by | | Recipes
This Healthy Soda recipe will help curve your sweet tooth and cravings for regular soda!
Muddle fruit in small cup. Pour fruit into seltzer water; add sprig of mint if desired. Yummy and good for you!
by | | Lifestyle
The Bigger the Waste, the Bigger the Waist!
OKAY, I’M SURE THERE ARE energetic, productive, lean, and healthy people out there who live in complete chaos. In fact, I know one excellent fitness trainer who has probably not seen her car upholstery in years, thanks to the accumulation of kettle bells and yoga mats.
But believe me, those people are exceptions. Clutter drains energy. It’s as simple as that. You say you don’t believe me—you behind the stack of unopened mail, months-old magazines, and piles of charger cords? Let me ask you a question. Do you not sit a little straighter behind the wheel right after you’ve vacuumed your car? Do you not breathe relief from your shitty day when you see your cleaning lady has paid a visit? And do you not then feel a little bit more badass, a little more in control of your day and life?
Many of my clients come to me in a state of lingering overwhelm. There was Kelly, who said she just could not understand why she had no energy, no time, and an extra 20 pounds that stuck to her like a lamprey eel. She was young, she was healthy, she was smart—what the hell was wrong? So I paid her a visit at home. After I parted the sea of chip bags and soda cans (no surprise there), I saw bags of fabric and a dusty sewing machine. I saw stacks of unread books and papers. I saw dishes piled on counters and recycling piled on the floor. I even saw a pair of jeans in an open closet that I knew hadn’t fit her since the last millennium. And in the middle of it stood Kelly, looking hopeless. No wonder! It was as if every object were screaming, “Deal with me already, you loser!”
Here’s the thing: clean is transformative. It really is! A chaotic space is a nag and a drag, a constant reminder of everything we’re bad at and dislike about ourselves. That project we’ll never get to. That invitation we forgot to answer. That $250 jacket the salesperson talked us into that we wore once. The Facebook “friends” from fifth grade. Who needs them? Even talking about it is exhausting.
Step One: Know the Enemy!Essentially, clutter assumes four guises in your life:
1) The physical things around your house, car, garage, what-have-you. 2) The unhealthy foods around your kitchen.
3) The energy blockers around your workspace.
4) The time-suck relationships that creep over your boundaries.
This is an excerpt from The Right Fit Formula
by | | Meditation
Mindfulness lets you tame the beast within. If you can name it, then you can tame it! By bringing awareness to your thoughts, mindfulness lets you step back and identify what exactly you are feeling: “I feel resentful that my boss takes me for granted.” That simple action gives you the detachment to see your resentment without taking it so literally andwithout hitting the vending machine. (Thich Nhat Hanh talks about this concept in his book Taming the Tiger Within.)
Mindfulness helps you stay in tune with your body. Stress causes emotional distress, but it also can ache physically. By naming and taming your feelings, you also take notice of how your body is holding up against the pressure of life. So, that crick in your neck is not necessarily because of My Pillow, and that lingering headache behind your eye is probably not because it’s going to rain tomorrow. When you’re stressed, your body pays the price. Now you can notice pains earlier and take the right action.
Mindfulness soothes your lizard brain. Stress responses reside in the amygdala, the caveman-era part of our brain that signals danger, danger and tells us to climb a tree or grab a spear. Being mindful calms the crazy from this primitive lizard brain and reminds us that when Mildred and Mary come to visit, the only real threat is to the clean air in the bathroom. Mindfulness also presses the pause button on those racing thoughts and bad coping mechanisms. (What if they ruin my Eileen Fisher sheets? Oh, my God, I better remember where I hid the cigs.) You can then use your “wise mind” to come up with better responses. (Maybe they can babysit so hubby and I can go out.)
This is an excerpt from The Right Fit Formula
