Blog Archives

Happy Easter

3/27/2016

Happy Easter to all. When I was growing up we always had Easter baskets filled to the brim with candy. That was all that was in the basket. And the traditional center piece of the basket was a solid, chocolate Easter bunny. I would take me a week to eat the Easter bunny alone. . .

Now that I have a healthier lifestyle, Easter doesn’t worry me like it used to. I don’t have to worry about having a ton of sugar around and being tempted by it. At the same time, I can have a little bit of sugar, a chocolate Easter egg and not beat myself up over it or worry about the consequences. You see living life healthy isn’t about living so rigidly that you can’t enjoy yourself. It means enjoying yourself through nourishment and allowing yourself to have the occasional treat and truly enjoy it.

Actually, part of being able to process the “junk” foods that we eat is being able to enjoy them. If we beat ourselves up about the foods we’re eating we don’t digest them as well, we have a greater propensity for the foods to adversely affect our body. In my past, when I’ve eaten “junk” foods, I ate the food (i.e. chocolate cake) with remorse, guilt and shame for being weak or “unhealthy” and the scale would never hesitate to justify my bad feelings. Now when I eat “junk” foods I savor them. No remorse, no guilt, no shame, just pure pleasure. After all, God gave us taste buds for a reason and I believe that reason was to enjoy our food. Why else would He give us such a variety of plants and food? Why would we care what it tastes like if food was meant only as fuel for our bodies? Doesn’t it make sense that we should enjoy eating?

I ate a chocolate Easter egg today. It was a large one that fit perfectly my palm and I just enjoyed the taste and feel. I know the rest of my day will be spent nourishing my body, but for those 5 minutes while I savored that chocolate egg, heaven was here on Earth and I’m so glad I was able to enjoy a little bit of my childhood on this Easter day.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks I’ll be continuing my transition to lighter, Springtime foods. This will help support and condition my body for the Spring Cleaning cleanse that will be kicking off on April 15th. In fact, we need to cleanse our bodies twice a year to help it work optimally and to give your digestive system a break from having to process all the toxins. The cleanse will include three 50 minute conference calls and the materials necessary to begin your cleanse with us on April 15th. The first conference call will be on April 14th so that you are prepared for the beginning the cleanse. If you would like to join me for this 2 week cleanse, please shoot me an email at collette@saluteyourhealth.com.

A Diagram of Health

3/13/2016

So often I hear people discussing their health by talking about low fat this, low calorie that, worked out here, worked out there, burned this many calories, reduced my calorie intake, etc. We are on diet overload! I studied 100 different dietary theories when getting my certification as a holistic health coach and that was just a drop in the bucket for all the “diets” out there. And with all this calorie cutting and fat burning we, as a society, are still fatter, more unhealthy and sicker than ever. I believe this is because we're focused on the wrong thing. We're so focused on losing weight we don't focus on regaining our health. This may lead you to ask, “Okay Collette, how do I get healthy?”
Let me tell you:
The first step to getting healthy is knowing the difference between primary food and secondary food. Primary food are our relationships, movement, career and spirituality. They form the base for a healthy mind and body. Think about this: how satisfied are you with your current relationship, your job, your ability to move in ways you enjoy, your spiritual practice. Then there are subcategories to this: finances, career, education, health, physical activity, home cooking, home environment, relationships (spouse, children, parents, friends, etc), social life, joy, spirituality, creativity. The more unsatisfied you are with these areas the less likely you are to have an easy time controlling your food intake. And, the more likely you will be to crave sugar, flour and salt.

Remember, our body can't tell the difference between stress from too much to do, not enough resources, an argument with someone close to us and running for our lives because a bear is attacking. So when our primary food is out of balance, our health is out of balance.

Health is so much more than how you look on the outside. I remember seeing a movie years ago about a famous, well loved woman who was beautiful. She was the perfect size, had fabulous fashion sense, was always smiling and behaving appropriately, she was loved by all that met here and even those who just saw her on TV. But the movie showed that when nobody was around she showed how she really felt. She was bulimic and miserable, she had a low self-esteem and was completely unsatisfied in her relationship. All the money in the world couldn't buy what she needed to be healthy. And despite her appropriate caloric intake/output, she still struggled to be healthy.

My hope with this article is to encourage people to quit counting calories, points, carbs, etc. Start listening to your body—the whole thing (mind, body, spirit) and see what your body is needing. Do you need a new career, do you need to find or grow your spiritual practice, can you enjoy movement everyday, are you able to speak to the people around you with love and respect and feel love and respect from them. Food fuels our body and nourishes it, but food made without love provides less nourishment than food made with love—on every level. Stop worrying about the nonsense of calories and start learning how to regain your health.
As always, if you need help with this, I would love to meet with you in a personal, confidential setting where we could discuss your personal health and work to help you improve it painlessly. Also, in April I am offering a Spring Cleaning 2 week group program that will give a jump start to regaining your health. Feel free to fill out the request for a consultation or email me by clicking the button below to get signed up for the Spring Cleaning event.

MeatLess Monday??

3/6/2016

One of the more disturbing treads of the past 20 years or so has been the push for us to eat more meat. The truth be told most Americans eat far more protein that we need. And all this protein continued over time can cause health problems.
The average person only needs 4 to 6 ounces of protein per day; however, many Americans eat more than twice that amount per meal. Protein overdose can create kidney stones, osteoporosis, kidney disease, heart disease, cancer, general fatigue and irritability.
Newsflash, too much of anything is bad for your health. I have a friend whose aunt drank so much carrot juice her skin turned orange—a clear sign that she'd had too much carrot juice. You can overdose on foods.
In America, it's almost our M.O. If something is supposed to be good for us we figure a little is good, a lot must be better. But Hippocrates had a very poignant insight, food is our medicine. It's how God designed us and the Earth-that's why we get the foods we need when we need them when we eat local and seasonal.
When the doctor gives you a prescription and tells you to take one pill twice a day, do you decide that one pill was good so two pills must be better? No, most of us obey what the doctor instructed us to do. So why would we overdose on our food? We've discussed previously America's overdose on sugar. Today, I'm picking on protein.
Often times we forget there are plenty of other sources of protein that are plant based. Many plants have protein in them. A salad is a fine meal without having to add any meat. Vegetable fried rice is a lovely dinner that hits all the food types. Miso soup with vegetables, vegetable quesadillas or nachos, butternut squash or vegetable soup are all fabulous ways to feed your family without animal protein.
Now I'm not suggesting you never have animal protein but having a meal once or twice a week or a day or two a week when you don't eat it is one more way to incorporate healthier habits and feed your body. So give it a try. Be creative and remember Meatless Monday is an opportunity to have fun and enjoy a new tradition.