Are you burned out? There’s an App for that.

I know you’ve felt it before…you dread getting up in the morning and dragging through one more day.  Burn out is real.  And it can take a toll on your health: it is associated with heart disease, insomnia, obesity, and anxiety.  Can you relate?  If so, check out this infographic from Happify. 

Click here to see the infographic from Happify: Experiencing burnout? Here’s how to recover

If you recognize any of the symptoms of burnout listed on the graphic, I encourage you to download the Happify app. It’s a great tool to improving your mental health—which then trickles down to physical health.   And then, talk to me.  Let’s figure out how we can change your diet and exercise routine to alleviate any symptoms you are experiencing.

Please share, what are the signals and signs when you are feeling burnout?

Help! What Food is Trying to Tell YOU

Help! What Food is Trying to Tell YOU

Do you have a go-to food or activity that numbs you out after a long day or an emotional event?  C’mon, be honest: is it scrolling through Facebook, playing a game on your phone, or grabbing a bag of chips?  If you’re an emotional eater, then you can relate.  What are those foods you gravitate towards when you want to feel better?  Chocolate? Ice cream?  Bread?  If you know what I’m talking about, chances are you also feel guilty about eating these foods. Well, I want to take that guilt away and instead teach you what these foods are telling you. 

Your body has an amazing and insightful secret to share with you:

When you reach for food and you are not physically hungry, it’s telling you “Something’s wrong!”  It’s shouting at you to stop and listen. 

It’s so common to plow through your day without ever stopping to listen to your body and see what it needs.  So, when you are craving food, think of it as a red flag.  Your body is saying, “Did you forget about me?   Something is wrong and I want you to fix it.”

Next time you find yourself reaching for your go-to food, notice is for what it is (a cry for help) and take these steps:

  1. Do a head to toe scan to find any areas of pain or discomfort.  Do you have a headache?  Are your feet hurting?  If so, do what you can to alleviate the pain or discomfort.
  2. If you find no obvious pain or discomfort, examine your feelings.  What are you feeling?  What triggered those feelings?  Did you have an upsetting interaction with a co-worker?  Are your kids stressing you out?  Are you mad at your best friend? Once you find the source, do what you can to fix it (that doesn’t involve food).

This is a learning process. It’s important to be patient and compassionate with yourself as you learn to work through difficult emotions and events.  But you can do it!  I’ve seen others learn how and I know you can too.

If you need help applying these steps, check out my programs to see which one might be a good fit for you.

In the meantime, please share: what are your go-to foods and why?

Stop the Food Fight

Stop the Food Fight

I know this is a personal question, but how do you feel about your body?  What do you think when you look in the mirror?  Are your thoughts positive or negative?  What do you think when you see models and celebrities?  Do you envy their slender bodies or do you think that you would not want to work as hard as they do to maintain that shape?   How do you feel about your relationship with food? Is food the enemy?  Take a few minutes to think about these questions, or better yet, discuss with a friend or write them in your journal.

Thinking about these questions can be eye-opening for some or painful for others.  I bring this up because my goal for all my patients is to accept their bodies where they are.  Next time you are in a crowd of people, notice the vast difference in our bodies.  No one person is the same and that’s what makes us unique. Life would be boring if we were all the same height, weight, and shape. 

Do you think that everything you see in magazines and TV is real?  You would be surprised how some of what we see is not real.  Illusions are created by the power of technology in the hands of the beauty industry who wants us to believe that we are not good enough as we are (so we will spend money on their beauty products).  This illusion of beauty and “perfect” bodies are all around us. So much that we don’t know what reality is anymore. Want to know what reality is?  Go to the mall or other public place and people-watch.  Reality is every day people in all shapes, sizes, and colors; real people with real struggles and real lives.  In my Stop the Food Fight class I’ll be showing you a few pictures of air brushed celebrities that will surprise you.  I know we can’t change the media and beauty industry, but we can change ourselves.  We can remind ourselves and teach our daughters and sons that what we see in the media is not always real.  Beauty has nothing to do with your weight or body fat percent.  It’s all about what kind of person you are.

My hope is that you can get to the point where food is not the enemy and your body is not the enemy.  You can do that by what I call, “Stopping the Food Fight.”  That means you learn to accept the diversity of our body shapes, just as you accept the diversity of nature.  And second you learn to nourish your bodies by honoring your hunger and fullness. How do you do that, you may wonder? 

1. Keep a food log of when you eat and WHY you eat.  Notice how the foods make you feel. 

2. Consciously observe the people around you and say positive things about their bodies (not out loud!) and your body (you can say them out loud!).  This is a gradual process that I love to take my clients through. 

If you need more help with this and want to discuss this with like-minded individuals, join me for my June Master’s Group where we are learning to “Stop the Food Fight.” 

In the meantime, please share: how do you feel about your body?

What is your Dream?

What is your Dream?

I love to dream big.  How about you?  It’s fun to day dream about all the wonderful things to accomplish or places to go.  Most of us don’t have any problem dreaming big.  It’s the execution that gets us!  Life gets busy, we plug along another day without getting closer to our dreams.

What are your dreams?  If you are like most of the people I meet with, your dreams include feeling great and living a long, full life; being around to see your grandchildren grow up; traveling; and enjoying life.  So I want to know, what are you doing today to make that happen?  If we don’t take at least one step towards our dreams every day, life might pass us by. 

I love helping my clients get closer to their dreams!  But it doesn’t happen without having a “plan and a deadline.”  It’s so fun to take those dreams and turn them into realistic and personalized plans.  I’m a big planner and have been since as long as I can remember.  I started at a young age with goal setting and planning.  At first they were far-fetched goals like “don’t fight with my sister” or “practice the piano every day.”  But as I learned about effective realistic goal setting and making specific plans, I started achieving my goals.  For example, when I learned to plan exercise into my day, make a weekly menu, and have strategies for overcoming emotional eating, I became successful in managing my health.    And that’s what I want for you too.

How do you start, you may wonder?

Step 1: First write down one dream you have in relation to your health. 

Step 2: Brainstorm the steps that you need to get there. 

Step 3: Choose one step to start with.

Step 4: Set a deadline and a plan for that step.

If you need help with making your plan, watch this video and then contact me so we can talk about how my programs might help you.

Until then, please share: what are your dreams?

Simplify Your Eating

Simplify Your Eating

I love this quote about simplicity. It can be applied to health and nutrition. Let me explain: So many people come to me with confusion about what to eat, when to eat, what diet to follow, how to exercise, etc. I totally get it! Everyone is telling you to do something different. How are we supposed to know whose diet is the best? The good thing is your body will tell you. Your body is amazing and was created to help you be the best person you can be. Listen to your body and how you feel when you eat certain foods. Eat the foods that make you feel your best. Don’t eat the foods that make you feel bad. Simple as that. It’s going to be different for everyone, and that’s OK. We all have different genes, food preferences, and health conditions. Armed with some nutrition knowledge and curiosity, you can find the foods that work best for your unique body. If you need help finding the right foods for you, call our office @ 409-767-8100 or email us @ assistant@intentionaleating.net.

Question: What foods make you feel your best and what foods don’t work well for you? Share in the comments below.