious deal at this point!!

OK OK OK…..I can practically hear the whistles blowing and “Party Fouls” I’ve just been given though the interweb here. I get it, I’ve just put a major damper on some of your happy hour plans this weekend!

But, AGAIN, I am not here up on my soap box trying to tell YOU what to do. I am only telling you what was physically going on in MY body and one of the main reasons I had to step back.

Ultimately, alcohol does’t work so well in MY body. You might be one of those lucky people that has no adverse physical reactions to alcohol and might only feel some of the benefits that wine can bring. I’m just not one of those lucky ones.

If you are experiencing some intestinal issues or any other body symptoms that you think might be caused or exacerbated from alcohol, the only way to find out is to actually go through the process of elimination and reintroduction. This can go for ANY substance or food that you think might be giving your body some “issues”.

Elimination: For a period of minimum 21 days (preferably 30 days), you completely eliminate the food/drink group(s) from your system. Absolutely no cheating, sips, tastes or accidental ingestion. If you take one sip, you start your 21-30 days over.

Reintroduction: After going 30 days without the food/substance, you try moderately reintroducing it back into your diet. I have found the best practice to do this is to focus on just 1 meal, have a moderate portion of the item and take note of how you feel in the moment and how you feel the next day.

For some who are extra motivated, I always recommend the challenge “The Whole 30” and the book It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. They take you through 30 days of eliminating ALL things that might give a person digestive or body issues and then take the time to reintroduce each food group (including alcohol) back into your body. This is the best way to prove that your issues are caused by, say, alcohol, and not gluten AND alcohol.

It’s not an easy undertaking for some, and I always, ALWAYS caution my clients to see it as a testing experiment, NOT a diet of restrictive RULES to follow. The reason is that if you only focus on “losing weight” while restricting food/alcohol choices you will more than like binge on the foods when done (thereby making your 30-day experiment null and void) and you’ll be disappointed if you don’t “lose the amount of weight you thought you would by being so strict.”

It‘s a system that is not about weight loss, its about body awareness. A key distinction!

After all of this, you would think that after feeling these adverse BODY affects to alcohol, it would have been a ‘no-brainer’ to just go without, but my relationship with WINE was not over just because I knew it had some adverse affects on my body.

No, I had to dig deeper to get to this point. Tomorrow, I’ll share some of the awakenings I had to MENTALLY get to the point of being able to break-up with my friend WINE.

You’ll come back, right? I mean, WINE NOT?

Categories
Food & Nutrition Health Coaching Spiritual Health

Finding Harmony Among Chaos | 3 SIMPLE HEALTH INTENTIONS DURING STRESSFUL TIMES

Wild flowers growing in a crack in a rock

My life tends to turn into “whirl wind” status within a blink of an eye! I’m sure you can relate in some way in your life too!

Over the last 3-weeks my life has be thwarted and thrusted into the chaos of big changes, including:

1.) I started this very blog, new website and new business LLC all requiring patience and drive to overcome my technology learning curve. In the end, I decided to use a godaddy website builder to try and make the whole process a bit easier for me. I’m not the best when it comes to technology and I have very little knowledge when it comes to building a website. The business was the most stressful part of these past few weeks. I have worked so hard to get it started and I wanted everything to be perfect. I quickly learnt that it probably wouldn’t be!

2.) My husband and I packed up most of our life to move into a new home in a brand new city also requiring big-time patience (as I am currently on day no. 3 of trying to get the darn internet, not to mention the endless shopping for beds, plates, and the essential nick-knacks and doodads.) After one of our friends told us about secured loans, we realized moving house could be easier than we first expected. We managed to sell our old house pretty quickly and then used the loan as our deposit. I’m so in love with our new home. It’s fabulous! Once we’ve finally settled in and have some spare time on our hands, we’re thinking about making it our mission to look for wireless alarms, as moving into a new house in a completely new city comes with the unknown. How safe is it? Do we have a possibility of getting burgled? These are all things that we don’t know, but if we have an alarm, a huge portion of that worry will be reduced. So, once everything else has been sorted, (whenever that will be), this should become our main focus.

3.) Smack dab in the middle of all these changes, we did whisk away to Hawaii, not just for the purpose of relaxation (although we did some of that) but so see my husbands 2.5 year old daughter, Eden, (who lives in Japan with her mom and stepdad most of the year). So, for 10 wonderful days we were thrust into the spinning vortex of toddler-life that, while exhilarating and drenched in deep love for her….. is also exhausting because she’s 2 1/2 and quite boisterous!

I am the first to admit, I am eternally blessed to get to experience such a roller coaster ride of life! You are eternally blessed (even when you don’t feel it!) for those crazy, manic experiences of your life too.

THE QUESTION IS:

How do we best handle our HEALTH when we are in chaotic times?

I gotta admit, even as a health coach, just 1-year ago, my health habits in stressful times were anything but healthy. In fact, my most common stressful habits included: excessively eating and drinking (alcohol) and overindulging, surviving on simple carbs alone, thinking I had to do everything myself and perfectly, not getting much sleep or rest and/or hardly taking a pause at all!

Might sound familiar?!

You see, at this time of my life, I was weighing all of my food, I was counting my macronutrients, and I was really focused on the details of my eating and working out (ie. Micromanaging my health). I was hyper focused on being “perfect” in my body’s health and severely relied on my routine!

While there is a time a place for some of us to really get down to the nitty gritty of what we are putting into our bodies (especially for the last few body fat percentages to your goal weight), the real win is if we can just stay CONSISTENT with our health and avoid the yo-yo of the scale!

But, for years at this “micromanagement stage,” when life got too chaotic for me to handle and I didn’t have my go-to daily routines in place, my whole health plan would fall apart at the mere mention on “away from home” or “vacation”. I then resorted to old habits and binge eating tendencies!

What resulted was massive swings of my weight AND mood. I could gain 5-10lbs EASILY in just 1 week. As I began to see and feel the weight gain, I would get a lot more stressed and more irritable and anxious too, affecting my mindset! At one point, I was that overwhelmed with my emotions and my negative thought-process, that I considered doing something about it. My friend, who has suffered from anxiety and stress in the past, said that CBD oil made a significant impact to her mindset, and improved how she looked at the world and the goals that she had. It sounded like a good idea, but I wanted to try and do this by myself.

This usually lead me to drastic cuts in calories and more stress to begin micromanaging my diet again. Usually cutting way back on my calories or carbohydrates, which lead to a major metabolic slow down! I found that every time I gained those 5-10 lbs, it got harder and harder to lose them again once the chaos slowed! It was frustrating, to say the least!

Not to mention, by making such drastic cuts in food, I was also cutting back my energy and ability to focus throughout the day. Which caused….you guessed it… even more stress!

A vicious cycle! (Blink if you can relate :-))

Alas, I’m happy to report that since I’ve refocused my health to what I call True Health (meaning it focuses on the body, mind AND soul altogether), I have just proven to myself that my new ways are having the EXACT OPPOSITE result as those old overindulging, micromanaging tendencies!

Not only did I NOT gain weight during these 3 weeks (I actually lost a few lbs), but I feel really energized still! I didn’t need a vacation after my vacation. And, I don’t need a vacation now that I’ve moved in! I still have energy to keep going! Which is KEY to sustaining this state of stress and change I am still enduring.

The best part is, it has been SO SIMPLE and just required me to focus on 3 SIMPLE HEALTH INTENTIONS DURING STRESSFUL TIMES to have such a wondrous affect.

God Bless It! I have found harmony among the chaos!

By just sticking to these 3 SIMPLE HEALTH INTENTIONS DURING STRESSFUL TIMES, I have never handled such stress so well! They are:

Intention #1– Stay STRONG’her– I chose just 1 habit to focus on for my body!

Intention #2– Stay WISE’her– I chose just 1 habit to refocus on mindset re: my body!

Intention #3– Stay SURREND’her(ed)– I chose just 1 habit to focus on my spiritual strength (and got some bonus love from God too!)

#1. STRONG’her Intention: I FOLLOWED MY 5-STEPS TO NUTRIENT BASED DIET

(If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, check out my Infographic HERE from my recent blog introducing my approach to the best way to start looking better AND feeling better).

The beautiful thing about following these simple 5-Steps to a Nutrient Based Diet is that it can be done ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE. I did it at the airport. I did it in the hotel. I did it at every restaurant. I did it in the midst of a move. IT CAN BE DONE! It requires NO food scale, NO calorie counting, and NO micromanaging!

In fact, check out some of the delicious AND nutrient-based meals I had in Hawaii!

(*BONUS- If you would like to see more of the nutrient-based meals I eat, follow me on twitter (@wrightfitinc) or Instagram (@a.wrightfit) where I will be posting them often with the hashtag #nutrientbaseddiet. Feel free to post your #nutrientbaseddiet meals too, tag me in your photos and I’ll re-tweet and re-gram you!)

As you can see, being on vacation or eating a nice meal out to eat does NOT mean I don’t equally focus on nutrient inclusion and diversity. Quite the contrary!

However, I DO still indulge some, because well….I’m on vacation! BUT my indulgences still fit into those 5-steps for a Nutrient Based Meal, which means, I indulge in moderation.

For example, if I wanted a glass of wine with dinner, I counted that as my carbohydrate source for that meal. If I wanted to try the house specialty of Coconut Crusted Shrimp, I sure did! But I only had 1-2 of them (for a good taste) and counted the fried part as my fat content for that meal. I would then have my vegetables steamed or salad with extra lite dressing to better balance the meal and not overdo the fat.

Also, if I knew that I was going to have a nice dinner at night, I might reserve a couple of my carbohydrate and fat servings from the meals earlier in the day so I could better enjoy the special meal at dinner!

The key was, even if I was treating myself in some way or enduring some stressful moments of chaos, I just made sure…

……. I still got my water

……..I still got my servings of green and colored vegetables &

……..I still got my protein

Keeping those core nutrient essentials helped fill up my stomach so I didn’t have room to overindulge on only the bad stuff!

2. WISE’her Intention: I FOCUSED ON MOVEMENT MORE THAN WORKOUTS

When I was feeling so stressed, the last thing I wanted to do was stress even more about working out (or not working out)! So, I let the workout opportunity come more organically than forced. There were a couple mornings that I felt like really getting in the gym and intentionally inducing some body stress for the sake of getting the endorphin rush and extra blood flow. It can definitely help with stress management!

But, on the days that a workout just couldn’t easily fit into my schedule, I didn’t sweat it (literally)! I was just more mindful of moving more on those days! With Eden, I was in the water much more with her and being silly playing (something all parents can do)! More recently as we’ve been moving, I was certainly getting a better workout by mindfully lifting the boxes, going up and down stairs with speed and “running the marathon of shopping” to find beds, plates, chairs, and all those other doodads needed to fill-up a home!

Stressing about working out does not serve your body nor does it create a healthy mindset! This happened to be something that would mentally disturb me previously, so it dramatically helped my mindset to intentionally step back from this self-pressure.

If you are similar, during tumultuous times, I encourage you to refocus your energy on movement! Then, when you have more time, get back in the gym. But when you don’t, just focus on the movement opportunities in front of you! There is an abundance!

3. SURREND’her Intention: I “CHECKED-IN” WITH MY SOUL DAILY

Sunday is not the only day to engage your spirit! I have learned that creating a daily habit of spiritually checking-in will infinitely increase my ability to handle whatever situation and stress I face that day!

For the last several months, I have created a daily habit of waking up in prayer (starting a morning prayer even before I open my eyes) even if it just acknowledging that God is God and that I have woken-up because He has allowed me to. Waking-up to Prayer first is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. It sets the perspective of the entire day ahead of you!

I also have found great spiritual strength by the brief moments checking-in with my soul and God’s presence throughout the day. I do it intentionally when I read my daily devotional (via ebook for convenience of course) or get my daily Bible Verse pop-up reminder from the YouVersion bible app (even more convenient!). These things take just minutes of my day and can easily be done on the busiest of days!

To my delight, by doing the intentional habits, I find that these “check-ins” also happen unintentionally throughout the day too!. I start to see and recognize God in the places and faces of people around me. I saw Him in the eyes of my step daughter, Eden, when she would laugh. In the face of my husband, Howard, as he held her and again as we wept when we had to leave her. I felt God when I felt the warm sun on my face or saw the dozen beautiful sunsets in front of me. I saw God in my mom’s eternal patience as she was here helping us move in. I saw God daily when I looked in the mirror and didn’t hate the image staring back at me. God’s grace. It is ALL around us, it’s all about recognizing it!

My friends, if you are among the many who are STRESSED or going through some transition or changes in your life, you don’t have to give up on your health!

Find just 3 simple habits that you can focus on-one for your Body, one for your Mind, and one for your Soul and stick with those! You will find the balanced approach to your health, even in the midst of stress, will allow your body to maintain your true health in such wonderful ways.

Focusing on nutrients at every meal, movement and a daily spiritual “check-in” like I did, will work WONDERS on your ability to manage anything that is happening!

Should you fall off for one meal, one day, or several days, don’t panic! Let this email remind you of what you CAN do to empower yourself to handle things better at the next meal, the next day and the next several days to get you back to true health!

AND, with all of this, it bears a reminder. God loves you just as you are, flaws and all. Allow these stressful times to draw you nearer to Him and He will use it to help build more character within you and guide you closer to your Greater Purpose!