Spring into Self-Care

It’s April, and that means warmer weather, increased sun exposure, Easter, and vegetable garden prep. (It also means seasonal allergies and rain, but who’s complaining? It’s not freezing anymore!)

This month, I want to focus on how we can use the spring season to our advantage in ways that will inspire and motivate us to place greater emphasis on self-care habits.

Some of the topics I’m going to discuss include movement, mental health, and fuel:

Movement

Now that the weather is finally improving, we can get active outside again! For those who have been running through winter, you’re amazing.

But you’re also the minority.

Let’s get back outside! Some ways to take advantage of the outdoors in early spring, include:

  • Running
  • Hiking
  • Walking
  • Bike riding
  • Playing tennis
  • Joining a slow-pitch baseball team
  • Playing spring soccer

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Even increasing your dog walks from once a day to twice can help boost physical tone and performance. (For both you and your pup!) Whatever you do to increase your outdoor activity will only benefit your body and mind.

Speaking of mind…

Mental Health

The wonderful thing about getting outside, it that it increases your exposure to vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential for good health, and although our food can be fortified with it, the rate of absorption is much, much stronger through direct sunlight.

Your eyes and skin are what draw in vitamin D, so allowing yourself to wear short sleeves and refraining from wearing sunglasses right away is a promising idea—your mind will thank you for it, as by this time of year, most of us are very deficient in this essential “happy hormone.”

Fuel

Fuel—as in food. The food changes in the spring! Wintertime is all about heavy, rich, comfort food, but spring? Food gets lighter, fresher, and more locally grown products are available.

Rhubarb, asparagus, strawberries, peas, lettuce, cherries, beets, and beans are a few of the fresh produce items that will become in-season this spring. Take advantage of the local and fresh eats and save yourself some money by buying local, too.

Your body craves good nutrition, and healthy eats contribute greatly to both better movement and increased mental health.

If you’re the kind of person who likes to track your progress and keep yourself accountable, try using My Wellness Journal! It’s available for purchase in hardcover on Blurb.

For more information on how you can learn to be well no matter what stage you’re at in this moment, contact me:

Happy Spring, friends! Stay happy and healthy.

Love, Sophie.

 

Self-Care: Cultivating Healthy Habits

This is YOUR Year for Self-Care

Happy New Year, everyone! January is the official month of wellness and self-care, and many people inadvertently seek to establish better lifestyle habits after a holiday season of indulging in festive foods and sparkling beverages.

(It’s okay—we’re all guilty!)

As a health and wellness coach, I love hearing about my clients’ strong desires to begin a path of healthy lifestyle choices—let’s begin this change together! Let’s take our health and wellness into our own hands and make conscious decisions together, one-step-at-a-time.

Documenting your goals, tracking your nutrition stats, and having a fitness routine established, is an essential way to stay on top of your new and improved lifestyle. You can do this with your own copy of My Wellness Journal, an organized strategy that I have created utilizing my professional knowledge and many years of training and expertise in wellness, fitness, nutrition, and goal setting.

You can pick up a copy here to get started!

I have separated the key areas to confront to achieve your health and wellness goals, below. Trust me, some very simple changes can create an enormous difference:

Diet

The number one thing most people think of in terms of self-care, is diet. When it comes to eating healthfully, I have come to live by this mantra: “Eat food. Not Too much. Mostly Plants.” These seven genius words of simplicity come from the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, and later aired as a PBS documentary based around the concept of “healthy-ish” eating habits.

I’m all about treating your mind and body with respect, which means that once in awhile you must give a little, and then you can get a little. For example, if you are planning on having a big steak for dinner with baked potato, melted butter, cheese and garlic bread, then maybe plan on a healthy smoothie for breakfast and salad for lunch.

There is no use in stressing out about what you eat from time to time, as it only increases your cortisol levels, which can make you gain weight (mostly in the belly, too). By implementing the “healthy-ish” philosophy, everything is best enjoyed in moderation—including moderation.

Sleep Hygiene

Sleep hygiene

Sleep deprivation is seriously the root of all evils. We all know the common side effects of little sleep: feeling groggy or sluggish in the afternoons, increased irritability, sore muscles, decreased work productivity, falling asleep while watching TV, requiring an alarm clock to wake, and continuous yawning throughout the day. The list goes on and one!

But did you realize that constant lack of adequate sleep can contribute to some serious health issues, such as heart disease, decrease in memory retention, increase risk of diabetes and obesity (adequate sleep is required for proper glucose processing and insulin regulation), and increases the risk of depression and other mental illness?

So: how can you practice good sleep hygiene (and therefore, better self-care)? There are all kinds of typical bad habits that need to be broken at bedtime. Screens need to be put away, no food or caffeine beyond a certain time, limited or no alcohol, and more. There’s a great article about practicing good sleep hygiene; and can be found here.

You can also try to implement new bedtime rituals like yoga to help balance your thoughts and promote calmness and relaxation. We found this amazing bedtime yoga routine: give it try to start improving your sleep tonight! If yoga isn’t your thing, here are eight natural ways to treat chronic poor sleep.

Another way to improve your sleep pattern, is to analyze your needs and know how many hours of sleep you require to function properly the next day. Each person has a unique and optimum number of hours that they need to rest, and one will require more sleep than another. To discover your optimal sleep pattern, creep your bedtime routine 15 minutes earlier every few days until you start waking up before your alarm, including on weekends. Once this occurs for a minimum of one week, you have found the sufficient number of hours of sleep you need.

Exercise

Without a doubt, a moderate exercise plan will be an important part of your self-care routine. There are various ways to exercise for all fitness levels that don’t necessarily have to include a gym membership, yet will still give you the results you’re looking for—just be sure to get started with a fitness instructor who will ensure you get proper guidance and training to avoid serious injury.

For people who may not be interested in a gym membership and don’t know what fitness level they are at (or where to even begin!), the professional help from a wellness coach or personal trainer is a smart way to get started.

Listen to your body and don’t push yourself too far, too fast. By doing that, you are at serious risk of getting injured. I can’t stress the importance of getting a coach and a good training plan. Fitness experts (like health coaches, fitness instructors and personal trainers) have the expertise to guide and inspire and don’t have to cost a fortune.

Mind and Spirit

Meditation

Having good mental health is essential in improving your self-care habits. Reducing stress and feeling content within yourself is crucial to beginning your journey down a path of health and wellness. Again, having a good wellness coach to mentor you, guide you, and encourage you through it all will ensure your success with your lifestyle changes.

Having good mental health also means mindfulness. Being mindful of your surroundings, being aware of what you eat and drink and what you do during the day is by far the best way to start. You must be mentally, emotionally and spiritually ready to welcome healthy habits into your lifestyle!

The practice of meditation will allow your mind to open, and goes very well with mindfulness. Once you’ve trained yourself on noticing your environment, teaching yourself to relax with meditation will become a little easier. Many yoga classes will have 10 minutes dedicated at the end of class to do just that—it’s called savasana. This is a great introductory to the art of meditation!

If you’re seeking increased wellness this January and would like the professional help of a highly trained and experienced health and wellness coach, I would love to hear from you.

Visit my website or contact me directly and let’s get started together. Love, Sophie.

Travelling? Here’s How to Eat Healthy.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an experienced globetrotter, or if you haven’t been travelling much at all: when you’re planning a trip (near or far), there are many things to consider before you leave.

One item that far too often takes a back seat, is planning what to eat. What will they serve on the buffet? What kind of restaurants are available? What will be at the hotel? Where is the nearest grocery store? And, especially if your flight is a long one, what do they serve on the airplane?

These are all questions that you should consider prior to departure. If you’ve worked hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle while at home, over-indulging and consuming the wrong types of food will make you feel not well while away, and down when you return.

It’s important to inject your body with good nutrition—even while travelling!

Recently, I made quite a long journey that made me realize how challenging making the right food choices while travelling can be. My sister-in-law is currently living in Sri Lanka with my brother and their two year old son, and she decided to come back to Canada to give birth.

Since my brother is working in Sri Lanka, they came to the conclusion that it would be best to have my nephew join her on the trip back. I could sense how nervous she was to return alone (and very pregnant) with a two year old on this VERY long flight (more than 15 hours to return). So, I decided that I would take advantage of my unused air miles and meet her at her first stop in Doha, Qatar.

(The people around me thought it was a great gesture and some thought I was a little crazy, too!) After all, I did do over 50 hours of travelling in two days (a life experience that I’ll never forget—it tested my tolerance on more than one level)! But I took it as a social experience to see what is served in an airplane and in different airports. I ordered myself special, gluten-free meals and couldn’t wait to see what that would mean for different airline companies.

My trip was from Montreal to Doha (with stops to Frankfurt and Istanbul). Guess what? All my meals were gluten free and I had no complaints!

The airplane food from Montreal to Frankfurt consisted of two meals. Dinner was a bean salad, quinoa pasta with a vegetable sauce, bread, and a chocolate brownie (which was amazing). The breakfast was a banana and chocolate chip muffin, applesauce, and a lemon-cranberry scone. It was so much food, that I packed some (bread from dinner and the breakfast muffin) in my bag for later if I were to get hungry!

There was only a snack from Frankfurt to Istanbul, since it was a very small plane ride. That was okay, because I had 5 hours in the Frankfurt airport and was able to find a good tea (I wasn’t really hungry at that point; more tired than anything).

In Istanbul, I started getting a little hungrier and took the time to eat from a shop selling food that looked like what I would make at home. I ate a beet quinoa salad with a mint lemonade (they gave me a small slice of their homemade cake, and I couldn’t refuse!).

Travelling healthy

I brought the glass containers back home to reuse them (what a clever idea, right?!). There was also something called a ‘Bazaar’ where they would sell Turkish specialties (from tea/coffee to sweet treats). I brought back Turkish tea and some Turkish Delights (when in Turkey, right?!).

As for the plane from Istanbul to Doha, I was a surprised how amazing and special I felt receiving my gluten-free meal! I had lamb chops over rice with a vegetable salad and a fruit salad for dessert. The person next to me seemed a little jealous eating pasta where the noodles were congealed together…

On the way back from Doha to Montreal, the food was great (pasta) but I was more concentrated on amusing my two year old nephew than anything else. (My nephew’s meal was fantastic! I was kind of jealous of his special kids meal box, served in a monopoly lunch box!)

I had brought from home some healthy snacks for myself, my seven and a half month pregnant sister-in-law, and my nephew. The snack consisted of protein powder/meal replacement (easy meal: all you need is a glass and water), bars (such as Larabar and protein bars), nuts and seaweed snacks (my nephew loves them).

So…all that being said…here are my tips for eating healthy and obtaining good quality, nutritious meals while travelling:

Plan Ahead

There are lots of ways you can prepare foods to take on the road with you. Space might be the biggest issue, and if you’re travelling by plane, you likely don’t have room for a cooler. Nuts, dried fruits, and energy bars can all easily be packed along for a trip. Most hotels have mini bar fridges and you can request to have them ‘unstock’ it prior to your arrival. That way, you have room for healthy things you might purchase at a local grocery store there.

Know what restaurants are in the area of where you will be staying. Check out their menus online to make sure you have some healthy choices and make some reservations in advance.

Try to avoid stopping at the first fast food restaurant you see as you arrive to your destination if you’re starving! If and when you do need to order from a fast food restaurant, there are ways to make revisions to make certain items a healthier version. (For example: veggie burger, extra lettuce and tomato, hold the mayo.)

Travelling

Airports

While travelling via airplane, there are strict rules of what you can and cannot bring through security. Of course we all know we can’t bring certain sized liquids through, so don’t get caught with extra bottles of water that you’ll have to leave behind. There will be several convenient shops on the other side where you can stock up on those!

You can, however, bring snacks like mentioned above in your carry-on bag. If you’ll be eating on the plane, make sure to order a healthy meal ahead of time. Often, airlines will accommodate special requests if made far enough in advance.

If you can’t pre-order yourself something healthy, try to avoid the airplane meals and snacks altogether, which are often loaded with carbs and salt. Instead, I totally recommend having a healthy meal prior to travelling with lots of fruit, vegetables and high-fibre to help you feel satisfied for a longer period.

(Remember: many airports have a variety of good restaurants where you should be able to fill up on goodness!)

Be Mindful

If you’re on a cruise ship or at an all-inclusive resort, you’re in for a treat! Take a look at the entire buffet menu before serving yourself. The salad bar is likely going to be the star of the show with so many fresh options! Avoid greasy or deep fried foods; you don’t want to feel sick while on vacation.

Also? Keep hydrated. Travelling can be hard on your system, and it is important to keep hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

Keeping a healthy diet up while you travel will truly make a world of difference of how you feel. The most important thing to do is have a good time! If you would like any more tips on how to eat healthy while travelling or recipe ideas on what foods to prepare before travelling, visit my website or contact me directly!

Happy travelling! Love, Sophie.

Avoiding Back-to-School Food Stress

As a health coach, food is one of my top priorities when I comes to being healthy. Everyone is so busy towards the beginning of September, and back-to-school is stressful for parents and kids. To combat additional stress when it comes to food, here are a few ideas that will point you in the right direction:

Back-to-School Lunches

Although it may be easy to simply run to Costco, buy a bunch of pre-made snacks, and throw them in a lunch kit, it’s not very healthy (not to mention cost-effective). Here are some suggestions for nutrient-dense, simple-to-make lunch ideas:

  • Grainy crackers with hummus
  • Chopped raw veggies with hummus
  • Boiled and peeled eggs
  • Fresh or dehydrated fruit
  • Chickpea or chicken salad (or even just chickpeas, themselves!)
  • Edamame (soy beans)
  • Homemade granola bars
  • Sushi rolls
  • Sprouted bread with nut-free butter (such as pea butter!)
  • Whole grain tortilla chips and salsa
  • Air-popped popcorn with nutritional yeast sprinkles (high in vitamin B12!)

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girl eating blueberries

Back-to-School Meal Planning

Often, a huge stressor for moms during the workweek (and especially during back-to-school season) is the question of what to make for dinner. This stress can easily be alleviated by meal planning ahead of time. Here’s how it works:

  • Choose a day of the week to grocery shop (usually Sunday works for most)
  • During the weekend, figure out what you will make from Monday to Friday for dinner, and what the kids will have for lunches during those days, too.
  • Write out a grocery list that contains ingredients and foods for all of this.
  • Go shopping for everything.

This way, come Monday morning, you know what the kids are eating for lunch, and what to make for dinner. Even better, you’ll already have every single ingredient needed for every recipe you create.

Zero stress.

Back-to-School Eating Routines

We all know that a good sleep routine is necessary during back-to-school, but what about an eating routine? You should know that when calculating bedtimes for your kids, you should also figure out when they will eat.

For example, if your child’s bedtime is at 8pm, you could have them bathed and eating a small snack by 7:30pm. Then, by 8pm, your child will be truly prepped and ready to end their day.

Similarly, making sure your child eats at the same time every morning prevents you from throwing a banana towards her on the way into the car, which will usually bring about added stress to an already busy start to your day. Instead, try waking your child at the same time each morning, and have breakfast ready for her at the same time (about an hour before leaving the house), too.

Good luck with back-to-school! Let me know if they’re anything else I can help you with. If there is, feel free to contact me.

Merci! xo

3 Summertime Smoothie Bowl Recipes

Smoothie Bowl Recipes for Healthy Summertime Meals and Snacks

A few years ago, smoothies and fresh pressed juices were taking the world by storm—but now smoothie bowls are trending! Smoothie bowls are a great way to consume tons of fibre, antioxidants, and vitamins, while filling you up a little better than a simple smoothie can.

Typically, smoothie bowls have toppings that round out the meal, and create some satiation that regular smoothies and cold-pressed juices can’t. Popular toppings typically include granola, fruit, chia seeds, shredded coconut, dried fruit, hemp hearts, and more.

Here are three amazing summertime smoothie bowl recipes that you will fall in love with and crave like crazy:

Yellow Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • 1 cup frozen pineapple
  • 1 cup frozen mango
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1/3 cup granola
  • 1 tbsp. shredded coconut
  • 1 tbsp. hemp hearts

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Method

  1. Place first 4 ingredients into blender, and blend until smooth. (If smoothie is too thick, add a little more coconut milk, but you’re going for a very thick smoothie.)
  2. Once blended, scoop into a bowl and top with the remaining 3 ingredients.
  3. Eat immediately!

Pink Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients

  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 cup frozen strawberries
  • ½ red beet
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • ½ cup granola
  • 1 tbsp. chia seeds
  • Handful raspberries

Method

  1. Place first 4 ingredients into blender, and blend until smooth. (If smoothie is too thick, add a little more almond milk, but you’re going for a very thick smoothie.)
  2. Once blended, scoop into a bowl and top with the remaining 3 ingredients.
  3. Eat immediately!

Green Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients

  • 1 cup frozen pineapple
  • 1 cup frozen green grapes
  • 2 kale leaves or handful of spinach
  • ½ avocado
  • 1 ¼ cups unsweetened soy milk
  • ½ banana, sliced
  • ½ cup granola
  • 1 tbsp. crushed walnuts

Method

  1. Place first 5 ingredients into blender, and blend until smooth. (If smoothie is too thick, add a little more soy milk, but you’re going for a very thick smoothie.)
  2. Once blended, scoop into a bowl and top with the remaining 3 ingredients.
  3. Eat immediately!

I challenge you to try having a smoothie bowl for breakfast at least 2-3 times per week, and see how your body responds. Although not typically a year-round thing, these yummy meals are great in the summertime, so don’t miss out!

Go get your smoothie bowl on. xo

3 Foods to Eat for Brain Health

With summer just around the corner, there are so many things we want to get out and do to soak up the sun and enjoy ourselves. After months of rain, snow, darkness, and generally shorter days, we are all more than ready to bask in the glory that is our Canadian summer!

Foods for Brain Health

As we become busier and commit to more events, we tend to forget that nutrition is important—we need to stay healthy in order to be happy and enjoy life! Foods that supply us with energy, good memory, and positivity should be focused on, so you can be awake and keep up with your to-do list. It’s important to eat with intention, and this is why you should be consuming foods that your brain will love.

You can’t appreciate the present when you’re exhausted. Right?!

Here are 3 top brain foods that you should add to your grocery list stat, so you can plow through your springtime bucket list with increased mental clarity and sustained energy:

Blueberries

Blueberries are a refreshing and healthy treat. They can be used in so many different ways for any meal or snack during the day. They protect your brain from oxidative stress, and reduce the rate of age-related conditions.

It’s inevitable that with so much to do, our cortisol levels can greatly increase over the course of weeks or months. So why not add blueberries to your morning oatmeal, smoothie or cereal? They can also be a welcome addition to your salad at lunch, or the perfect topping for a dairy-free yogurt parfait on a warm, sunny day.

Also, they don’t need to be fresh. Blueberry season is usually July and August, but flash-frozen blueberries are just as high in antioxidants and nutrients as the other guys. So go ahead and shop the freezer aisle, taking care to look for organic berries.

Nuts and Seeds

Nuts are packed with high levels of vitamin E, fiber, and omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. They are an excellent source of healthy fats and give you increased energy and physical endurance. This is exactly what your brain needs for the last few hours at work, or before you head out to take the kids to their soccer practice!

There are endless varieties of nuts, including walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts, cashews, and pecans. Some popular seed varieties include sesame, sunflower, pumpkin (pepita), and chia.

Nuts can be added to your morning oatmeal and smoothies, or work just as well on their own as a snack—just remember to use sparingly, because although they are healthy, they are also calorie-dense.

Avocados

Avocados are one of the only fruits that have healthy monounsaturated fats and contain over 20 vitamins and minerals! When added to your diet, this plant-based food provides many benefits, including increased energy, shiny hair, healthy skin, and a dose of brain power!

Avocados are also proven to provide a decreased risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Your brain needs rich fruits like this, so the rest of our body can synchronize and follow suit! You can learn more about the benefits of avocados from Best Health Magazine.

Give you and your brain the food and energy it needs to maximize your fun and keep you from burning out, while you play in the sun.

Happy spring! Go eat for your brain. (And if you need help designing a great food plan, I’m here. Work with me!)

Eating with Intention

We live in a world today where we function with rapid speed, whether it’s the way we eat, sleep, breathe, work or play. Many of us don’t realize how busy and jam-packed our days are, or even what we ate for breakfast the majority of the time!

Break the Cycle

It isn’t until we lay our head on our pillows at night that we have a few minutes to recap short memories of the day, and then we are sound asleep again. Then we get up, and the cycles and routines repeat themselves.

We don’t need to live like this—especially when it comes to basic necessities like eating! When was the last time you had a meal alone, with family, or at work when you could recall that you ate with 100% pure awareness, attention and mindfulness?

It’s probably been while, right?

Food for the Soul

Eating is a gift that most of us forget to cherish. It’s natural and pleasurable. Food gives us energy and allows us to think, move, and be good at what we do. So why is it so easy to not give it the attention that it deserves?

It’s important that we start thinking about the correlation between food and the way we feel mentally, emotionally and physically. If we’re not being present when we’re eating, the ability to even feel our innate awareness is robbed from us!

Your Body is Your Temple

If you start to think of your body as a temple and food as the positive energy you bring in, you would be able to start making some changes that would benefit your long-term well-being.

I often tell my clients that when thinking about food and what you put in your body, reflect on the feeling attached to your mental and emotional state as a result.  When you connect the feeling or outcome of what you’re actually doing, it’s much easier to follow through because you can begin to predict what the outcome is going to be.

A salad with some plant-based protein makes us feel energized and alive. A processed doughnut? Not so much.

Tips for Mindfulness

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Reflect throughout the day, and ask yourself whether what you ate is giving your body the zap of energy you need, or if it’s depleting you. Stick with what works and eliminate what doesn’t.

It’s pretty simple, right?!

Make it Fun

Bringing awareness to your eating habits can be fun! There are endless amounts of ideas and solutions that you can try in order to nourish and nurture your body with food.

Gather some friends, or get your kids involved with meal prep while building a connection. Create a list of things that you need, find healthy recipes, go grocery shopping together, or hit up a local farmer’s market.

When you start eating with attention and intention, your body, mind and soul will thank you for years to come. If you need more tips and help with mindful eating, visit my recipes page HERE.

Be well, Ottawa! If you need help, I’m here.