Category: Healthy Living - Form Fit

Family meals during covid

8/14/2020

I understand that times are truly tough right now, but I also know that it is important to look for the positive things in life that are occurring as well to help stay uplifted and positive. One of the biggest silver linings is that since families aren't running around with hectic schedules and so many restaurants were closed for a period of time, there was a resurgence of family meal time.

It has been proven that when families eat meals together they:

increase their fruit and vegetable consumption
it's better for their body
it's better for their emotional health and spirit

and thanks to COVID 40% more families are cooking meals at home. Which, I'm not sure about you, but I truly believe that is something we can all feel good about.

I know that life will begin to pick up again for everyone as things start to find a new rhythm and I understand that it may be difficult to eat dinner together every night, but I do hope that you will practice eating more with your family.

It is the #1 best healthy practice you can have as a family, it keeps you and your family connected, and it is the foundation for a healthy nation.

We must start making our own personal health and our families health OUR priority! We must research, gather, learn, and determine what is best for our own family in regards to health and wellness. It is imperative for us to become an ACTIVE member in the health and medical decisions that we are being faced with.

I know that for my family I am focusing on supporting their immune system with exercise, plant based nutrition (we do eat everything, but focusing on plants), drinking plenty of water, getting enough sleep, practicing breathing and meditation techniques to decrease stress and practicing positive thoughts.

Have you found a silver lining during this time of social distancing?

Healthy Family Tips

6/22/2020

It can be hard getting our families to eat healthier but there are definitely things we as mom's can be doing to help provide our families a healthier lifestyle and it begins the moment you head into the grocery store.

Make sure that you have eaten prior to heading to the store so you aren't tempted by all of the different unhealthy foods, go with a plan (usually following a meal plan will help), and make sure you are purchasing mostly around the perimeter of the grocery store. I do keep some junky snack foods on hand for my family such as pretzels, goldfish, and cereals but if you try to keep mostly healthy food that will help. You can't expect to have your child make the decision to eat an apple if a pop tart is the other option.

Now once you are home you will need to help your family to make smart choices by reminding them the importance of eating fruits and vegetables to help them get faster and stronger.

Here are some things that I require for my children to practice eating healthier:

they need to have a fruit or vegetable at every meal or when they grab a snack
dessert is only allowed after dinner if they were outside and active that day

dessert is either on a bread plate or served in a teacup to keep portion sizes in check

Some other things that I try to do are:

have colorful dips on hand filled with greens and herbs so they can dip their veggies, fruits, or pretzels into them or pour on top of things like scrambled eggs or roasted potatoes
rethink the whole grains. You can mix white rice and brown rice together to help them get used to the brown rice
spiralize vegetables and add them into the cooked noodles
if your kids eat cereal, add a tsp of flax meal for added fiber that will probably go unnoticed

And lastly, spend at least 30 minutes at the dinner table. Practice slowing down as it's important to take time to chew your food so that you get all of the nutritional value out of your foods. We love to play fun question games at the dinner table to get us talking and having fun.

Vegetables in your Smoothies

6/16/2020

When we think of smoothies, most of us think about packing them with lots of fruits to help us get our 7-13 in but if you are drinking this first thing in the morning this can cause your blood sugar levels to rise wreaking havoc on the rest of your day trying to get it to stabilize so that your cravings stay at bay.

So I recommend working on adding vegetables into your smoothies along with some healthy fats and protein to help keep your blood sugar more stable.

If you are new to adding vegetables than you will want to start with some mild flavors such as spinach, zucchini, and cauliflower so that you get the added nutrients without changing the flavor profile of the smoothie. I also love to add avocado to mine which creates a thicker consistency and provides me with some healthy fat to help keep me more satiated.

Once you start adding more vegetables you can get more adventurous and start adding celery, carrots, romaine lettuce, swiss chard, and herbs as well. Start with you favorite smoothie and test one additional flavor to see how it works. If you love a strawberry smoothie, maybe add some spinach and basil to it. Blueberry a favorite, try adding some fresh thyme and cauliflower. You won't always get a winning combination, but once you begin to practice you will find some favorites to enjoy.

One last tip, go through your veggie drawer each week and whatever vegetables are becoming a little sad that you won't use in a quiche or a soup; chop and freeze for your future smoothies. You can also chop up greens and filtered water in a blender and make ice cubes to save for future smoothies as well.

What Type of Blender Should I use?

6/4/2020

This month we are focusing on making more smoothies as they are one of the 4 things I recommend you eat daily to build your immune system and to live a healthier life; and when you are making smoothies every day you are going to need a good blender to help you accomplish this.

The difference between a really good blender and an ok blender are:

the consistency-smoother and thicker drink
less chunky bits that you either leave at the bottom of the glass or almost choke on when drinking
endless amounts of things you can make, soups, nut milks, nut butters...
blender burn out-having to replace every couple of years

When you have a good blender this will make the difference when adding greens as it will fully break them apart and provide a smoother taste (which turns a yucky spinach smoothie into a strong and healthy Hulk smoothie for the kids!)

I have and love the Vitamix but understand that you might not want to make that kind of financial commitment. Prior to the Vitamix, I always loved my Cuisinart blender and it held up really well. The Nutribullet is an affordable option which does a great job for blending heartier ingredients and also has a nice 1 serving option. These are not required if you already have a blender, but if you are interested in a new one, these are my 3 favorites.

Let me know what your favorite blender is and feel free to ask me any smoothie/blender questions you might have.

Eat these 4 things to build your immunity

3/26/2020

Practice the 4 S's

Build your Immune System with these foods everyday.

Smoothies-make sure to fill them with colorful fruits, veggies, seeds, and healthy fats like nuts, or avocado.

Salads-eat one for lunch or dinner everyday. Make sure to add some crunch for texture, and again the more colorful you can make it the more antioxidants you are getting.

Spices-play around with spices and herbs for different flavors. I l
ove adding herbs into my salad and cinammon into my coffee. Get creative!

Salmon-eat wild caught fish at least once a week for those healthy Omegas.

Eating more foods like this every day and less processed foods will allow you to build your Immune system, decrease inflammation in your body and live healthier.

For more ways to build your immunity, read this.

Happy New Year!

1/2/2020

Are you noticing a trend?
I'm seeing it and I can't be happier!

It's a New Year and instead of trying to change yourself, its time to surrender to who you are right now and begin to love that person.

Stop feeling like the New Year is a time when you need to make big changes. You have been through this before and you know that all of these plans and goals you are setting for yourself may start to fall to the wayside because life is busy, you made to many goals for yourself, or you are to hard on yourself and wanting to change the way you look/are for ALL the WRONG reasons.

Take a moment,

breathe,

now:

decide on one thing you can begin to do today for yourself or your family because you want to be happy and healthy and you love that you are able to move, eat, laugh, cry, play and be!

Once you have determined that one thing that you are going to do, I want you to be able to hold yourself accountable; so I would love for you to join our Mom's Healthy Living Group and let us know what is the one thing you are going to work on changing.

Make it something that pushes you a little but is reachable (maybe by setting some mini goals to help you get to your bigger goal). Understand that there will be some hiccups along the way; this doesn't mean that you give up and throw in the towel,

NO

this is what life is all about. Access the situation and decide how you are going to move forward. Believe in yourself and know that by making one simple change you can accomplish big things!

healthy holidays

12/12/2019

With all of the EXTRA things we have to do during the Holiday it can be really tough to get that workout in. I am not here to tell you to wake up an hour earlier during this time of year, because I get it; you may have been up late the night before wrapping presents or going to a Holiday event.

No, I'm here to help you find ways to make the most of the time you already have and get a little extra movement throughout your every day.

First tip: Keep moving! Try to move as much as possible throughout the day (this should come fairly easy if you are out buying gifts to put under the tree), get on the floor to wrap presents to change up the position your body is in, go for a walk around the neighborhood in the evening to look at all the Christmas lights. Take the kids to the mall to see Santa and try to park on the opposite end so you get some walking in that way as well.

Tip #2: Get in the holiday spirit and play that Christmas or seasonal music. It is so hard not to sway, move your hips, or have a little more pep in your step when holiday music is on. These little bouts of dancing around add up to big calorie burn (steps made) during the season.

Tip #3-Convenience is killing you! Do not rely on the convenience of packages delivered to your door and sitting in your car outside of Target while they conveniently bring your packages to you; unless of course you have little eyes in the back seat. I understand it is easier but think about all of the extra time you are just sitting in your car waiting for someone else to get their movement in while you wait. If you live an active life, than this is not a big deal; but for those that sit at a desk all day and then drive to and from work, and then have everything delivered so they can relax and watch Netflix, this is not helping you live your healthiest life.

Tip #4-Get together with family or a friend to workout with you. We always think about getting together for lunch or coffee with friends to catch up, but what if you asked to go for a walk instead? You get to catch up with a friend and get your exercise in. It's a win-win! Looking for other mom's in your area? Look into stroller friendly fitness classes to meet other moms. Working out with friends is always more fun!

Tip #5-Consistency is Key! Try to make it a daily habit to perform some sort of fitness regimen into your life. Even if you don't have a lot of time, most people have 5 minutes to devote to something. Do a Sun salutation at the beginning or end of your day, follow along with any of my 5 min workouts; the key is to set aside at least a little time each and every day for consistency and then it will become a habit. Once it becomes an every day thing, you will start to find more time to commit to it as you will probably start to see the positive effects it has on your life.

How are you getting in your exercise this holiday season?

Eat the rainbow

12/10/2019

Eat a rainbow of colors!

Your liver is designed to detoxify a lot of the chemicals that are now in our environment, but there are a few things you can do to help it.

-Give digestion a rest, you shouldn't be eating all day long; you can do this by doing some intermittent fasting or drink a smoothie in place of a meal each day since these are easily digestible.

-Listen to your body, take a lot of the higher inflammatory foods out of your diet so that you can determine what hinders your digestion.

-Take care of intestinal flora, avoid antibiotics and processed foods that can mess with the natural flora and bacteria in your intestines.

-Eat more fruits and vegetables and the more variability you have within your diet of these fruits and vegetables the more variability you will have in your flora and the more they will thrive.

-This variability of color helps the liver get the nutrients it needs to detoxify the body.

This information was gleaned from The Model Health Shows Podcast #386 if you want to hear more.

One way that I make sure to get the rainbow of color with fruits and veggies into my diet is through fruit and vegetables powders that have been encapsulated for ease and convenience. If you are interested in learning more, email me.

Have you thought about becoming vegetarian?

12/4/2019

So...

My husband watched The Game Changers on Netflix a few weeks ago and ever since then he has pretty much eaten a plant based diet, save for Thanksgiving dinner; which I must say has been interesting.

I am all for Plant based diets and I definitely am one to promote eating more veggies and fruits each and every day; but have found making meals completely vegetarian rather difficult and time consuming. The chopping and prepping has doubled, trying to figure out what dishes will taste good together, and then making sure the foods we are eating will satisfy us. So the meals have been a salad, some sort of flavorful vegetable main dish, a healthy starch which usually is some sort of wild rice or roasted potato/sweet potato but am noticing I'm really missing the animal meat on my plate.

So I have decided for my children and I, we will practice more of a flexitarian diet, which is eating mostly plant based and use meat as a garnish or have a few meatless meals and enjoy the meat from time to time-this makes more sense to us as a family. This ensures that we are getting our Iron as needed, since its imperative for us who workout and are growing. (Iron helps our muscles to take in oxygen from the bloodstream).

This is much more manageable and I have to say it has been fun to try a lot of new recipes this past month and these are some of my favorite places to go for delicious vegetarian options.

The Forest Feast-I have two of her cookbooks already and have asked for the other two for Christmas. They are absolutely beautiful and are worth looking at for just the pictures.

Pick up Limes- I have tried a few of her bowls and they are delicious; her YouTube videos are beautiful and I truly have gotten lost just watching her create these exquisite dishes.

Chloe Coscarelli-oh my goodness, she is the cutest thing and she has beautiful cookbooks as well that I love. My son loved her vegan meatballs, and said he might just become vegan after eating these

I would love to hear if you have ever tried going vegetarian and your thoughts on it; or did you determine a more flexitarian diet was the way to go? Any recommendations for vegetarian/vegan cookbooks or blogs would be greatly appreciated as well since I love to find different ideas for inspiration.

In health and wellness-Courtney

Consistency

1/29/2018

It is almost February and I can bet most of you didn't follow through with some (if not all) of the fitness goals you made for yourself at the New Year. Why is that? If you told yourself you were going to work out at least 3x a week and somehow didn't get it in, then maybe its not the lack of motivation that is your problem but rather consistency.

Want to workout more? Than you need to make it a habit. And habits are made by doing something every day; not this 2-3x a week mentality. Please don't go into why you can't do something every day, or how you are so busy and you don't even know what I do in a day talk! Guess what...

WE ARE ALL BUSY!

I don't mean to be rude, but rather, I'm hoping to jar you out of these thoughts that you continue to tell yourself to make excuses.

I can guess that you probably have sat around for 5 minutes looking at Facebook to pass the time. So if you have 5 minutes to do something that usually is going to make you feel like crap, than you have 5 minutes to also do something that is going to make you feel great and will provide you with enough time to create a habit of movement/exercise in your day. Stop looking at it like you have to do a 1 hour workout to make it worth it.

YOU DON'T!

Why not instead, work on working out 5 min every single day until it becomes a habit. If you decide after those 5 minutes you might as well keep going, then go for it! If you feel like crap or have a lot on your plate for that day, then move on to the next thing and be happy that you got 5 minutes in.

I want to encourage you to make exercise/movement a habit. This month concentrate on your consistency! Get 5 minutes in, each and every day, and let me know how you did below.

I also have a monthly calendar which provides you with daily workout videos, walks, quick movement exercises, or healthy nutrition habits to try and a group where we hold each other accountable. Let me know if you would like to join us!