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I admit. I never thought I’d like immersion blenders (after a bad experience years ago). Now? It’s fun seeing what can be pureed.
This recipe has topped my list, because once it is made we eat it as soup, pasta sauce, or as a chicken sauce. Spicy - but not too spicy. Rich - but fresh and light. If you prefer chilled soups, this is probably not going to be a favorite. But who wants chilled soup in January, anyway?
Yesterday I got to chat with a woman who is celebrating months of keeping weight off. She participated in a transformational multi-week course I taught and she changed her lifestyle.
She lives a busy life as a nurse. (In fact, we had scheduled to talk yesterday because it was to be her day off, but she got called into work and headed there immediately after we filmed this.) Her lifestyle had gotten out of balance during/after college and she kept putting on weight even though she was exercising.
Through teaching her the principles of Intuitive Eating, a Powerful Plate, overcoming barriers to change, and stress management - and her diligence to experiment with the lessons - she lost 15 lbs, kept it off even during the holidays, increased her energy, balanced her emotions, and has inspired her dad to change to a healthier lifestyle, too.
You can do the same.
Before the sun was up on New Year’s Day I was working with a very dedicated client. She has worked diligently and started this year, for the first time in her adult life, at her goal weight.
You can do it, too! Yes, it does take faithfulness - though a pre-dawn workout on New Year’s Day is not required.
I was recently at the dentist creating a plan to extract a loose baby tooth and implant a permanent tooth. (As I write this, the tooth has been extracted and in a few months I will have the permanent one.)
I began thinking about the habits in our lives we have held onto for years that need to be extracted to make room for a better life.
What beliefs, thoughts, behaviors, habits, relationships do you need to let go? What do you need to permanently add?
I enjoyed running into a friend of mine at a business seminar. (Full disclosure: she is a friend from whom I purchase some of my makeup and I get makeup advice from. So, a friend-visor?)
She graciously agreed on-the-spot to let me ask her some questions, unplanned, about healthy make-up. In addition, we talked about the ministry her business supports to rescue girls from sex-trafficking.
Here’s our conversation -
Oh what a treat of a recipe this is. I use fresh tarragon grown in a pot, but you can use dried instead. If you don’t have fresh figs, then dried might do. Or berries - if you serve it over a salad instead of leeks. (I’ve never tried berries with steamed leeks, but it doesn’t sound appealing.)
Recipe:
Salmon fillet
Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream, 1 cup
Zest and juice of 2 lemons
Fresh tarragon and parsley (a couple of tbsp minced each, to taste). A tiny bit of rosemary too, if you like.
Fresh figs, quartered
Served over steamed rice or cauliflower rice, with steamed leeks
Cook salmon fillets uncovered at 400 F for 15-20 minutes
Zest lemons, cut and squeeze juice into yogurt. Mince parsley, tarragon, and a bit of rosemary.
After you top the cooked salmon with the yogurt dressing, place the salmon over cooked leeks (about 20 minutes boiling for the leeks). Then top with quartered fresh figs.
You have a lot to accomplish during the holidays. To do that your #1 priority is to take care of your spirit, mind, and body.
When you don’t? Well, here’s an example from history of what could happen.
Don’t just sit and watch Christmas movies — get up and move with these fun ways to celebrate the holidays.
I trimmed back a rosemary bush and had to come up with several ways to use a ton of rosemary.
Of course, my favorite way is #9!
When clients are concerned about overeating during the holidays, here is some of the advice I share:
A listener asked me “What does a fresh fig look like and what would I do with it?”
I understand the question, because until we began growing a fig tree a few years ago, I had no idea either.
Here are a few ways I enjoy fresh figs!
It is my favorite time of year. Not just because of time with family and friends - but because the sweet potatoes have cured and are ready to eat!
A few years ago when we started our garden we were somewhat intimidated by the mass of vines and not knowing how potatoes would be found under the soil. How deep would they be? How far would runners go? What are the ways to get them out? Just pull or get rid of the vines first?
Before you watch the video of the steps we took, here are a few other tips:
Dig what you cut that day. We had sweet potatoes in three beds. We cut down only the beds we could harvest that day because all of the experts say potatoes will rot in ground if the vines are cut off and left for days. We’ve not tested it. We just go with it.
For the size bed we have in the video (4X8 feet) it took about 6 hours for two adults to cut, dig, set up to cure, and clean up the mess.
Curing? Directions say “warm” place and then after 2-3 weeks to cool storage. We’ve never created an ideal environment for curing. We just lay them out, not touching each other, on cardboard in the garage. If it is September, it might be warm. If it is October, it is cool, especially on the garage floor. But they’ve always cured beautifully over 3 weeks.
Happy Hunting!
Every November you have a choice:
Either say “The holidays are coming, the year is practically over - I’m just going to start again next year on ______.”
Or say “I have two months left in this year and I am going to finish strong.”
If the thought of finishing strong intrigues you, please take a few minutes and listen to this. Then pull out a piece of paper (or your laptop) and jot down what one result you would like to have by the end of this year. Focus.
This time of year - Celebrate with family and friends. Take time to rest and recharge. AND don’t throw away your dreams until next year. Finish strong.
While growing up I suspected I had developed an unhealthy relationship with food – and sometimes even exercise. But it was years later at a work potluck Christmas party that I knew I absolutely had a problem and had to change.
Everyone else was at the buffet ooh-ing and ah-ing over different dishes colleagues brought.
“If I eat that _____ I’ll have to workout extra tomorrow. Who knows how many grams of ____ it has.”
“I want to try ____ but if I do I’ll probably not be able to stop eating it. I’ll lose control.”
“I’ll be good and just have the veggies I brought. If I break my diet I’ll be bad.”
I realized I was the only one, apparently, who did not feel she could enjoy the food, the people, or the party and I stayed as far away from the table as possible. Why? I thought something was inherently wrong with me.
Truth? By that party I had spent almost 20 years fine-tuning my “diet mentality,” through the various diet and exercise rules I “learned.”
I wanted to exercise just because it felt amazing and made me strong and healthy. Not because it burned calories I’d eaten the day before.
I wanted to eat a balanced meal because it was satisfying.
I wanted to enjoy a cookie without fear of eating five.
I wanted to go to a party and enjoy it all.
Scratch that.
I didn’t even know that was possible. All I could fathom was maybe not being consumed with worrying about every morsel, gram, or repercussion after a party.
Did you see?
I released a brand new course where I’m going to share with you the mindset, principles, techniques, tools and skills practiced by people who find – and follow – their unique path to health, wellness, and a Thriving Life.
It’s called …
THRIVE LIFE (Go here to learn more; we get started in just a few days.)
While there are so many health benefits to this way of life, the most surprising benefit has nothing to do typical health-parameters.
Huh?
Let me explain. Envision that same work party where I locked myself away in the bathroom. If my mind had been free from food-fear, I would have been mingling with colleagues and enjoying getting to know their families, enriching my relationships.
And when my mental and emotional space is not cluttered with how many calories I eat or burn or how much I do this or that, my mind is free to be creative and pursue dreams. Plus, there is way less stress.
Here are six reasons why you need to learn your path to THRIVE.
You can learn the difference between physical and emotional hunger.
Food was created to bring you pleasure, but it is not what heals hurts or brings peace.
Exercise has many ways that it lifts your mood, but there is a point of using exercise to escape struggles vs. helping you overcome them.
When you sit with discomfort and find what actually fills you emotionally, your strength of self grows. Your confidence to live and handle difficult situations increases.
This one is huge.
When your mind is cluttered with searching for the next diet or exercise program, or finding recipes that fit the new fad, or shopping for the latest exercise gear you cannot focus on what really matters most to you in life.
It may even go deeper. If you are staying focused on analyzing food / exercise to avoid dealing with something else, it is time to move forward.
If you are hiding your best self behind counting this or that, trying to control every bite or workout, it is time to open the curtain and step out on your stage.
You sleep well, you wake up with energy, and it stays consistent throughout the day so you can accomplish your goals and still enjoy family and friends at the end of the day.
Food police? Exercise drill sergeant? No more. Either from others or yourself.
You confidently handle critics.
You also are able to tell yourself “no” when a choice does not value you.
When your excitement comes from discussing the latest fad exercise or diet, it is a boring life.
However, when you have recent adventures or a book you read or a funny family gathering or ____ to talk about, conversations have life in them.
You meet up with people, confident as you accept yourself and others, with less judgement.
Social situations around food are no longer stressful.
You have the physical fitness to enjoy the adventures you want.
When you learn what works for your body and your lifestyle, and you have the tools and techniques to stick with it, you reach your goals.
You feel successful along the journey because you are living what you value.
This client was waiting on the inspiration to make changes to come from his circle of family and friends. I challenged him “Think about who you want to be. Do you want to be the person who waits to be led or do you want to lead? Do you want to be influenced or do you want to influence?” I challenge you, too. When you find your path to Thrive, you will inspire others to do the same.
This is what finding your path to THRIVE brings you. It is one of the most amazing adventures you’ll ever go on.
As crazy as this may sound, I want you to take a moment to imagine this:
Imagine a world where you *really* ignored the voices saying that there is only one way to live healthy and you have to conform to that only-one-way?
How would you live?
What would your relationship with food, with others, with yourself be like?
How would you move?
What would you experience?
Yes, it takes practice, but you can become a person who is unphased by what other people or the media say about how you should live your health.
But, it doesn’t just stop there.
· Waking up refreshed with energy, excited about the day.
· Sticking with new healthy habits, as they come easier for you.
· Not worrying about “lifestyle diseases” – maybe even with a decrease in meds.
· Enjoying peace in your relationship with food, not scared of it.
· Discovering new physical activities that enhance all of your life.
· Savoring meals, without guilt and shame.
· Enjoying life – whether big adventures or intimate family time – free of physical, emotional, or social limitations.
Would you believe it’s possible?
It is . . . and the “how” is your being a Path Finder: finding your path to Thrive.
Finding a path in Colorado
POP QUIZ TIME
Have you ever …
A) Decided to skip exercise because there wasn’t time for “all” of it?
B) Felt frustration because you tried and failed a program?
C) Been unable to stop the food police from telling you what you should or shouldn’t eat?
D) Beaten yourself up because of something (or how much) you ate?
E) Told yourself “What’s the point?” about a new healthy habit you tried?
F) Felt unable to relax as you multi-tasked a meal, or even a walk in nature?
G) Missed an important experience with your mind elsewhere?
Did you say “yes” to any of the questions?
You are not alone.
At one time or another, we have all been there, done that, thought that.
Please DO NOT beat yourself up.
It is because of the lies we are taught by well-meaning family/friends and by the media.
Fortunately, it is never too late to discover and embrace the truth.
Finding a path in Utah
#1 – PRACTICE Mindset
Experimenting with ways of eating and moving, with a lot of compassion for yourself.
#2 – PRINCIPLES Lifestyle
Learning the principles (not rigid rules) of healthy living, based on research – adapting them as life situations change.
#3 – PERSONALITY Focus
Discovering what is fun for your personality, your preferences, your needs.
#4 – True PLEASURE Awareness
Knowing that false-pleasure never really satisfies, choosing what actually satisfies you.
#5 – PEOPLE and Resource Seeker
Finding out what is stopping you from achieving your goals and then finding the people and resources that will help you.
#6 – PRESENT
Embracing where you are and experiencing the present moment
#7 – POSITIVE POSITION
Believing that you can do it, consuming only messages that reinforce your beliefs and dreams, and focusing on your reasons.
Learning and practicing these 7 qualities will change your life for the better. I promise.
How much do you desire to Find Your own Path to Thrive?
I hope a lot (because it changes everything!)
Let’s keep this discussion going.
Wow. Last week’s video “#1 Way to Wreck Your Path” was one of the most watched and engaged videos yet.
Spoiler alert: it’s believing the Big Lie that there is only one right way to health and that you must conform to it.
One listener commented: “So true about finding our own path...how often do we try to fit someone's diet book into molding our way of eating only to find it doesn't work? Then we think we are the failure. No, we only learned that way isn't for us.”
As I’ve discussed how to find your own path, some questions came up. You may have had these, too. So I’m answering them in this video.
This is such an important question, because if you lose weight using the diet mentality you know from experience the weight will return and you will be even more trapped in an unhealthy relationship with food. And if you lose weight by exercising hours a day, you set yourself up for injury and you don’t have a life outside of exercise - so it is not sustainable.
First, ask yourself your reasons for wanting to lose the weight in the first place. Is it to please someone or avoid criticism? Is to decrease your risk of diseases you don’t want? Is it, like a client of mine, to set a healthy example for her young son? Once you know and like your reasons, then you have the motivation to do the sometimes uncomfortable process of Intuitive Eating and Mindful Movement.
To lose weight without a diet mentality means learning and practicing in depth the steps of Intuitive Eating. Eating only when you are physically hungry, finding solutions to meet your emotional and social hungers without food. Learning your triggers and cues for real hunger. Eating, with unconditional permission, exactly what you want - and knowing what you want is more than just the whim of your tastebuds but also how you want to feel and honoring your body. Savoring your meals without distraction. Research shows us we eat 10% more when we eat distracted - that’s enough to stall weight loss. And then stopping when you are satisfied, and learning what satisfaction feels like.
Exercise has been shown to not only decrease risk of diseases, but it aids in weight loss. But think in terms of accumulating movement throughout the day. Your appetite will adjust to your activity. Be sure to add in strength training to increase your muscle and metabolism.
My first thought on this is asking you to define healthy for yourself, especially if your doctor has you following something specific. What makes you feel energetic and gives you a sharp mind for several hours? A great place to start is the Powerful Plate, with equal parts protein and complex carbohydrate, like old fashioned oatmeal, with a bit of healthy fat thrown in. Then listen to your body and adjust from there.
This is so common; don’t feel bad. Dig in a little and discover what is causing the struggle. Is it a chaotic lifestyle that you need to prepare food ahead so you have options? Is it that you have trained your tastebuds to crave the salt? If so, perhaps experiment with smaller portions while adding fresh vegetables along side to begin re-training your taste.
Is it that you somehow feel fast food is “bad” in a moral sense? When someone says “I struggle with ___ sin,” that is a moral behavior. But fast food is not inherently sinful. So when you put rules around something that doesn’t naturally come with rules, your sense of autonomy begins to crave the forbidden.
If you take the rules away and say “I can have fast food anytime I truly desire it” often it loses its power. Next time you crave it, ask yourself why you desire it and how much you desire it and if you can wait another 30 minutes before having fast food instead of something else. See what you learn about yourself and the desires.
And when you do choose, out of reasons you like, to have fast food, put it on a china plate and savor it without distraction. You may experience it differently.
I hear your frustration. This question highlights the craziness of the diet industry. Sometimes for health reasons a doctor may recommend low salt or low sugar, but when someone tries to combine all of the diet industry advice, without a medical reason, it becomes a big mess. It is classic of when all of the lies in the Big Lie (only one way) collide.
All you are left with is lettuce and water - and even that is controversial now as to what kind of water.
The first way to deal with it is to question what you’ve been believing. What is your personal reason for preferring these descriptions? Do you feel better with a certain amount or type of carbohydrate? Do you have more or less energy on low fat? Why are you avoiding adding salt or sugar? If your only reason is its what you’ve been told, it is time to look at Intuitive Eating, which I talked about earlier.
This question is powerful. There are five essential pieces to this puzzle. First is building your belief that you can. Look back over other life changes you have made and see what strengths you have. Then apply those strengths here.
Also, think of all of the reasons you want to make this change, and make sure those reasons are yours. That you own them and are not adopting someone else’s reason. Then think of all of the barriers stopping you. Time? Fear? Boredom? Whatever they are, go through them until you have answers to overcome.
Whatever you are doing, also make it fun. Fun for you. If you enjoy nature, include that. If you don’t enjoy nature but like high-energy environments, set yourself up with that.
And get the support you need. Remember the game show with “phone a friend” - do that. Whether someone walks with you or cooks with you or coaches you, you need support.
But do not wait until you have these five pieces in place to start. Start and work through these as you go.
Here’s a question that I consistently hear: “I’m tired of doing what doesn’t work. How do I get results?”
You buy the latest diet book every friend swears by – but then they swore by a different one 3 months ago.
You join a different gym or buy another late-night-TV fitness gadget, because this one has (fill in the blank) that the others didn’t have, so you know you’ll use it – next week.
You download another meditation or time-tracker or motivation app, but somehow it doesn’t help.
Before I share how, I want you to understand that the answer goes against what main stream media and well-meaning fitness gurus will tell you. It even goes against what my mom taught me (and it took me a while to accept that).
Here’s the answer: Find your path.
A path that is yours, that embraces your lifestyle and values, that enhances your life without consuming it. Why? Because if it does not focus on you, no program, book, gadget or method will work for you.
greater energy
freedom from worrying about lifestyle diseases
peace in your mind and with yourself
an increased enjoyment of life – whether big adventures or time with family
thriving in every area of your life
Go here to enroll in my newest course … Thrive Life
You can find your path to results. Your first step, which – I know from experience - is the hardest, is to stop believing what I call the Big Lie. It wrecks your path.
It pushes you further away from success and traps you in bondage. The lie, like most, is subtle in your mind, but you can see signs of it wrecking your path.
First, I’ll share a bit of my story of believing this Big Lie and how it harmed me for well over 25 years of my life.
I used to be deeply trapped in this lie.
When I was 9 I started believing it. I bought my first fitness magazine and started on my first diet. The magazine (this one – this is the original one) became an authority figure in my life, telling me that I was supposed to eat and exercise a certain way.
I counted the calories on my plate; I analyzed the food on my parents’ plates when we’d go out to eat. In fact, my dad later told me they stopped enjoying going out as a family because all I did was analyze what everyone was eating. I wouldn’t skip exercise, even if it meant getting out of bed with a fever to finish it.
The deeper I got into this lie, the more restricted I became. Others thought I was self-disciplined – but I wasn’t. Self-discipline comes from the inside, from the self. I was forcing conformity to an outside, external, someone else’s rule.
(A little side-lesson here … we all have a need for autonomy, that thing that protects us and our boundaries, our sense of self and our ability to choose. I allowed this magazine – and later all of the other diet rules – to tell me what to do. It was my job to tell me that, so I was allowing my sense of autonomy to be pushed down. And it will only be pushed down so long.)
I remember in college going to parties, eating “perfectly” but then coming back to an apartment and eating ½ bag of my roommates cookies.
I was recently reading some of my old journals, which at the time included daily calorie counts. I came across a section in which I was berating myself for sneak eating several doughnuts. At the time I wrote it, I recall thinking how “bad” I was. When I look at it now, I understand that I was starving myself for several days prior, through both under-eating and running several miles. No wonder I was craving doughnuts.
Of course, the good news now that I don’t believe the lie anymore, I could care less about doughnuts and actually don’t like them.
You absolutely must give up believing this lie to reach your health and fitness goals.
Each person’s path is unique, but not random. Your path will be based on underlying proven principles, but if you believe that there is one way to live healthy, you will be forever trying things that don’t work in the long-run and will always be searching outside of yourself.
Those ways create struggle, not ease.
Those ways are complicated, not simple.
Those ways constrict and deprive you, not free you.
Sign #1: You skip exercise or meal-prep because something else came up. Why? You didn’t have time to do it “all” and you’ve believed all-or-none; don’t do something half-way.
Your Path? You believe something is better than nothing and set standards that fit your life.
Sign #2: You go workout and push yourself until you cannot walk normally the next day, then don’t workout again for weeks. Why? You’ve believed “No pain – no gain,” or “go hard or go home.” Or a guru has told you that if you don’t get your heartrate into a certain zone it does you no good.
Your Path? You embrace the intensity of exercise you enjoy.
Sign #3: You eat foods that bore you, or you feel guilty if you eat something you really enjoy. Why? Someone has been the food police and told you, “If it tastes good, spit it out. It can’t be good for you.”
Your Path? You listen for true pleasure (not false pleasure) and savor quality.
Sign #4: You are busy and don’t exercise, believing if you don’t exercise for ____ time it won’t do you any good.
Your Path? You know the research and that helps you adapt to your life. Some days you go exercise and some days you fit in bits of activity throughout your day.
Sign #5: This ____ diet is the one that works. It worked for so-and-so celebrity last year.
Well, that was last year. This _____ diet is the one that really works. It worked for so-and-so celebrity this year. And if it is not working for you, you must be cheating.
Your Path? You understand what works for your body and you know that what you eat is not a moral issue.
Sign #6: You avoid going to a party, trying a new adventure, or just going to the gym because you have to look a certain way, touch your toes, lift a lot of weight, run a particular pace – or you are really unfit and you aren’t trying.
Your path? You go enjoy your life, because you ignore the confining opinions and messages out there.
These lies push you further away from success.
If you want to find your path to results, you must decide once and for all that the hype and the lies, no matter how glorious and glittery they sound, are not for you.
I get it.
Rejecting the lies can be hard, but do you know what’s even harder?
Continuing to try every new one-size-fits-all rule, failing, feeling guilty and trapped.
This is why learning to find your path to Thrive in Life will be one of the most amazing gifts you’ll ever give yourself.
I am thrilled to let you know that enrollment is open for my newest course: Thrive Life. Click here for details.
Join the conversation – Which of the six signs are you guilty of that is wrecking your path? What is one small thing you can do TODAY to help you break out of the lies and Thrive?
I get asked what we are planting in our garden, so I decided to show you here.
This year was different. As we continue to develop our medicinal herb garden, we had much less time this year for our vegetable garden, so we used what we have learned to decide what to plant.
We asked ourselves, which plants are most important to us, because every plant has its unique pests and challenges. This summer we decided to not grow some of our regulars.
Beans require a lot of harvest and processing time. Squash is quick and easy to harvest and process, but the squash bugs are beyond description. I won’t even go there. Melons and cucumbers are nice, but there is not a great way to save extras.
So, tomatoes (easy to grow, harvest, and freeze), peppers (the same), and sweet potatoes (the variety I like are only sold at a store an hour away) were it for us this summer. Spring and fall include a lot of beets and radishes, as their pests are easy to control.
Next year our medicinal herbs should be established and we plan to get back to our regular vegetables. As you garden, for that matter as you live, there is a continual re-setting of priorities.
Enjoy your harvest!
A picture is worth a thousand words.
So, since this is a picture plus words, how many does that equal?
Seriously, this is a powerful visual I’ve used to illustrate the impact of self-care.
A friend challenged me to unplug and disconnect for my birthday. I thought, “That won’t be a problem. I’m already disciplined in my social media, email, and entertainment.”
Maybe not.
Listen in to find out what I learned…and then try it yourself for a day and share your results. I can’t wait to hear!
In this FREE guide learn how to:
· Stop the fad diet roller-coaster
· Exercise in your lifestyle
And Get Results that Last!
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ViREO Life is a health and wellness practice, incorporating physical activity, exercise, nutrition, and behavior science services. The text, photos, video and other media presented in this site and the social media connected to this site are for information purposes only. None of the above information sources are intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. This information is not to be used to diagnose or treat a health problem without consulting a qualified health care professional. If you have any questions or concerns, please consult your health care provider.
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