How to Ask for Help

When you feel overwhelmed how often do you ask for help? If your answer is not very, you’re like so many other women. Women tend to naturally be the one in the family who takes care most of the items on the household to-do list in addition to taking care of kids and/or bringing home income.

I believe this is in our DNA as women. In the hunter and gatherer society, the women were the gatherers. Women would hold the babies while gathering any veggies and fruit they could find. They were able to focus on multiple tasks at the same time. Men, on the other hand, were the hunters. Their primary job was to be laser focused on hunting animals to feed their family.

So, it’s natural that women feel the need to handle everything else in the household to make sure everyone in the family is fed, clothed, and well taken care of.

Of course, in today’s society things are little different. These days more men are willing to share the household responsibilities, yet, women still do a bulk of the tasks that keep the household running smoothly. This can be because women don’t know how to ask for help.

There are several reasons why we don’t want to ask for help. It can be fear of losing control or feeling like no one else can do a task as good we can. When we come up with reasons like these, our focus is on why we can’t ask for help rather than how we could we ask for help. This is where a simple mindset shift can be a game changer.

“If you change the way you looks at things, the things you look at will change.” Wayne Dyer

So, how do you ask for help in a way that relieves the pressure you feel and helps you feel comfortable passing the baton? We’ll use meal prep and cooking as an example as this is a challenge my clients experience and I’ve had challenges with myself.

I’m a big fan of planning meals a week in advance. I’ve found from personal experience this helps me find the motivation to cook a homemade meal when I’m tired at the end of the work day and just want to relax. Having the ability to come home and simply look at a menu makes it super easy for me to get out all the ingredients and get to cooking. However, this does require you to carve out time the week before to plan the meals, do an inventory of your fridge and pantry, and go to the grocery store.

Tip #1: Make a list of all the ways you’ll find freedom in asking for help.

When I was feeling overwhelmed with doing all the meal planning for dinner in our home, I imagined what it would feel like if I asked my hubby, Scot, to share the meal planning with me. What I learned was it would give me an opportunity to transfer my meal planning energy into other things such as relaxing or focusing on how to better serve my Wellness Abundance clients and community. It was one less thing for me to stress out about during my day.

Tip #2: Make a list of ways in which the person you’re asking for help from can benefit.

This can be a game changer when it comes to enrolling your family in the meal planning and cooking process. Part of it was about taking some pressure off of myself and another part of it was giving my hubby the opportunity to utilize his creativity skills in the kitchen. My hubby can get really creative in the kitchen and has created some of the most flavorful and nutritious meals we’ve enjoyed together. I love watching his face light up when he’s experimented with a new recipe that turns out to be really yummy.

Another benefit of Scot helping out with meal planning and cooking is he gets to be my hero. He loves being my hero so if giving me a night off from cooking means being my hero, he’ll do it in a heart beat. This is something that brings him so much joy.

Tip #3: Create some guidelines with your new process in collaboration with the person you’re asking for help from.

After Scot was onboard with sharing the meal planning and cooking with me, we talked about how we would make it work. We decided that whoever was the chef that night would be responsible for choosing the meal that night. The chef would not be responsible for clean up duty. When he cooks, I clean and vice versa. We bought a small white board that we have in our kitchen that lists the days of the week and the specific meals that we’ll have that night.

Before we assign ourselves to a day of the week, we discuss the schedule for the upcoming week. Most of the time we both stop working by 6pm, however, occasionally I’ll hold a coaching appointment or join a Beautycounter meet up after 6pm. These nights Scot will be in charge of dinner and it’s usually something quick and easy like bacon and eggs. We also schedule a date night once a week and get take out or go out to eat to give both of us a break from cooking and cleaning.

These three simple tips have helped me focus on the benefits of enrolling help and how it can actually feel empowering to ask for help. It feels incredibly liberating to relinquish control over some areas of your life so you can focus your energy on activities that align more with your strengths and move you closer to your goals.

What area in your life could you ask for help?

Fresh Perspective on Morning Routines

Many successful people say the key to a productive day starts with your morning routine. While I believe there is truth in this from what I've learned from personal experience, there's a misconception that your morning routine has to be perfect every day.

Let me share a little bit about mine and what works best for me. This might give you a fresh perspective on morning routines.

My mornings usually start out with my hubby and I playing chicken with who's going to get out of bed to make coffee. We brew pour over coffee by hand so we can't just fill the coffee pot with water, place coffee grounds in the filter and press brew. It's a bit more of a process for us (and totally worth the extra effort).

After we decide who's getting out of our warm, comfy bed to brew coffee, this is how the morning usually plays out. If my hubby gets out of bed to make coffee, I usually stay in bed until he brings me coffee in bed. Yup! This is why I keep him around. He brings me coffee in bed.

Before I take a sip of coffee, I always drink some water first. This is the only consistent part of my morning routine that I do every single day. This habit to me is like brushing my teeth at night. It’s a no brainer in my world and I can’t not do it in the morning.

My hubby and I drink our coffee together almost every morning. Sometimes we’ll have a conversation and other times we’ll read. I like to read inspirational and educational books that get me a positive mental space first thing in the morning. However, sometimes I grab my phone and check my email or read the news. While I’m fully aware this isn’t the most productive way to start the day I’m ok with it. I remind myself that I’m human and I don’t always do things that move me in the direction I want to go in. I view this as a learning experience.

After enjoying coffee with my hubby, I usually get up and do the coffee dishes. I put my workout clothes on even if I don’t feel like working out. This helps motivate me to do some sort of physical activity in the morning even if it’s stretching. If I have my workout clothes on I will eventually workout because I’ll tell myself, “I have my workout clothes on so I might as well exercise.” I never regret exercising in the morning because I always feel so positive and energized after my workout. After my workout, I shower and get myself dressed for the work day.

My morning routine is not always perfect and I like the fact that it’s not. While I like routine and structure I like being flexible and not so rigid. Being flexible with my morning routine has taught me to be flexible in other areas of my life. When the pandemic started in March of 2020, I had to pivot within my health coaching and personal training practice which was not an easy task. Leaning how to adapt to what’s happening around me has helped reduce my stress levels significantly. I believe we should all develop the skill of navigating life when things change that are out of our control. This happens even when we’re not living through a global pandemic.

Starting my mornings off on a positive note with some form structure whenever possible is a key component of the rest of my day being productive and successful. I encourage you to evaluate your morning routine. Make a list of habits you want to implement in your morning routine such as reading, journaling, showing gratitude, or meditating. Choose one and start doing it the following morning.

Keep doing it and tweaking your routine until you find what works best for you. Take note of how your day goes and how you feel throughout the day. Make sure it’s a routine that’s enjoyable to you otherwise you won’t stick to it. Most importantly, be creative and have fun with it. I believe if we all added more fun and creativity to our lives we’d be so much happier.

The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting are two buzz words that are floating around the health and fitness world. It’s a controversial topic among health professionals such including dietitians and nutritionists. Some say it’s healthy while others say it’s not a healthy practice to have when it comes to optimal health. While I wholeheartedly respect all of my fellow health professionals, I firmly believe there’s a time and a place for fasting.

In this article, I’ll share how our bodies benefit from fasting. I’ll also share my tips for incorporating fasting into your lifestyle including when you should and shouldn’t fast.

What exactly is fasting?

Fasting is the period of time between meals including snacking. Unless you sleep eat, you’re fasting while you’re sleeping. It’s a time when our metabolisms get a break from breaking down food.

Fasting is also a time when our bodies essentially “take out the trash.” Our bodies have systems in place to get the toxins out so it can create new cells that are healthier. There are also anti-aging benefits to intermittent fasting. As a bonus, our bodies naturally become more efficient at burning fat when we incorporate fasting into our healthy lifestyle habits.

How to incorporate fasting into your lifestyle

Incorporating fasting is an opportune time to truly get in tune with your body’s hunger levels. Experimenting with different time frames of intermittent fasting is a key component to learning more about your body’s caloric needs.

The first thing to consider before fasting is your eating style. While I follow mostly a paleo/primal way of eating, I don’t like to put a label my eating style. I simply focus on eating whole, real nutrient dense foods and limit the amount of processed foods. Even if it’s paleo friendly processed food. If you, like me, eat mostly who foods that come from the ground or an animal you’re probably ready to start taking your fasting to the next level. You probably feel satiated for extended periods of time. This means your body most likely relies primarily on fat for energy.

If your eating style consists of mostly high carb and processed foods, you’re most likely not ready to incorporate intermittent fasting into your lifestyle. Fasting should be an effortless process and if you’re eating too many processed foods you will not have a pleasant experience fasting. When you eat mostly processed food, your body relies primarily on carbs for energy. Our bodies burn carbs first and then fat. This means that when the carbs we’ve just consumed are burned too quickly we run out of energy quickly. Our bodies then require us to consume more food shortly after we’ve had a meal. This makes fasting more challenging.

I encourage you to focus on eating whole, nutrient dense foods for 21 days before experimenting with fasting. Eat only vegetables, whole fruits, eggs, meat, seafood, healthy fats (olive oil, avocado oil, butter, ghee), herbs and spices. This might be a stretch for you so do the best you can with your available resources. You can go here to check out my simple whole food recipes.

On day 22, go as long as you can without eating whole food after you wake up in the morning. I encourage you to stay hydrated by drinking water while you fast. I will still have a few cups of black coffee in the morning during my fast. The jury’s still out on whether or not unsweetened black coffee and unsweetened tea with no cream significantly breaks your fast.

Take note on your energy levels, mental clarity and mood. The first time might be difficult mostly because it’s new to you. If you feel hangry during your fast, you most likely need to give your body more time to transition into becoming a fat burner. Simply continue to eating whole, nutrient dense food for another week and then experiment with fasting again. Keep doing this until you can go at least 15 hours without eating whole foods.

When it’s not an ideal time to fast

If you’re pregnant, please consult with your doctor before experimenting with intermittent fasting. I’m not a medical professional and have never been pregnant so I’m not an expert in this area.

If you have increased your training schedule for any reason this might not be the best time to fast. The more calories our bodies burn the more we need to consume to replace those calories. It’s important to keep up with protein requirements so your muscles have the resources they need to grow and recover.

If you truly feel hungry shortly after you wake up, eat breakfast. Sometimes I plan 15 hour fast and end up only fasting for 12 hours. This usually happens when I’m craving a specific whole food. I see this as a message my body is sending me that it’s lacking a certain nutrient or multiple nutrients. If your body is telling you it needs nutrients, give it what it needs and don’t fight it just because you said you would fast for a certain amount of time.

As I mentioned earlier, fasting should be an effortless process. It should physically and mentally feel good so that you’re benefiting from it. If it feels forced, it’s probably not an appropriate time to skip a meal. Forcing a fast will have a negative effect on your physical and mental health.

Let me know in the comments what your experience is with intermittent fasting.

The Benefits of Working with a Health Coach

Imagine this. You wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and energized ready to take on the busy day ahead. You reach for your glass of water by your bed and drink the entire glass feeling your body slowly start to become hydrated. After you hydrate your body, you sit silently in bed feeling gratitude for your life and proud of yourself for investing time and energy into designing your life the way you’ve visualized it to help you become the healthiest version of yourself.

You have your self care routine that you do throughout the day. Your self care routine consists of eating whole nutrient dense food, moving your body frequently, enjoying a cup of coffee in the morning in silence, and meditating. Most days you’re really good at sticking to it, however, there are days where you allow life to get in the way. You’re ok with this because you realize your human. You choose focus on progress not perfection.

You feel great in your body and are able to think clearly most of the time. You’re leaner, your anxiety has decreased drastically, and you no longer need the sugar boost in the afternoon to make it through the rest of the day. Your family and friends keep telling you how much positive energy you’re carrying and passing on to others. You feel more confident than you have in years. Your partner is sharing how proud he is of you for all the hard work you’ve done during the past year to make simple lifestyle changes that have helped you get to this point.

You’re more focused at work and have become more creative with your job. You’ve earned the promotion you’ve been working towards for a few years. You have a team of coworkers that are feeding off of your positive energy and your department has been more productive this past year than it has in the last three years.

Parts or all of this story you just imagined could be you. What’s the one simple action you can take to make this happen? Start working with a health coach.

“But Melissa, what exactly is a health coach?” Well, I’m so glad you asked! A health coach is a behavior change specialist who teaches you how to create healthier habits that are sustainable to help you become the healthiest version of yourself for life. When we carve out time to invest in our physical and mental health everything else in our life seems to fall into place more easily.

Along with being a behavior change specialist, a health coach is usually an expert in one or more areas of health. For example, I specialize in helping women with anxiety and depression design their life by creating healthy habits that give them more mental clarity, more energy, and more control over their physical and mental health. One health coach I know works primarily with corporate men to help them lose fat. Another one helps women with endometriosis. There’s so many health issues that we struggle with as a society so it’s super important that we have experts in all different areas.

How do you choose the right health coach for you?

Health coaching is a very personal investment so it’s super important to find a coach that’s a good fit for you. Here are five area I recommend exploring when considering investing in a health coach.

Personality

In my opinion, first and foremost should be personality. The relationship between a coach and a client is a neutral one. This means both the coach and the client are on even playing field. Even though I’m viewed as the expert, it’s not my job to tell you what to do. My job is to listen to your wants and needs and then ask questions to help you find the solutions within yourself that work best for you. After all, you are the expert in your own life.

This is why it’s super important to find a coach that you mesh well with. You want to feel some level of comfort being open, honest, and transparent with them. The more open and honest you are with your coach the better they can help you.

If you want a coach who will be a drill sergeant, go find one that will be firm with you. This is not my personality style. I will be direct and honest with you at all times. I wll always share my thoughts with you along with compassion. I will encourage you to always stretch yourself but never push you too far out of your comfort zone.

We all go at our own pace on our health journey. I will always be your cheerleader even when you have setbacks. In fact, if you have setbacks I believe in celebrating them. Setbacks are always a learning experience and an opportunity for growth so I view these as a positive.

Values

When I’m looking for a coach in any area of my life, I want someone who shares similar values I do. For example, when I was looking for a business coach, I wanted one that made healthy lifestyle choices a priority. If my coach prioritized eating whole food and exercising, I knew she would be able to teach me how to run a successful business while still putting my health and wellness first.

I also look for someone who values family time as well. In our home, we make spending quality time together a priority. It is an area in our life my husband and I both agreed from the beginning of our relationship was a non-negotiable. We really value all the time we spend together as a couple from our date nights to our weekend get aways. I want coaches in my life who encourage quality family time together and carving out time to relax and rest.

Gender

It was also important to me that I invest in a female business coach. I know there are several very successful and fully qualified male businesses coaches out there but they don’t understand what it’s like being a woman.

I was just watching a video the other day with my business coach talking about getting help not just in your business but in your home as well. This is something I struggle with every day. I feel like I need to do every thing myself at home including cooking and cleaning. When I allow myself to get carried away with laundry, dishes, cooking, grocery shopping and all the other tasks needed to keep a household running smoothly, I neglect not only my business but myself as well.

Since this is very common struggle for women, I knew if I hired a female business coach she would give me tips on how to delegate household tasks and encourage me to do so.

Financial Investment

One thing I learned from experience in my twenties is that financially investing myself is priceless. Yes, there is an actual dollar amount on coaching programs whether they are online, in a group setting, or one-on-one. However, if you actually apply the principles that you learn to your life and you experience amazing results such as more energy, better relationships, or getting off medication, it’s hard to put a price on that.

With that being said, I highly encourage you to look at your finances and plan a head whenever possible. When I invested in myself in my early twenties I wasn’t making much money and I was terrible at saving money so I invested in books and trainings that were within my budget. Sometimes an investment was just barely within my means which meant that it was stretch for me. I know when something is a stretch for me I’m much more likely to commit and follow through with it.

These days I’m so much better at saving money! I’m so grateful that I did what I needed to do to get in the habit of transferring money into my savings account with each paycheck. Now I have money in the bank and a portion of it is set aside for coaching programs I want to invest in now and in the future.

One-on-One or Group Coaching

I’ve worked with clients both one-on-one and in a group setting. In my opinion, both are beneficial and effective if you do the work. However, what I’ve found is that most people benefit more from one-on-one coaching.

During one-on-one coaching sessions, you can dive deeper into your personal challenges. What I love most about one-on-one coaching is watching my clients have “aha” moments. These are the moments when they suddenly become aware of why a certain habit they’re doing is no longer supporting them on their health journey.

I had a client last summer who had a great “aha” moment during a one-on-one coaching session. He was experimenting with a keto eating style and had a hard time getting away from bread. During one of our coaching sessions, he realized that he didn’t even enjoy eating bread. When he was growing up, his mom always served bread with meals and he naturally continued this habit as an adult. After this realization, eliminating bread was easy.

Group coaching is a great option for people who thrive in an environment with people who are on a similar health journey. Knowing that other people are also having challenges finding time to exercise and cook healthy meals lets people know they are not alone. So many other people have the same challenges. In a group, we can all support each other by sharing ideas and inspiration with one another. Accountability is an important component of being part of a group.

I encourage you to take these into consideration while carefully choosing a health coach to work with. Most coaches (myself included) offer a free discovery call to give you the opportunity to ask questions about their programs and how they work as a coach. I highly recommend doing this with any coach you think might be a good fit for you.

I know from personal experience, as a potential client myself, these phone calls are incredibly valuable. When I was looking for a life coach last year I got on a discovery call and learned about another program this coach offered that was a much better fit for me than one-on-one coaching. I’m so grateful I took 20 minutes out of my day to connect with a coach to learn about which program was best for me.

I invite you to schedule a free discovery call with me here. I’ll answer any questions you have about my programs, the coaching process, or my experience as a coach and personal trainer. I will always be honest and transparent with you during these calls so you can make an informed decision.

I look forward to chatting with you!

6 Tips to Improve Your Physical and Mental Health

These past weeks I’ve been reflecting on our current global health crisis as I’m sure you have been, as well. There has definitely been some underlying anxiety along with my reflections. While we are living in an unprecedented time in history, I’ve been thinking about what we can learn from all of this. There is a list a mile long with takeaways and things we can do differently in the future both collectively and individually. In fact, I’ve already shared three of my takeaways here. My reflections have actually helped ease my anxiety and given me hope for the future.

The one thing that’s really been on my mind this past week is the physical health of people in the countries where, unfortunately, the death rate is higher than most. Now, I want to be clear that I’m not a medical doctor, nor am I a scientist. However, I have been studying health and fitness for the past 20 years. I find health and fitness incredibly interesting, which is why I became a certified health coach and personal trainer. I love researching and geeking out on this stuff so I can help people become the healthiest version of themselves.

When I got over my initial shock of the rapid increase in the number of infected people and the number of people dying, I became curious about those who were passing away from complications from COVID-19 and those who were recovering. While there are several factors when analyzing the data, including the number of people being tested, who is self-isolating, and who is taking other recommended precautions, and when local governments started taking the situation seriously, to name a few, there is one factor that I believe plays an important role in all of this: physical health.

I started doing some research and found that a majority of the people who are passing away from this infection have underlying health issues such as diabetes, respiratory issues, high blood pressure and heart disease.

One article stated that New Orleans’ death rate is the highest in the United States. This is mainly due to many people in New Orleans being overweight. A friend and fellow health coach who lives a few hours from New Orleans once told me that people in Louisiana love their flavorful, fried food! It’s an important part of their culture to gather together and enjoy a delicious beignet after a meal that includes deep fried anything.

In Italy, most of the deaths are said to be older people with underlying health issues. One of the reasons I think it spread so rapidly there is they are known to have large family gatherings and they greet each other with kisses.

“But, Melissa, what about the younger population being infected?” Yes, I understand there is a small percentage of young “healthy” people who are being gravely infected with the virus. In my opinion, this could be because they have not yet been diagnosed with a health issue or perhaps have been misdiagnosed. From my knowledge, some diseases could take years to build up which means they wouldn’t be diagnosed until years later. A friend of mine who is a registered nurse told me that a person can be a diabetic for up to 10 years before their numbers actually confirm they are, in fact, diabetic. That’s crazy!

The obesity rate is also high in the U.S. so we are expected to see a high death rate here, as well. Fast food and a sedentary lifestyle is way too common in our country. Much of this has to do with people being under educated about what a healthy lifestyle looks like, to no fault of their own. They prioritize what’s important in their life by what they are being told by authority figures that may not necessarily be true. I could go into more detail here but I’ll save it for another article.

I don’t want to drive fear into you with this information because we all know there’s more than enough fearful energy flowing throughout the world as of late. I do, however, want to bring awareness to you. If there was a perfect time to start taking control of your physical health this is it!

This global pandemic has brought so much clarity to my life that I’m more motivated than ever to help people create healthier lifestyle habits. While changing your lifestyle habits now might not be enough prevent your body from getting infected with this virus, you can start right now to prepare your body for future viruses. While, according to scientists and medical professionals, this may be the most intense virus in our lifetime there will be more to come.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that building a strong immune system is a key component in giving our bodies the ability to fight off disease. Our bodies are very wise. When we give our bodies the appropriate input they will provide us with the optimal output to live a healthy, abundant lifestyle. Here are my six simple healthy lifestyle tips for you to start incorporating into your life one at a time.

Tip #1: Get adequate sleep

In our home, we make sleep a priority. Lack of sleep negatively effects our mood, appetite, cognitive function, and our physical fitness. When we sleep our bodies (and brains) take that time to recover from any physical and mental stress. In order to do this, it’s important that we follow our circadian rhythm. This means winding down at night when the sun goes down and waking up when the sun rises.

Tip #2: Eat delicious and nutritious food

When we eat healthy food that nourishes our body we have more energy, better cognitive function, and enhanced mood. When we eat highly processed foods with little nutritional value, our bodies have little to work with. Our bodies thrive on a whole food diet of vegetables, starchy carbs, healthy fats, high quality protein, (and fruits and dark chocolate in moderation). It’s simple: just eat real, whole food. Your body will thank you!

Tip #3: Cultivate meaningful relationships with your tribe.

I’m a firm believer in surrounding yourself with people who are going to support you and who share your values. It could be your immediate or extended family, friends, or co-workers. It is so important to nurture these relationships on a daily basis. So, what does this look like? When you’re having a meal together put the phones away and steer your energy and focus to the conversation and the other person’s needs. During this time it’s important to utilize technology. We had an Easter get together over Zoom yesterday with our family. We’ve also been using FaceTime to talk to my mother-in-law who lives 10 minutes away to be sure we’re physical distancing ourselves.

Tip #4: Make time for the 3 R’s: rest, recovery, and relaxation.

There are some days when I just want to lay on the couch and watch movies or binge watch a TV show all day. When I don’t feel like working out, or cooking, or cleaning this is my body telling me I need a break. Some days I just want to sit outside in the fresh air and enjoy a delicious beverage. I like to take a hot shower at the end of the work day before I jump into making dinner. This helps to me relax and wash off the busy day.

Tip #5: Move your body frequently doing activities you enjoy.

Our bodies are meant to move frequently. My husband and I have a rule: we only do physical activities that bring us joy. I love riding my bike around town, whether it’s to our favorite local coffee shop, to the grocery store or just around the block. We’re also into hiking, whether it’s a challenging quad-buster or easy stroll.

Tip #6: Express gratitude throughout the day.

When my husband and I have a meal together we share at least one thing that we’re grateful for. We also share our gratitude throughout the day when we are truly feeling grateful for something in our life. This habit reminds us to appreciate all the abundance in our life even in the face of life’s challenges.

During the month of April we’re offering our group and one-on-one coaching as an “invest what you can” program. What does this mean? If you’re ready to make simple healthy lifestyle changes one a time you tell us what you are able to invest financially and we’ll work with you on a flexible payment schedule. When you sign up for one-on-one coaching you are invited to join the bi-monthly group coaching sessions. Let’s hop on a call together to see how we can make health coaching work for you!

Lessons Learned

Anyone else tired of being overwhelmed by bad news about the virus? Yeah, me too! My husband and I have been talking so much this past week about how there’s so much we can learn during this uncertain time. While it’s important to be informed and up to date on the situation (I know this is challenging because it’s changing ever so quickly) I believe it’s beneficial to take notes on what we can takeaway from this. There is a much longer list of things we can learn right now but I’ll just start with three. I know this information might not be new to you but I encourage you to read this with an open heart. Let’s dive right into my main takeaways from our current global situation.

Savings in the Bank

Now, I want to be clear that I am by no means a financial expert so if you would like more information on this topic, please reach out to an actual financial expert to help you. I will share how I was able to save money as it might work for you. Ok, I’ve put my disclaimer out there so let’s continue.

I’ve heard it said many times by financial experts to always have at least six months of living expenses in the bank in case of an emergency. I understand this seems a little daunting when you live paycheck to paycheck. I see you. I’ve been there. In fact, I was there for many years. There were many years when I had zero dollars in my savings account. At one point, I didn’t even have a savings account.

One thing I’ve learned over the past 10 years is how much control we have over designing an abundant life we want and deserve to live. Regardless of how much money you think you don’t make there’s always money to put into a savings account.

When Scot and I decided to really get serious about saving we created a spreadsheet with all our monthly living expenses. This included food, rent, utilities, insurance, car payment, streaming services, and cell phone. We did have a Disneyland annual pass at one point so we included that as well. We added up our net income and subtracted all of our living expenses. With the money we had left over at the end of the month we chose an amount to put into our savings accounts. We started small with an amount we thought was doable and increased it as our income grew. We put most or all of our financial bonuses into our savings accounts.

When we wanted to increase our savings amount we revisited our monthly expenses to see where we could cut back. As much as we love supporting local restaurants, eating out is usually the first place we cut back. We still eat out occasionally just not as often. After all, it is important to us to have regular date nights. Sometimes we want to go on a date night and not have to cook or do the dishes.

Is saving money easy? Not always. However, we focus on our reason why we want to save money. We are so grateful that we have cash in the bank to fall back on right now just in case we need it.

Strong Immune System

Building a strong immune system over time is a key component in reducing your risk of getting any type if illness. It’s been almost eight years since I really started focusing on getting quality sleep, adequate sunshine, and eating an abundance of whole nutrient dense foods. I’ve noticed that when I get a cold I recover so much faster than I did before and others who have the same illness. This is because of healthy habits I’ve intentionally created over the past eight created. While I’m not 100% all the time with my healthy habits, I know it makes a big difference.

When you have healthy habits in place and you do get sick, it’s important to recognize where you may have fallen off the healthy habits band wagon. For me, it’s usually because I’ve had multiple nights in a row of poor sleep. Right before Christmas I got a head cold that had me in bed for a day. I made sure I took extra good care of myself and recovered in a few days.

During Christmas I indulged a little too much in sugar and wine and it negatively effected my sleep and immune system. The day before New Year’s Eve I started coming down with something again. And then on New Year’s Eve I progressively got worse. I developed a fever of 103 and spent New Year’s Day laying in bed watching Gone with the Wind while my amazing husband brought me food, water and Advil when I needed it. Thankfully my fever went down within 24 hours.

I had not been this sick in at least 10 years. My husband and I have been together eight years and he had never seen me that sick. It was a doozy! Thankfully, within a few days I started to feel like a human being again. It took about two weeks for my cough to go away but eventually I was able to get back to my regularly scheduled active lifestyle.

I share this with you to emphasize the fact that no one is immune to a virus that’s spreading like wildfire but there are preventative measures we can take to lessen the severity. This is why I’ve been intentional about creating a nighttime routine to help me wind down so my body can rest and recover through the process of sleep. This is why I’ve drastically cut back on my sugar intake the past three months. This is why I recently started journaling to help me get my feelings out in the open. This is super helpful in reducing my stress levels which helps strengthen my immune system. This is why I focus on moving my body everyday even when I don’t “feel like it.” Just like saving money, it’s not always easy but my why is very emotional. My why keeps me going.

Be Flexible

Life will never be the same since this pandemic has hit the world so hard. I was at a Primal Health Coach Masterclass in Austin, Texas, last April with one of my mentors from a distance (yes, you can have mentors from a distance) and he said something that stuck with me. As a business owner, you have learn how to pivot and be flexible. This is a big lesson we are all learning right now.

We’ve all had to learn how to pivot in most areas of our lives. People are being forced to work from home which I know can be a challenging adjustment. After I left my corporate job in September of 2018 to health coach and train people full time it took me months to adjust. Even though it was my choice to leave my job to work from home it was still hard.

For many people now, being forced to work from home can really throw them for a loop especially if they thrive on routine. One thing that really helped me adjust was setting up a designated work station. Even though I work from a laptop, I have a stand up desk station that I use quit often. I occasionally will sit on the couch to work. There’s something psychological that’s helpful with having a work space.

I’ve had to move all my coaching appointments to Zoom (an online virtual meeting platform) or postpone them until this virus is under control. While I prefer meeting in person, especially if my clients are local to me, virtual coaching sessions can be just as powerful. For those of you who have not yet embraced technology of video chat I encourage you start now. With our lives being disrupted like they are now, I have a vision that working remotely and communicating virtually will be more of a constant in our every day life.

Doing a simple task such as going to the grocery store can be stressful these days. The stores are way more crowded with people and less crowded with food on the shelf. You walk around wondering who is carrying the virus that doesn’t know it or stressing out over whether or not you have it and you’re compromising other people in the store. We are being forced to be more mindful of the distance between us and the nice person in line in front of us.

Up until last week I would go to the store a few times a week for a few items just to get out of the house for 30 minutes. This past week I went to the grocery store on Monday and my husband went on the way home from work Monday night. We don’t plan on going to the store for at least another week. We’re stocked up on food and water until then so there’s no need to stress out over simply going to the store.

I want to hear from you! What lessons are you learning from this time of uncertainty?

Please feel free to reach out to us at melissa@honeybee.kitchen if you need anything from us. We’re here to support you during this time.

Stay safe and healthy!

Supporting Your Fitness Efforts: Part Two

Last week I talked about supporting your fitness efforts by eating whole nutrient-dense foods. This week I’ll talk about one of my favorite topics: sleep.

Part Two: Sleep

In my opinion, one of the greatest feelings is waking up in the morning feeling refreshed and energized. While it takes me a while to actually wake up, I do enjoy the mornings when I wake up feeling like I got a good night’s sleep. Which is one of the reasons why we prioritize sleep in our home.

Sleep is an important time for the entire body, including the brain, to recover from the physical and mental stress of the day. As I mentioned in part one, muscles grow during the recovery process, not during a workout. Our bodies produce hormones such as human growth hormone when we sleep. Human growth hormone promotes fat burning and increases bone density. Since bone density can be improved through strength training it’s important to that we provide our bodies with the proper amount of sleep to allow it to do it’s job.

As mentioned earlier, sleep helps our bodies recover from the mental stress of the day. When we sleep, the emotional part of the brain has the opportunity to process emotions. When we are able to process emotions we reduce anxiety and depression. How is this important to support your fitness efforts?

First of all, when we feel anxious our cortisol (the stress hormone) levels are most likely higher than normal. When we do a high intensity workout this naturally increases our cortisol levels even more, which is good thing in this case. One of the reasons we workout is to improve our mood. When our mood is already on shaky ground due to anxiety, increasing cortisol levels could make that worse. Of course, a low to medium intensity workout will help improve your mood. But if you have chronic high stress levels and you’re not able to do high intensity workouts you’re missing out on all the benefits of this type of workout such as increased fat burning at a resting state and improved overall fitness.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re not getting enough sleep and feeling depressed you may not have the motivation to even get outside and go for a walk. I know from personal experience depression can make a person not want to do anything regardless of how much they enjoy a specific activity. When you consistently get a good night’s sleep you’re less likely to be depressed and more likely to be motivated to get up and exercise.

Before I dive into steps you can take to get adequate sleep, I want to emphasize one important point that often gets overlooked. If your schedule only permits you to exercise in the morning and you have a hard time getting out of bed, rather than focusing on how you’re going to get up earlier, focus on how you’re going to get to bed earlier. When we get to bed at a decent time and create a soothing night time routine (which I’ll get into in a moment) it makes it so much easier to get out of bed in the morning.

Imagine staying up late watching a movie. The movie ends at 11:30pm but you don’t actually fall asleep until 12:30am because your body is telling you it’s not time for sleep yet. This is because staring at screens after the sun goes down inhibits our body from naturally winding down to go to sleep. Your normal bed time is 10:00pm so this is two and a half hours past the time your body is used to going to sleep. You wake up at your normal time the next morning but you have a hard time opening your eyes. You drag yourself out of bed, put your workout clothes on and go workout. You feel sluggish during your workout and you’re not having any fun whatsoever. By the way, your workouts should be challenging and fun at the same time. After your workout you feel even more exhausted than when you woke up and then you feel sluggish throughout the day. While it’s normal to physically feel tired after your workout, your workouts should give you energy throughout the day. While staying up later than normal is ok every now and then, it becomes an obstacle when it occurs multiple nights in a row.

Now lets talk about the steps can you take to make sure you get adequate sleep. First, wear amber colored glasses after the sun goes down. We use amber colored safety glasses that you can buy on Amazon for about $10. This will help your body produce the “it’s time to go to sleep” hormone. You might look a little silly wearing them but you’ll get used to it. If you start to feel funny wearing them, ask yourself what’s more important: not looking funny in amber colored safety glasses or getting adequate sleep? The choice is yours.

Next, put the screens away at least one hour before you want to go to sleep. This includes tablets, computers, TV, and smart phones. If you like to read on an e-reader before you go to bed like I do, be sure to wear your amber colored glasses while doing so.

Lastly, do a relaxing activity before you go to sleep. This can be anything from stretching, yoga, or having quality time with your partner. Sometimes I like to have a hot cup of herbal tea before bedtime.

If you have a night when you don’t get adequate sleep give yourself permission to decrease the intensity of your workout or skip it all together. You’re more likely to injure yourself while exercising when you’re tired than when you’ve had a good night’s sleep. If you injure yourself you could be on the bench for weeks or even months. If possible, sleep in a little longer than you normally would to give your body the extra rest. Giving your body the appropriate rest it needs will support your fitness efforts in the long run.

Use your nighttime routine as a time to wind down and just be. What are you going to do in the next 24 hours to make sure you get a good night’s sleep? Do you already have a favorite nighttime routine? I invite you to share in the comments below.

Supporting Your Fitness Efforts: Part One

Welcome to part one of a two part series on how to properly support your fitness efforts outside of your actual workouts. Throughout these articles I’ll share my personal and professional opinions on how to get the most out of your workouts before and after you exercise. I’ve found from personal experience and working with my clients that many people are missing three pieces of the healthy lifestyle puzzle that are just as important as the actual exercise. In part one I’ll talk about the importance of food. Part two will focus on the benefits of sleep. And part three will focus on mobility and stretching. Let’s get started.

Part One: Food

Back in the day, before I was a health coach and personal trainer, I had the mindset that I could eat whatever I wanted to after my workout because I “earned” it. I gained about 20 pounds working at a sedentary job in college and eating anything that my body “craved.” A light bulb went on in my head when I realized my workout routine stayed the same but the pounds kept adding up slowly. I knew I had to clean up my eating style in order to lose the weight that wasn’t serving me anymore.

I’m sure many of you can relate to this or a similar mindset. Why is it that we think we can eat whatever we want if we exercise? Often times it’s only when we’re not moving frequently that we think we need eat healthy. Maybe you’ve heard from a fitness professional that it’s ok to do this because quality isn’t really what matters in your food. Calories and fat content are more important. “Everything in moderation” is a common phrase among health and fitness professionals. Or could it be just an excuse to indulge in too many high calorie processed foods?

I’m here to tell you the quality of food matters most when it comes to how you fuel your body before and after workouts. While the number of calories does make a difference with replenishing your body after a workout, it’s definitely not something to put at the top of the priority list.

When you workout, your body is burning energy in the form of calories and fat or glucose, depending on the intensity of the workout. After your workout, even though you may feel a surge of energy, your body is fatigued and deserves proper replenishing.

When your body is burning calories (which it is all the time), it’s either using “clean” or “dirty” fuel. Dirty fuel is processed junk food such as fast food, packaged baked goods, processed meats, etc. with little to no nutrients. Clean fuel is whole nutrient-dense food such as healthy fats (avocado or olive oil to name a few), healthy proteins (grass-fed animals or wild caught seafood), and starchy and non-starchy vegetables. After you burn the calories you consume, it’s important to replenish those calories with clean ones.

Think about when you take a shower or bath. When you’re feeling grimy because you haven’t showered in a day would you take a shower in dirty water? Probably not. This kind of defeats the purpose of taking a shower to get clean. Sure, using soap will help but you’ll likely still feel grimy after a dirty water shower even with the soap. On the other hand, when you shower in clean water and soap you’re able to wash away all the dirt and grime that’s built up on your skin.

It’s the same concept with food and fitness. When you exercise, the goal is to become healthier in one way or another, right? This can be anything from training for an organized race to simply being able to do daily activities such as getting out of chair or carrying a bag of groceries. Putting your body through a workout, regardless of the difficulty, fatigues your muscles, nervous system, and joints. In order to help your body fully recover it’s important to replenish it with healthy, natural foods to support your goal of becoming healthier.

When we do any type of strength workout our muscles actually get micro tears in them. During the recovery process, the muscles repair themselves and grow. Muscles don’t grow during the actual workout so this is why it’s so important to eat healthy sources of protein to support muscle growth.

When we do a vigorous workout such as a sprint session or high intensity interval training our bodies are utilizing glucose (carbs) for fuel. When our glucose stores are depleted we need to make sure we replenish them for the next workout. There are two healthy ways we can do this. The first is simply eat starchy fruits and vegetables. Sweet potatoes and bananas are my go to foods to replenish my glucose supply. Any other root vegetables or fruit work well, too.

If you’re on a super-low carb eating style such as keto, eating an adequate amount of healthy protein is another good way to replenish your glucose supply. When our bodies recognize the need for more carbs and they’re not being consumed at the time, it will go through a process called gluconeogenesis (glue-co-neo-genesis). Yeah, I know, such a fun word to say! Anyway, during this process our bodies will take protein either from food consumed or lean muscle mass, and break it down to make glucose. We want to avoid breaking down lean muscle mass so it’s important to eat adequate protein.

When you follow the simple rule of eating whole, real nutrient-dense food your body will recover faster and more efficiently after a workout. In order to make this happen, it’s important to have whole, real nutrient-dense foods available after you workout for whenever you feel hungry. This can be anything from a homemade protein smoothie in an insulated container, a protein bar made with real ingredients (no sugar or fillers), or a home cooked meal with a piece of fish and side of vegetables with butter. This can be shortly after your workout or whenever you feel hungry. Remind yourself that you just burned all this energy and want to replace that energy with clean fuel rather than dirty fuel.

I encourage you to be mindful of your food intake in the next week and take note on how you feel before and after you exercise. Plan all your meals including snacks in advance if needed.

Next week I’ll talk about the importance of sleep.

Top 3 Tips for Sustainable Weight Loss

Losing weight can be a challenging and frustrating process. If you’ve tried numerous diets and still haven’t found a way to lose weight and keep it off you’re not alone. The weight loss industry is flooded with so many different methods of losing weight. Some are sustainable while others offer a quick solution to your weight loss goals and then you gain the weight back.

As a health coach, I teach a method that’s sustainable for everyone if you’re willing to be patient throughout the process. Behavior change is the key ingredient to creating a recipe for sustainable weight loss and weight maintenance. Here are my top three tips to get your weight loss journey off to a successful start.

Create Your Why

This is the most important step to take when starting your weight loss journey (or any new journey for that matter). Your Why (yes capital-W) is the one thing that’s going to drive you to keep going when you don’t feel like it. When I work with clients (health coaching or personal training) either one-on-one or in a group setting this is one of the first exercises I have them complete. Why is now the time for you to lose weight? Have you been diagnosed with a preventable disease? By the way, many diseases are preventable through lifestyle habits. Are you a grandparent for the first time and you want to live long enough to see your grandkids grow up? Or are you simply sick and tired of being sick and tired? Whatever the reason is it has to be emotional enough for you to be willing to do the work to change your habits.

Decide Where You Want To Start

Do you feel overwhelmed by the number of lifestyle habits you want to change? I can totally relate and so can many of my current and prior clients. Where do you begin? Start by making a list of all the lifestyle habits you want to change. Take 10 minutes to write them all down no matter how big or small you think they are. It’s ok if your list isn’t complete. You can always add to your list as you think of more habits you want to change.

After you have your list written out, review your list and choose one habit that you feel will be the easiest one to change at this time. For example, if you want to eat more vegetables and you enjoy eating salads, commit to eating a salad with healthy protein and fats for lunch four days a week. Do this for one week and then reevaluate. Did you eat a salad for at least for lunch at least four days this last week? If not, decrease the number of days per week for the next one. If you did, keep your commitment going for the next week.

Join A Group Weight Loss Program

People who join a weight loss group are more likely to lose weight and keep it off as compared to people who are not part of a group. As a health coach, I’ve seen first hand how powerful participating in group coaching can be. Not only do you receive guidance and education from a behavior change expert but you also receive an invaluable amount of support and accountability from others who are on a similar journey as you. If you’re having challenges in one are it’s likely someone else in the group is having similar challenges. Being in a group environment is an excellent opportunity to learn from each other.

If you’re not sure if a group setting is a good fit for you I encourage you to join our 21 Day Whole Food Reset program starting January 6, 2020. For a low investment, you’ll receive three group coaching sessions, a private Facebook group, and a healthy lifestyle tip sent right to your inbox every day for 21 days. Everyone who signs up and completes the 21 Day Whole Food Reset will receive a $50 gift certificate to use towards any of our programs including our online self-paced program, one-on-one health coaching, or one-one-one personal training.

This is a great way to dip your toes in the water with group coaching rather than jumping all the way in feet first. If you’re not sure if our program is a good fit for you, I’m happy to hop on a call with you to chat. Just email me at melissa@honeybee.kitchen to schedule a time.

Create Wellness Abundance This Holiday Season

Oh the Holidays! For some it’s the most wonderful time of the year and for others it’s the most stressful time of the year.

It starts with Halloween. If you have kids, or you yourself are into dressing up for Halloween, it can be stressful deciding which costume to wear. Then there’s the difficult decision of how much candy to buy for trick-or-treaters. You don’t want to buy too little and run out of the precious sugary treats. You also don’t want to buy too much because then you’ll have left over candy around the house that you’ll be tempted to eat.

Then, there’s Thanksgiving… If you host Thanksgiving dinner it can be a bit overwhelming with planning the menu and coordinating when to cook each dish when so they’re all ready to eat at the same time. If you travel during Thanksgiving this can be just as stressful as preparing Thanksgiving dinner, if not more. Thanksgiving week is the busiest air travel week of the year which means the airports are super crowded. Then there’s the weather. The weather this time of year can be very unpredictable in most parts of the country which means unexpected delays during your travels.

Then, comes Christmas, with the never ending list of presents to buy for your kids, spouse, siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, friends, coworkers and four-legged critters. You spend much of your free time shopping online and in brick and mortar stores. Then there’s Christmas cards. Do you send them, or not? If you do, which photo do you use? Do you add a letter with an update about the family?

Phew! I’m exhausted just writing this! All the decision making during the holidays can be overwhelming on top of all the normal daily decisions we need to make. I’m here to share six tips with you on how to make it through the holidays by keeping your anxiety and stress levels at a minimum.

Tip #1- Make Self-Care a Priority

This is the most important and most valuable tip I can share with you. Often times self-care is the first thing that gets thrown out the window when life gets super busy. Keeping up with your self-care, whatever that looks like for you, will help tremendously when your stress levels are higher than normal.

If you have a number of self-care activities you do to keep yourself calm, choose 2-3 that are most important to you and that you know you can maintain during the holidays. These can be as simple and easy as writing in your journal for 5 minutes a day or meditating for 5 minutes a day or spending 5 minutes a day alone in silence to savor a cup of coffee or tea.

Tip #2- Focus on Experiences Rather Than Material Things

This can be as simple as walking around your neighborhood admiring your neighbor’s holiday decorations. People get very creative with holiday decorations these days.

Challenge yourself to try new recipes that include a simple twist on a traditional holiday meal. You could start testing these new recipes for holiday meals now. My husband loves being my recipe tester when I create a new recipe or find one online or in a cookbook.

This can also be spending quality time with loved ones instead of giving material gifts. In my opinion, creating amazing memories is much more valuable than a material item. We have a list of holiday movies we like to watch every year. It’s a fun way to spend time together laughing at the classic one-liners from movies we love. And don’t get me started on Hallmark movies!

Tip #3- Offer Healthy Treats for the Holidays

Get creative with the treats you give to the trick-or-treaters that come to your house. Consider offering them bags of trail mix instead of candy. There’s so many healthy versions of trail mix available online and in the major grocery stores. There’s so many dessert options available to buy or recipes you can make from scratch. Check out our crustless pumpkin pie and hot chocolate recipes.

There are many alternative sweeteners to cane sugar (white sugar) that our bodies digest more easily than cane sugar. A few that I like to use are coconut sugar, maple syrup, and honey. There are several recipes online that use alternative sweeteners. Choose 2-3 and experiment with them in your own kitchen.

Tip #4- Get Moving!

While movement isn’t the most important variable in weight loss or weight maintenance, it is an important component to reducing stress and anxiety. When we move our bodies through strength training or any type of cardio workout our bodies produce feel-good hormones. Feel-good hormones help us feel more relaxed, gives us energy, and we feel happier overall.

Be intentional about getting movement in first thing in the morning on holidays. Sometimes my hubby and I will gather a group of friends for a Thanksgiving morning or Christmas Eve morning hike or sprint session. We’re spending time with people we care about and we’re getting our movement in early in the day. Yay! I always feel more relaxed the rest of the day which helps me enjoy the holiday more.

Tip #5 - Give Yourself Permission to Indulge in Holiday Treats in Moderation

When we eat mostly nutrient dense whole foods our bodies naturally don’t crave sugar or junk food. However, if you do crave a sweet holiday treat or savory food you normally wouldn’t eat it’s okay to eat it and enjoy it. For example, pumpkin is my favorite fall flavor so I give myself permission to enjoy a pumpkin spice latte or slice of pumpkin pie on occasion throughout the holiday season.

One holiday tradition my hubby and I have is to enjoy Bailey’s Irish cream in coffee and mimosas (although not mixed together) while we open presents with our family on Christmas morning. It adds to the enjoyment of opening presents in our pajamas. This is a holiday indulgence we look forward to all year round.

Tip #6- Hire a Health Coach to be Your Accountability Partner Throughout the Holiday Season

Why wait until January 1st to start creating healthier lifestyle habits? How much longer are you going to wait to create wellness abundance in your life? Your life is happening right now. You don’t have to be 100% ready to make changes in your life. In fact, I’m here to tell you that you’re never going to be 100% ready to step out of your comfort zone by investing in yourself and making small lifestyle changes to improve your physical and mental health. When you make it through the holiday season feeling more relaxed than before, leaner, and with increased energy, you’ll gain the confidence you need to maintain the healthy lifestyle habits you’ve already begun to incorporate when January arrives.

The bottom line is to focus on what’s most important to you this holiday season. If it’s keeping yourself sane during these few months I encourage you to put your self-care first and spend quality time with your loved ones. Keep a positive mindset no matter what is happening around you. Focus on everything you’re grateful for in your life. In our Wellness Abundance online course we dedicate an entire module to gratitude because we feel it’s crucial to being the healthiest version of yourself.

Happy holidays from Honey Bee Wellness!

What I Learned in Mary Kay

“We must have a theme, a goal, a purpose in our lives. If you don't know where you're aiming, you don't have a goal. My goal is to live my life in such a way that when I die, someone can say, she cared.” - Mary Kay Ash

September 13, 2018, marked the 55th anniversary of Mary Kay Cosmetics. The company opened the doors on Friday the 13th which, according to superstition, is bad luck. When Mary Kay Ash was asked why they opened their doors on that day the answer was simple: that was the day the lease started.

When I joined Mary Kay in February of 2005, I was shy, insecure, and had very low self esteem. I joined Mary Kay to make extra money as I was a soon-to-be college graduate going out into the real world on my own for the first time. Even though I was shy, I knew I had the ability to share skin care and cosmetics that I loved with the women within my circle of influence. I listened to my Mary Kay consultant say, “Put this on. Now how does your skin feel?” I thought, I can do that. The extra income from my Mary Kay business helped in times of need but the money I earned paled in comparison to the personal growth I developed.

Everyone is doing the best they can at any given time.

Judy Brack is a retired National Sales Director in Mary Kay. She retired not long after I met her so I’m grateful I had the pleasure to spend time with her and learn from her even though it was a short period of time.

She always said to us, “We’re all doing the best we can at any given time.” This made me think about when people make mistakes, whether they’re big or small, that was the best they could do at that time. They could be distracted by a stressful event happening in their life or maybe they were just be plain tired.

Keep this in mind when someone is rude to you when you’re out and about. Maybe they just heard bad news about a family member or they’re in a negative home or work environment. You don’t know their background so just be kind to them as they are doing the best they can at that moment.

Do it anyway!

About a month before Mary Kay opened their doors, Mary Kay’s husband passed away suddenly. He was a huge support system for her and the business. Instead of postponing opening day, they opened their doors anyway. They had come so far and they weren’t going to let anything stand in their way. Even if I’m not “in the mood” to go to work, I do it anyway whether I’m working for myself or for someone else. Even though I love working out, if I have a workout planned and I feel great physically but mentally I’m not into it, I still workout. I always feel better once I get started.

It’s important to have a group of women as part of your tribe.

We had weekly success meetings in Mary Kay lead by our sales directors. If our director wasn’t local to us we were adopted by a local sales director and invited to attend her weekly meetings. This was such a powerful experience. Now, in high school (and sometimes beyond high school) women are known for competing with each other in a negative way. This was not the case in Mary Kay. We all became like sisters to each other and supported each other not only with our Mary Kay businesses but in our personal lives as well. Women connect with each other on a whole different level than they do with men. We understand female issues because we go through many of them ourselves. And it’s fun to do girly activities that men don’t want to do with us.

How to set a big goal and achieve it step by step.

I learned so much about goal setting in Mary Kay. I learned how to break down an annual goal down by month, week, and day to achieve it step by step. One big lesson I learned was not to use stress or being “busy” as an excuse not to achieve a goal.

Scot and I moved to Portland, Oregon, in September of 2013. Before I share our Portland adventure with you, lets rewind for a minute to April 11, 2012. We were on our first date when he told me he wanted to move Portland to attend Trackers Earth, an outdoor survival school. My first thought was “Cool! This guys likes adventures!” I didn’t think much of it after that. I don’t remember talking about it too much after that. Fast forward to February 2013 when he told me he was moving to Portland at the end of June of that year. Now, we were moving in together at the end of March and he was going to leave three months later. Well, I decided I wanted to go with him. So, I packed up my stuff and we moved to Portland together in September. He was there for the summer and came back down to get me in September.

That was a very stressful move for me for several reasons: I had never been Portland before we moved there, I was in a new relationship with a man and I didn’t know where it was going, and I quit my secure job in insurance. So, I decided I was going to join a Mary Kay success meeting to make friends. It was definitely a very stressful year for me and on our relationship. I had my most successful Mary Kay year while in Portland.

The importance of daily inspiration and motivation.

There’s always inspiration and motivation somewhere in the Mary Kay environment at all times. A group of top sales directors put together a Million Dollar Message. They took turns recording an inspirational and educational message each day for all of us to call in and listen to. I listened to this every day in Portland (that’s when I learned about) when I was getting myself ready in the morning.

Before and after I learned about the Million Dollar Message, I always had an inspirational CD ready to listen to with a top Mary Kay sales director. It’s so important to constantly be filling your head with positive and motivational language. This includes self motivation. I always had my list of affirmations I would say to myself throughout the day. I still carry a 3 x 5 index card with my affirmations on it and review it daily.

The importance of having your spouses support.

Mary Kay is so brilliant to allow spouses to attend the annual Mary Kay convention, Seminar. Scot has always been supportive of my endeavors but when he attended Seminar with me he was in awe. They offer mens classes at Seminar to taught by spouses of top Mary Kay sales directors. They pretty much say, “If you support your wife (not just monetarily but emotionally) while she’s building her business, she’ll have the ability to support you financially in the future. This will give you the freedom to do what you want with your career.”

Scot also helped hold me accountable for my actions. I filled out a weekly plan sheet every week with my schedule and put it on the fridge. After dinner, if I had “booking calls” on the schedule for the night, he would take care of the clean up so I could book appointments. This was extremely helpful when I was tired and didn’t feel like making calls. He held me accountable.

Make people feel important.

Mary Kay Ash always said, “Pretend everyone has a sign around their neck that says ‘Make me feel important.’“ This goes for every person you come in contact with. It can be as simple as smiling at anyone who makes eye contact with you. Or giving them a genuine compliment on their clothing, makeup or hair style.

When you’re having a conversation with someone put your phone away and don’t look at it when it vibrates or makes a noise. Really focus on the person you’re talking to at the time. When we allow ourselves to become distracted it’s sending a message to the other person that the conversation you’re having with them is not important. Maintaining eye contact and focus shows that person that you’re listening to their words.

It’s ok to eat dessert first.

Two of my favorite things about Mary Kay Ash: she always carried hot sauce in her purse and she wasn’t afraid to eat dessert first. I don’t do this often but sometimes I just want to eat a piece of dark chocolate before dinner or lunch. I have yet to do this at a restaurant but maybe that will get on my to do list for next week.

Sales is finding a need and filling it.

When I joined Mary Kay in 2005, I was working in insurance transitioning from a customer service representative to a sales representative. It was fitting that I began my insurance and skin care sales careers at the same time. I had an amazing mentor in insurance as well as in Mary Kay and I truly felt blessed to be getting the best training from two amazing sources.

The first thing I learned is sales is finding a need and filling it. I would and will never pressure anyone to buy a product or service I’m promoting if they don’t need it or want it. Now, I do believe everyone needs a skin care routine regardless of what it is. However, I met women who absolutely loved the products they were using and simply didn’t want to switch to Mary Kay. I never took it personally because they weren’t saying no to me, they were saying no to the product. If they couldn’t afford to buy the product at that time, they would find the money and buy it at a later time.

Only take advice from someone you’d trade places with.

This is a big one for me. When I wanted to grow my customer base, I went to a consultant that had a lot of customers that reordered regularly to learn how she gets them and keeps them. It’s the same with health coaching and personal training. I wouldn’t want to take advice from a coach who is overweight, unhealthy, and rarely exercises. If someone tells me they’re plant-based (or vegan, meaning they don’t eat any animal products) and they want to continue the lifestyle with the help of a health coach, I would refer them to my friend who is plant-based herself and is in great shape. I feel she is more qualified than me to give advice to someone in the plant-based world.

The decision to move on from my Mary Kay business was a simple but difficult one to make. My heart broke a little when I made the decision to sell the remaining product I had in stock and refer my customers to other Mary Kay consultant. I knew in my heart it was time for me to move on to a new adventure. Not long after I left Mary Kay, Mark Sisson launched his Primal Health Coach Institute Certification (back then it was called the Primal Blueprint Expert Certification). It was perfect timing for me to finally get a health coaching certification after many years of having the burning desire to do so.

Even though I’m not a part of the Mary Kay environment I will be eternally grateful for my ten year Mary Kay journey. Mary Kay was just a small part of my personal growth and health journey in comparison to how big life its. It was truly a powerful one. I encourage you to reflect on a part of your life journey that you’re no longer on that served for a specific time in your life.

What's the Best Workout for You?

As someone who’s really passionate about working out (seriously, I get excited when I’m going to do a burpee or sprint workout), I do have guidelines I’ve set for myself when it comes to my workout program. I encourage you to do the same.

Here is a list of guidelines I use for myself and when I’m working with a private client.

Fitness Goals

I always start with the end goal in mind and work backwards from there. For example, I’m currently training for the Toughest 10K (6 miles) trail race in the beginning of December and a 21K (13.1 miles) trail race in January. I create workouts that incorporate movements that will train my muscles to develop slow-twitch (endurance) muscle fibers. This consists of strength training with low weight and high repetitions. I also incorporate cardio training sessions keeping my heart rate no higher than a medium intensity. I enjoy riding my bike, going for trail runs, or going for a long hike.

If a private client just wants to maintain a healthy lifestyle, I would program a workout routine that involves basic movements that incorporate basic push and pull movements for upper and lower body based on movements they enjoy doing. Push and pull movements helps maintain muscle balance and avoid muscle imbalance. When you have muscle imbalance it can negatively effect your basic daily movements. I would start with body weight and build up to heavier weights as needed. Step ups with a plyometric box or bench are great movements for basic healthy lifestyle maintenance.

Enjoyable Exercises

I very rarely do a workout that I don’t enjoy. I’m a big believer in only doing workouts that are fun and enjoyable to you. Life’s too short to be doing things we really don’t want to do. When I was going to a local crossfit gym I always participated in the workouts regardless of whether or not I enjoyed them. I always want to be a team player when I’m in a group setting so I suck it up and do the workout. Occasionally there are things that we have to do to survive (i.e. pay bills) that are not the most enjoyable but working out should always be fun. Our bodies are designed to move frequently so why not move them in a way that brings us joy and puts a smile on our face.

Exercise should be viewed as a time to play not just maintain or improve our health. When I was a kid I was always outside playing. I remember laughing a lot with my friends as we were chasing each other playing tag or racing around the neighborhood on our bikes.

If a clients tells me they dislike running, I don’t incorporate running into their workout program. Instead, I give them exercises to do that they do enjoy yet are challenging enough.

Challenging Movements

I absolutely love challenging myself from a fitness perspective. I believe the only way to improve ourselves (and our life) is by stepping out of our comfort zone and doing things that are difficult for us. This is one of the reasons why I’m training for a 21k trail race in January. I’ve completed two half marathons but the course was on asphalt and there was not much elevation change. This trail race has steep hills to run up (and down, which can be more difficult) and there is a three hour time limit. After three hours they pick you up and kick you off the trail. I’m confident in my training program that it will get me to my goal of finishing the race in under three hours.

Once a client (or myself) have mastered the movements in their workout, it becomes too easy for them. When I see them just going through the motions I know it’s time to change up their routine and give them more difficult movements. This could be anything from increasing the weight for a particular movement or doing exercises on a BOSU ball. Anything to help them get stronger, learn a new skill, and improve their balance.

Time

Time is one of the most common objectives I get when I ask people why they don’t workout. There’s been a shift in the fitness world about the amount of time needed to exercise to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The old school way of thinking is to get at least 60 minutes of moderate to high intensity exercise five days a week. That’s five hours of your week spent exercising. What research is saying now is this is not necessary and can even be harmful to your health.

Through my training as a health coach and personal trainer, I’ve learned that we should move frequently at a slow pace about 2-5 hours a week, strength train two times a week, and sprint or complete a high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout. A slow pace being low to medium intensity cardio. This can be anything from walking a mile to and from the grocery store once a week or going on an easy to moderate hike with your family or friends on the weekend.

If you are limited on time, spend 10-15 minutes in the morning or evening working out. Choose 2-3 movements and complete 3 sets of 10 repetitions for each movement. You can do a quick 2-3 minute warm up and walk around for a few minutes after your workout to cool down. You can also incorporate your movements in throughout the day. If you have quick five minute break do 10 burpees with full push ups. This gives you a full body workout. Do this five times throughout the day and you’ll have completed 50 burpees (and push ups) by the end of the day. It’s not necessary to complete your entire workout all at once.

Commuting to work, if possible, is a great way to incorporate workouts into your daily routine. When I was an office manager for a local collectibles company I used to ride my bike to work and home when my schedule permitted. Our office is about 8 miles from our house and it was an easy ride. There were a few hills on the way home but it was fun to be challenged a bit.

Workout with Family and Friends

A large group of us decided to hike to the summit of Mt Whitney in the Sierras last fall. We knew it would be a challenge as some of us had already attempted it and failed while others succeeded. We decided it would be a good idea to train together to encourage each other along the way. There was something so powerful about being on that journey together every step of the way. We inspired each other to keep on keeping on when it got hard. This carried over to the day we hiked Mt Whitney. There was a sense of camaraderie as we were making the 6,000 foot climb to the top of the highest peak in the lower 48 states. I believe a lot of this came from our training together.

Having a workout partner is helpful for accountability purposes. I have a lot of self motivation when it comes to working out but I understand not everyone is like me. Know how you operate. If you have to commit to meeting up with or checking in with someone else to get motivated to workout then do it. Find someone who is will hold you accountable. If need be, both of you could sign a “contract” committing both of you to it.

I’m here to help you learn what the best workout is for you. I offer private and group training. I’m also happy to design a workout program for you to do at home. Just reach out to me at melissa@wellnessabundancecoaching.com.

I hope you enjoyed these tips. Thanks for reading!

My Primal Friendly Tips to Personalize Your Wedding

We are announced husband and wife at 11,000 feet!

I recently married my best friend of the last six years. For those of you who know Scot and I, we live our life a little differently than society says we should. So, it was fitting that we tied the knot in a non-traditional way.

While there were some traditions that were important to us, we knew we wanted our wedding to be completely personalized to our lifestyle and our value system. There were a few areas in which we compromised but for the most part we did things exactly the way we wanted to.

Here are my tips for having a personalized primal friendly wedding.

Attend Premarital Counseling with Your Partner

This one is usually required if you choose to get married in a church and I understand why. Scot and I agreed in the beginning of our relationship that if we ever decided to get married we would attend premarital counseling. After we decided 2018 was the year we were going to tie the knot, we immediately scheduled an appointment with a psychologist whom Scot and his family have known for years. We wanted to make sure we were both on the same page with the big things in life (finances, children, etc). We also wanted guidance on how to create and maintain a successful marriage. One of exercises our therapist had us do is finish this sentence, “In our marriage we...” For example, in our marriage we encourage each other to maintain a healthy lifestyle. We each made our own list and then read it aloud to the other person. This was a very powerful exercise because it helped us focus on the positive things we can do to keep our relationship strong and healthy.

Announce Your Engagement to Your Family First

One thing that was really important to us was that we tell our immediate family that we were engaged before we announce it to our friends and coworkers. For the most part, this all worked out beautifully. We were having dinner the following Saturday with Scot’s mom, step dad, and brother who live local to us so we told them at dinner. We were leaving in a few weeks for Austin, Texas, where my parents, sister, brother-in-law and nephews live so we would tell them during our visit. I knew I wasn’t able to see my brother in person so I told him over the phone. He lives 3,000 miles away and it was just not feasible at the time to tell him in person. Scot’s dad and step mom live about three hours from us so we tried to set up a weekend to visit them. Unfortunately, this did not pan out so we told them over the phone.

Do You Elope or Have a Big Ceremony?

Eloping was important to us because we wanted to say our wedding vows to each other in an intimate private setting. We knew we wanted to elope somewhere that was meaningful to both of us and our relationship. We also knew we wanted to be barefoot during the ceremony. We decided to get married on the top of Mammoth Mountain since that is the place we took our first trip together and it’s become a special place to us. We had a camping trip planned in the summer with three friends so we saw that as a great opportunity to get married. We found an officiant online that specializes in outdoor adventure elopements. His name is Donny Alexander and his website is www.yosemiteadventureelopements.com. Even though ours was not as adventurous as other elopements he has officiated (we took the gondola up to the top of Mammoth Mountain instead of hiking up), Donny was the perfect person to marry us. When we met him in person we we felt like he was part of our tribe.

We were initially going to film our elopement and show it at our celebration but the day before we left for Mammoth we decided to have another ceremony instead. This was awesome because since we were already legally married we could have anyone “officiate” our second ceremony. We made a short list of friends and family that we wanted to ask. Scot’s step dad and my mom were the ones that “officiated.” This was so much fun! They were both ecstatic to be involved in this capacity. And they both did a fantastic job!

If You Elope I Encourage You to Have a Celebration with Your Family and Friends

Getting married is big step forward (if you’re getting married for the right reasons) in your life. You’re officially joining your lives and families together. Even though Scot and I have thought of ourselves as married in spirit for a while, it was meaningful to us to celebrate our marriage with our families and close friends who have been such an important part of our lives. It was also a great opportunity for our friends and family to meet and get to know each other.

Serve Food and Beverages at Your Reception That is Within Your Food Values

Scot and I eat real nutrient-dense foods about 80-90% of the time. Thankfully one of our favorite local restaurants, Urban Plates, offers catering services. We served grass-fed grilled streak, organic free range chicken, sesame broccolini, and rosemary potatoes for dinner. Urban Plates always offers complimentary rustic bread with their meals, which we normally don’t eat, but we served it for our guests. This is an area in which we compromised. For dessert I made primal friendly s’more cupcakes. The cupcakes were made with Simple Mills Chocolate Cake Baking Mix. The cupcakes were topped with homemade primal marshmallows with gluten free graham crackers and soy and dairy free chocolate chips. I love baking and experimenting in the kitchen so this was so much fun for me. If you’re not a baker or simply just don’t have the time to bake search for a local bakery that offers a variety of dessert options for different eating styles.

We served Omission gluten free beer and Mammoth Brewing Company 395 IPA. I’ve been hooked on pinot noir wine the last year so we served one of my favorites, Estancia, along with a chardonnay by Pacific Grove. We also had our fresh spring water that we get delivered at home.

We bought small mason jars four our guests to use for water. We also bought real stemless wine glasses. You can pick both mason jars and real stemless wine glasses up for cheap if you’re willing to take the time to shop around. We always try to avoid using disposable utensils and glasses whenever possible so it was important to us to get real glasses. The mason jars are really cool looking and can be used for homemade Christmas gifts as well (candles, hot chocolate mix, etc.).

Gift Wedding Favors that You Would Enjoy

One of the things Scot and I enjoy is a great cup of coffee made with organic coffee beans from local and/or artisan coffee roasters. I found these adorable brown bags on Etsy to put the coffee beans in as favors. We usually request non-material items as gifts for our birthdays and Christmas so we thought we would gift a consumable product to our guests. Our guests loved them!

Spotify is a Great DJ

We had the most affordable DJ: Spotify. We started making our wedding party play list as soon as we decided to have a celebration. As we were making the playlist, we came up with the idea to add songs that our family would enjoy as well. We had Jimmy Buffet, Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, and many others that we knew our families would enjoy. When I was dancing with my dad, he told me he was happy to hear some Nat King Cole during dinner. This made me smile.

At first we had one long playlist. The day of our wedding celebration Scot had the idea to split the songs up on two different playlists: dinner and dance party. He thought it would be pleasant for our guests to listen to a slower melody rather than Weird Al while they were eating dinner.

We also chose songs to walk down the isle to that were meaningful to us. I walked down the isle to a condensed version of True Colors (the version from the Trolls movie). My sister, who was my maid of honor, walked down the isle to the theme of the tv show Friends. We are both huge Friends fans and watched it while it was still on the air. Scot and I walked down the isle together after the ceremony to Movin Right Along by Kermit the Frog and Fozzie. If you haven’t heard this song from The Muppet Movie from 1979 it’s a really catchy tune with a great melody and lyrics that describe Scot and I’s relationship.

Looking back I wouldn’t change anything because it reflected us. Make sure every part of your special day is meaningful to you. This is your celebration of your relationship with your family and friends so it should reflect who you are as individuals and as a couple.

Smoothie Anyone?

It seems to me that smoothies and juicing are increasing in popularity these days. Jamba Juice franchises are everywhere and boutique juice shops are popping up left and right. Are there benefits to smoothies and juices or is it just a trend?

I’m not a huge fan of juicing mostly because the sugar content increases in whole foods through the juicing process. And, from my understanding, the nutrients are more abundant in the vegetables and fruit as whole foods rather than their liquid form.

When it comes to smoothies, I believe there is a time and a place for them. The quality of the ingredients are just as important as they are when preparing a whole food meal.

Here is when I recommend enjoying a smoothie:

You’re on a liquid only diet. Maybe you had dental surgery or your tonsils removed and you’re unable to swallow for a week or two. This is where a nutrient dense smoothie will come in handy.

You’re crunched on time. In today’s world, we try to pack everything we can into one day which makes it difficult to consume the nutrients our body needs to have the energy to get everything done on our constantly growing to-do list. One thing I love about smoothies is you can make them in a big batch at once. Gather a few mason jars with lids and divide your smoothie mix up for a few days. Just shake it up when you’re ready to enjoy it as some of the ingredients may settle to the bottom. Most homemade smoothies should last a for a few days in the fridge.

You want to replace your favorite beverages with a healthier version. I used to love getting mochas and peppermint mochas from coffee shops before I was primal. I didn’t drink them too often, about once a week if that, but as I look back I realize it was probably too often. I’ve created my own mocha and peppermint mocha with high quality Primal Kitchen Chocolate Collagen Powder, raw cacao powder, and peppermint extract. Check out the recipe here. When I drink it I feel like I’m nourishing my body rather then putting it into a diabetic coma with low quality ingredients.

You just don’t want to cook or eat whole foods. I’m a firm believer in eating W.H.E.N. (when hunger ensues naturally). I usually fast in the morning and don’t eat anything until about 11:00am. Often times when I am hungry in the morning, I just don’t feel like making eggs, bacon, and veggies so I whip up a smoothie in less than five minutes. Or I’m just craving a smoothie. I fill my smoothie with healthy proteins and fats that keep me satiated until I’m hungry for my salad.

Here are the ingredients I recommend for a satisfying smoothie:

Collagen Protein Powder

Collagen is the largest protein in our body. It’s great for our skin, hair, nails, and joints. Everyone should be eating collagen every day. Primal Kitchen makes a great tasting, high quality collagen protein powder (e-mail me at melissa@honeybee.kitchen if you’re interested in a sample). It’s made with grass-fed bovine collagen peptides, coconut powder (the coconut taste is very mild), monk fruit extract, konjac root, vanilla extract, and sea salt. It comes in chocolate and vanilla. The chocolate powder is made with organic fair trade coco powder.

Raw Cacao Powder

Raw cacao powder is one of the most delicious and nutrient-dense foods you can enjoy. Cacao powder is different than coco powder in that it comes from un-roasted cacao beans rather than from roasted, which is what coco powder comes from. It’s less processed than coco powder and cold-pressed rather than processed at high heat.

Raw cacao powder has many health benefits including monounsaturated and saturated fats in it to help you feel satiated longer. It’s also full of vitamins and minerals such as B-vitamins, vitamin E, zinc, potassium, copper, iron, magnesium, calcium and manganese. In additional to the vitamins and minerals, cacao powder is high in antioxidants, which help prevent oxidation in your body. Oxidation in your body can cause chronic inflammation, negatively effecting your immune system, and premature aging. It has also been known to decrease stress levels and increase energy levels.

Maca Powder

Maca powder is from the root of the maca plant which is the part of the plant that is most edible. It has a nutty flavor to it but I can’t taste it in my smoothie.

There are a number of benefits that come from maca powder. It’s high in vitamin C, iron, and copper. It has also been known to increase energy, endurance, and improve your mood. This is especially beneficial for folks who are have challenges with anxiety and depression.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is one of my favorite spices. Cinnamon is a sweet and savory spice that’s delicious in pumpkin pie and cinnamon rolls. I love sprinkling my whole milk grass-fed yogurt and raw walnut pieces with cinnamon. One of my non-primal treats is cinnamon flavored gluten-free oatmeal. And cinnamon my “secret” ingredient in my HBK Taco Seasoning.

Cinnamon has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. All you need is about ¼ tsp in your smoothie to add a little extra flavor and get the health benefits.

Healthy Oil

MCT (medium-chain triglycerides) and olive oil are two fantastic healthy fats to include in a smoothie. These healthy saturated fats are a great addition to smoothies to help keep you satiated (feeling full) longer.

It’s widely known that olive oil is a heart healthy monounsaturated fat. But what’s MCT oil? MCT oil is concentrated coconut oil. We buy the flavorless MCT oil so I can’t even taste it when I put it in my smoothie. In addition to helping you feel fuller longer, MCT oil has also been known to give you mental clarity, more energy, improved digestion, and keep your hormone levels in check.

Nut Butters

Nut butters such as almond or cashew add flavor, fat, and protein to a smoothie. I will occasionally add peanut butter to my smoothie as well. Yes, I know peanuts are technically legumes and not primal or paleo, however, I still love the taste of it. And it’s better than other non-primal/paleo foods.

Berries

Berries such as strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries are high in antioxidants. They also have a lower glycemic index than most other fruits which means our bodies process them slower. Your insulin levels won’t spike after eating them.

Banana

I love the consistency bananas bring to a smoothie. It adds a nice smoothness and creaminess. When bananas are more on the green side they are a great source of resistant starch. Resistant starch is food for our good gut bacteria that we want to keep alive. Fermented foods such as yogurt, sauerkraut, and kombucha are also great sources of resistant starch.

Water, Milk, or Cold Brew Coffee

The type of liquid used in a smoothie can make all the difference. I prefer to use almond milk because it gives it a creamier texture than water or cold brew coffee. Cold brew coffee is delicious when I’m on the mood for a coffee beverage that’s a little on the sweet side yet nutritious.

Of course, there are so many more nutrient dense ingredients you can include in your smoothie. The one common denominator in most of these ingredients: they help you feel satisfied longer.

My Six Week Keto Journey

The Ketogenic (or Keto) Diet. You’ve probably heard of it somewhere or know someone who’s following it right now. Some say it’s just another fad diet while others swear by it and make it a way of life. Throughout my training to become a Primal Health Coach, I learned about the keto diet but never tried it myself. I eat clean, nutrient-dense, whole foods most of the time. When I occasionally indulge in non-primal foods (i.e. desserts, pizza) it’s made with high quality ingredients and gluten-free. I do love me a good slightly green banana by itself or in a shake with chocolate collagen protein powder or roasted sweet potatoes with butter and salt.

For those of you who are not familiar with the keto diet, it’s a way of eating in which you eat real nutrient-dense foods and keep your carbohydrate consumption at 50 grams or less per day. There are many health benefits to a ketogenic diet (many of which I will get into more detail in another post) including starving cancer cells. Cancer cells feed off of glucose so when you consume a super low carb diet the cancer cells have no food and they die. It’s also been shown to reverse type 2 diabetes. Of course, everyone should continue working closely with their doctor while treating a disease naturally.

I was inspired to do the keto diet for six weeks (this is the length of time Mark Sisson recommends in his book The Keto Reset Diet) for two reasons. The first reason was to conduct a personal experiment on myself to see how my body reacts to a super low carb diet. The second reason was to experience the keto diet so I can coach my clients who want to follow a keto diet.

I wanted to journal my personal six week keto journey with you. Enjoy!

Week One

The first two days were surprisingly really easy for me. I believe this is because I had never consumed less than 50 grams of carbs in one day, I have been following a primal lifestyle for six years already. I was also really excited to try new recipes. As an artist in the kitchen, this was a way for me to express myself and expand the menu of meals that eat.

There were two challenges to the first week.

Number one: I was REALLY hungry all the time, even after I ate a meal full of healthy proteins and fats. I was tracking my macros using the My Fitness Pal app on my phone which was extremely helpful. I learned that I was eating a bit too much protein and not enough fat. Fat is more calorically dense than protein and carbs so it keeps you feeling full longer.

Number two: I felt really fatigued during my workouts, especially during sprint workouts. I did ride my bike to and from work one day and I felt a little fatigued but not as much as during a sprint workout.

Week Two

At the start of week two I was still feeling hungry most of the time and struggling to get through my sprint workouts. I decided to temporarily cut out my sprint workouts and stick to my strength training and low level cardio.

I increased my fat in take and decreased my protein and that seemed to help me feel more satiated. I was craving bananas and sweet potatoes just about every day. The interesting thing is that I was not having any sugar cravings. This was surprising to me because I have a big sweet tooth. Put a dark chocolate gluten-free cheesecake in front of me and I’ll devour a piece while making weird noises.

Week Three

This was the week that I would be tested. We were heading up to Reno for my friend, Stephanie’s wedding in which I was a bridesmaid. Stephanie and I have been friends for many years and I was truly honored to be a part of her big day so I wanted to celebrate as much as I could with her.

The morning of the wedding, the bridal party went to get pedicures at a really cute boutique nail spa called Soak. After we sat down and our feet were soaking in a warm bath of soapy water we were offered an adult beverage. Whenever I do a strict primal eating challenge I usually avoid alcohol. However, I gave myself permission to make an exception since it was Stephanie’s wedding. I promised myself I would not go overboard. I’m not a big drinker to begin with so going overboard would not have been an option even if I wasn’t doing a keto.

So, I ordered a Bailey’s and coffee with whipped cream. It came in a giant mug with lots of whipped cream. I only enjoyed half of it before it became too sweet for my taste. Later on I had a few glasses of champagne while we were getting ready.

I may have exceeded 50 grams of carbs (though probably not by much) that day but I wasn’t hard on myself because of it. I knew the next day I would get back on track and that’s exactly what I did.

Week Four

At the beginning of week four I started to get a sore throat and it became a full blown head cold within a few days. This was most likely from the lack of sleep from the previous weekend. I’ve learned to pay attention to what’s happening in my life when I get sick (which is not that often). If I’m eating clean when I get sick, I’m usually feeling anxious or not sleeping enough and my immune system shuts down.

Whenever I’m sick my go-to comfort meal is tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough bread. Of course my craving for this made it very difficult to stick to my keto challenge. I was very tempted to go to Trader Joe’s and buy all the ingredients. Instead, I ate some tomato soup with broccoli to help me feel better. We tend to eat comfort foods for psychological reasons rather than the fact that our bodies actually needing the nutrients. Even though the tomato soup was not that low carb, the ingredients weren’t too bad.

Week Five

Week five was a real challenge for me because I knew we were over half way done. By this time, I was really craving a banana every time I laid eyes on one. Especially the bananas that are still slightly green and when you bite into them they’re the perfect consistency: not too hard and not too soft. This week felt like the never ending trail when we hiked Mt. Whitney last October. After hiking 11 miles with 6,000 feet in elevation gain up to the summit of Mt. Whitney we still needed to hike 11 miles back down to the portal. We had about 3-4 miles to go and it felt like the trail was never going to end. Every time we turned a corner I expected to see the signs at the trailhead and all I saw was more trail. I kept walking (eating keto aligned foods) and I knew eventually I would get to the finish line.

Week Six

And the finish line was in sight. During week six, I was reflecting on my keto journey. I learned a lot about myself and my body the past six weeks. Toward the end of the week I gave myself permission to give in to temptation and enjoyed some gluten free toast and white potatoes.

Takeaways

1. My favorite workout workout to do is sprints, preferably hill sprints. When I ran sprints during my keto challenge I did not have as much power as I usually do. I learned this the first week and thought maybe my body just needs to adjust. During my sixth week I still didn’t have as much power. I learned that my body does better during a sprint workout when I’m eating clean starchy foods like sweet potatoes and bananas.

2. It was more difficult for me to fast during keto. I rarely eat breakfast since I’ve switched over to a primal aligned eating pattern so I’m not hungry in the mornings. While eating keto I was usually always hungry in the morning. I like getting the benefits of fasting.

3. Before our keto challenge, I was getting a little lazy with my food intake and eating more non-primal aligned foods than I should have been. I definitely felt very energetic and had a clear mind while eating keto. Even though I’ve chosen not to eat keto 100% of the time it was a good reminder to be more mindful of what I put in my body. Even as a Primal Health Coach it was a really good reset for me.

What I Ate During My Keto Journey

Breakfast: Coffee shake with Primal Kitchen Collagen Fuel protein powder, MCT oil, and cacao powder or eggs and veggies.

Lunch: HBK Salad with healthy proteins (sardines, grass-fed sausages, hard boiled eggs) and fats (HBK Ranch Dressing, olive oil, avocado, etc).

Dinner: Healthy protein (salmon, mahi mahi, grass-fed burger, grass-fed sausages, grass-fed bison, or eggs) and non-starchy veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, kale, or spinach).

If you’re interested in seeing if keto is a good fit for you, please feel free to reach out to me for coaching. I’m happy to help!

How to Maintain Your Primal Lifestyle Throughout the Holidays

The holidays are coming soon, at lightening speed this year it seems. With the holidays comes many stresses including choosing the perfect gift for your special someone, potential weight gain from indulging in too many sweets and adult beverages, dealing with crowds, and many more. I’ve found the holidays tend to become more stressful and not as enjoyable as an adult.

I’ve always loved this time of year when the leaves were turning color, the weather starts to get cooler, and it’s ok to start making and eating everything pumpkin. When I was a kid, I always looked forward to getting the 1,000 page JC Penny catalogue and turning the pages for hours on end circling all the cool toys and gadgets I wanted Santa to bring me. I never felt stressed about the holidays coming up, just excited to see what would be under the Christmas tree the morning of December 25th.

As an adult, my values have changed (obviously) and the holiday season has a different energy to it. I no longer think about the presents I want to find under the tree. Instead, I decide which steps I’m going to take to be proactive to lower my stress levels instead of allowing them to rise due to the pressures of the holiday season from our current society. Do I indulge a little on non-primal food and drinks this time of year? Yes, absolutely! After all, I am human and there are still certain foods and beverages I like to enjoy occasionally.

It’s so easy to get on the internet and spend money on material items that will likely take up space in someone’s home and not be used. It’s also easy to allow ourselves to eat anything that’s in front of us because “it’s the holidays, it’s ok to indulge.” We tell ourselves, “I’ll start my eating better and working out on January 1st. Until then I’ll enjoy the holidays and eat whatever I want.”

In my opinion, the holidays should be treated like any other time of the year. You should still focus on eating nutrient-dense foods but also indulge every now and then. You should also focus on keeping your stress levels low as much as possible. And you should keep moving.

Here are my tips for having a fun, relaxing, and meaningful holiday season:

Focus on quality time spent with loved ones and friends rather than which material items to buy them. My siblings and I decided years ago we were only going to buy gifts for the kids and not for each other. Even though we all live in different parts of the country and we can’t always spend the holidays together, a phone conversation getting caught up on everything exciting happening in our lives is more meaningful than an item of clothing or piece of jewelry. I have more fun hanging out with my family enjoying a good meal together or watching Christmas movies than I do opening gifts.

When purchasing gifts, focus on gifts someone will use frequently or give them an experience they might not otherwise give themselves. When I do give a gift, it’s usually an item they can use on a daily basis or a gift certificate to a place they can have a meaningful experience. For example, we usually get my parents a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant or a restaurant that they might not normally go to.

When my mom asks us each year,”What do you want for Christmas?” I usually don’t have an answer for her. Last year Scot and I told her we want a burr coffee grinder. We make homemade cold brew coffee quite frequently in a large batch. This requires grinding lots of coffee beans at once. We have an easy-to-use hand grinder but we found it was too time consuming to grind all the beans using this we need for a large batch of cold brew. So, we asked for nice burr grinder that we would use frequently. This was one of the best gifts we’ve received because we use it quite often.

Instead of focusing on the foods you don’t eat since you’ve started eating real nutrient-dense food, focus on finding new fall comfort food recipes that are primal friendly. I’ve become really good at recreating my favorite comfort foods and making them primal. I do this because I love to cook and create new recipes. It’s one way I like to challenge myself and I always learn something new related to cooking. One of my favorite recipes I’ve created in my kitchen is my Bacon Kale Butternut Squash Soup. Butternut squash is a great fall starchy vegetable to have after a sprint session or high intensity workout or if you’re just wanting a hot soup. You can make and freeze this soup in single size portions so you can enjoy it on a busy day by just heating it up. However, you don’t have to do this on your own. There are so many recipes online and many primal/paleo cookbooks that have done the job for you.

Get moving! Keep up your normal workout routine regardless of how busy your schedule is this time of year. Take 10-15 minutes breaks every few hours or so to go for a walk or do 20 burpees, 20 push ups and 20 squats. If you don’t have 10-15 minutes, take a one minutes break and do 10 push ups or 10 squats. When you’re at the mall shopping for gifts park really far away from the entrance so you have to walk farther. Better yet, park on the other side of the mall from the entrance and walk all the way around. If you haven’t started a workout routine get started. If you need help figuring out how to fit exercise into your busy schedule, please reach out to me. I’m happy to help!

Give yourself permission to indulge in some holiday treats in moderation. This is really important because if we’re stressed out over what we eat our cortisol levels increase which could cause weight gain regardless of what we eat or don’t eat. One holiday tradition that we have in our family is to drink mimosas and Bailey’s Irish Cream in our coffee on Christmas morning. This is a holiday treat I look forward to every year.

If I’m having a holiday dinner at someone else’s house I always offer to bring a side dish or dessert and make sure it’s primal friendly. I don’t get caught up in whether or not the turkey is pasture-raised or the vegetables are organic. I also indulge in a piece of bread if it’s available. As long as you don’t have celiac or a gluten intolerance I think it’s ok to enjoy a piece of bread every now and then. The one food I won’t eat at all is margarine or any other kind of fake butter. Besides the fact that it’s not good for you due to the vegetable oils that are high in omega-6 fatty acids, I won’t eat because it is I just don’t like it. However, I will enjoy a piece of bread with real butter on it every now and then. I fill my plate with a little bit of protein and the rest with vegetables, focusing on eating the protein and vegetables first and the bread last. I have a big sweet tooth so I usually always have dessert especially if pumpkin pie is served.

Take time each day to be alone and enjoy some quiet time. This is a great way to start your day before the busyness of the day takes you away to your to do list. Take frequent breaks throughout the day to take a few deep breaths or go for a walk to get some fresh air. Give your mind a break from focusing on the task at hand and just be still. Even one minute of this can make a difference in your mood and stress levels.

Hire a health coach to be your accountability partner throughout the holiday season. One of the reasons I chose to become a health coach is to help others become the healthiest and happiest versions of themselves. One of the benefits of having a health coach (or a coach of any kind) is having someone who is your ally and will hold you accountable to taking the action steps that will help you reach your health and fitness goals. I have a 30 day program that will help you get jump started on your health goals. I also offer a 12 week program that will help get you through the holiday season and have an amazing start to the new year. If you’re looking for a longer commitment I offer a 6 month program which will get you through almost half of 2018.

The holiday season shouldn’t be a time of worrying about whether or not your favorite jeans are going to fit at the end of the year. It should be a stress-free time of celebration and fun along with a little indulgence in your favorite holiday treats. They should be enjoyable!

Thanks for reading! I’d love hear your takeaways from this post.

Happy holidays!

 

Paleo f(x)

We had such a great time in Austin, Texas, this past week visiting family and friends and making new friends at Palo f(x). If you haven’t been to Austin and you like to eat delicious food and enjoy the outdoors (when it’s not 95 degrees and 100% humidity), I highly recommend visiting this fun city.

Austin is considered the Paleo capital of the United States so it’s only fitting that the ancestral health convention, Paleo f(x), is held there. The conference was held downtown at the Palmer Events Center right next to Lady Bird Lake, renamed in 2007 from Town Lake to Lady Bird Lake in honor of the former United States First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. This reservoir type lake is great for kayaking or paddle boarding. We kayaked on this lake when we were in Austin last November. There’s also hiking and bike trails around the lake to enjoy as well.

Here are a few highlights from my first Paleo f(x) experience.

When I walked into the expo for the first time on Friday morning I was thrilled to see the Primal Blueprint booth right in the front. Primal Blueprint was founded by Mark Sisson, who is one of the people on the forefront of the ancestral health movement. Mark writes the widely popular paleo/primal blog marksdailyapple.com, which I have been reading for the last five years. Scot referred me to his blog when we met and I’ve been hooked on it ever since. Mark is also the creator of the best healthy mayonnaise in the world, Primal Kitchen Mayonnaise.

About three years ago, Mark launched the Primal Health Coach Certification, which is the first ancestral health coaching certification. When this certification was launched I signed up for it and became certified. I was excited to have the opportunity to meet Mark and take a picture with him. And he gave me a hug for completing the health coaching certification. I also met two of the ladies, Erin and Laura, on the Primal Health Coach support team. It was awesome to be able to thank them in person for they’re hard work they do behind the scenes to support us and give us the resources that help us build a successful coaching business.

I also had the pleasure of sitting in the audience during Mark’s keynote talk about creating your life’s work out of your passion. The number one takeaway from his message for me was that your passion finds you and you don’t find it. And it can change depending in your interests and where you are on your life journey. My passion on this part of life journey is helping others optimize their health by living a primal lifestyle. It brings me so much joy to teach a cooking class on how to create nutrient dense meals at home that are quick and easy. Or coaching a client to help them achieve their weight loss goals by making small changes that are simple but not always easy. Not only are they losing weight, but they are healthier in all areas in their life by making better lifestyle choices.

One of my other passions at this time is fitness. Although I’m really passionate about improving my own fitness level, I’m also passionate about helping others achieve their fitness goals. Darryl Edwards is well known in the paleoshere for his expertise in primal play. He teaches folks how to incorporate primal play into their lifestyle. Part of this play is teaching folks how to move like animals: bears, ducks, cats, rabbits, etc. It may sound and look easy but it is definitely challenging. Scot and I attended one of Darryl’s Animal Moves workshops at Paleo f(x) and it was definitely one of the most challenging workouts I’ve done. It was a lot of core strength in which I don’t have a lot of at this time but I’m working on improving. He is a master at primal play and animals moves and makes it look easy. He moves like a bear or a monkey with such grace that it looks so simple. I was definitely inspired by Darryl to incorporate animal moves into my daily movement routine.

After the workshop, I asked Darryl if he would take a photo with me. He said, “Yes, but you have to give me a piggy back ride.” I said, “Are you serious?” He said, “Yes!” I said, “Ok, let’s do this!”

There’s always something unconventional coming up in the paleoshere. The newest up and coming thing is camel milk. Yes, it sounds weird, but it actually tastes a lot like cow’s milk. We had the privilege of sampling camel milk at the expo. It’s lower in lactose which means it’s more easily digestible for most folks who are lactose intolerant. It also has less fat and calories and more vitamin C and B3 than cow’s milk.

They were offering free camel rides at the conference. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a chance to ride one of the camels. One of the camels did agree to take a photo with us.

There were many vendors there that make meat bars and sticks. My favorite vendors were the ones with the dark chocolate. This wasn’t just any chocolate. It was gourmet dark chocolate. The good stuff.

We made new friends and learned about new scientific research about how to find the optimal diet for each individual. There was so much to see and so many great experts to listen to all under one roof. I left Paleo f(x) inspired and motivated to help people become the healthiest versions of themselves.

Thanks for reading!

Kitchen Staples

Today I’ll talk about the tools I use in the kitchen to make my meals as healthy as possible. These are in no particular order of importance.

Cast Iron Skillet

These days we mostly use cast iron skillets when we cook because they’re great for cooking meat and vegetables. You can use them on gas and induction stove tops and in the oven so they are multi-use and versatile. You can also get extra iron intake from using them. They’re really easy to take care of and clean. Get one that comes already seasoned with oil. The more you use it the more seasoned it becomes and the better your food will taste. We just scrape the chunks of food out with steel wool and wipe it down with a paper towel. Every once in a while, we’ll season it with MCT oil, which has no flavor so it won’t add flavor to your food like olive oil or coconut oil might. If there’s food stuck on the skillet we will soak it in HOT WATER ONLY (no soap, as the skillet will absorb the soap which will get into your food). If there are no food chunks in it we will leave the left over cooking fat in there for the next time we cook. It adds lots of flavor to the next dish we make.

10 or 12 inch Ceramic Coated Skillet

If you don’t want to go with a cast iron skillet, the next best thing is a ceramic coated skillet. It’s safer than Teflon non-stick cookware which can release toxins into your food as you cook. Ceramic is a much safer and healthier choice than other non-stick skillets. We have a 12 inch ceramic skillet that we use when we cook more than two pounds of meat at a time and it works great. It’s easy to clean and it’s dishwasher safe.

Rectangular Glass Baking Dish

A glass baking dish is not just for baking brownies. It’s great for roasting vegetables, making casseroles, primal friendly lasagna, baking meatballs and meat patties. It’s really easy to clean; just put it in the dishwasher.

Glass Loaf Pan

I love making my bison meatloaf in my glass loaf pan. I don’t need to coat it with cooking fat because the meat has enough fat in it that comes out as it cooks that the meatloaf doesn’t stick to the pan. It’s also great for baking primal friendly breads.

Stainless Steel 3 Quart Sauce Pan

I absolutely love my stainless steal 3 quart sauce pan! I use it just about everyday. It’s great for heating up homemade bone broth, making shrimp coconut curry, and tomato sauce. A high quality stainless steel sauce pan is a safe multi-use staple to have in your kitchen.

InstaPot Slow/Pressure Cooker

This is hands down one of my favorite kitchen staples. It can be used as a slow cooker to make delicious chili or homemade bone broth. Or you can use it as a pressure cooker to cook your meals in minutes. And, as a bonus, it’s really easy to clean. Check out this cookbook for great InstaPot Pressure Cooker recipes.

Oven Safe Glass Food Storage Containers

Oven safe glass food storage containers are essential for efficient meal prep. They’re great for storing precooked meals you can just take out of the fridge and reheat without dirtying any other dishes. We use them to store washed and chopped vegetables.

Spiralizer

Before I started my paleo/primal journey, I ate lots of pasta. I love the combination of homemade marinara sauce with meat and vegetables. Zucchini noodles, or zoodles, are a great alternative to high-carb wheat pasta and they’re really easy to make with the Spiralizer. It’s really easy to use and comes with three different attachments so you can choose different size noodles. All the parts are dishwasher safe. I recommend rinsing the parts under hot water before putting them in the dishwasher to make sure they get really clean.

Glass or Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls (Various Sizes)

About 10 years ago, I received one of my favorite Christmas gifts: 10 piece glass mixing bowl set from William Sonoma. This was the only thing I wanted for Christmas because I knew I would use them frequently and they are really durable. They have been through seven moves with me and lots of use and are still in great shape. I use the small bowls to mix my homemade taco seasoning. One of the medium size bowl are great for dips such as homemade guacamole. The large ones are good for bringing salads to dinner parties and mixing ingredients for baked goods.

Silicon Spatula

We try not to waste food so a silicon scraper spatula is perfect for making sure we get all the left overs from the sauce pan to the glass storage container. It’s great for scraping the bowl when I make my homemade salad dressing or homemade primal waffles.

Measuring Spoons

I love to make anything I can homemade: lotion, deodorant, toothpaste, salad dressing, taco seasoning, tarter sauce, lip gloss, etc. Measuring spoons are a must have tool in my kitchen to make as many homemade products as I can. Most of these items take less than 10 minutes to make. The best part is that I have control over the quality of ingredients I use so I know I’m putting the best ingredients in and on my body at any given time.

Measuring Cups

Measuring cups are another essential tool in my kitchen mostly because I make so many things from scratch. You’ll need this for many of the recipes you make. If you’re going to start cooking most of your meals yourself, this is a must have tool in your kitchen.

Blender

A high quality blender is great for making homemade soups, nut milks, ice cream, sauces, dressings, smoothies, and much more.  We have a Blendtech because it can handle blending whole foods and nuts with ease.

Kitchen Aide Stand Mixer

The Kitchen Aide Stand Mixer is my favorite piece of equipment in my kitchen. I use it for baking, mixing meat for meatloaf and patties, making dips, and much more. The mixer comes with a wire whisk, flat paddle, bread hook, and shield. However, you can purchase more attachments such as a spiralizer and ice cream maker. We have the ice cream maker attachment and make homemade primal-approved ice cream that is so creamy and delicious. There are different sizes of mixers to choose from depending on the space you have in your kitchen. You can also choose from glass and stainless steel for your bowl. They are both great options.

These kitchen staples make it easy for us to make primal-approved nutrient-dense meals at home that are delicious and easy to make. We’re now hosting a Primal Cooking Basics class at our home the forth Saturday of each month. I invite you to join us so you can see first hand how we use these kitchen staples.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Personal Challenges

Today I’m going to talk about personal challenges and the benefits and struggles of them along with how to choose which challenges to do. I call them challenges because I’m challenging myself to step out of my comfort zone to either be more productive with my time or develop healthier habits. Every month, Scot and I experiment with different challenges. Some of them are challenges that we repeat regularly while others are new.

Challenges can either be eliminating an activity or food or adding something positive into your life for a specified time period. Today I’ll share six ideas for challenges that we incorporate in our house.

21 Day Primal Eating Challenge

Scot and I just finished a 21 day primal eating challenge with a few friends. We all focused on eating only primal approved foods for 21 days. Primal approved foods are grass-fed/pasture raised (if you can find it) meat, wild caught fish, eggs from pasture raised chickens (if available), healthy fats (olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, etc.), nuts and seeds, and lots of vegetables. You basically want to cut out bread, grains, processed foods, dairy (temporarily for some), and unhealthy fats (vegetable oil, canola oil, soy oil, etc.). This is one of the first things I encourage all of my health coaching clients to do to jump start their primal health journey.

One key benefit of this challenge, since it tends to be low-carb, is reprogramming your genes to train your body to become a fat burner instead of a sugar/carb burner for energy. When you become a fat burner your body dips into your fat stores to use as energy to keep you moving and thinking clearly. Another benefit to this challenge is your fueling your body with high quality nutrient dense food to nourish your body and mind.

The challenge comes when you have a family event to go to or have prescheduled dinner planned with friends who are not focusing on eating a primal aligned diet. It can be difficult when there are limited food options for you on the menu. The number one thing I’ve learned from personal experience is to not get stressed out about eating something that is not primal. I’ve learned which foods are ok to eat occasionally and which foods I absolutely will not eat no matter what (processed cured lunch meat is one of them).

No-Spend Month Challenge

Every four or five months Scot and I will do a “no-spend” month in which we only spend money to satisfy our basic needs: food, water, and shelter. If we don’t need it to survive we don’t buy it. It’s very simple.

The number one benefit to this challenge is obvious: we save more money. The more money we have saved up, the closer we are to achieving our financial freedom goals. The number two benefit to this challenge is we spend our time differently. We focus our decision making energy on activities that will assist us with improving our health and wellness such as meal planning. Meal planning is crucial to the success of eating a clean primal aligned diet especially when our schedules are full.

Amber Colored Glasses Challenge

Quality sleep is one of the most important variables of optimal health. With technology these days, it can be difficult to get a good nights sleep mostly because the screens and light bulbs that light up our night produce blue light which increases our cortisol levels and suppresses our melatonin levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone that keeps us alert and awake. Melatonin lets our body know that it’s time to go sleep.

When our primal ancestors were winding down at night they would typically sit around a fire sharing stories or playing music. The orangish hues of fire has been imprinted in our genes for our bodies to produce melatonin to signal sleep time. So, wearing amber glasses helps your body produce melatonin to enable you to relax and wind down to get good quality sleep.

The challenge is to wear amber glasses every night as soon as the sun goes down to block the blue light coming from screens and light bulbs and keep a journal on your quality of sleep. Write down how you feel when you wake up. Do you feel refreshed and ready for the day? Or do you feel sluggish?

No Alarm Clock Challenge

This challenge can be difficult since most people are accustomed to waking up to an alarm. Our primal ancestors would typically go to sleep a few hours after the sun went down and woke up around the time the sun came up. This programmed our genes to align our sleep with our natural circadian rhythm.

We rarely wake up to an alarm clock. If we do, we wake up to a sunrise alarm clock, the sounds of birds chirping, or a nice, mellow ring tone; not a jarring buzzing sound that creates the fight-or-flight response in our bodies. It’s a much more natural way to wake up.

When you go to bed within a few hours of the sun going down and wake up naturally feeling refreshed and energized, take note of how many hours you slept. This is most likely the number of hours you need to get an adequate night of sleep. This is one of the benefits of waking up naturally.

When I first started waking up without an alarm clock it did cause some anxiety when I did it the night before having to go to work. I was worried I wouldn’t wake up in time. Once I trained my body to wake up around 7:00am or 7:30am naturally I stopped worrying about whether or not I was going to wake up in time or not. I encourage you to try it on a night in which you don’t have to wake up at a certain time the next morning.

No Internet Challenge

The internet can be a very useful tool, but can also be a huge distraction if not used properly or used too much. Surfing the internet has never been enjoyable for me. If I’m on the internet it’s because I’m looking for something specific. Occasionally I will allow myself to be distracted by going down a rabbit hole of nonsense that isn’t related to the topic I’m researching at the moment.

Scot, on the other hand, enjoys browsing the internet, shopping or reading blog posts. This is one of the ways he likes to wind down and relax. We all need activities that get us out of our normal routine. It becomes a problem when all you’re doing is surfing the web and not getting outside to get exercise and sunshine, or you’re not having enough face-to-face interaction with your friends and family, and you’re not getting good sleep because you’re up late shopping on the internet for items you don’t necessarily need.

If this sounds like you, I challenge you to do a No Internet Challenge. Only use the internet if you absolutely need to (i.e. you need it for a work task). When you’re at home with your family turn off the internet and have meaningful conversation with friends and family or go for a walk. Replace your internet with more meaningful activities that will serve you better now and in the future.

No Movies or TV on “School Nights” Challenge

This is the challenge we do most often in our house. I love watching movies! It’s one of my top five activities that relaxes me. I really enjoy watching a great movie that makes me think or even a cheesy RomCom that takes me out of my current reality for a few hours.

Personally, though, the downfall to watching TV or movies every night is it interferes with my sleep. I’m more likely to stay up later than I normally would because after the movie or TV show is finished I still need to clean up dishes and get ready for bed.

We do challenges where we don’t watch TV or movies on nights when we have work the next morning, typically Sunday through Thursday nights. Y’know...”school nights”. Instead of watching a show, we’ll sit down across from each other at dinner, listen to music, and have a meaningful conversation. We enjoy our homemade primal meal and relax as we wind down for the evening. Our bodies digest food and absorb nutrients more efficiently when we are relaxed as we eat.

There are an infinite number of challenges you can do to improve your health and your life in general. Think about areas of your life in which you know you can do better and create a challenge around those. Brainstorm with a friend or family member (someone you trust) on challenges you can do together. You can hold each accountable each day and then celebrate at the end of the challenge, even if you didn’t complete the challenge 100%. The purpose is not to be perfect but to learn from it.

What challenge will you start with?

Thanks so much for reading!

Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

“The best way to obtain personal growth is to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

-Melissa King

Personal growth is a topic I’ve study for many years now. One of the most important things I learned along the way is to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I’ve transformed my life significantly by stepping out of my comfort zone in ways that I never imagined I would. I’ve heard it said many times “if you’re not growing, you’re dying.” Stepping out of your comfort zone is scary regardless of the frequency or magnitude. The rewards of being uncomfortable, even if it’s for a short amount of time, are truly amazing.

I’ve made it a daily habit to do something, even if it’s small, to push myself out of my comfort zone every day. Sometimes it’s pushing myself to do one more round or one more rep during my workout. Other times it’s cooking a new recipe I’ve written not knowing if it will taste good or bad and not having a back up plan for dinner. For someone who’s really shy, this could be smiling and saying hello to a stranger on the street. Your smile might just make that person’s day.

In June of 2016, Scot and I hiked the Kalalau Trail on the Napali Coast on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. It’s an 11 mile hike to the end of the trail where you arrive at Kalalau Beach, a beach in which you can only hike or kayak to. Boats or jet skis are not allowed on the beach. It’s rated one of the most difficult and dangerous hikes in the world. When Scot first told me he wanted to hike the Napali Coast and I agreed to do it, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. What I did know was that I would be stepping way outside my comfort zone mostly because we would be backpacking for three days and I had never been backpacking before.

He did tell me there were six streams we had to cross to get to the beach. I had a huge fear of crossing streams that I created (yes, I created this fear in my head) when we hiked through Convict Canyon near Mammoth. On our way back to our car on the Convict Canyon trail, it started raining and the stream rose and the undercurrent grew stronger. Crossing the stream was more challenging going back than it was coming. I remember standing on a rock in the middle of the stream and my legs were shaking so bad because I was so scared. I knew one misstep and I would be swept away with the current or so I thought. Scot had already made it across to the other side. He kept telling me, “You can do it. I’ll be here to catch you.” He was confident I would make it so I went for it. I made it across safe and sound and in one piece.

When you step out of your comfort zone it’s ok to feel a little scared and nervous. As long as you are not putting your life or anyone else’s life in danger it’s beneficial to your health to do activities that scare you every now and then. When we are put in a stressful situation it brings out one if our most important primal responses that our genes expect: the fight-or-flight response. Our fight-or-flight response protects us when our primal instincts are telling us we’re in danger by increasing our cortisol levels. When our cortisol levels are increased, we are more alert. This helps us to to be more aware of our surroundings. This was beneficial to us when were on the Kalalau trail because for a good portion of the trail we were on the edge of a 400 ft cliff. One misstep and we would be fish food in the ocean.

The night before we started our first backpacking adventure together, I started to have a lot of anxiety about the stream crossings even though we called the ranger and she said the streams were crossable. One of the things that I allowed to triggered my anxiety was that it was raining more than usual for that time of year. The streams can be crossable one minute and flooding the next. Something inside of me was telling me everything would work out. And Scot’s reassurance helped also. When you do something you’ve never done before and your belief in yourself isn’t as strong as it should be, it helps when someone you trust believes in you.

When we arrived at the Kalalau trail head at Ke’e Beach it started sprinkling. The man who gave us a ride to the trailhead said the rain meant that the island was blessing us. At that moment I knew we would be ok no matter what happened.

It took us about 10 hours to hike the 11 miles to Kalalau beach. When we approached mile seven, we arrived at Crawler’s Ledge, which is exactly how it sounds. It’s a two foot wide trail that had a rock wall on one side and a 400 foot cliff on the other. You literally had to crawl along the rock wall so you didn’t fall of the cliff. Scot didn’t tell me about Crawler’s Ledge before hand because he thought it would discourage me from going on the hike at all. This was the most technical part of trail. We kept each other going with positive talk and focusing on our next step.

We were so happy to be at the beach and be able to set up camp, eat dinner, and relax. The next day we began our hike back to the other campsite which was about 5 miles, just about the half way point. That night it rained pretty much the whole night on and off. I was up most of night worried about the stream crossings getting off the trail. The first stream crossing on our last day hiking was right next to our campsite. The stream had flooded and was difficult to cross and it took us about 30-45 minutes to figure how to make it to the other side without being swept away with the current.

We knew if we wanted to make this work without risking our lives we had to get creative and think outside the box. Scot put his pack down and tried to cross without the extra weight on his back. When he made it across I thought,”We’ve got this!” I started to take things out of his pack and throw them over to him one at a time since it was too risky to throw the whole pack at once. I then did the same thing with my pack. I kept my trekking poles with me for support and crossed successfully. I felt so relieved when we were both on the other side of the stream. That particular stream crossing increased my confidence so much that I had no doubt after that that we would make it off the trail in one piece that same day.

It continued to drizzle through the remainder of the hike out. We still had one more big stream crossing before we were totally clear. I was extremely determined to make it to the end of the trail that day because we were flying to Maui the next day to stay at a 5-star resort for the next four nights.

When we got to the final stream crossing the water was up to my chest. One of the park rangers was at the other side of the stream along with other people helping to pull people across. There were three more people that we were leap frogging with on the way out that were crossing the stream when we arrived. Scot was worried about me being swept away with the strong under current. I was confident that we would make it across the stream just fine.

I approached the stream with Scot in front of me and stepped into the water. I felt how strong the under current was and told Scot to go for it and that I was ok. Thankfully there was a giant boulder under water that we were able to step up on to so the water wasn’t so high on us. Scot grabbed the park ranger’s hand and she assisted in pulling him out of the water. Immediately following that, Scot pulled me out of the water. When we were on dry ground I started crying tears of joy. I was overwhelmed with emotion thinking about the last three days. That hike was the hardest thing physically, emotionally, and mentally that I had ever done in my life.

We still had two miles to hike to reach the trail head so we weren’t quite finished yet but we over came the last obstacle. After we hiked the last two miles, we hitched a ride to Hanalei where we were going to take the bus back to our hotel. We had some time to kill so we enjoyed a cup of cold brew coffee and bowl of macadamia nut ice cream (yes, I know it's not paleo or primal). That was the BEST (and probably always will be) cup of cold brew coffee I’ve ever had.

I felt incredibly relaxed and proud of myself for doing what I did the past three days. The experience increased by confidence in my ability to tackle any obstacle that comes my way whether it be physical or mental or both. It also taught me that when you have a very strong why you can achieve anything with enough determination and belief in yourself. My why was catching a flight the next day to Maui to relax at a five star resort for three days. I was determined to make it on that flight no matter what. I wasn’t going to let anything get in my way. Those three days in Maui were my reward for pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

Since our Kalalau adventure, we’ve hiked to the peak of Mount San Jacinto near Palm Springs, CA, with three feet of snow and, at times, questionable weather. The peak is at 10,800 feet and there's an elevation gain of 2,190 feet.  That was a piece of cake compared to the 400 foot cliffs and two foot wide trails we walked along in Kauai.

You don't have to go back packing in the jungle to have personal growth.  Just go do something every day that scares you a little.  I challenge you to do one thing outside of your comfort zone every day for the next 21 days and write down how you feel before, during, and after.  I guarantee by day 21 you will have increased your confidence.

I welcome all e-mails to let me know what you did and how you feel.

Thanks so much for reading!