Enjoying the Journey

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.”

Mahatma Gandhi

It’s easy to forget this when it comes to our pursuit of wellness. It seems we’re always trying to add workouts and subtract food…and once we’ve added more workouts, we want to add another without pausing to realize our progress thus far. Long-term health seldom happens by changing everything in one fell swoop. Sustainable change happens in increments – one less sugar in your coffee, water instead of juice, sharing a dessert instead of having the whole thing yourself. Make small steps towards your goal on a regular basis – the change in your lifestyle might feel small, but the results will be amazing.

The purpose of trying to become healthier is so that our quality of life improves. If you’re pursuing fitness to the point that it’s no longer fun, then remember why you started in the first place. Be gentle with yourself.  Have fun with your food and with your exercise. Listen to your instincts. Respect your inner wisdom and remember that life is made up of a series of moments. Do your best to be present for each moment, rather than running tirelessly towards some future, theoretical time when everything will be perfect. Be here now, and enjoy!

Think Before You Eat

We eat for many reasons: hunger, sadness, happiness, stress, fatigue, habit, boredom, to satisfy a craving…no wonder so it’s hard to keep consumption in check! One fantastic approach to reducing unintentional or unnecessary eating is to practice mindfulness.

Mindfulness can be broadly defined as present moment awareness, or conscious living on moment-to-moment basis. This might sound a little new-agey, but bear with me here.

Are you aware of how often you’re eating on auto-pilot, or eating just to go with the flow? There are the three bites of dinner you eat while you’re preparing it, the cookies you didn’t even think about until the tray showed up on the table at your two o’clock meeting (everyone else was eating them…), the glass of wine you didn’t necessarily want (but your friend wanted one and wouldn’t open the bottle unless you shared), and the list goes on. Now, this probably sounds too simple, but keep in mind that many solutions are far less complicated than we make them out to be. So, here goes. Just paying attention or tuning in to the circumstances surrounding your food choices can go a long way to opening the door to change. The first step is awareness, then comes making a conscious choice. It’s not even necessarily important that you make the choice not to consume in all of these circumstances. The important thing is to actually be aware of what’s going on and to make a choice rather than just doing it automatically. Chances are that you’ll end up reducing the number of times you eat random stuff simply by being mindful. It’s not about counting calories, or denying yourself. It’s about living with your eyes open, and making a point of choosing what you really want instead of letting the workplace birthday schedule, or friends, or circumstance dictate the size of your waistline.

So give it a try. For a few days, whenever you’re about to eat, ask yourself, “Why am I eating? Am I hungry? Do I really want this?” Again, the point is not necessarily to say no to the food. The point is the pause. Once you’ve paused to notice what’s going on, eat or don’t. Just practice cultivating awareness at first. See where it takes you!

Taking Time for Ourselves

I encounter the theme often. We don’t take time for ourselves because we don’t have enough of it. Somehow, we’ve convinced ourselves that unless we have boatloads of time to focus on ourselves, it’s not worth taking at all. Have you ever decided not to work out because you didn’t have a full hour? Have you not bothered to start a journal because there’s no way you could keep it up? Have you decided to forgo a coffee date with an old friend because you only had half an hour? If we extrapolate this approach to living, we run the risk of convincing ourselves that life is something that will happen later…when we have the time.

Of course, life is happening now. Every day, we make choices that help to build the life we want, or choices that lead us away from that ideal. Certainly, some things simply must be done even if they’re not part of our vision…but we must cherish that vision and include aspects of it in our lives on a regular basis. The small things really do add up.

There was a period in my life when I felt fairly disconnected from my dreams, and from the life I envisioned for myself. I felt unmotivated and low on energy. During this time, I discovered the power of five minutes. One day, I made a point of taking just five minutes to do something that I had intended to do for ages, but hadn’t managed to do yet. That’s actually the way that I booked my first singing gig. All it took was a phone call and five minutes of my time, and my long time dream was coming true. I learned that I was so much closer to living the life I wanted than I thought. I just had to take a few minutes each day to walk in the right direction.

This reminds me of a Yoga workshop I attended with Mark Whitwell, who teaches throughout North America, Australia and New Zealand. He emphasized the power of taking just seven minutes daily to practice Yoga. Anyone who has ever considered starting a home Yoga practice likely understands that we can talk ourselves out of it easily because we don’t have enough time. We don’t start because we can’t commit to hours upon hours of practice. He suggested that we start with seven minutes a day for a couple of reasons. First, seven minutes is long enough that we’ll feel the effects of the practice and it will make us feel good. Second, seven minutes is short enough that it’s hard to make excuses not to do it. We may not be able to find an hour in our day for something new, but surely we can find seven minutes.

What have you avoided because you felt you didn’t have enough time? Consider taking just five minutes today to start. Go for a walk, try a few minutes of deep breathing, call an old friend you’ve been missing, or get a mini massage. A few minutes can go a long way!

Giving Thanks Without Getting Stuffed

Ah, Thanksgiving. For those of us who celebrate the tradition, this impending holiday conjures up pictures of gravy and stuffing, pie and whipped cream. Holiday meals celebrated with the family are often heavy on the sugar and fat. Couple this with eyes that are bigger than stomachs, and the little voice in your head telling you to clean your plate (or maybe your mother’s actual voice encouraging you to have some more of the pie she made with love), and chances are you’ll feel like a stuffed turkey come Monday. So, let’s consider how to enjoy the festivities without regret.

1. Eat a healthy breakfast and lunch before the family get together. “Saving calories” doesn’t work. If you show up starving, you’ll just eat more (a.k.a too much).
2. Drink plenty of water. It promotes feelings of fullness, so chances are you won’t feel as compelled to go in for that second (or third, as the case may be) helping.
3. BREATHE! It’s not a race, so take your time. Savour each bite, and eat mindfully. Notice the tastes and textures of your food – especially when enjoying your favourite treats. If you make a point of being present for the experience of yumminess, it will take less of it to satisfy you.
4. Be the storyteller. Have you ever gone out to eat with a friend who had loads of news to tell you? Did you finish your meal way before him or her? If someone else is doing the bulk of the storytelling, everyone else eats while that one person talks. Then they sit there with empty plates, staring temptation in the face while the storyteller finishes his or her meal. Consider being the talker at the table to increase the fun factor while simultaneously not-so-inadvertently minimizing the size of your meal.
5. Be choosy. Most of us have certain elements of traditional meals that we can’t imagine doing without, while we could pass up others easily. If you absolutely love pumpkin pie but could take or leave stuffing, take the pie and leave the stuffing.

Most of all, don’t drive yourself crazy. If you end up overdoing it, balance it all out with a few days of super healthy meals or some extra cardio during the week. You might even want to work it out in advance and put in some extra effort before the weekend. That way, you’ll rest easy knowing you’ve already earned your wiggle room.

How do you stay on track over the holidays?

Glorious Grains

Oh, grains. We’ve neglected you so. Atkins told us you were bad, and we believed him. We ignored your greatness, and have been missing out. For this, I am truly sorry. You are delicious and healthy and deserving of our love and respect.

Alright, so maybe grains aren’t actually offended by the bad reputation we’ve ascribed to them, but it’s definitely time to set the record straight regardless. Whole grains are important. They contain so many good things:

-fibre!

-antioxidants!

-B vitamins!

-vitamin E!

-iron!

-magnesium!

-yumminess!

Their benefits are numerous:

-decrease blood pressure!

-improve cholesterol levels!

-lower the risk of heart failure!

-they help us feel full, which helps us keep our portions in check!

-they help lower our risk for cancer, diabetes, and gastrointestinal troubles!

-they’re tasty!

Think Outside the Loaf

When we think of increasing our whole grain intake, many of us think of multigrain bread or whole wheat pasta. There are many other options to explore, so consider branching out and trying some of these whole grains:

-quinoa

-bulgur

-oats

-brown rice

-millet

-teff

-farro

-wheat berries

-barley

-spelt

Many of the above are interchangeable sides that you can enjoy simply cooked (most of them are cooked just like rice, but with different water and timing requirements), or tossed into salads or soups. I often like to cook up a batch of quinoa and make a few different things out of it. I make a porridge of sorts using milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried cranberries and almonds. For lunch, a fresh bowl is an easy meal in which I combine quinoa, sweet potato, navy beans, kale, and red onions in a bowl drizzled with tahini & lemon juice. Any leftovers can be kept to serve alongside fish and vegetables, or another main of your choice. The options are endless!

You can find many of these grains in the natural food section of your grocery store, at some bulk food stores, or specialty food stores.

Show glorious grains some love, and try a new one today!

What’s your favourite way to include whole grains in your food plan? Tell us below!