Mindfulness Meditation Hike

A lot of people think hiking needs to be a strenuous all day endeavor. In fact, it might be damaging for your blood sugar and inflammation to go for a long hike without the proper fuel of water and healthy snacks.

Getting out to nature can be easy and you don't have to be in your best shape -- just get to your local park and walk! (and bring your water bottle and a healthy low-glycemic snack like a nutty trail mix)

What we're doing in our mindfulness meditation hike is we combine the best of a few resources: 1) nature's easy forest bathing 2) mindfulness meditation 3) breathing exercises and 4) yoga stretching all while doing a walk that is good for beginners and all levels.

If you want to know more about our hikes and education workshops for heart health (and other wellness topics), please join our meetup group for Heart Health Hiking!

Beauty of meditation

Meditation Mount in Ojai (https://meditationmount.org)

The beauty of meditation is that you can do it anywhere. And if you can find great gardens and sanctuaries, it is so much easier you to find that quiet peace of mind. So for my birthday get-away, I wanted to visit Meditation Mount in Ojai. You can see more photos on my FB page.

Other great places to enjoy meditation gardens in Los Angeles include:

* Self-realization Fellowship (my favorite is the Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades location off Sunset/PCH)

* Peace Labyrinth in the historic West Adams neighborhood

* Any park of the LA Mountains

* Or other urban parks/gardens you might find as little gems in your neighborhood.

Share with us your favorite gardens and sanctuaries! Post your best finds on our FB page.
PS If you don't know how to meditate and want to just get started with breathing out 2x as long: inhaling 1-2 (count), and exhaling long 1-2-3-4 (count). Take the time to relax and exhale slowly -- it helps lower your blood pressure, improve your heart health, and decrease anxiety and stress.

High-protein snacks

So many of the "protein bars" are full of ingredients you can't pronounce or ingredients that have been so processed, they become a glamorous candy bar. Best to stick to foods that you could possibly make at home with an ingredient list you *do* understand and can pronounce!

When I say we want high-protein snacks, what I mean is a flat-belly friendly "low-glycemic" snack -- instead of a granola bar or rice cakes (diet food!) that are "low-fat" but high in simple carbs = simple sugars (not good for your managing your blood sugar or belly inches). The less sugar you eat, the less you crave it. The more you choose high-protein and low-glycemic snacks, the easier it is to feel full and be satisfied -- no more munchies!

Here are some ideas for healthy eating on-the-go.

Make your own trail mix: Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds are not as popular as nuts and cost less than my favorite almonds. I take an empty jar and mix up my own trail mix, so that I can stretch my almonds and pistachios and get in the hard-to-grab healthy seeds. When you buy pre-made trail mix, it's pumped full of dried fruit that has extra sugar. If you choose to buy pre-made trail mix, add your own seeds and nuts to decrease the sugar and dried fruit ratio. For example, if you get the individual size mix at Trader Joe's, pair it up with an individual size packet of almonds.

Jerky: You might remember jerky as too dry or too chewy, but there are lots of new foodie flavors and you can even find a vegan jerky. The taste-testers at Women's Health magazine have a list of tasty jerky for you. My favorite so far is KRAVE. Always read the label of any processed food for how many grams of sugar per serving size, so 1) you can monitor your serving size and 2) you can stay under the recommended *maximum* sugar calories per day. For me it's easier to read grams on the label instead of calories and it translates to this guideline from World Health Organization of 6 tsp of sugar = 25g

Protein Bars: Health Warrior Chia Bars have a good amount of natural protein and fiber from the chia seeds. One little Coconut flavor Chia Bar is 110 calories, with 4g of sugar, 3g of Protein and 4g of Fiber.  Keen-wah bars are also tasty, but a lot of chocolate if you're not in the mood for too sweet. If you want a traditional "granola bar" taste, Cascadian Farms offers a pea-protein based granola bar that isn't too sweet.

Protein and Fiber helps you feel full and getting enough fiber helps you detox and maintain a flat belly from inside out.  Most of us are good at getting more protein, and we need a little help on getting more fiber (check out my flat belly post for help). One of my weight loss students ended up getting her veggies (and thus her fiber) by using a dehydrator to make veggie chips. However, you don't need a new gadget to get veggie chips -- simply bake them in your oven or toaster oven (recipes here).

Power Clam Chowder

This homemade "Power Clam Chowder" is all around good for you, tasty and healthier than other chowders around. It's detox-friendly, iron-rich, nutrient-dense, dairy-free, gluten-free, easy-to-make and budget-friendly. Creamy without the dairy cream. Iron-rich from the beans and clams (check out the links for nutrition profile), more power than beef!

Click here to get to the recipe.

Why is this easy to make? Mostly, it's opening cans and chopping. If you don't have all the fresh herbs, you can use dry herbs or what is available in your kitchen. Parsley is the dominant herb flavor in my clam chowder, but you can make it your favorite green herb. You can't really screw up the flavors because you can always add more broth or water if you made it too salty, or add more veggies if you prefer. You can make a big batch and freeze a few portions. And a bonus, you can get all the ingredients in one trip to any grocery store that carries organic veggies and cans of beans and clams.

Budget tip #1: Beans and clams are the most budget-friendly way to get significant iron. Read the labels on the cans. Pureed canned beans are easier for my sensitive stomach, and saves time from the soaking I need to do for dried beans and lentils.

Budget tip #2: I usually find at least one Asian produce stand at a farmers market that sells sweet potatos, carrots and other veggies for either $1 or $2 per bunch. The fresher the produce, the easier it is to keep in your fridge and have more nutrients than produce that is older and less vibrant. Another reason to make time to go to your regular farmer's market, or if you don't have time to do that, you can order a fresh produce box from your local farmers CSA.

Vitamin tip: If you're not a fan of seafood, which is full of minerals, that's ok, just put in a different protein or add more white beans. Just make sure you can get your selenium and other important minerals through nuts and a good multi-mineral supplement so you can support a healthy thyroid with these mineral antioxidants (nutrients not found in your multivitamin).

Please share your comments on this recipe on our facebook page, or ask me to make one of your favorite foods more healthy -- I'm happy to take on your Iron Chef challenge!

Yummy sweet potato

The yummy sweet potato is a terrific root vegetable that is nutrient-dense and has good fiber. For those who love potatoes, this is a healthier alternative to hash browns or home fries. It's a terrific side for breakfast or any other meal for those of us trying to eat more veggies for more Flat Belly food. Bonus: sweet potatoes help boost your mood and if so many picky baby eaters love this food, I think Mother Nature gave it an advantage for our bodies! By cutting up the sweet potato into small diced cubes, you can cook this in about 5-minutes!

5-minute RECIPE
olive oil or grapeseed oil
1 small sweet potato cut into small cubes
4-5 mushrooms (white button ok, crimini preferred)
1 dash (2 tbsp) of white wine (optional) or water
Italian herbs that you have handy (3-4 fresh basil leaves, sprinkle of oregano, 3-4 stems of fresh thyme leaves)
salt + pepper to taste
optional: for those who like more spicy or more flavor
a pinch of smoked paprika or taco seasoning

Warm skillet over medium heat. Warm oil before putting in chopped veggies and liquid. Cover to steam and make the sweet potatoes cook up quickly. In the next 2 minutes chop up herbs and add. Cover for another minute or until the sweet potatoes look tender enough for a fork to pierce easy. Makes 1-2 servings (depending on the size of your sweet potato and your appetite!)

If you have trouble getting your minimum 5-7 servings of veggies/day, you can strategize by picking one meal a day that you have better control over -- whether it's breakfast or lunch to really focus your veggie efforts. Smoothies with added spinach or kale can help. To boost your veggie varieties, you can try this tasty greens powder that can be added to smoothies, soups, and other foods like our turkey meatballs recipe.

Flat Belly tips for Heart Health, Detox, Optimal Health, Weight Loss

We had great amount of interest from different people for our FREE health teleseminar on Tuesday - from athletes to heart health hikers to people who want to kick their sugar addiction. Our coaching programs are not just geared for healthy weight loss, it also helps you keep your diabetes and heart risks lower as you learn to eat "low-glycemic impact" with all your snacks and meals. Right click on this link to download the recording or simply click to listen.

As a health coach and healthy foodie chef, I want you to know our programs are about eating smarter and enjoying life more! No calorie counting, simply strategies for a lifetime of wellness!
* Why you might want to consider a 7-day healthy detox to help you kick your sugar cravings and flatten your belly with Coach Jen: "You are what you eat. You are what you don't detox."
* If any of the 5 fat factors aren't balanced and part of your life, you'll want to check out our healthy weight loss program. Do you need help w stress redux, sleep management, mind-body awareness, nutrition or exercise?
* Are you eating a healthy low-glycemic breakfast every day? This helps you keep the sugar cravings away and manage your blood sugar (and lower diabetes risks).
* How can you implement a new healthy habit? (Check the recording or contact me!)

For your free FLAT BELLY worksheet, email me so we can send you the PDF worksheet directly!
Do you want to win over $500 worth of prizes in a local weight loss contest? Schedule your FREE 20-min phone consult now to see how you can qualify before the Sept 24th deadline! Look hot for the holidays and new year! You can live anywhere with a phone and internet -- I can help you with health coaching. Why wait to get your best body and health? Get started now!

Why should I eat clean?

Why should I eat clean? What is a healthy detox week?

To my surprise, one of my students wasn't so grumpy yesterday. In fact, he was sharing his delight in his health changes.

He had just gotten through doing his detox week of eating clean and reported to me that he noticed he didn't want the cookies that were catered to a company lunch. Big victory! That ever since he's been steady about eating breakfast, having a breakfast smoothie full of veggies and fruit, that he notices he doesn't really want sweets the same as before! That people have been commenting that he looks like he's lost weight. This is only after about a month of nutrition coaching. While he's only lost a few pounds, eating cleaner has decreased his inflammation (thus a healthy glow from his skin and face) and improved his health outlook (less stress on his heart health and diabetes issues).

I've had other students improve from issues related to stomach stress like acid reflux or irritable bowel syndrome. I even had a 30-something student, who had his mother's joint pain from gout, who was very limited in his daily activities to graduate to biking, gardening, and doing yoga exercises regularly. Learning to take care of your health can help diminish the late night munchies and improve quality of your sleep. While weight loss and looking great can be a top motivator for people handle their health concerns, ultimately cleaning up your nutrition has long-term and daily benefits of feeling better energy and improving your mood! Contact me (embodyhealth at gmail) to learn more about a healthy detox week or how to work with your health concerns.

More reasons to drink homemade smoothies

When you drink a homemade smoothie, you can be sure what ingredients you have to best improve your health, without the added sugar from a smoothie cafes that use ice cream or sherbets, or the disintegration of nutrients from ones sitting on the shelf at the grocery store.

Most of us don't get enough servings of fruits and veggies in our diet - which why I encourage my nutrition/weight loss students to focus on to get the fiber from fruits and veggies to help flatten their belly from the inside out! Now, I'm excited to share with you more reasons why smoothies can give you ENERGY -- at the cellular level, besides the usual vitamins and antioxidants you might already know about.

Now, I was reading about CoQ10 for getting energy to mitochondria and found that it has an anti-aging buddy PQQ (pyrroloquinoline quinone) that can help build new mitochondria. For the nerds out there, you can click on the Journal link below and I dare you to try to say the full words PQQ and CoQ10 correctly as fast as you can. So from here on, because it's a tongue-twister for me, we'll just refer to it as P-Q-Q. For everyone else, just know that CoQ10 is great for your heart and tissues (helps decrease my chances of bleeding gums when flossing), and PQQ studies can help improve brain function (especially important for those who have family history of Alzheimers, Parkinsons or dementia etc).

So for those with low attention span, I'll give you some recipe ideas here that will help get the energy boosting foods on the PQQ common foods list from the Biochem Journal now.

I promise that uncooked spinach in a smoothie does not have a flavor or the hairy teeth effect of some cooked spinach. Also, using frozen fruit allows you to get the cool taste for a summer smoothie without adding ice or sugary sorbets.

Kiwi Energy smoothie (If you don't mind seedy taste from the kiwis)
1 generous handful of spinach, 2 peeled and cut-up kiwis, 1 cup frozen organic blueberries (berries are less expensive frozen!), 1 tbls coconut oil, 4-8 oz of coconut water or almond milk (place first 5 ingredients to blend) then stir in 1 tbl of chia seeds for added fiber and omega-3. Optional flavors to add: fresh mint leaves. Optional to boost digestive health: blend in flavorless aloe powder (1 packet). You can omit coconut oil (good fats!) if you don't like coconut taste.

Banana Fanatics smoothie (for those who want the creamy tropical taste or don't like seeds)
1 generous handful of spinach, 1 banana, 1/2 cup frozen or fresh papaya, 1/2 a medium apple, 1 tbls coconut oil, 4-8 oz of coconut water or almond milk. Blend these 6 ingredients. If you like seeds texture, then add 1tbl of chia seeds for added fiber and omega-3. Optional to boost digestive health: blend in flavorless aloe powder (1 packet). If you like cinnamon, sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon (healthy blood sugar support without added sweet calories) into your smoothie for a hint of banana bread flavor.

Savory side dish energy boost
Slice up sweet potatoes and carrots, mix in bowl with crushed garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Roast in oven or sautee in pan on medium-low until desired texture. Sprinkle chopped fresh parsley when root veggies are ready. This is good to make in a big batch because once made, they sit well in the fridge for quick snacking or adding as a side to a quick meal.

May seasonal fruits

I'm excited to check out upcoming Farmer's Markets here in Los Angeles, the seasonal produce is changing and we'll get some of my favorite fruits that are not found other times of the year:
* apricots
* nectarines
* peaches
* figs
Vegetables like summer squash have been around earlier, and I really like this "What's in season" page for finding out what's around at the farmer's market. I'm a berry fan and often disappointed at what I see at the regular grocery stores, so I'm planning a trip to "pick your own berries" at this family farm.

If you're not able to get your berries everyday or if you're not a fan of berries, this ORAC supplement is a powerful delivery system of berries like cranberries and elderberry I don't get around to eating and can help support healthy vision. I have trouble with my night vision, and if I don't get my berries, I actually have cravings for berries! So I have a back-up of frozen berries in my freezer, and there is also my new favorite frozen Greek yogurt place that has terrific fruit toppings to help quench my cravings and cope with the hot weather. Seasonal fruits make for a quick healthy dessert or a great topping on salads. Hope you'll find or re-discover some favorites in the next few weeks!

Mayo-free egg salad

Trying to eat fewer processed foods? Here's an egg salad I improvised that you can make without mayo (a processed food usually pumped with flavoring and other junk).

RECIPE
4 boiled eggs and peeled, still warm (free-range organic omega 3 preferred)
1 tsp fresh dill chopped
2 squeezes of fresh lemon (make a circle around the bowl 2x)
1 tsp of coconut oil (room-temp so it spreads easy)
1/4 tsp of smoked paprika
fresh ground pepper, salt
(yields approx 2 servings)

If you like more creamy, you can add more coconut oil or olive oil. If you want more herb flavor, please add more dill. Egg salad is great to have around as a snack or as a topping on gluten-free toast as a healthy breakfast option.

This won't taste like the egg salad you get from the store, but it is tasty and you can taste your food and fresh herbs with this recipe instead of something that is overburdened with sauce. And it uses less than 10 ingredients! When you eat cleaner food, your tastebuds will thank you! You'll taste more of the fresh herbs and you won't crave the junk food as much. Email me to find out more about detoxing and rehabbing your gut. You can still be a foodie while being healthy!

Quality Eggs

Quality eggs are not obvious with all the different labels. Here's a great article from Organic Consumers Association on what words to look for: “Free Range” is better than “Cage Free,” but “Pasture Raised” is best. Avoiding cheap factory farm eggs is not only the right thing to do for your vote on agricultural practices but also for your health. Eggs got a bad rap in the 1980s about their nutrition, but when you get what I call "happy eggs," you'll get Omega-3 good fats and other important vitamins and minerals. Eggs are an inexpensive protein packed full of nutrients if you get the right ones. Egg-xcellent!

Barley: star-quality rice-substitute

I was drawn to this article about rice substitutes, and wanted to share that I think barley is the most accessible for most people to try as a healthier alternative for rice or pasta. We want more nutrient-dense and low-glycemic load meals so that we can maintain healthy weight and feel great. Quinoa (keen-wah) was listed at the top and can be very tasty, but some people don't like the taste of quinoa or have issues digesting it. Barley is somewhat "old school" and works well as a pilaf and has a nutty chewy texture that is more widely accepted especially for beginners not confident about cooking healthy.

My favorite way to eat barley is to mix in mushrooms, peas, veggies, onions and parsley to cooked barley so that I'm getting a rainbow of nutrition and a lot of flavor. And some like to make it creamy like risotto, if you cook it with broth. A warning about barley in soup: If you're packing leftovers, be sure to separate the barley from the soup or your leftovers will no longer be soup but actually become barley mush. Barley loves to soak up the liquids!! Here are some ideas for barley recipes.

The nutrition graphic here shows a terrific mineral profile for barley. Many of us hear about how we need to improve our selenium intake in our foods to boost our optimal health, an important anti-inflammatory mineral that is no longer rich in our agricultural soil. It's found to be helpful for lowering risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and thyroid disease. International standards are higher than in the US and selenium can improve your immune health as well as vision health. Other sources of selenium can be found in Brazil nuts, some seafood, animal protein, eggs, beans. The NIH page  or WHFoods page offers suggestions of foods that you can incorporate. If you don't eat foods like Brazil nuts or barley daily (who does?), I like to take this high-quality multi-mineral as my backup so that I get enough of my minerals daily, as my insurance for optimal health.

Healthy Snack Options

For busy people, we sometimes need to take a quick snack to eat in the car or on-the-go so that we don't get hit with that energy drop when our blood sugar drops. Eating every 3-4 hrs with a blend of protein+carbs is a way to maintain a healthy weight and your better mood. Please say "no" to eating fruit leather by itself--too much sugar by itself (ok in combo with other foods) and not good for managing a low-glycemic nutrition!

As much as I like to snack on trail mix, it's a little messy when I'm eating on the go and I don't have a place to wash my hands. Bars are my go-to because they fit neatly in their wrappers or jars or bags and can sit in my car's cup holder.

Many "health food snacks" are full of ingredients you can't pronounce. I prefer that my snacks are created from 5-6 food ingredients without the "soy protein isolate" or that too-sweet flavor of too much brown rice syrup or other added sugars. And I would rather they taste yummy instead of cardboard sustenance. When I need more protein, I can always resort to almonds or a low-sugar wild salmon jerky.

What are your favorite snacks? Share your ideas with us so we can share build up our resource list here. These are my current favorites:

PUREnola - local and hand-made in LA, they are all so tasty, and my favorite flavors are Coconut and Rosemary Spice. Thanks to my friend Michelle for introducing me to these tasty treats!
LaraBars  - my favorite flavors are the Apple Pie and Cashew Cookie
Kit's Organic Fruit+Nut Bars - my favorite is the Berry and Nut
GoRaw bars and cookies - I like the Lemon Super Cookies
Jocalat bars - For when you're craving some chocolate or a brownie, this is the healthier version
Pea Crisps - Trader Joe's "Inner Peas" - Veggie crunch option with lots of protein and no MSG. I grew up on the the Asian snack version of Pea Crisps but they have MSG and other chemicals. This new improved version is clear and full of vitamins! However, you do need a handi-wipe to get the crumbs off your hands.

BONUS TIP: For those of you having trouble finding a way to eat a healthy breakfast, a quick on-the-go option is 2 boiled eggs (free-range omega 3 preferred) and a snack bar from above.

Chicken Barley and Pea Soup

Soup is a great way to use up your veggies and get your nutrition all in one bowl! Pre-make the soup so you have something ready-to-eat when you're too busy to cook. Total cooking time was about 30-45 minutes, depending how quickly you chop. Full of vitamins, protein and fiber, and covering the rainbow nutrition with peas, red onions, mushrooms and basil.

Outline of the recipe:
Crimini mushrooms (sliced), chix broth, frozen peas, carrots, sweet potatoes (and parsnops if you like 'em), 10-minute barley (cooks faster!). Put in more of what you like! I like extra mushrooms so I put in more.

Coconut Curry w Chicken and Beans

What to do with chicken leftovers? And for me, I don't really like the drier chicken meat of chicken breasts so I thought, how about coconut milk to give it some sauce? And how about some curry spice to give it some more flavor? And to stretch your meat out, veggies and beans give it more nutrition and extend your food budget.

Dippy Fun Veggies

Making dips and spreads is a terrific way to get more veggies into your life and have healthy party food. I went to the West Hollywood Book Fair today and I love their culinary stage because I always learn something new. I hadn't figured out a way to work pepitos into my food life and Aida Mollenkamp shared this recipe -- what a terrific way to get pepitos and squash together!

Other veggie dip ideas: roasted bell peppers with hummus, artichoke w hummus, avocado cucumber cilantro salsa. And if you don't have time to cook, you can buy hummus with some kind of veggie flavoring (Trader Joe's has a hummus with olives) and dip with crunchy veggies like carrots, cucumbers, and sweet peas instead of chips to get a double whammy of delicious, easy, and healthy.

Jicama for chipaholics

Jicama is a great substitute for that chip craving! It's a crunchy refreshing white root vegetable that has a great amount of fiber with a slightly sweet taste. If you like cucumbers, you'll really like this veggie that is high in crunch factor. The high water content makes it a refreshing chilled treat on a hot day, also a good substitute for a popsicle craving.

One cup of raw sliced jicama gives you 6 grams of fiber, great in Vitamin C (can't get enough of that!) and it's a great source of inulin to support a happy healthy gut. It's low glycemic and terrific for weight loss and flat belly with its high fiber content. More about it's nutrition profile here.

I find my jicama at the farmer's market. If you're in the LA area, there's a terrific Asian veggie stand (near the salad stand) at the Larchmont market. You can find it at most grocery stores. All you have to do is peel, slice and eat!
I like to eat it just plain, but some people like to pair it up with cucumber and lime to make it a tasty slaw. You can find cool jicama recipes here.

Get started on your weight loss today

Wow, the weight loss challenge from TLS Weight Loss solution has a big jackpot of $100,000 in cash prizes. You've got to register by tonight Thursday Aug 29th! Transform your mind+body in 12 weeks for a leaner healthier you!

You can register to do the weight loss program on your own, but I can help you be more successful if you want a coach. All you have to do assign me as your coach by typing in my email address where it asks if you have a coach (embodyhealth at gmail dot com).

I have 2 spots left for scholarship students where I'm waiving my usual coaching fees. If you want more info, please check out the program from a free recording of the introductory teleseminar or my website to see what my graduates have said about their successes. Whether or not you decide the challenge is for you, the teleseminar is chock-full of information about wellness strategies to improve your stress management, sleep, exercise, low-glycemic nutrition, and helping you be aware of your patterns to get to a healthier you. And feel free to share this FREE teleseminar recording with your friends and family. I want to hear from you even if you don't want to do the weight loss challenge because I want to know your questions to add more material to this blog. And I'm happy to work with anyone who wants to do a version of the program at your own pace because new healthy lifestyle habits stick when we figure out how it best works for you!

Saving the stomach

While I do my best to eat healthy, it's tough to be super clean with my nutrition and there is always room for improvement. So I have to find a way to save the stomach! A number of my friends and I are not good with digesting dairy or wheat products -- and mostly I stay away from it. It's not that I have Celiac's (read more about that here), but I can see my stomach gets bloated and more easily irritated when I eat the offending lactose or gluten. While I mostly cook at home, when going out to parties and restaurants, there is so much processed foods to watch out for. I don't want to ruin the fun by being too much of a picky eater. So when I go to the restaurants, sometimes there is a fried treat or a something with bread I occasionally splurge on. Even sauces are sometimes thickened with wheat. So the safe thing to do is to prevent the damage by taking these digestive enzymes travel packs with me and drinking it with my water before I eat. Tastes like lemonade and it helps with any processed foods. Yes, you can take digestive enzymes after you ate the offending foods, but let's save the stomach from being irritated by taking the digestive enzymes first! Other people are irritated by fructose which digestive enzymes also help break down. Be forewarned that there are hidden sources of bad fructose like in sauces like ketchup which have high fructose corn syrup we should all stay away from.

Probiotics are helpful to give us the "good bacteria" or what I call "good soldiers" to help boost our immune system. When our GI tract is not healthy, we're more prone to getting sick. Easy things to learn about digestive health is found in this article, and if you want to learn more about IBS, there's more here. You can read more about getting a high quality probiotic here, and if you want to save money on digestive health support, here's a great kit that gives you digestive enzymes, probiotics AND aloe juice!

Helping to save your stomach also means managing your stress and getting enough good sleep. Because we have such stress in our lives with this fast-paced world with phones and computer beeping and chirping and lots of interruptions, it really helps to make a daily practice in finding 20-30 minutes of quiet time to focus on breathing, meditation, or restorative yoga. There are surprises and challenges that are beyond our control and some kind of relaxing meditation practice helps. Even if you already know how to meditate, it helps to get new inspiration from different teachers. I'm on Day 9 with a new course and I have felt a little lighter, more able to handle the stresses that come my way (check out this 21-day meditation challenge through the Deepak Chopra meditation center). I hope these tips help you save your stomach and boost your immune system and mood!

Intro to Weight Loss

I've been getting inquiries to start a new weight loss group, so here is some introductory information:

1) A conference call recording that tells you the components of the nationally-successful program that provides great education, and as your coach, I customize it to help you meet your health goals!

2) An educational video that helps you understand LEPTIN and GREHLIN -- a great example of how much you'll learn about the FACTS of healthy weight loss instead of the wildfire myths of crash diets.

RESULTS guaranteed to lose belly inches in the first month if you follow the program guidelines. Other SIDE BENEFITS: better sleep, better immune system, happier digestive system, learn to breathe better and manage stress, discover healthier foods AND never be hungry! Drop me an email so we can help you find the BEST YOU!

There are weight loss student testimonials on my website if you want to know more.