Postpartum Progress Pics

4 lbs left to lose to be pre pregnancy weight and 12 lbs left to reach goal weight!

Common Eating Clean Mistakes

First and foremost I want to commend you on any intentions or efforts you’ve made to eat clean. That’s whats most important and will benefit you not only in terms of weight loss but it truly is what’s best for your health because it’s natural preventative medicine. You get a THUMBS UP for that! I’d like to see you reap the full benefits of eating clean and healthy living so this post will touch on a few common mistakes made when eating clean. I want to see you stay on the right track so let’s broaden our awareness. Let’s visit this topic for a brief minute.

Washing Produce

I’m sure you don’t want to eat that salad or drink that juice with a nice side of chemicals and pesticides. Right? There are a variety of organic and all natural Fruit and Veggie washes out there you can purchase or you can make your own. You can easily mix 1 part vinegar with 3 parts water. This wash is best on berries and fruits. Washing your produce is very important as the essential foundation of eating clean is in the name: Eating Clean. That means nothing other than what’s natural to the body and this includes chemicals and unknown additives. Your body will not know what to do with these chemicals, therefore it can not digest them properly. It is then stored in the body and can be super damaging to your vital organs and bloodstream. Therefore….scrub a dub dub!

Eat More

Eating clean will actually assist in cleansing your body however eating more frequently is necessary to metabolize. Your metabolism can only be triggered through eating in 2-3 hour intervals.  Metabolizing and digestion is what eliminates these toxins from the body and that’s what will keep your hair shiny, skin glowing, nails growing, keep you thin and keep the blood clean. Eating 5-6 times a day more importantly allows you to take in the necessary amount of nutrients and minerals your body needs on a daily basis by having more meals. You will also benefit from frequent eating because it will keep you from feeling hungry which can lead to overeating during meals. Therefore… nom nom nom.

Skipping Carbs

Cutting out simple carbs is quite alright, complex carbs on the other hand not so much. I understand the most common reason for this is weightloss however allow me to explain something. Complex Carbs such as sweet potato, oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa etc etc etc have something other foods don’t have: Fiber. Your body needs fiber to aid digestion so 1/4 of your dish during main meals should consist of a complex carbohydrate. It also takes the body longer to digest complex carbohydrates so they keep you energized and full in addition to regulating insulin levels. Unregulated insulin levels are the culprits of sugar cravings and energy crashes. Enjoy that baked potato!

Portion Control

Eating clean doesn’t necessarily mean it’s okay surpass your supposed caloric intake amount.  Doing so slows down digestion and can cause weight gain even if it’s clean eating. Portion control allows you to lose and maintain a healthy  weight. The suggested portions of a main meal are normally 1/2 plate of veggies and greens, 1/4 plate complete protein and 1/4 plate complex carbohydrates. If you stay within these portions and eat more frequently your body should feel satisfied and not feel hunger. Overeating can lead to exhaustion, skipping snacks and unregulated insulin levels. We don’t want that now do we?

H20

Your body normally disguises hydration through hunger. It won’t signal to you “Hey you’re thirsty!”. So there may be times when you may think you are hungry but in reality are in need of more water. Drinking water is an essential part of eating clean. It cushions the joints and muscles, assists in flushing out toxins and keeps the body hydrated which in turn keeps you energized. You really should be drinking 32 or more ounces a day. What’s funny is that you immediately notice a difference in your mood and hunger levels when you begin drinking the required amount of H20. Cheers!

If you aren’t committing any of these errors GREAT! If you are its OKAY! Now you know a little better to keep you centered around your goal to live a healthier cleaner eating lifestyle. Knowledge is power and I hope this post has helped you in any way. Feel free to contact me for any assistance with clean eating or nutritional planning. Stay Well 😉

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Eat clean chocolate chip banana cookies

Craving a sweet chocolatey treat? Worry not my eat clean friend because these easy and quick to make chocolate chip banana cookies will feed that craving without the extra side of guilt.

In a bowl mix:
1 tbsp of original almond milk (60 calories)
2 bananas
1/4 tbsp chia seeds
1 bigggg tbsp of organic unsalted peanut butter
1 cup of old fashioned oats
1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips

Bake for 13-15 minutes and enjoy !

I Had to Check Myself Today

It’s essential to our well being that we check ourselves every once in awhile whether it be done by ourselves or someone else who assists in “checking us”. I definitely had to check myself today! It began with those picture grams with all those self help /inspirational quotes. I know i know but they have been everywhere I socially turn this week. “Be grateful and your suffering will end”, “what god has given you is enough” “someone is happier with less than you have right now”. Ummm… Okay… And my first question was: your point is what exactly?

At first I did what most of us do and felt terrible for not living by these standards. I needed to be grateful. I needed to be satisfied with everything in my present life and give thanks. I needed to stop thinking of what could be or what I don’t have. Then and only then will I be happy because I’d no longer be “ungrateful”. Right? Wrong.

I felt absolutely terrible until I sat back and re-evaluated that although I do appreciate this perspective and that they are not totally wrong it still wasn’t going to erase my true inner feelings. It wasn’t going to change me , well it might’ve changed the way I felt for a day of two but not for the long run.
We are so often given a standard. How to think feel behave what to say practice and follow. How can you really move forward and know yourself in this way?… You can’t. You may feel uneasy and unhappy about where you are or where you aren’t. You may have a hard time being grateful for what you have because you simply aren’t fulfilled. In addition, if you are frantically looking for an immediate resolution being told ” be grateful” might heighten the anxiety because… Well you just can’t?

I’m going to ask you to do one thing today… Sit in your feelings of discomfort. If you are not in a state of being or place you want to presently be in that’s ok. Tell yourself ” hey self its ok!” Stop being so hard on yourself and don’t panic because that’s not going to get you there anyway. We are so often led by the stigma that negative feelings are NO GOOD and should be avoided. Negative feelings may be.. well negative … BUT they are existent nonetheless and if you have them something positive may come of getting to know how or why they exist versus shunning them into silence. Getting to know yourself includes all of what makes you you and sometimes we have to face that. You don’t want to accept it exists because Gee I don’t know the picture gram on FB told you that it’s wrong! I understand that but it won’t help change how you may feel.
Being more grateful ( or more of anything) may bring someone more happiness but perhaps you can start by working on getting there and what it takes to accomplish that rather than obsessing and feeling bad about not being there presently.

I want to assist on helping you check yourself if you need it that is. Don’t let all these “standards to live by” presented to you by the media and other people steer you into self destruction. Everything on the outside is ever changing so if you live by what’s being told to you by outside forces then you will never be satisfied. Get to know you: the good bad ugly and pretty then define your own standards. You control the level of change on the inside so you won’t be frantic or in a panic looking to satisfy what matters most… Your happiness within yourself.

Post Partum Wellness

Simply How I feel today

ROTW: Green Glob Juice

For this weeks Recipe of the Week I wanted to post a super nutrient packed juice recipe. This juice recipe is vitamin enriched and filled with antioxidants. For those who are looking to lose weight in addition to getting healthy this juice recipe is great! Especially for the midsection. It has many cleansing, anti-aging and energy enhancing properties. If you are juicing in efforts to stay lean as well as healthy then the greener the juice the better!! For more info on juicing check out my How to Juice post. Enjoy!

Prepare to juice the following produce:

1 cup of kale

1 cup of Spinach

Handful of parsley

2 celery stalks

1/2 cucumber

1/2 lemon

1 inch ginger

1 green apple

1 kiwi

Enjoy as soon as prepared.

Making Time for Healthy Living

Having a newborn about 3 weeks ago and an active 17 month old is proof in itself that you never HAVE time to keep up with healthy living you have to MAKE time. With Emma (my 17 month old) I constantly felt so busy and pressed for time but despite the time constraints I committed to a healthy lifestyle for both myself and my family.  All I could think about during the end of my last pregnancy was “Oh man how the heck will I be able juggle all of this in addition to a newborn?” There was definitely feelings of anxiety, panic and not to mention self-doubt… how was I going to do this!?!? Needless to say my son was born and extra time did not come wrapped in a little gift box with ribbon.  What I feared was impossible was indeed difficult but nevertheless POSSIBLE. I had to make time… for everything especially maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The only way that was getting done was to better MANAGE absolutely everything. I had to take a break… put a pause on everything that didn’t matter like the pile of dishes in my sink and make a plan. I then realized and hope you will too that there is nothing in your present day life you cannot handle nor manage. The real question here is are you managing it? Are you even trying to OR are you just going with the motions, going through the day to day feeling uncontrolled and losing your mind? Once we manage ourselves by better managing our time, we can dominate whatever life may hand us… we can manage anything and everything. When we are in control of our own lives we feel good… we feel resourceful and that in turn allows everything else to fall into place. It may not be easy. Some habits may need to be broken and new ones created, some things put on pause and others started and some excuses will need to be let go while reasons to make a change are more clearly defined. However it does start with you. Incorporating a healthy living that consists of clean nutrition, physical activity and freedom from stress into your hectic lifestyle is where it begins. Below are a few suggestions to change your perspective and set you up for success to better manage healthier living.

Change the Conversation

We have enough of the outside world telling us what we need, what we are not doing, where we lack, what we need to do to be good parents and so on. Your own voice does not need to chime in with more negativity or more importantly with excuses for why you cannot make time for what’s important. If you constantly tell yourself you do not have time to be healthy then hey that will sadly always be your reality.  A simple change in your self-talk will make a heap of a difference. It takes a transition from the overused “I don’t have time” excuse to a solution based comment such as “where can I make an adjustment/change in my day to day so I have time”. If your self-talk is action orientated you will find that it changes your thought process and that is what leads to effective changes in detrimental behavior.

 

Assess Your Day to Day

Okay so we’ve switched up the conversations that holds us back from healthier living. The next step is self-assessment. Make (notice I didn’t say find) some time to sit down and write out your day to day.  Define your current schedule, priorities and responsibilities in detail. What do you spend the most time on? What can be done more effectively? What on my day to day isn’t much of a priority and can wait? Where is there time each day to fit in at least 20-30 min of physical activity 4-5x a week? When is a good day to do clean food shopping and prep for the week? What makes me feel the most stress? The answers to these questions allow for you to not only create an actualized schedule for yourself but it also allows you to eliminate what isn’t a priority and what doesn’t contribute to your overall wellness and ability to manage healthier living.

Setup for Success

“If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail”.  In your assessment you ask “what can be done more effectively”…. really hone in on this one! When you put away the groceries are you squeezing in time to prep then and there so you don’t have to do this later? Have you researched the healthiest and most convenient foods on the go and stocked your fridge and cabinets? I personally like to buy on the go portion containers and fill them for the next 2-3 days with clean meals so I don’t have to worry. You can throw the proper measuring cups/spoons in a box of oatmeal, bag of chia seeds, snacks and anything else that makes it easier to grab and go. Portion out some snacks for the week and put them in baggies. Portion out meals and leave them ready in your fridge to grab and go. Surround your social media with healthy living content. Cater to your schedule by choosing a workout you can realistically do with the allotted time you have. Write down your meals and physical activity regimen for the week with exact times and treat it as appointments that cannot be missed. Preventative management is more successful than reactive management when trying to actualize time for healthier living.

What Can Wait Should Wait

If it doesn’t contribute to your overall wellness then it can wait. Don’t let the small things like cleaning, laundry or errands take over what’s most important…. Your well-being. Too often we become too comfortable with using these excuses as a crutch. When changing the conversation you have with yourself slowly begin dropping some of these excuses. Also, some of us tend to overcommit to duties or responsibilities even when time does not permit for such commitments.  Please remember that sometimes it’s OKAY TO SAY NO.  What you gain is usually more than what will be lost. When you are better able to manage yourself you are of more use to others anyway.  If you do not have time for other obligations then commit when time DOES permit. If in order to accomplish this some things need to be put on the back burner then so be it!

I hope some of this content helps and please don’t be so hard on yourself. We tend to be our worst critics. Take an internal inventory of all you are and have been able to do and appreciate your mind body and spirit for all it’s done. Commit to treating the three better if you can use improvement in that department and maintain a well-balanced healthy lifestyle.  You cannot be resourceful to anyone at home work or anywhere else if you are not resourceful to yourself. Stay Well.