The Hunger Game: Want to Learn to Play?

I’m here today to teach you how to tell the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger by playing the “Hunger Game.”

 But first, why am I talking about emotional hunger versus physical hunger and what’s the difference?

 Emotional hunger means you turn to food either to avoid uncomfortable emotions or to heighten pleasurable ones. It means you eat based on how you feel instead of what your body needs.

 Examples of emotional hunger (FEELINGS):

●      Eating for comfort or out of loneliness or sadness

●      Eating from boredom

●      Eating to try to soothe anxious or depressed feelings

●      Eating to fill an aching heart.

On the other hand, physical hunger means you eat when your body signals to you that you are in fact, hungry. And it means that you stop eating when you are satisfied and before you are uncomfortably full.

 Examples of physical hunger (SENSATIONS):

 ●      Stomach growls and gets that hollow hungry sensation

●      Body feels weak and energy goes down

●      Blood sugar gets low and you feel shaky

●      You feel lightheaded or faint

So what will learning to listen to my body do for me?

It will free you from being a slave to food!

 What that means for you is that you’ll feel more in control of your eating and less dependent on food to “help” your moods and emotions.

 By listening to your physical hunger signals, you can determine how hungry or full you really are. With practice, you’ll be able to pinpoint where your body is at any given moment.

 By doing so, you will train yourself to stop eating BEFORE you are too full and to not turn to food when you are not actually hungry but are in fact bored, upset, anxious or depressed. Because … everyone knows that’s a vicious cycle!

 So let me show you how to end that cycle and have some fun while doing it! Enter… the Hunger Game!

How do I play the Hunger Game?

 Let me first clarify that I’m not talking about undergoing top-secret weapons training to learn to “kill” off your colleagues or friends… I’m talking about a simple, helpful game that you can play all by yourself even in a busy restaurant!

 Here’s how you play the Hunger Game:

 ●      See if you can be the slowest eater at the table — no one has to know you’re playing or that you’re trying to win the Hunger Game.

●      Periodically check in with yourself throughout your meal and honor when you’re energized and satiated by completing the meal.

●      Use an end-of-meal ritual, like putting your napkin over your plate or pushing your plate away and saying (either out loud or to your self) “I’m finished” to symbolize completion of the meal

Listen to that fabulous body of yours! You’ll be surprised at what it can tell you!

Here’s to your health!

If you think you may be engaging in emotional eating and don’t know how to change it, let’s chat.

Grab one of my FREE Breakthrough Sessions.

Three Underrated But Potent Vitamins!

I’m here to let you in on a little secret of 3 super potent vitamins that are crucial for our health and wellness yet we often overlook them. Can you guess what they are?

 I’ll give you a clue: they are all around you, don’t cost a dime, and are accessible at almost any time of the day.

 That’s right! I’m talking about nature, fresh air and sunshine!

 But first, why am I talking about nature, fresh air, and sunshine as vitamins?

 Let me explain…

We are so conditioned to think that vitamins are something manufactured in a lab and labeled that we need to purchase in a bottle at a store that we forget to open our eyes and look all around us. Vitamins are everywhere!

 Nature itself is a multi-vitamin world but it’s often the last thing we turn to for our vitamin fix simply because we are not conditioned to think of it as … nutritious. But it is … so hold tight while I go into more detail…

 So what are my 3 most underrated yet most potent vitamins?

 1.     Vitamin N = Nature

 2.     Vitamin FA= Fresh Air

 3.     Vitamin S = Sunshine

 Never heard of them before? Well, don’t worry because you have now!

 Did you know that instead of exploring the great outdoors the average American spends most of their time stuck in a stale office, a classroom, and/or a dark living room?

 Even kids today spend 7 hours more on academics and 2 hours less on sports and outdoor activities per week than they did 20 years ago.

 Well unfortunately, all this indoor living is devastating our health!

 Research shows that children who get more "Vitamins N, FA and S” have lower stress levels, more success in school, and fewer ADHD symptoms. And adults who exercise and socialize more in nature are happier people all round.

We all know that simply being in sunlight triggers our skin to make Vitamin D, also known as the ‘sunshine vitamin’. Research has linked low Vitamin D levels with depression, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease, osteoporosis, and cancer.

 To make sure you have enough Vitamin D, be sure to get at least 15-20 minutes outside WITHOUT sunscreen. Why? Because sunscreen (high and low SPF factors) prohibits the body from making vitamin D by 95 %. One word of caution … don’t overdo it!

 So in light of all this, it is so important to get outside and get lots of nature (VITAMIN N), fresh air (VITAMIN FA) and sunshine (VITAMIN S)—these are super potent forms of food for our bodies!

 How can I get more Vitamin N, Vitamin FA and Vitamin S?

 ●      Make outdoor adult play mandatory—splash in puddles, take a walk with a friend, pack a picnic or catch fireflies.

 ●      To avoid the typical 3 pm slump, take a 10-15min walk outside and drink in fresh air instead of coffee.

 ●      Try gardening! Getting your hands in the dirt is actually good for you—there’s a strain of bacterium in soil—Mycobacterium vaccae—that has been found to trigger the release of serotonin, which in turn elevates mood and decreases anxiety. No wonder kids already know that digging deep in dirt makes them happy!

 ●      Move your kitchen outside—fire up the grill and make fun creations such as fruit kebabs, or if you have kids, let them personalize meats by brushing on sauces before cooking.

●      Sleep under the stars—even if camping without a bathroom isn’t for you, you can pitch a tent or put up a hammock in your backyard!

So get out there and enjoy those Vitamins N, FA, and S today!

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Need some help taking action with your health? Let’s chat. Grab one of my FREE Breakthrough Sessions.

Want To Know 5 Reasons (Most) Diets Fail?

Research shows that regular dieting is a waste of time and energy. Don’t believe me? Read on to find out why…

 Why am I dissing on dieting?

 According to Dr. Mark Hyman, functional medicine doctor, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine and New York Times bestselling author of “Ultrametabolism” and “Ultrawellness” most diets predictably fail because of 5 reasons...

1.     You try to exercise your willpower to control your appetite instead of understanding there is a science behind hunger.

2.     Your focus is too much on counting calories.

3.     Your diet consists of all low-fat foods.

4.     Your weight is actually affected by hidden reasons that require medical attention.

 5.     You lack a solid health and weight loss plan to guide you on your journey.

 Dr. Hyman also says that when the average dieter loses weight, they lose muscle AND fat.

 But once they regain the weight, they gain back only the fat… which will ultimately slow down your metabolism.

Boooo! That’s not what we want!

How can you succeed with your health without dieting?

  Here are 5 success tips that will keep you in peak health without dieting:

 1.     Eat enough whole, fresh food to satisfy your appetite (your body will be less hungry because it’s fully nourished).

2.     Eat protein for breakfast to boost your energy for the day.

3.     Eat your last meal three hours before bedtime to give your system time to digest before sleep.

4.     Make low-glycemic foods, such as nuts, seeds, chicken, and fish, your diet staple so your blood sugar stays level.

5.     Eat good fats, such as avocado, nuts, seeds and olive oil, at every meal.  Healthy fats are your friend, not your enemy.

 So I challenge you to make one small change.  I believe it will make a huge difference in your health journey.

 To your health!

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Need some help taking action with your health? Let’s chat. Grab one of my FREE Breakthrough Sessions.

My Best Kept Secret for Better Digestion (Which Leads to Weight Loss!)

Many of my clients have challenges with digestion. We all know that suffering from digestive problems such as gas, bloating, reflux, stomach cramps, diarrhea, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease can seriously hinder our daily functioning and make us miserable.

Your gastrointestinal tract (GI) tract acts as your body’s food processor and if it’s blocked, overloaded, polluted with toxins such as food additives, pesticides and preservatives, or otherwise irritated, it is going to let you know how it feels by having one of the reactions listed above.

Your GI tract first breaks down your food by the mechanical process of chewing and then by a multitude of complex chemical processes that extracts nutrients to feed your system and get rid of those nasty toxins.

The best way to ensure that we are helping make it easy for our bodies to digest our food is to chew A LOT so that our food mixes with our digestive juices so it can be easily digested and better absorbed for the best nutrition possible.

So what is my best kept secret to better digestion?

 You guessed it! CHEWING!

 Believe it or not chewing is one of the most important aids to our digestion and it’s also one we often take for granted so much so that we sometimes just swallow our food whole, forgetting to grind our teeth altogether!

Learning how to chew your food properly (up to 30 times per bite) will help you get the maximum nutrients from your food and to get your digestive juices flowing right AND help keep your weight down and your tummy flat.

How? Because if you eat healthy food packed with nutrients that you chew properly with each bite, you will be able to recognize once you feel full and you will therefore eat less!

My clients find that learning how-to chew helps to:

●      Sense intuitively when you are full

●      Gain way more satisfaction from eating

●      Develop a healthier relationship with food

How to chew better for optimal digestion:

 To get in the habit of chewing, try chewing each bite of food at the beginning of your next meal 30 times. (Putting your fork down and breathing between bites will help.) Now … if you forget, not to worry. Just do it as many times as you can remember to and eventually you’ll do it without even thinking about it.

Even if you only have 5 minutes for a meal, let the chewing relax you and use it almost as a meditation. That way you’ll enjoy the whole spectrum of tastes and aromas that make up the meal, trigger the digestion process that starts even before food hits your mouth, and your body and brain will be satisfied even with a quickie meal.

So let’s get that chewing on! This tiny step will make a huge difference in your health journey.

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Need some help taking action with your health? Let’s chat. Grab one of my FREE Breakthrough Sessions.