Food & Nutrition
My food philosophy is simple – eat real food. Prioritize ingredients as close to their natural state as possible and make sure to have a rainbow of color on your plate. It’s a back-to-basics approach where the complexity of our current food supply is stripped away. No more artificial preservatives, colors, flavors or ingredients you can’t pronounce. Essentially, get rid of all the nasties!
Start with veggies and build from there. Then, add some healthy fats with avocado, olive or coconut oil, eggs and nuts. Want some protein? Ensure that whatever protein you’re eating has been treated with the same care and respect that you’d give your own body – because it’s going in your body.
Eating clean and healthy isn’t about labels, dietary dogma or the latest trend – it’s about food that’s nourishing for your unique body. I’m gluten-free (as a celiac) and go light on grains and sugar as I’ve found it to be the most nourishing for my body. But you may be different! Just because a tomato is loaded with nutrients does not mean your body will respond favorably to it.
Nourishing your body with food means listening to how your body responds to food – and all of us are beautifully unique. If you start with real, nutrient-dense, whole foods and remember mindful, intuitive eating – you’ve just taken one giant leap in the direction of improved health.
Lifestyle & Happiness
When it comes to health, there’s a lot of focus on food – with more than 23 million hashtags of #eatclean showing on Instagram. But I believe that living clean is just as important as eating clean.
What does living clean entail? It’s prioritizing self-care, stress management, good quality sleep, healthy relationships, physical activity and life enjoyment. It’s “taking life down a notch” and allowing you to breathe. It’s balancing work and life to actually be balanced. It’s connecting with mother nature and dipping your toes in the sand. It’s figuring out what makes you happy and doing more of that!
The mind and body are inextricably connected. What affects one affects the other. Food affects your brain and thoughts affect your digestion and immune system. Any way you slice and dice it you come to the same conclusion – health is holistic.
There’s an old Irish proverb that says, “A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.” And I’d have to agree. Yet, these simple words of wisdom are sometimes forgotten in our always busy, always connected, always “on the go” lifestyles. So let’s change that!
From my own wellness journey and that of my coaching clients I can tell you what I see time and again. Nutrient-dense, high-quality foods provide a foundation for wellness. But the tipping point for long term health and happiness is rooted in positive lifestyle changes.
