How to Make Healthy Habits Stick

Welcoming a new year often comes with hopes and dreams of change. You might see new year new you! all over social media, you might be hearing a lot of chatter about new year’s resolutions, you might even be creating your own. When it comes to change and creating new habits in life that are pretty different than your current habits, it takes a lot more than dreaming about the changes we want.

You see, creating a new habit is hard. There are countless books written on this topic, all so full of great information trying to hack our human nature that so strongly pulls us to return to our set point of being. While there are many great tactics out there to create new habits and make them stick, the one thread that seems to run through them all is practicing the new desired habit long enough so that you no longer have to think about it anymore. The process up to that point can be dicey, but it is possible.

Generally our brains are fairly lazy. Once it doesn’t have to work so hard to resist the changes we are trying to make, it finally accepts the new habit and then stops resisting it. Eventually the new habit occurs unresisted, without having to think about it. When you are trying to create any change in your life, the inevitable force you are up against is just yourself and the old habit you are trying to replace. You have to constantly work towards convincing yourself that the new habit is worth keeping around through practice and consistency.

When it comes to healing from a life of chronic dieting and emotional eating, it can be tough to create a new habit of relating to food in a non-emotional way. The truth is that diets don’t work but creating new healthy habits, one small incremental step at a time does. If you want to transform your relationship with food, your body and yourself, it’s best to start small, acknowledge and accept that it will take time, effort, concentration, focus, backsliding and picking yourself back up and planning and…you get it, it just takes a lot.

It’s helpful to start the process of change and healing your relationship with food with giving up the belief that a diet or any “lifestyle” or wellness program will cure everything. It is helpful to then get really clear on why you want what you want. Having a plan, a dedicated focus and the willingness to commit to yourself and recommit to yourself over and over again will bring you closer to making this desired change.

I think one reason change and creating new habits is so hard is because we’ve been seduced by the idea that it should be easy. This idea sells a lot of diets, program and systems. So much media attention is placed on 3 simple tricks to…, or the 1 hack you need to…, or how to lose X pounds fast while still eating whatever you want. These are all sensational, get our attention and when it doesn’t provide the promised result we just get caught up into the next shiny headline.

If you can let go of the belief that it will be easy, simple and fast and then trust yourself to show up for what you want, it may not be fast and easy but it will be possible. There might be some fun hacks, and it might be interesting to learn what makes us tick, but there is nothing like starting where you are with what you have and making a choice that today is the day—every single day.

To begin, know what you want, what vision you have for yourself, make sure you are super clear on WHY you want this. It’s helpful when your why is enough to motivate you during those times when your motivation wanes. Then determine the habit you’d like to create that will help move you closer to where you’d like to be and why you want to be there.

Now consider the action steps it will take to implement this habit. For example, if you’d like to begin eating more vegetables, the action steps might be, 1. Buy a leafy green or other vegetable that you like, 2. Have a recipe ready to prepare this vegetable, 3. Plan what day you will cook/prepare this recipe, 4. Follow through on your plan, 5. Reflect on how you feel. 6. Repeat!

The process of reflecting on how you feel will help you navigate how it’s really going and what you might need to shift or change. This is how habits become sustainable, when they are doable within your current life schedule, desirable-you truly want it-and when they are not rigid. If it isn’t doable, desirable and if you feel like you have to be perfect you are setting yourself up for failure.

Once this new habit is FIRMLY in place (you no longer have to think about it anymore and you are eating vegetables every single day without resistance) choose the next habit you’d like to implement. This process is simple and yet definitely not easy. There are going to be days you don’t want to eat your veggies. There will be days you have to throw a vegetable away because you never got around to preparing it or eating it. There will be days you don’t have time… These will feel like failures and it feels terrible to fail so then we figure it’s easier to just stop and give up then it is to try again and possibly fail again. This is backsliding. Backsliding is an inevitable part of the process of change.

When backsliding occurs, please don’t get discouraged. Return to reflecting on your goals, what you want and understand why it’s not working. Find the belief in what you want to be possible so you can keep trudging forward with your plan. Return to WHY you want this and let that help to support you and motivate you to keep trying. Then one magical day you’ll just be eating your vegetables without having to think about it (or do the exercise or meditation or cleaning or stop eating when satisfied or…whatever your goal may be) and you will feel the benefits of your hard work, determination and the willingness to believe in yourself.

There is no simple trick, only the determination to put in the work and make it happen, even when—especially when—you don’t want to. Staying the course even when you backslide, even when it’s hard, will help you learn and grow and create the change you desire. One day it becomes not so hard, and you feel the shift and that’s when you know you can savor the changes you’ve made and even begin to look to what’s next. Consider taking yourself through this process and prepare yourself for the challenges and the delights that lie ahead.

Happy New Year!!

3 Nutritional Ways to Aid Your Body's Natural Detox Process

Earlier this week I posted about how this time of year is synonymous with a desire to create change, cleanse, detox and just overall feel more balanced and healthy. In case you missed it, you can catch it here! I wanted to follow up with a post about how you can address the concept of cleansing and detoxing from a nutritional perspective as well!

When your body is well nourished you create a solid foundation to find and create balance in body, mind and spirit. When you feel healthy and vital physically, you have an opportunity to focus your energy in many other fulfilling areas of your life. However, when you are feeling unwell and as is if your body is “toxic”, it can be challenging to live in balance or focus on wellness beyond the physical.

When your body is in a state of wellness and balance, there is no need for any major or extreme measures of cleansing or detoxing. As I previously stated (and will probably mention countless times in the future), your body is amazing. Your body is designed to find and remain in balance. When you create an environment of wellness, your body will work hard to heal itself!

If you started some of the cleansing practices I discussed in the previous post, I hope you are finding them to be useful. Below are three nutrition-based elements to incorporate into your wellness routine. These nutritional additions will assist your body in the process of maintaining balance by keeping its natural detox channels working efficiently and effectively. Here are three super simple and quite delicious additions you can add today!

1.    Chia Seeds

Many parts of our body are lined with a mucous membrane that secrete mucus, which is a thick protective fluid (I know—kinda gross to think about). The mucus helps to rid your body of toxins, microbes and pathogens. I remember learning in my anatomy training to become a yoga teacher that we swallow some disgusting amount of mucus daily. This mucosal lining helps assist these foreign invaders to the exit routes of elimination! The exits again are elimination through your bowels, urinary tract, your breath on the exhale and through your skin.

Here is where chia seeds come in! Many of us may have a slightly challenged digestive tract, so if you are like me, I’m sure yours can use all the help it can get! Chia seeds, when soaked in liquid, become viscous or gelatinous. The membrane that surrounds the chia seed—once eaten and as it swells—helps assist your body in the process of absorbing microbes, pathogens and toxins from the digestive tract and move them into the proper elimination channels: the bowels. Chia seeds also contain antioxidants, fiber, omega 3’s and protein. Try adding chia seeds to salads and smoothies and make chia pudding (there is a recipe on my resources page) as a super tasty and super nutritious treat! 

2.    Fresh Herbs: Spotlight on Cilantro and Parsley

While all fresh herbs offer a ton of nutritional benefits, cilantro and parsley offer some special super powers! Not only are these herbs rich in phytonutrients, antioxidants and delicious flavor (although there is a small slice of the population to whom cilantro tastes like soap—so sorry—it may not be so delicious to everyone!) they are also shown to bind to toxic metals, loosen them from your tissues and assist with eliminating them from your body! That’s pretty amazing.

Heavy metal toxicity is becoming more common with the amount of heavy toxic metals we are exposed to through our food containers, binders in vaccinations and otherwise. Heavy metal toxicity has been shown to decrease mental wellness and memory while increasing headaches, anxiety, depression—and it can cause disruption in the elimination systems and immune system. This is not good! Adding in cilantro and parsley regularly will help keep your body healthy in ways you may never have imagined. 

Try adding fresh organic cilantro to stir fry’s, salads, guacamole, dressings and other dishes. Add parsley to salads, sauces, dressings, and marinades to receive all of the powerful benefits.

3.    Turmeric-Ginger-Lemon-Honey-Super-Shot

The health benefits of fresh turmeric and ginger are many—add in some lemon and local raw honey—and you have a power shot to keep your body functioning in top notch form! I prefer to blend all of the ingredients together (recipe below!) and drink it as a shot. You can juice the turmeric, ginger and lemon and add in honey as well. 

Turmeric is known to be a helpful aid to your body’s natural detox processes as it helps your liver to efficiently process metabolic wastes and toxins. Turmeric heals your liver by rejuvenating liver cells and protects your bile ducts. It also soothes the digestive tract with its anti-inflammatory properties, helping to ease digestion. That’s pretty awesome—and this is only how turmeric benefits your body’s natural detox channels, it really does much, much more!

Ginger also has anti-inflammatory properties and is used in typical “cleanses” because it stimulates digestion and circulation. Due to the warming qualities of ginger it induces sweating—another of the body’s natural channels for detoxing—elimination of toxins through your skin! The increased digestive power helps to cleanse any built-up waste and toxins in your digestive tract and colon. Healthy elimination equals a healthy body, and a healthy body helps to create the opportunity for a healthy mind, spirit and life!

Lemon is another powerful natural cleanser. It adds so much more than delicious flavor to this cleansing super-shot! Lemon helps to flush toxins and potentially harmful bacteria out of your body by giving your liver a boost with its high vitamin C content and increased hydration. Lemon juice also strengthens your digestive fires and encourages the production of bile. That’s some good cleansing that’s safe to do every day. 

Raw, local honey has many health benefits as well. When you focus on its ability to assist with ridding your body of harmful toxins, it is right up there with the other three ingredients in this super-shot. In addition, honey adds sweetness and allows the flavors to all come together. Raw honey offers many healing enzymes and bacteria eliminating properties that aid your body in finding balance and overall wellness. Adding honey to this natural cleansing power shot assists in healing your digestive tract and releasing toxins from your system through elimination.

Recipe:

2 inches fresh turmeric, peeled and chopped

2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

Juice of ½ a lemon

½ teaspoon raw, (local if possible) honey

¼ cup filtered water

Blend all ingredients in a blender and enjoy!

While there are certainly MANY other beneficial nutrient dense foods that aid in your body’s natural cleansing and detoxing processes, these three options are a simple and great place to begin. If you begin to incorporate any of these into your daily wellness routine, I’d love to hear how they work for you!

3 Practices to Aid Your Body's Natural Detox Process

This time of year you may hear a lot of people talking about doing a detox or a cleanse. These detoxes, or cleanses may be a juice or smoothie cleanse or it might be taking a bunch of supplements that are promised to cleanse your system and rid your body of any residual toxins from over-indulging during the holiday season. I am here to say that no extreme measures are necessary to help keep your body’s natural detoxing abilities at top notch!

Your body is amazing, it works hard to keep you in a state of balance, or homeostasis, at all times. When given half a chance your body WILL heal itself. So why does it seem that we feel like we need a heavy duty detox and cleanses in order to be healthy? The fact is, we are exposed to A TON of potential toxins all day long. From the foods we eat to what we might drink to the air we breathe, potential harmful toxins are out there. Two primary toxins your body has to manage are the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol when they are flooding your body excessively. We are living more stressful lives and yet not necessarily managing the stress well. These practices below will help you keep your body’s natural detoxing channels working effectively and efficiently while creating more balance and reducing your stress!

For now, when thinking about detoxing, think about it in a way that allows you to consider how to maintain the natural detox channels within your body not as a one time thing, or only used if you feel you “over-indulge.” When you incorporate these practices below, you will give your body a greater chance of naturally detoxing the excessive environmental and internal toxins we are exposed to every single day.

Your body releases toxins through these primary channels: elimination through the bowels, elimination through the urinary tract, elimination through your breath and through your skin. All of the organ systems of the body are intimately interconnected and work hard to release toxins through these channels. Having a basic wellness routine helps to keep these systems of the body in optimal balance.

Here are three natural, safe and easily doable practices you can add into your wellness routine regularly in order to aid your body’s natural detoxing processes.

1.    Sweat + Rehydrate

Do you notice in the summer that you typically don’t get as many illnesses as in the fall, winter and spring? The body releases toxins through the skin by sweating and in the summer, we naturally sweat way more and focus on hydration than in the other months! Doing 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise will help you break a sweat for a sustained period of time. Exercise—which can be absolutely free!—is the best place to begin when focusing on detoxing using the skin as primary channel of elimination. Taking up jogging, cycling, getting to an aerobics class or high intensity interval training (HIIT) or even hot yoga can all be a great place to begin.

You can also use an infrared sauna for 15-40 minutes 1-3 times per week. This option comes with a price, but the benefits are many! As always, you want to start slowly and work your way up if you have not been breaking a sweat for a while! And of course, sweating more must come along with drinking more water! Hydration is key to continue to release the toxins through elimination as well!

2.    Oil Pulling + Tongue Scraping

This is a super simple practice to add to your morning routine. When you wake up, take a tablespoon of coconut or sesame oil and swish it in your mouth for 5-20 minutes, the longer the better. Be sure to spit the oil out into a trash can and not into your sink drain! A lot of microbes get into our system through our mucus membrane, and they enter the system right in your mouth. Oil pulling attracts the microbes and other toxins and releases them when you spit it out. After you spit out the oil, you might swish your mouth with water and spit that as well. Then, using a tongue scraper, gently scrape over your tongue 1-3 times, rinsing your mouth once again.

3.    Kapalabhati Breath

*Do not practice this breath if you are pregnant, have untreated hypertension, abdominal pain, heart disease or stomach problems such as ulcers or IBS. Stop if you feel dizzy or anxious. There are many wonderful breathing practices out there, so if this one isn’t for you, that’s ok!

The Kapalabhati Breath is a powerful breathing practice that helps to cleanse the sinuses and invigorates the digestive system. This breath is best practiced on an empty stomach. You will want to start with a low amount of repetitions and begin to increase slowly over time. Kapalabhati is translated to mean “skull-shining breath.” The meaning is believed to relate to the cleansing benefits of the practice, that it creates smooth and brightened skin—especially recognized on your face!

This breathing practice helps you to release stress and toxins from the mind and body. It helps to cleanse the lungs, increases oxygen to your cells, improves digestion, clears your mind and increases focus and attention. This breathing practice helps to improve your mood and increases energy. The practice consists of a forceful exhalation through your nose where you quickly draw your navel in towards your spine followed by a natural inhalation through your nose. The movement primarily involves your diaphragm. Begin slowly, starting with five repetitions quickly in a row. Over time you can slowly increase the repetitions as it becomes more comfortable. I now do a round of one hundred repetitions in the morning.

Try these three practices and notice how you feel. If one of the practices works for you, continue using it, if it does not, there are many other practices and options to encourage the natural detox process of your body.

If you do try any of these, let me know how they work for you!