CRACK Your Comfort Zone

Learn how to crack your comfort zone!!! WATCH ME:

 http://youtu.be/ogCt0LzJzVM

Don't Fall for Easter Marketing

Easter is the second most important candy-eating occasion of the year for Americans, who consumed 7 billion pounds of candy in 2011, according to the National Confectioner's Association. 

In 2012, Americans spent nearly $2.1 billion on Easter candy.

 

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the Easter holiday consist of ONE weekend? So WHY are these products out for about 2 months?

Why do yellow packaged, egg shaped, chocolate bars look more inviting than the regular chocolate bars that we see throughout the year?

 

MARKETING!!!! The new packaging and new shapes makes us think that is is a new product. We think that this is new and we need to try it. We also think that Easter is going to be over, and we cannot get this type of chocolate anymore, we will miss out! 

 

Now, don't get me wrong, I am the worlds biggest chocoholic and Reeses fan. I used to buy those Christmas tree Reeses and Easter Reeses and eat the whole bag in my car on the way home! And yes, I do believe there is a better chocolate:reeses ratio in these shapes... BUT..

 

DON'T let them WIN! Reeses and Hersheys bars are on the shelves 365 days of the year, just because they are in new, brightly colored packaging, and new shapes does not mean we need to "try" them again. We are not missing out on anything at all by not giving into these marketing strategies.

 

STAY STRONG!

DON'T let these smart marketing people ruin your healthy life style - it's all about making money anyway! These people are trying to make money off of YOUR inhibitions.

Stay on the outside of the grocery store this Easter and avoid temptations. Close your eyes when you walk into the store and when you get into the check out line.

STICK to your grocery list.

Add healthy snacks to your meal plan for the next few weeks to avoid snacking on candy!

You are STRONGER than Easter marketing strategies, I promise.

Fail-O-Meter

Love You.

Love Yourself

Love is not only a feeling. It is a verb - an ACTION. When I realized this, my life changed.

Take a moment to think about what it means to love a baby.

• You listen for the baby's feelings and attend to distress immediately. You keep the baby monitor on when the baby is sleeping, so you know when the baby needs you.
• You hold and comfort the baby when he/she needs comforting, keeping your heart open to the baby so the baby feels your love and presence.
• You do all you can to create physical health for the baby.
• You mirror what is wonderful about the baby.
• You let the baby know, in many different ways, that he or she is vitally important to you.

Not only do you feel love for a baby - you act on it. Now imagine that you have a baby inside you who needs all these same things. 

Loving yourself means:

Embracing all your feelings with caring, compassion, gentleness, tenderness, and a desire to learn what your feelings are telling you. Just as a baby's feelings are informational, letting you know that the baby is hungry, lonely, physically hurting or uncomfortable, your feelings are also always informational. Your feelings are letting you know whether you are caring about yourself or abandoning yourself, whether others are being loving or unloving, whether a situation is safe or dangerous, whether you need to be kind and compassionate with the deeper feelings of heartbreak and grief.

Now reading this seems a little crazy... Months ago I thought loving yourself and thinking positively should be a natural thing that just happens with no effort. It blows me away that you have to remind yourself everyday and practice it. I don't understand how humans got to the point where we don't know how to love or help ourselves, but I am so happy I have learned how to practice these things before it was too late!

How To Start:

1. Begin your day with love (not technology). Remind yourself of your worthiness before getting out of bed. I watch a motivational youtube video every morning (I guess this is half love and half technology). On the mornings I don't, I can tell a difference on my outlook for the day, which affects my mood and my success that day.

2. Take time to mediate and journal. Spend time focusing inward daily. Begin with 5 minutes of meditation and 5 minutes of journaling each morning or night. I try to journal once a day! Just write 3 positive things about your day down on paper!

3. Talk yourself happy. Use affirmations to train your mind to become more positive.Use post-it's on your mirror that you use in the morning!!

4. Get emotionally honest. Let of go of numbing your feelings. Shopping, eating, and drinking are examples of avoiding discomfort, sadness, and pain. I used to spend to much money, binge eat, and drink alcohol everyday... until I realized why I was doing it.

5. Expand your interests. Try something new. Learn a language. Go places you’ve never been. Do things you haven’t done before. You have a right to an awesome life.

6. Enjoy life enhancing activities. Find exercise you like. Discover healthy foods that are good for you. Turn off technology for a day and spend time doing things that make you feel alive.

7. Become willing to surrender. Breathe, relax, and let go. You can never see the whole picture. You don’t know what anything is for. Stop fighting against yourself by thinking and desiring people and events in your life should be different. Your plan may be different from your soul’s intentions.

8. Work on personal and spiritual development. Be willing to surrender and grow. Life is a journey. We are here to learn and love on a deeper level. Take penguin steps and life becomes difficult. One step at a time is enough to proceed forward.

9. Own your potential. Love yourself enough to believe in the limitless opportunities available to you. Take action and create a beautiful life for yourself.

10. Be patient with yourself. Let go of urgency and fear. Relax and transform striving into thriving. Trust in yourself, do good work, and the Universe will reward you.

11. Live in appreciation. Train your mind to be grateful. Appreciate your talents, beauty, and brilliance. Love your imperfectly perfect self.

12. Be guided by your intuition. All answers come from within. Look for signs and pay attention to your gut feelings. You’ll hear two inner voices when you need to make a decision. The quiet voice is your higher self; the loud voice is your ego. Always go with the quieter voice.

13. Do what honors and respects you. Don’t participate in activities that bring you down. Don’t allow toxic people in your life. Love everyone, but be discerning on who you allow into your life.

14. Accept uncertainty. Suffering comes from living in the pain of the past or the fear of the future. Put your attention on the present moment and be at peace.

15. Forgive yourself. Learn from your mistakes and go forward. Use this affirmation, “I forgive myself for judging myself for __________ (fill in the blank i.e.: for getting sick, for acting out, for not doing your best.)

16. Discover the power of fun. Self-love requires time to relax, play, and create face-to-face interaction with others. Our fast-paced world creates a goal setting, competitive craziness that doesn’t leave room for play. Dr. Stuart Brow says, “The opposite of play isn’t work, it is depression.”

17. Be real. Speak up and speak out. Allow yourself to be seen, known, and heard. Get comfortable with intimacy (in-to-me-see).

18. Focus on the positive. Go to your heart and dwell on and praise yourself for what you get right in all areas.

19. Become aware of self neglect and rejection. Become conscious of your choices. Ask yourself several times throughout the day, “Does this choice honor me?”

20. Imagine what your life would look like if you believed in your worth. Dedicate your life to loving you. Make it your main event.

21. Seek professional help. Self-rejection and neglect is painful. You deserve to be happy. You have a right to be accepted and loved. If necessary, seek help from a support group, counselor, or coach. It’s the best investment you can make.

I know this was long - but as I read every single 21 points, they were so true and honest, that I had to post them all. All I can do is hope to inspire you to love yourself. If you don't enough, if your negative voice in your head is louder than your postivie, practice these things, say them outloud. If it's too hard, get help, you deserve it.

I say this in the car on the way to school every morning:

 ~ Love is our purpose, our true calling. It begins with and within each of us. ~

Wake UP!

Who wakes you up in the morning? If you don't have a pet, child, or song that gives a happy reinforcement to your alarm clock, you should get one! There's no way I couldn't be happy to this face every morning!! 

Everyday is a new start, it should be a happy one! 

Find a way!!

Meal Planning

 Meal planning:

This is something that took me a LONG time to learn, and I'm still learning. The only way to nutritionally succeed is through planning. ESPECIALLY if you are like me and are prone to binge eating, cravings, bad food choices, and portion control problems. AND especially if you're BUSY!!!

Let me help you learn!

Every Sunday, I sit down on Pinterest and find healthy meals that look easy to make and look yummy! I usually pick 4. For breakfast and lunch, I eat the same thing throughout the week (or leftovers) and then I plan 3-4 meals for dinners. I also plan about 2-3 snacks per day, this seems like alot, but I need food I can turn to if my roommate comes in with ice cream or there is a box of donuts sitting on my counter. THEN I make my grocery list. This part of the planning can either take 10 minutes or 3 hours... just make decisions on the first few things you see!

The grocery store. Some people say that eating healthy costs more.. I disagree. If you decide to eat healthier by adding to your diet and not removing anything from your diet, then yes, it will obviously cost more. So if you are still eating everything you normally do, but you added almonds, spinach, and quinoa... well yeah, pricey. But if you ONLY buy the things you planned at the grocery store and left your normal purchases behind, you will see that your budget will most likely stay the same (depending on the meals you planned, clearly I'm not including lobster or steak on my menu!!). 

The only things you need to remember while shopping are: 

1. only buy what you planned 

2. stay on the outside of the store (this keeps you away from chips, candy, soda...)

Then I cook them, put them in individual baggies and portion amounts. Again, this seems petty when you are scooping servicing sizes of nuts into a baggie... but TRUST ME, it makes all of the difference.

This week:

Breakfast: Shakeology shake (Shakeo + Milk) ~ 200cal

Lunch: Veggies with Quinoa ~400cal

Dinner: Pad Thai Spaghetti Squash, Snap Pea Lima Bean Salad, Sweet Potato Salad, Veggie Pizza ~400cal

Snacks: Shakeology energy balls, Oranges, Bananas, Anti-Oxidant Mixed Nuts, Yogurt, Veggie Chips ~200cal

Cheat Meal: Friday night or Saturday lunch (schedule this ASAP, otherwise you will end with with 5 cheat meals at the end of the week!)

 So my lunches are all prepared, my snacks are all portioned, and I now have SOOO much less room for mistakes!

Help yourself succeed by planning! This is easy to talk yourself out of! I will be posting my plan every Monday to keep myself accountable! You should join me :)

Be A Warrior

You don't have control over the world. You just don't. Shit happens, things are not fair, but if you can just HANDLE it... HANDLE anything that comes your way, that goes wrong, that's not fair... then there is NOTHING to worry about. Believe in yourself and your capabilities to be strong, and then stop worrying.. it doesn't help and all your doing is making your self fatter with stress ;)