Non-Negotiable #13 Clean Eating.

I love to eat clean, healthy foods.

I believe that eating clean, nutrient rich food IS foundational to everything else we hope to achieve in life. Heck, our body IS our “machine,” and what we eat IS our fuel.

I often ask clients, if you put gas in your oil tank or oil in your gas tank, would the car run efficiently, or would it break down? Same with our body. Depending what kind of food we feed eat, we must ask ourselves, does our body run as efficiently as it was designed? Does our brain perform as clearly and as effectively as it is capable of doing? Does the food “I” eat serve as the best fuel for my machine, for my body to function optimally?

I’ve learned that many resist even considering “switching over,” from the Standard American Diet, aka the fast-food, overly-processed, nutrient devoid diet to a cleaner way of eating because they think it is too hard to do, or they just don’t have time, or it costs to much to eat healthy.

But I am VERY busy too. So how do I eat to optimize my heath, even though I am busy? What tips and suggestions do I offer my clients, as they move forward with any one of my programs?

To begin the transition to eating healthfully everyday, simply create the posture that you are going to ‘lean into it,” and that is going to be fun! Creating any new practice begins more with a psychology shift, than the actual act of doing something. So if you say eating clean and healthfully is going to be fun, easy, affordable… and that you are going to just go with the flow, the experience will be SO much more enjoyable! I say this to you with confidence beyond my own individual experience—all my clients are transforming their whole lives with this simple credo behind their commitment to really getting healthy.

We make small changes and keep looking for ways to eat clean on our budget and find ways to funnel more money over to the food line. It is an investment, but I can tell you that it is one worth making.

If you’ve been wanting to eat more healthfully, but just not so sure how to start, let me offer you a few simple suggestions. Here are my top 7 tips for eating clean, even on a budget:

1. Shift your psychology—Yes, to begin to really take on creating healthy eating practices, we must shift our psychology from “I don’t like to grocery shop,” or I don’t have time,” to “this is really fun!,” and “this is so good for me and my family!” Yup. From the ground up, build a new mindset with “why” you want to do this. IF you don’t know why you want to get healthy, why this would be beneficial to you and your family, then the busyness of life WILL take over and thwart even the very best intentions. Solidify your “why” and you are 80% there
2. Prepare—if you prepare in every way, like maintain an ongoing grocery shopping list, create a specific day to shop and a few specific days per week to prepare and cook meals and snacks for the rest of the week, you are even closer to winning this game of getting yourself healthy! I recommend prepping and cooking 2x per week to my clients. For example, if you cut up lots of veggies and wash your lettuce ahead of time, it will only take you minutes to whip up a really delicious salad when you come home late from work tired and hungry.
3. Buy and cook in bulk—when you make your grocery list, buy staple items in bulk so that you always have the ingredients you use most often on hand. That way it will be so much easier to eat healthfully if you can whip up a fast meal, even when you are running low on other ingredients. Additionally, when you cook, cook a double portion of something like a pot of soup so that you can have extra for the next day, or some to freeze for later in the week.
4. Join a local food sharing group, like a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). There are many local food sharing groups and CSAs that offer savings by pooling their buying power. Check into local co-ops and farms for CSAs, to access affordable ways to getting really healthy and local produce.
5. Pack a healthy snack—NEVER leave home without water, an apple and a home-made trail mix. This is like Immersion-Health 101—I tell all my clients that if they have plenty of water for the day packed, with an apple and a trail mix, they can hold at bay even the worst of cravings! PS—For a quick, delicious and nutritious trail mix, add a handful of raw, sprouted pumpkin seeds, a handful of raw, sprouted sunflower seeds, a bit of raw, shredded coconut and a small handful of fruit-juice sweetened cranberries together. This combination offers you the perfect balance of healthy protein, healthy fat, natural sugar and carbs to satiate and hold you in the face of any food temptress!
6. Plant-force your diet—if you haven’t already reduced or cut animal protein from your diet, you can begin by reducing your intake every week and add legumes in its place. Legumes like lentils offer 19 grams of protein per cup, and garbanzos offer a whopping 39 grams of protein per cup! And both of these legumes are very easily digested, which is yet another reason to include them as a really healthy and clean protein source.

Cheers to you and to your success at creating clean, healthy eating and healthy living practices!!

Personal Power. Life always offers us so much to learn. Everyday. One thing that was perhaps the most pivotal in my learning was getting how commitment to “seemingly” small daily practices every single day could impact the whole quality of my life in the most extraordinary ways. How the act of let’s say creating daily affirmations, setting daily and weekly goals, and even juicing fresh vegetables, with the grander context of my long-term goals, has markedly shifted the whole course of my life.

Several years back I began with small overtures like committing to creating gratefulness for 3 things when I first wake up and juicing at least 3 days a week. Now I spend at least 1 hour, and often longer every single morning, with a whole host of Spiritual, success and healthy lifestyle practices to “create” my day. When I first began, spending an hour or more would have seemed an utter impossibility, but by beginning with one new daily practice and staying with that one small commitment every single day, I’ve evolved my daily practice over time.

Why? Why would I, why would anyone spend an hour or more meditating, and/or studying new success theories every single morning?

For me, I recognized how my thoughts and actions were predicated by what you thought about what I was doing. I cared about what you thought I was doing more than I cared about what I wanted to be doing. This was NOT good. Ha! When I recognized this, I got that “you” were driving my “one wild and precious” life! I thought, good grief, I give my power away everyday!  I was NOT the “master of my fate,” I was not “the captain of my ship,” “you” were, and as long as you were, I would NEVER access my personal power. So I began with one small commitment and grew upon it by adding new commitments to my routine, as I recognized a consistency growing with the daily practice I had already begun.

I have exponentially altered the quality of my life by beginning with 1 small commitment, and adding to each one over time. Now, as I said above, I have a morning ritual that sets me up for success everyday. Before this, I lived the reactive life. I cared about what “you” thought in ways that limited me. Now, I live the created life. Now I care what I think. My vision and my purpose drive me. My commitment to healthy lifestyle practices frames me. My mission to contribute and be of service inspires me in the face of “seemingly” insurmountable obstacles. And this all began for me in one moment that I chose to own my personal power with one small overture, practiced every single day.

Join me in my 7-Days to Change to reclaim your personal power, with small, seemingly benign overtures. It is the small, seemingly benign overtures made every single day that make all the difference.  As one of my mentors Darren Hardy of Success Magazine says:

“Small, smart choices + consistency + time = radical difference”

Non Negotiable #12: Confidence. With confidence, what is not possible?  If the fires of “reality” rise up around us, but we believe in ourselves and our Higher mission, from a deep rooted place of confidence in who we are and what we are up to, what we have to offer others, in heart, soul, talent and Spirit, what could we not create? Lately, the “message” I continuously here in all that I read is, ‘if I don’t rise up and step into my unlimited potential,’ I not only deny myself, I actually deny you, I actually deny the world from experiencing me and the special gifts I have to offer. I was like, whooooaaahhh, really? This message “turned the dial” for me, it caused yet another shift for me to step out on the “skinny branch” without fear, without reasons… even more than I already do, to live my life FULLY!! Don’t deny yourself. Don’t deny me. Don’t deny the world, of your unique gifts!

PS—just over 10 years ago, my first career coach said to me, “love your family, love your friends, but be mindful, they may try to hold you back, even if unwittingly, because you remind them of what they are not doing.” Felt harsh when I first heard it, but if you think about it, there may be some fruit from this counsel to consider! Let go of other’s opinions of what they think you “should” or “should not” do, and just go for it! As poet Mary Oliver asks, “what will you do with your one wild and precious life?

Cleanse Your Body Tea

Cleanse Your Body Tea is a delicious “tea” that you can drink both hot or cold to literally cleanse your body! Sip it hot at night to relax you. Drink it chilled during the day to refresh you. Either way, this elixir will purify your blood, jump start your kidneys, support your liver and quell inflammation … and it tastes so darn delicious, to boot!

For every 16 – 24 ounces of water, add to your high-speed blender:

2 inch ginger chunk, peeled and minced
1 lemon, peeled and chunked
Stevia to taste
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (or to taste) (optional)

In your high speed blender, add 12 ounces of boiling water, ginger and lemon. Blend until all ingredients are pureed. Use caution to allow the heat of the water to release from the cap (so it doesn’t explode from heat condensation. When done, strain and serve with stevia, or pour over ice.

Cheers!

 

Until we take on 100% of every detail of our lives, we can never step fully into our power. The back door of it’s their fault holds the space for victimhood, and as victim, we’ll never know all that is possible when we fully step up.

 

No matter the season, we all enjoy some good old fashioned “Mom’s” kind of meals once in a while. But, I personally do not enjoy how I feel if I do indulge in those old time recipes prepared “old school” style. The fun part is, I often giggle when I make a recipe like this “Raw Vegan ‘Mock” Chicken Noodle Soup because 1), it tastes SO darn good and 2), it’s so darn good for me! I hope you too enjoy it as much as I do! And sure, will it tastes like “Mom’s?” Probably not, but I like to say, “it’s a close enough second,” for how good it tastes and how good I feel after eating it!

Recipe:  

• 1 cup water plus, to thin soup if preferred
• 1 cup celery
• 1 cup cauliflower, chopped
• 1 yellow squash, chopped
• ¼ white onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsely
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon white miso paste or ¼ teaspoon salt
• sea salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 zucchini, shaved into spirals (optional)

Add to blender with (warm) water, cauliflower, celery, squash, onion, parsley, garlic, and miso paste. Blend and add more water if necessary. You can warm the soup with the heat of your blender the longer you leave it in, but don’t make it hot, or you will breakdown the live-enzymes in the vegetables, which defeats the whole goal of making a raw soup!

Add “spiralized” zucchini“noodles”to soup. Finish with salt, pepper and fresh parsley.  Serves 2

You can prepare this soup 2 ways: Creamy or brothy. The less vegetables you add to the blender, the brothier it will be.

Buono Appetito!! 

Any opportunity to add kale to a recipe is a good opportunity! Kale is rated as one of the most nutrient dense foods we can buy today, and a stellar source of Vitamin K, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, B Vitamins, manganese, dietary fiber and wide range of minerals. In this Asian Chopped Salad, we mix the kale with a selection of vegetables to create an Asian flair!

• 1 cup kale, finely chopped
• 1 cup leafy greens, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, diced small
• 1 cup sprouts of choice, chopped
• 1 cup snap peas, chopped (if you can not locate snap peas, substitute snow peas or green beans)
• 3 scallions, sliced thinly
• 1 avocado, chunked (½ for salad and retain ½ for dressing)
• 2 tablespoons sunflower seed butter or tahini
• ½ teaspoon fresh shredded ginger (fresh makes all the difference!)
• ½ teaspoon fresh minced garlic (or powder)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Coconut Aminos
• 1 teaspoon honey
• ¼ cup water

Place the kale in a large mixing bowl. Massage with hands until it becomes wilted. Literally “massage the kale” and it will get tender – about 2 minutes. Add greens, carrots, snap peas, sprouts, scallions and cilantro to bowl with kale.

To make the dressing, combine ½ of the avocado, 2 tablespoons sunflower butter or tahini, ginger, garlic, lime juice, vinegar, Coconut Aminos, honey, and water. Toss the salad ingredients in this dressing before serving. Finish with chunks of avocado on top!

Serves 2

Buono Appetito!