• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Sustainable Life & Health

Be the most VIBRANT you!

SEARCH

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Helping Hand
  • Let’s Connect
  • Testimonials
You are here: Home / Archives for weight loss

weight loss

How to Use Mindfulness for Weight Loss

December 12, 2019 by Joni Leave a Comment

feet on scales

Starting a weight loss journey can be difficult in and of itself. You are facing the reality of your current weight, where you want to be, how much you want to drop, and how long that journey will take. This can be overwhelming and sometimes can derail you before you even begin. If this sounds like where you are right now, consider using mindfulness practices to help. If you aren’t sure where to get started, here are some how to tips to help.

Accept Your Journey

The first way to use mindfulness for weight loss is to accept your journey. This may sound either far too easy or like something you could not do in your life for your situation. This is actually an easily attained step, that take some time to work on and develop. The idea is that you should sit down and begin listing the things you like or are happy with about yourself. Determine what your end goal is related to the things you do and do not want to change. Realize what your real weight loss goals and journey are and accept that this is where you are but this is not where you will stay.

Find Your Triggers

Mindfulness, journaling, and meditation can help you find your triggers. You may wonder why this important. Your triggers that send you into anxiety, stress, or depression can also trigger you into unhealthy eating habits that move you into a situation of gaining weight. Once you start to find your triggers, and stress triggers, you can begin moving those toxins from your life and working toward a more positive outlook and healthier choices that help with your weight loss.

Mind Map Your Goals

Instead of just jumping into a weight loss journey, consider using mind mapping to sort everything out. This will help you sort out the related thoughts that come up with your weight loss journey, what your obstacles are, and how you want to go about handling them. Once you begin this mapping you can find a better starting point for your goals and see milestones along the way of your long term journey. This can help you remain focused and see when you have hit achievements that you normally would have overlooked.

Mindfulness can bring several benefits to your weight loss journey, including staying positive and believing in yourself. You will also find that you are more focused and centered on the task at hand, which will in turn help you reach your goals.

Filed Under: Body, Mind Tagged With: meditation, mindfulness, weight loss

Release vs Lose

February 16, 2016 by Joni Leave a Comment

release vs lose

Feel like you are doing everything right yet not releasing those stubborn last few pounds?

Relax. There may be some simple solutions you can start implementing today. You aren’t broken or weak and there is no need to beat yourself up with that big stick you carry around in your mind for such occasions. Yes, I have one too and it used to be a club, not a stick! However, it is systematically being widdled away and I hope to find it down to toothpick status soon. There’s always Hope!

Release vs Lose

Did you notice I said release weight? There is a huge difference between losing weight and releasing weight and it’s not just semantics, Folks!

When I release weight, it is gone, adios, ta-ta…never to return again. Seriously, I have released it on a physical and emotional level.

Follow me here – often times we hold on to weight as a layer of padding. The padding brings us comfort of some sort; be it sitting on bleachers longer in relative comfort or protecting us emotionally from bumps and bruises. When you give yourself permission to release the extra weight by letting yourself know that you don’t require that form of protection any longer amazing things start happening.

On the flip side, if you lose weight, like when you have some event coming up and really want that dress or pair of sharp pants to actually fit again, the weight leaves temporarily to only find its way back to your lovely body once again. You are nodding your head in agreement, aren’t you? Thought so!

What to be aware of…

First get your mind right and then watch out for these 5 masked marauders of successful weight release.

1. Mind Control Marketing – Yes, it is a form of mind control and we are inundated with it. Be a savvy shopper and don’t buy into the hype. This goes for the so-called health foods too. I know the information is overwhelming and sometimes contradictory when it comes to nutrition, but find a source you trust, like yours truly, and block out the other white noise. This will include not watching commercials on television, but you already know that, right?

2. Artificial Sweeteners – One word. Toxic. Not only are they a chemical cesspool your body has absolutely no use for, these tricksters signal your body that it’s receiving sugar (calories) and when the tricksters don’t deliver your body demands more. Think carb cravings! Artificial sweeteners also stimulate fat storage and we are all about releasing, remember?

3. Antibiotics in Food & Medicine – Yes, antibiotics are necessary sometimes, but remember that antibiotics don’t help viral infections like the common cold or flu. There are holistic helpers available, like essential oils, to speed recovery and treat symptoms. Plus, do you need to ingest antibiotics from your food source ? No. This statistic blew my mind. 80% of all antibiotics used in the U.S. annually are for raising food animals. That works out to nearly 30 million pounds of antibiotics a year! In livestock, antibiotics are used to both ward off disease and to promote weight gain. Yes, you read that correctly!

4. Growth-Enhancing Drugs – While on the subject of livestock it is important to know that growth-enhancing drugs used to fatten up livestock wreak havoc on your health. The common ones are beta-agonists. They work as a growth promoter by increasing protein creation, which makes the animal more muscular. These same beta-agonists are also found in asthma medication and stubborn weight gain is a common side effect with the patients using the medications. So much so that Advair’s manufacturer lists it as a side effect in marketing material now.

5. Endocrine Disruptors & Pesticides – Many of your household chemicals are endocrine disruptors and there are a number found in plastic products as well. These little gems trick your body because they have a strikingly similar chemical structure to natural sex hormones, like estrogen. This can interfere with your natural sex hormones normal function. I’m sure you’ve heard of bisphenol-A (BPA), PCBs, phthalates, triclosan, agriculture pesticides, fire retardants and glyphosate (RoundUp). They are everywhere! Even at below-toxic levels these chemicals have been found to promote weight gain.

What to do, what to do?!?!

I know it’s overwhelming when you look at the evidence stacked against your success, but once you know and understand these things it truly is empowering. No fretting necessary.

Simple changes that you carry out – one at a time – will have a profound effect on your overall health and quest to release those stubborn pounds. I’m in a firm believer in sustainable health and that requires knowledge. That’s what I am here for! To sift through the information and give you bite sized bits to consume. Here’s where you can start.

Lifestyle Choices to Sustainable Health

1. Buy whole organic foods and cook them yourself. How else do you really know what’s in your food? The biggie here is you automatically and dramatically cut how much sugar you consume. It’s a given that sugar is the root cause of insulin resistance and weight gain. Plus, if you buy organic produce you’ll cut the exposure to pesticides and genetically modified ingredients. By ditching the processed foods, and I use that term loosely, you automatically reduce exposure to the artificial sweeteners. Lots of benefit in this one step. Doesn’t need to happen overnight. Every organically grown home cooked meal you eat is one step forward!

2. If you eat animal protein, opt for organic grass-fed and grass-finished meats. Yes, it is more expensive. Some think prohibitively so, but I would rather eat less meat and spend my money on higher quality. This way I know I’m avoiding genetically engineered ingredients, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and other growth promoting drugs. Yuk.

3. Ditch your plastic containers to avoid the endocrine disrupting chemicals. Again, doesn’t have to be all in one felled swoop. Just replace them one at a time. The snap lock glass containers are a perfect choice.  I also love using canning jars to store things. Simple and cost-effective!

See? Not so intimidating if you break it down into bite sized bits. My husband and I have been on this journey for several years and I still learn something new every day. This really isn’t about losing weight; it’s about feeling good every single day when my feet hit the floor. And mine do. I want yours to as well! Stay tuned for more simple tips and tricks to help you on your journey toward sustainable life and health!

Filed Under: Body, Mind Tagged With: weight, weight loss

Self Care

February 6, 2015 by Joni Leave a Comment

self care

What is self care and why should I care?

Self care is a term you’ll hear if you hang out with me. In my opinion self care is just as important as what you put in or on your body.

Let’s get one thing clear up front. We are ALL busy and living hectic lives. Harried living is our culture, at the moment, unfortunately. However, this lifestyle is taking a toll on our health, physical and mental. I have clients in my practice who are always amazed to realize bloating, aches and pains, and diminished energy levels are not just something they have to live with as a price for getting older. They quickly learn how to reclaim their vitality and a large part of this puzzle is self care.

So, what is self care? According to Wikipedia, self care is defined as

“In health care, self care is any necessary human regulatory function which is under individual control, deliberate and self-initiated.”

Self care is the same as self love. What do you do to love yourself up? What do you do to support your body, to let it know you honor it and cherish the amazing vessel it is?

Why should I care?

Not sure why this pertains to you? Follow me here. Stress is a toxin to the amazing vessel, your body. Science has now proven “chronic stress may also cause disease, either because of changes in your body or the overeating, smoking and other bad habits people use to cope with stress. Job strain — high demands coupled with low decision-making latitude — is associated with increased risk of coronary disease, for example”.1

Chronic stress adds to the Cortisol overload in your body as well. If your Cortisol levels are off the charts there is no way you will release excess weight. Plus, elevated Cortisol levels have effects on your other hormones swimming around inside making it hard to get proper rest or even relax. Some simple self care techniques go a long way to help level out all your hormones.

What should I do?

Instead of popping pills, powders and potions jump off the gerbil wheel to spend some quiet time for just you. This simple change is much more effective, sustainable and healthy. When you juggle your schedule why would you not schedule in time to recharge your batteries with some quality self care?

If you don’t take care of you, who will? No one will ever be as adept at providing you what you need as you. Get it? Good!

So what will you do today to recharge those precious batteries?

Other posts you’ll like:

5 Easy Self Care Tips

Do you fall for these self care myths?

 

1Krantz, D.S. & McCeney, M.K. (2002). “Effects of psychological and social factors on organic disease: A critical assessment of research on coronary heart disease.” Annual Review of Psychology, 53 , 341-369.

Filed Under: Body, Health, Mind, Spirit Tagged With: hormones, self care, weight loss

Before Footer

Digging Deeper…

Footer

  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Disclosure

Copyright © 2023 · Wellness Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in