Month: March 2016

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Making Healthy Eating Super Simple

If ‘we are what we eat’ then let’s try and be healthy, colourful, moderately sized, diverse, fresh and delicious and not fast, cheap easy or fake.

The food we eat has a huge impact on our body and minds. A healthy diet is linked to a reduced risk of illness, improved mood, raised energy levels, increased productivity as well as better quality sleep.

I don’t subscribe to any ‘fad’ diets. Paleo, Flexitarian, Alkaline, Dukan, Sugar Free, 5:2… These popular diets may in-fact have some short term weight-loss potential but at the end of the day the majority of them are inflexible, hard to maintain and restrictive. Life is too short. In-fact I have a completely non-diet approach to food and I believe this to be the healthiest way to be.

We should be able to enjoy food rather than see it as the enemy. We are being bombarded with the latest and greatest diet trends all the time and this is confusing for people. I enjoy coaching people around nourishing their bodies with real, whole, colourful, simple food. I like a diet that comprises of lots of fresh fruit and vegies, legumes, wholegrains, seafood, a little meat, nuts and seeds. I hate the idea of people depriving themselves, having a blow-out then resentfully chomping on celery for the next two days. This is total craziness. Let’s make it simple and easy, it does not need to be rocket science.

Some basic principles that are easy to follow;

Variety – Mix it up with different flavours, colours and textures. Aim to have a rainbow coloured plate at each meal.

Seasonal – Buy fresh locally produced fruit and vegetables. It is always the best choice for health and wallet.

Eat Unprocessed – Aim to buy the majority of your food fresh. Eat food the way it comes from nature as often as you can.

Watch Portion Size – Many of us simply put too much on our plate! A rough guide to the amount of food we need to eat at each meal is two fist sizes of concentrated food like lean protein or carbohydrate. You can add as many greens to that as you like.

Hydrate Regularly – Drink plenty of water.

Reduce Stimulants – Aim to cut back on sugar, alcohol and caffeine.

Remove Temptations – Just don’t buy the food you know is your weakness. Keep it for a ‘treat’.

Buy Healthy Snacks – By having your fridge full and your pantry stocked with nourishing food – you are less likely to have a blow-out.

Relax – If you ‘fall off the wagon’ – don’t worry too much about it just work towards getting back on track the next day. It suits me to be fairly disciplined throughout the week and then relax a bit on weekends.

For a busy woman who is time poor, preparing healthy meals for a family can be overwhelming and just another thing on our already ‘epic’ to do lists. If you are interested in learning how to create quick, simple, nourishing meals for you and your family please reach out and contact me.

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Setting Boundaries for Yourself

I once was focused on being all things to all people. I was a ‘YES’ person to everyone. Boundaries? Nope I had none.

Them: Can you have that report ready by tomorrow? Me: Yes of course.

Them: Will you manage the P&F event at School? Me: Sure, no problem.

Them: Can you speak at that event on my behalf? Me: Absolutely.

Them: Can you ‘event manage’ our wedding? Me: I’d love to.

Them: Can you make dinner Wednesday night? Me: I’ll be there.

Yes, yes, yes…yes! What I knew I should be saying was no!

Problem is with no boundaries and no ability to say ‘no’ for fear of disappointing or letting someone down, I was not only compromising myself and becoming a hot, wired, crazy mess, I was also compromising on what was most important to me…my family.

It was only after my usually very patient husband hammered home to me one night “Why is it that everyone else gets the best of you and me and the kids miss out?” These words were like an arrow through my heart. He wasn’t being overly dramatic. It was true. To everyone else on the outside world I was calm, helpful, capable and patient so why were those I loved the most getting the leftovers? Because I was buggered, exhausted, spent and they would love me anyway. Crazy! Ridiculous! I was determined to sort it.

What I have learned is that having boundaries is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves towards achieving health, wellness and ultimately happiness. With the fast pace, busy, demanding life we all lead between work, families, the house, friends, exercise, contributing to society, who has time for boundaries? I am here to tell you that if you establish boundaries you will gain a heap more time.

Let’s get started;

  • What boundaries do you need to set? Think about times when you have felt used, compromised or resentful. It may be a good sign of where your boundaries have been crossed.
  • Communicate your boundaries. Once you have identified your boundaries, discuss and communicate them to the people they impact. By doing this people can understand what you are doing and why you are doing it and have clear expectations of what you will and won’t do.
  • Managing your boundaries. This is the tricky part. You can do it. Enforce them. Practice makes perfect.

I promise you from very personal experience that this can be life changing. I can guarantee you will gain more time, achieve better balance and feel like you are more aligned with your true self. It took a bold and deliberate effort on my part to create this space for myself but in doing so I have reclaimed some personal power. I know I have choice about how to live my life; and I no longer make commitments out of guilt and obligation.

If you are interested in some simple strategies and routines to gain more time, experience less overwhelm and regain control, don’t hesitate to contact me. I would love to work together towards you achieving a more fulfilling life.

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There has got to be more to life right?

A few years back I remember pondering, that despite having a fulfilling job, a loving husband, healthy children, great friends and an active social life why I just didn’t feel as happy as I assessed other people to be. This feeling of discontentment, this belief I was bound to live a better life than the one I was living plagued me. Was I just ungrateful? Was I selfish?

I was showing up but not really being present, experiencing but not really feeling, moving through the days, ticking them off, doing what needed to be done and putting one foot in front of the other. This ‘existence’ was allowing me to achieve quite a lot at the time. I was doing well at work, our family was seemingly healthy and happy. I had lot to be grateful for. I kept telling myself that but I lacked clarity, purpose and genuine fulfillment.

A typical day would start at 5am when the alarm would startle me to attention. Out of habit I’d lace up my sneakers and hit the pavement for my morning run, home to pack school lunch boxes and hurry kids along. By the time I had ranted and raved and packed three children off to school, rushed to work, stopped work to pick kids up from school (damn, I was in the middle of something) transported children to their various after school commitments all the while checking emails at traffic lights, helped children with their homework, locked myself outside to make work calls, checked more emails, made dinner, folded washing, listened to kids readers, kissed kids goodnight, logged back onto work…SHATTERED! I would collapse on the couch for some mind numbing reality show and fall asleep in front of the TV – every night! There has to be more to this life right? This rushing through the day, this frenetic, crazy pace was becoming intolerable. I became overtly aware that the costs in the long term to my family, happiness and my health was too great.

Being ‘switched’ on all day, combined with minimal sleep can mean we spend the majority of our time living in a heightened stress response. This is SO bad for us. Our body is constantly wired and ready for ‘fight or flight’. This impacts badly on our immune system, our ability to rest, to fully digest food and to repair ourselves. Ultimately this can lead to serious health conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, weakened immune system and insomnia to name just a few.

A more immediate consequence of this rushing is rarely being present. If we are not fully present, not paying attention to the moment and to how we feel we are by no way able to be at our best. We are not able to truly connect with others, we are distracted and people around us do not feel seen or acknowledged (yes they do notice) All of this striving and rushing means we miss the small things in life that can bring us so much happiness.

Realizing that your life is not how you want it to be is a big step towards living the life that you desire. I have shared below a couple of tips on how you can transform your life today for the better. Small, simple steps…huge ripple effect.

1. Accept that you need to change.
Acknowledging you have grown tired of who you are is the very first step towards change.

2. Decide what you want.
You must be able to clearly envisage what it is you want for yourself. Having clear objective goals is a crucial part of successfully transforming your life.

3. Self-limiting beliefs – be gone!
Our beliefs can often be the biggest barrier to us transforming our lives and realising our potential. Challenging and eliminating these negative thoughts will empower you for great things.

4. Take action.
Setting small, achievable, realistic goals and then sustaining these changes can help you progress towards lasting, positive change.

If you would like some support with challenging your current situation, setting a vision and supporting them with goals to step forward into who and where you want to be – reach out and contact me. Let’s do this together.

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