Category Archives: Encouragement

5 Reasons Why Diets Will Fail You

If you truly want to live your life, I suggest you run from dieting. There are may reasons diets fail us. In general, diets can be frustrating because more often then not they aren’t successful and lead us to feeling delusional. I want to share 5 reasons why diets will fail you– just in case you’re thinking about a pursuing a New Year’s resolution or goal that involves dieting.

I want you to be fully aware of of empty promises that guarantee quick weight-loss. The kind that tell you no exercise or long-term habit changes are necessary. Beware. You may want to believe that it’s that easy, but our bodies need more than just a magic pill or power potion. It requires a combination of food, adequate rest, exercise and water. You know this already.

Sure everyone wants to be abundantly wealthy. And yet we know our odds of being struck by lighting are greater than winning the lottery. The point is this, when we desire a higher quality of life, there are certain mindsets and practices we choose in order to reach it.

I’m not gonna lie, I’d love a short cut for everything! Even if you aren’t looking to lose weight, you want to have energy right? Well, You’re not alone. Just because a diet works for one person, doesn’t mean it will work the same for you. Diets are destined to fail. After all, the word “die” is within the word “diet” and I want us to feel fully alive, ready for adventures and comfortable in our clothes and our skin.

5 reasons that diets are doomed to fail:

Short-term Goal

Ever notice how people choose to use a diet to achieve a short-term goal? Usually to lose weight before an upcoming event or right after the New Year? The perception of dieting is to take on a temporary action to obtain a rapid result. Once that result is achieved, the diet is stopped and old eating habits return. I know. I share from experience.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Ever had someone tell you how they accomplished a certain goal where you know you did the exact same thing but that “secret formula” didn’t quite work the same for you. Well, most diets are based on the premise of calorie counting and using a formula that gets applied to the general population as opposed to the individual’s needs. We all process calories and food differently. Not all calories are created equal. Calories consumed from sweet potatoes or brocolli are more nutrient-dense than calories consumed from a processed, low-fat bagel. Furthermore, if we consume too few calories, our body shifts into survival mode and slows down the metabolism. Here, we run the risk of our metabolism remaining sluggish once we begin consuming more calories.

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

If you’re a foodie like me, the answer is love has everything to do with it! The love of textures, tastes, nuances, crunchy, mushy, savory, salty: it’s what makes our favorites so flavorful.

You know love can really cause diet failure. Let me explain. Even before initiating a diet, we tend to believe that we’ll be deprived of the foods we love. Starting off a diet with this belief set us up for failure. Constant deprivation conjures up food cravings that are difficult to ignore. So instead of enjoying one chocolate chip cookie, we may possibly indulge in five.

The Ups & Downs

Yo-yo dieting has been coined as a popular phrase. Many of us go on a diet to lose weight then we gain it back and sometime even more than lost. It’s a cycle that brings frustration not just emotionally but it’s physically taxing on our bodies. In extreme cases it brings about eating disorders because the results are continually sought out with an approach that simply doesn’t support long-term results. It’s unhealthy and a form of insanity.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. ~Albert Einstein

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What We Really Crave Isn’t Always on Our Plate

Cravings are always addressed in a particular diet. For this reason, I believe they fail. This goes beyond how to address food cravings and how to handle them. It’s normal for us all to have cravings. Often what we need are the tools and knowledge to help navigate through cravings.

When we are armed with how to reach for healthy food alternatives we can help eliminate them. Diets don’t address the notion of “primary food.” Primary food cannot be found on a plate. It’s the “food” that bring us and provides deep contentment. It’s the food that is fills up our hearts and even if our tummy is a bit empty, there’s satiation of the soul. For me, it’s being outdoors, it’s what fills me up!

Playa

It’s time to let go of frustration and look under the hood of dieting. I encourage you to look at them with eyes wide open especially since you or someone you love is considering one in the new year.

Chime In!

In the comment below, tell us, what fills you up? I believe knowing this will help us look at food and life differently. What simple things bring you satisfaction? Is it hearing your children giggle? Is it reading a good book? Drawing? Listening to music you love?

How Detox Can Become Your New BFF

You + Detox = BFFs

I want to share with you how detox can become your new BFF.  Please humor me while I make a quick connection. You know how nice it feels to take those rare yet very extended baths or showers? The ones where you take time to wash every part of your body? Where you are simply relaxing your body and enjoying the atmosphere and the sheer delight of not having to rush off to do something? Somehow you’re topping off your “feel good” with clean?

Similar to how a long extended bath or shower externally cleans the outside of our bodies, our incredible bodies also craves an internal cleansing. When you think about it, why wouldn’t we clean up our entire body? If we clean our cars with a lube and oil change and our homes with dusting and mopping, detox is simple body maintenance.

A seasonal detox allows our body to relax and renew itself.  It triggers our body to reboot our metabolism, clear cobwebs from possible mind fog, boost immunity, release unwanted weight and allow our skin to radiant better health.

You see, we possess an uncanny ability to be strong as an ox when we properly nourish, maintain and detox our physical home.

Detox is paramount for healing the digestive tract and putting the FUN in liver function.

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We’re such a marvel that our lymphatic system transports toxins and excess fluid while our sweat glands release toxins through our skin. And this, my friend is only scratching the surface of your magnificence!

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Ain’t Nobody Got Time for Toxins

Don’t fall prey to the thought that your body detoxifies itself and doesn’t need extra help. Truth is we all need a boost because whether we like it or not, we are exposed to hazardous materials, chemicals and substances on a daily basis.

Are you kicking around the thought of getting your detox on, yet you’re wondering if it will be too hard or simply not worth the effort? I assure you it’s 100% worth the effort because I know YOU are worth it! I’m not going to tell you every thing will be easy peasy. However, I wholeheartedly believe you’ll feel it’s worth the effort.

We all deserve to be happy and feel fully alive. Remember what that feels like to be energetic and joyful? Be confident that taking on a detox is so worth it because of the way it can help you shift and feel great not only in your health but your mindset. It would be my honor to walk with you by supporting you with questions that may arise, and challenges you may need to overcome. I’ll be like a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader rooting you on minus the poms poms, short shorts and well, perhaps that wasn’t the metaphor you needed. But I will definitely be cheering for you every step of the way!

Gentle Reassurance

Perhaps you get a bit tentative at the thought of not being able to eat your favorite go-to foods. Or the challenge of giving up coffee, chocolate, or an evening glass of wine or beer causes some reluctance.

Let me assure you I’m not cruel. In fact, I believe life is to be enjoyed. I’m not about to have you consume juices and smoothies all day, every day. Nope, not my style. 🙂

Maybe you’re wondering if you’ll feel deprived or hungry like a hyena. No worries, my friend. This is the way I see it– life is meant to be an adventure that’s full of choices. You hold the reins. You choose what detox is right for you.

By the way, it’s perfectly normal to wonder about what you may be giving up. In fact, it’s what kept me from moving forward in my own health. For too long I focused on what I would be giving up rather than what I would gain. Then “shift happened”. I finally reached the point where I was so done feeling crummy and confined. I wanted to enter into the beautiful world again with greater energy.

I saw the light and even lightened up.

As I began to see the benefits of detox, I decided I’d make this practice my new best friend. Now, at least once every 90 days for a week I choose to detox because the results were so remarkable that I wouldn’t want to go back to the way I felt before. You see I was done with the nuisance of calorie and carb counting, not eating any fat, figuring out what diet of the month was best for me and well– ad nausea. I’m sure you understand why detox became so near and dear to me by helping me avoid what I’d no longer tolerate. Because honestly, the thought of doing that for the rest of my life sounded too stinkin’ exhausting!

Chime in.

Are you ready for keeping it simple and for eating nourishing, wholesome foods? Have you ever benefited from detoxing before? If so, tell us in the comments below.

Thinking you may be ready to take the plunge? If so, Yippeeeee! I have everything you’ll need: recipes, a step-by-step guide, recipes, even a shopping list and meal planner, to help you feel your oats. I will be rooting you on via email support so you can go after your health goals.

 Want more information? Click here to learn about my FREE Webinar. Let me help you change your life forever.

To your extraordinary life! xo

Get Stuff Done Using The Green Bean Method

Don’t get overwhelmed with a long to-do list. Instead, get stuff done follow great advice from a dynamic duo. My friend, Melanie, the founder of Growth Advance and her adorable nephew offer up their wisdom.

The Conundrum

“But I don’t like green beans” my three-year old nephew recently complained to me as he eyed the healthy pile of the vegetable on his plate. “I can’t eat all those. That’s a lot,” he said.

After stifling down the nearly automatic responses rising up in me including, “but there are starving children in Africa!” and “You will clean your plate! [said in my best drill sergeant voice],” I thought to myself, “Yeah kid. I get it.” I mean we’d all rather have crackers, or, you know, Krispy Kreme, but in this household, we are going for those 9+ servings of fruits and vegetables each day and in order for the little fellow to hit the target, he was going to have to eat some green beans. Trying to pull up a little empathy from the three-year old me who had to eat all sorts of foods I didn’t love, I took a look at his plate and realized that it probably did seem like an insurmountable pile of green beans to a three-year old boy who knew he had to eat his veggies but didn’t particularly like them.

So I said to him, “Well, how many green beans do you think you can eat?” Taking a quick look at my face, he realized that “None” wasn’t likely to be an acceptable answer, so he glanced down at his plate before looking at his hand. He started to raise up four fingers, but with a second look at his plate, he dropped his pinky and said, “Three. I can eat three green beans.”

I said, “Okay. Can you count out three green beans into a separate pile on your plate?” Very carefully he moved them one at a time while counting out loud. Then he picked up his fork, speared all three, and shoved them in his mouth. After a few grimaces, a handful of shudders, and one full-on gag, he swallowed them down and calmly informed me, “I ate them.” After copious amounts of cheering, clapping, and telling him what a big boy he was for eating his veggies, I said, “I don’t know if it’s possible, but do you think you might be able to eat three more green beans?” After a moment’s hesitation, he responded, “Yeah.”

And then without further prompting, he proceeded to continue separating three green beans from the pile, spearing them with his fork, shoving them into his mouth, grimacing and shuddering, swallowing, and then repeating until the entire pile was gone. (Yes, I did video this. I’ll be sure to share it when he’s just old enough for it to thoroughly embarrass him.)

Now for the unraveling of how to get stuff done! Perhaps you can identify.

Auntie’s Revelation

Later that afternoon I sat down at my desk for some focused work time. I took one look at my to-do list and felt my inner three-year old rising up again and thought, “There’s no way I can do this. There’s so much here I don’t even know where to begin.” As I teetered on the edge of slipping into standard procrastination activities (you know – checking my e-mail, opening Facebook, looking at colors I might use for a logo I might design for a program I might create six months from now…), I thought to myself, “If my nephew can conquer that seemingly insurmountable pile of green beans, then I can make some progress on this seemingly insurmountable to-do list.” So I defined my “three green beans,” and whittled that list away.

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And just in case you ever find yourself facing a huge task without knowing where to start, here are my three green bean tips to overcome overwhelm and surmount your seemingly insurmountable to do list:

Green Bean Tip #1: Pick the item or project on your to-do list that will have the greatest impact on moving you forward toward your goals. Sometimes that might be the item you keep leaving on your to-do list over and over again because it seems the hardest to tackle, but if it is the one action that will give you the greatest progress toward your goals, choose it right now.

Green Bean Tip #2: Set a time frame that you will be solely devoted to that task or project. For me, I like to work in 45 to 60 minute chunks. Once you’ve decided how long you are committing to focusing on that action-item, set a timer or use your favorite focus tool (here’s mine) to set the time frame and get moving.

Green Bean Tip #3: Once the time frame is over, take a quick break. As you’ve likely heard, sitting for prolonged periods of time is one of the worst things we can do for our health. Stand up, grab a drink of water and move around a little bit.

And then, if you think it might be possible, pick another item from the list and chew, shudder (if necessary), swallow, and repeat until your to-do list has been conquered.

Chime in!

What “green bean” project are you currently working on? Let us know so we can cheer you on!

Special thanks to Melanie Ethridge.

This article originally appeared on Growth Advance at http://growthadvance.com/web/the-green-bean-method-for-getting-stuff-done and she was kind enough to share.

 

The fine art of listening: Please, hear me out!

Have you ever found yourself distracted from listening? Perhaps some precarious things happened.

Maybe you can relate to this. Some neighborhood kids came by to see if you want to enroll your pooch in the “Doggie Day Spa.” It’s not until later that you realize you said yes to much more than a simple bath and brush out. The rush to get back to completing a task kept you from the art of listening. Instead you’re enjoying some post modern art on your pooch.

Shih Tzu with purple mohawk, 2 years old, sitting in front of white background

Next time those entrepreneurial kids come knocking at your door and Rover is stinky, you’ll make sure to listen closely to what each spa package offers.

Perhaps you can identify with this one. At the Dry Cleaners you realize that your favorite duds have shrunk three sizes. As you flashback to an odd conversation including hot water and stain removers, you realize something went wildly awry in the listening and communication department.

In search of being my best human self, a better entrepreneur, friend and family member, I’ve been stewing over the ways in which we can improve our listening skills. We’ve all experienced something like this because we’re human and yet I think this topic is worthwhile.

Just recently I was humbled as I became lost en route to an important appointment. Yes, I was busted for not listening as I should. Despite being given great directions, I thought to myself, no worries. I’ll simply rely on the GPS for a friendly fallback. Doh!  Well guess what? This place was off the grid. Because I hadn’t listened intently, I found myself driving around in circles in frustration. Of course, now I’m turning it into fodder because if my human frailty can assist you in anyway, I’m happy to assist!

Listening is much deeper than hearing.

The best business happens when the needs, wants and desires are met– when customers feel heard. The same holds true in our relationships.

Listening is about staying alert to what’s going on and to what matters not only to us, but those we serve.

Listening requires processing. Sometimes that processing includes the emotions of those to whom we are listening and those to whom we are communicating.

Communication train wrecks occur when we’re in a hurry to be heard instead of hearing out what’s happening. Often they are linked to what I call the “tyranny of urgency.” We get ourselves in a hurry to accomplish so much that we miss out on crucial conversations and observations that had we paused long enough– we would have gleaned valuable information to propel a mutual agenda forward.

The way to ground ourselves when we feel we need to speed up is to actually slow down and process how we are showing up.

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To increase our artistry in listening, let’s ask ourselves the following questions:

  • Do I listen to others the way I want to be listened to?
  • Am I marketing an idea or am I helping someone overcome a specific problem?
  • Am I adding value in this communication interchange?

Listening is a gift we give. Being heard is what we most crave. Most of us are done with being a number. We want interaction that’s not superficial. We desire to be understood.

Chime in. We’re all ears! 😉

Art of Listening- Dr. Paige Hunter

In the comments below please share the last time you were the recipient or giver in the art of listening? What was it like to be heard or to listen to someone intently? What did this experience do for you and /or your fellow human? Tell us about it!

 

How to Avoid Burnout & Hit Your Goals

Isn’t it amazing that as soon as we make our mind up to pursue a goal it’s as if a special anthem begins to play? Game face on, check! Perhaps you hear Rocky Balboa’s theme song or We are the Champions, my friend! Or is this just me? We’ve got heart. Determination. Integrity. We’re taking that goal! And, POOF! An obstacle or two arises. No. big. deal. We’ve got this! A hurdle is jumped and we’re still on track. Defeat is not an option. It’s decided. There will be no burn out in hitting goals!

Alas, another ugly obstacle rears up as a challenge! We will not be deterred! We boldy speak forth, “ain’t nobody got time for that!” while courageously  pursuing the goal. By now, you know where this is going because life doles out plenty of surprises while in the pursuit of happiness.

overcome obstacles and avoid burnout

And so the journey continues. We choose to move along focused on our goal yet obstacles continue to pop up everywhere! It’s almost like a conspiracy!

We’ve all been there! Perhaps you can identify with one of the following examples. Set a health goal to slim down? It’s ridiculous how many cookies and cakes begin passing before our very eyes! Set a financial goal to save up for a special purchase or chase away some debt? We get a call from a friend desperate in need or the car needs serious repairs. But wait, there’s more! Entrepreneurs, you set a lofty, yet attainable business goal when the next day you receive a call from your bank explaining that there’s been some fraud committed through your account. Setbacks happen. Am I right?

Learn how to handle detours and avoid burnout while still hitting your goal.

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Focus on why you set the goal in the first place.

List the reasons you decided to set this specific goal. Is this a goal you’re doing for someone else or was is it your desire? If it’s an easy goal to quit, perhaps it’s not one that you are ready to take on alone. Do you need help from an individual who can coach you in getting there? List any obstacles that may occur might occur along the way? How can you overcome them? Write down, how things will be should you not hit this specific goal. What will it cost you in every area of your life? Will it be more unresolved stress? Poor health? Time away from those you care about? Take time to pinpoint what you want to create by achieving this goal and what you want to avoid.

Begin with the end in mind.

Place in writing how you will feel upon completing this goal and what you will do to celebrate it. For example, if it’s a financial goal, it may look like this. “Today I paid off the mortgage and it feels so liberating! I’m proud of myself for being disciplined and staying true to what matters most. I’m choosing to celebrate by taking the family to Lake Tahoe. We’ll celebrate in style with a hot air balloon ride.” When we set a goal, let’s be prepared to hit it as well as celebrate it.

overcome obstacles and avoid burnout

Track the results

Have a visible tracker to mark results. It can be done using a computer program or something simple that is drawn up. Below is an example.

avoid burnout while achieving your goals

The purpose is to have a reference guide that empowers us to see daily, weekly or monthly progress (or the lack thereof so we can recalibrate our strategy). This helps us as goal setters get back on track if we’ve wanderer off or to stay in the race for goal completion. Whether it’s something like a health, business or financial goal a visual indicator with a baseline and projected goals serves mightily in cultivating the habits and practices necessary to reach goals and avoid burnout.

Let us not grow weary in well doing, in due time we’ll reap a harvest if we don’t give up. Galations 6:9

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Your turn, please

Tell us in the comment area below, have you used any of these tactics before to hit a goal? What goal did you hit or how did you celebrate its completion? Any tips can you share with us about avoiding burnout while completing a goal? We’ve got plans to do great things! 🙂

 

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