Tag Archives: Franson Family Chiropractic

Meet MY Health Coach

Posted by beautifullystrong in Eat Well, Move Well, Think Well and tagged with , , , , ,

So it’s probably safe to say that the changes I have made in the last couple years would have been a whole lot more difficult if I didn’t have a coach on my team. Readers, meet my coach,  Franson Family Chiropractic/Bonfire Health/Nicholas Araza…weeeew…long name :-p.

Why have a coach?

Do you not know what I’m talking about and/or do you have a blank stare on your face when you read Health Coach?

Do you think it’s the guy or gal who gives you a physical once a year and tells you to lose a few pounds?

Do you not know and /or not have one?

Chances are if you are like most Americans, you don’t have one.  Don’t beat yourself up, you probably didn’t know you needed one or no one ever told you to get one.  However, EVERYONE needs a health coach (even health coaches).  Not having a health coach is like trying to build wealth without a financial advisor, possible, but highly unlikely.  Why is it so hard to be wealthy or healthy without a coach?  Simply put, our modern society has many things in it that take your money and your health.  Sure you can get by for quite some time without one, but there is a HUGE difference between feeling fine and being healthy.  And in the end, your health is your most valuable asset, so you have to ask: are you investing in it or drawing from it?

A health coach is a person who has studied health and knows what is required to express it.  They understand what your goals are and also what’s going on in your life.  They are not responsible for your health, but they are responsible to tell you what you need but don’t always want to hear.  They hold you accountable in a world telling you to take the easy way out, they are the voice saying “you can do it and yes you’re worth it.”They will tell you to slow down when you need to, when you are doing too much, but they will also tell you to get moving because they know when you can do more and when to push.  They never guilt or judge you, but they are real with you and do help you to understand, REALLY UNDERSTAND, the consequences of your actions.  They care, not that you are 10, 20, 50 pounds lighter (although they will celebrate every one of your accomplishments) but more they care about your health.  They understand that there are side effects with being unhealthy like diabetes, cancer, arthritis, allergies…just like they understand that there are side effects with being healthy like energy, happiness, strength, muscularly toned and well-defined bodies.  A health coach is exactly how it sounds, a coach for your health, a knowledgeable and caring person helping you to invest in the one thing that can offer returns like no other commodity, your health.

So I ask again, who is your health coach?

If you live in the Santa Barbara area, please call SB Family Chiropractic and Innate Fitness because we would love to provide that level of service to you and your family.

If you live outside of this area, the following is a list of criteria that your health coach should meet (some if not all):

  1. They should be proficient in Functional Fitness and the tennents of crossfit, they don’t have to be a crossfit, but they should know about them.
  2. They should understand human evolution to a degree and use the words paleo or Paleolithic fairly often in describing models of health.
  3. They should have EDUCATION as part of their purpose and primary mode of influence.
  4. They should be HEALTHY, they should be attending workshops and workouts, working on themselves, they should look vibrant, full of life, be energetic and have a friendly / pleasant disposition.  (I wouldn’t take advise about $ from a poor financial advisor or a golf advise from a hacker and you shouldn’t put your health in the hands of unhealthy “health coaches.”
  5. They should be or know a great corrective based wellness chiropractor; a chiropractor who understands the impact of subluxation (misaligned joints) on proper human physiology and the damage that that type of often ASYMPTOMATIC condition can have on an individual’s stress load and overall health.
  6. They should know about the Weston A. Price Organization and healthy farming practices and should be involved with Community Supported Agriculture and know of which healthy animal farms are in the area.

AND They should have books on their shelves like…

Spark (revolutionary new science behind exercise and the brain)

Omnivors Delema

In Defense of Food

The Paleo Diet and Solution

Innate Diet and Natural Hygiene

The 14 Foundational Premises for the Scientific and Philosophical Validation of the Chiropractic Wellness   Paradigm

Innate Physical Fitness & Spinal Hygiene

Brain Rules

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

Switch, How to make Change when Change is Hard

The Queen of Fats

Nudge

Awaken the Giant Within / Unlimited Power

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Think and Grow Rich

Textbook of Medical Physiology

Mutant Message from Down Under

Compound Affect

The Slight Edge

The Primal Blueprint

One thousand Gifts

The happiness Project and on and on

One of my mentors said “Health is simple, it’s just not easy,” and that is why we all need health coaches to help nudge and guide us along our journey to a better way of living.

You can get healthier, and You are worth it!

Good Luck.

Dr. Nicholas Araza DC CCWP CSCS

You can watch my testimonial on Bonfire Health here:

 

ps: I was the most nervous person on the planet before, and during, this video. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the final result.

But wait Jen…I thought you did Crossfit?!

I do :) Bonfire Health talks a lot about functional fitness as their “Move Well” component…and Crossfit falls under the category of functional fitness.

As for the “Eat Well”…Paleo fits the bill :)

 

So, my question to you is…who is your health coach? Who is on your side telling you can do it, high-fiving you when you don’t eat that cake (instead of looking at you like you have 4 heads)…and pushing you to exercise when you have NO desire? I can confidently say that is it absolutely essential to a life change! :) So get get ‘em :)

Have a wonderful day :)

Much love,

Jen

 

This Is Gonna Be A Good Life!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with , ,

Gooood morning!

I have to say, I forgot how GOOD it feels to sit in front of a blank page (whether it be electronically or in the form of a notebook) and just begin to write. Over the last couple months, when things were getting crazy I think I would have fared better by blogging rather than thinking of it as one more thing I needed to do. It’s pretty cathartic I must say.

As I mentioned in the last post, Saturday was Nick and I’s first ever Crossfit competition. We won!! Ha…I’m kidding. We did however tie for last :-p A three-way tie!! haha. Doesn’t even matter, I am SO glad that we did it; Nick made the whole thing look easy, and I exceeded my own expectations! Jared, you were great too :) :) Here are some pictures!:

I must have done 40ish reps of deadlifts...at 115. Me bum hurts!

This is my favorite!

So the workouts were hard, and I was thoroughly good and sore for the next two days. The MOST sore I have ever been in my life! haha. Am I glad that I did it??…you BET! I would do it again too :)

The rest of the weekend was a blur of spending time with friends, catching up over coffee, screening for Franson Family Chiropractic and spending some time with the Franson’s picking their brain about opening a practice. After an incredible conversation on the way home about life, and where we saw ourselves in the next few years, we got home and watched a video that Amanda Cannon Photography had posted of us (our engagement shoot)…and I want to share it with you. Just so YOU’RE warned, because I was not…I wept like a little girl, haahhaa. Okay, maybe not that dramatically, but I DEFINITELY cried…

So…here it is (captured and created by none other than the talented Mrs. Amanda Cannon of Amanda Cannon Photography): Make sure you have your speakers up!

I have 9 whole days of work left, and I can’t WAIT! I am SOOOO excited to work in an environment that is loving and supportive, with my teammate :) I have so much faith that together we will rock some people’s lives! :-D ANNNNDDDD, in a couple of weeks I get to have a little taste of it when I work alongside some of my favorite people on the planet at Franson Family Chiropractic to soak up everything Miss Alexis, Sarah and Chaney want to throw at me!! I love this life! :-D

A More…Shall We Say…ARTICULATE Version?

Posted by beautifullystrong in Uncategorized and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Sometimes its fun to go back and read some of the old things you have wrote; whether you are unpacking an attic and come across an old journal, or you flip back to some of the first blog posts you have ever written…its all fun, and educational. Without this documentation of our old selves, it’s nearly impossible to really remember who we were while undergoing change.

Last night I was asked to do a video testimonial for the Bonfire health program. The principles that Bonfire is based upon are the lifestyle choices I have been making for the last year (directly due to the fact that I have learned these principles from the same group of amazing people who created Bonfire and loved ones around me who follow it as well). I panicked all day long. I panicked that I literally had NOTHING to say…I was so nervous to have to speak about my life into a camera. Funny huh, since I write about my life, and talk about these changes nearly every single day on here to YOU! I didn’t, however, have a big stories of ONE BIG THING that has changed…and I only had a few minutes to sum up how I feel Bonfire has helped me, and why it is SO amazing. Well, since I panicked while the bright lights were shining on my face, and Doc was looking at me with kind eyes waiting for a response….I didn’t say a single thing I had planned on saying. I had practiced in my head all day…then I froze. So, to redeem myself, and spread the word now, in the way I had intended; here it is.

Doc: Jen, how do you feel that Bonfire has improved your life?

Jen: Oh man…how has it NOT improved my life? Well, I am not the same person I was a year ago. I actually uttered the words “I only did 63 pull-ups” the other night at a workout! ONLY 63! HA! If ONLY my old self could hear me say that!

To just list a few things that Bonfire (and the Paleo diet, Crossfit, positive thinking, Nicholas Araza :) ) has done for my life…

-I have FINALLY stopped counting calories! I have been looking for that solve-all solution to my weight my WHOLE LIFE! I’m not even kidding about this, I bought my first healthy eating/exercise book in the 4th grade. I have tried the raw food diet, I have even tried weight-watchers… While I did lose weight on these “diets”, I couldn’t stick to them; so the weight came back, and sometimes in spades. Now, I just eat till I’m full! I don’t need to count calories because all the foods I eat are GOOD for me! I know that I need to cool it a little on the nuts and fruits, and bulk up more on the veggies, and within that guide, I am a free woman!

-I went from being a carboholic, to a “stay away from grains” kind of gal! Here is a run down of what a typical day for me looked like before: bagel for breakfast, with a coffee of course; pasta or a sandwich for lunch (sometimes with a Pepsi!! eeeek!!), and whole wheat spaghetti with veggie sauce, and a big ole’ glass of milk for dinner (I lived alone! It was easier…blah blah blah!). Yeah…everything was grains and dairy…where the HECK were the veggies? Now, no grains, and the only dairy I ever have is the little splash in my coffee.

-I have lost 10% of my body fat! I went from about 3o-ish% down to 20-22%!!

-I STRUGGGGGGGLED to do a pushup on my knees before, now I can do about 3 consecutive pushups on my toes!

-I say things like “I only did 63 pullups tonight…thats not THAT much!”

-Instead of saying stuff like “I SUCK at this…” I remember to say “I’m not good at this yet…” or “I presently struggle with…”

-I am so much more committed! I start things and STICK to them! Such a difference, and a WELCOME difference in my life!

Honestly though, Doc, one of the biggest differences for me with this program, from all the other programs…is the community. I have tried other diets, like I said, I have tried other exercise regimes (never for longer than a month)…but nothing stuck. I did not have you guys. I did not have the encouragement, the support, the love that I have here. I know that there are other online programs that offer support, but this is different. The community literally seaps out of your computer into your world, going much more beyond the webpage… These people have become my friends, my little family away from home :) They offer strength when I need it, encouragement always, a good swift verbal whooping sometimes when I’m feeling like I can’t do something, and a good healthy dose of social pressure to keep me in line.

If I could offer one piece of advice to anyone thinking of partaking in Bonfire Health it would be, just do it. Do EVERYTHING they tell you to do. Trust me, it WILL work…and not just a little bit…it’ll change your life :) “

Thank you to all you amazing people in my life that have supported my growth, and loved me all the more for it :) When you’re going through a dramatic change, and people in your life think you have just gone mad, it’s amazing and comforting to have people who are working on and going through those changes too, WITH YOU. It makes the “mad/crazy/nuts” in all of us, seem oh so normal! I LOVE YOU!

The Difference One Year Can Make…

Posted by beautifullystrong in Uncategorized and tagged with , , , , ,

A year ago today, my life changed quite a lot…for the BEST.

For the first time, of many to come, I sat in the audience of a Franson Family Chiropractic workshop. That day I shared a room with my future boyfriend/love of my life, my future friends… my future community/tribe/family. And even my future boyfriend’s MOM was there!

The workshop was “Eat Well” in the series of “Eat Well-Move Well-Think Well”. There are many things I vividly remember about that workshop. I remember vividly seeing Nick for the first time (:-p hopeless romantic, what can I say…but I DO remember!), I remember the time line that Doc Franson wrote on the white board illustrating to us that we only started eating grains and dairy 10,000 years ago…and that our genes have not changed hardly at ALL in the last 40,000 years and that we’re not designed to eat dairy and grains (and therefore OBVIOUSLY not designed to eat processed food that comes in a cardboard box); but most of all, I remember the way I felt when I left. I literally started making changes from that workshop on. It doesn’t hurt that a month later I met Nick for the first time, making my way into the Franson Family world, learning more about chiropractic, and taking home my first dvd from their learning library. I remember laying on my sunshine yellow couch, the night of my first adjustment, icing my back, soaking in every single word that Doc Franson was saying on that dvd. THEN, a month after that, I went on my first date with Nick, and from there, there was no turning back. It was in my head, it was in my blood, it was in my heart. I believed in, and lived all this information, that was so “upside down” from everything I had learned my whole life about health just two short months before.

For fun: words that were NEVER in my vocabulary before that are used in my household/in my life on a daily basis

Crossfit

Physiology

Allostatic load

Kale

Innate

Double-unders

Franson :)

Bear-Crawls

Burpees

Wall-balls

Kipping pullups

Beautifully Strong Project

Santa Barbara

Grass-fed beef

Almond milk/Coconut milk

…and the list goes on!!

My life has grown so much, in such an amazing way in the last year that I can’t even BEGIN to convey how grateful I am for all the people, knowledge and experiences that have come into my life! :) When I started this blog, I wanted to be held accountable for Crossfit because I had a MAJOR history of not being able to commit to ANYTHING. I would start something, guns a’ blazin’, and in less than a month it is a far off distant memory. Well, I am not that lady anymore :) I have been in Crossfit for 10 months in just a couple of weeks, I have been writing in this blog for 7 months, my diet changed, and has been consistent now for a year this coming month…SOOOOO different for me! I know that these numbers aren’t THAT remarkable to some of you maybe, but for me, that small amount of time is a HUGE leap forward for me! :-D

So thank you to everyone at Franson Family Chiropractic…ALL of you have changed my life for the BEST! Without you, I may never have figured out how to eat, hahaha, I would never have met my forever love, I would never have found Crossfit, and in return, would never have found all the amazing, INCREDIBLE people I love at Crossfit…Overall, I would not feel as AMAZING as I do today!

Thank you so much!!! I can’t wait to see what this NEXT year will bring! :-D

Check Your Phys!

Posted by beautifullystrong in Uncategorized and tagged with , , , , ,

Good Morning! Today, you're going to have a GREAT day! :-D

I love my relationship. I know, I know, you’ve heard this a million times…but its true! Part of the reason I think its so great, though, is that we have such a yin and yang balance between the two of us. When one is a little weaker at one thing, the other is a little stronger. For instance, I tend to aire on the side of a little stressed out at times, while he is typically cool, calm and consistantly collected…

…Which is why he was the PERFECT person to be teaching last nights workshop: Master Your Stress, Spark Your Health.

Now I feel like I have heard the majority of the content of the workshop about a million times (which is a great thing! Keep pounding the info in, eventually it will be second nature!), but every time I hear it, it completely refreshes me; giving me just that little extra bit of information I need. So, I thought I would recap what I took away from it for those who were not there! :)

Master Your Mornings!!

The first thing Nick emphasized last night, to master you MORNING, is to GO TO BED ON TIME! I put this in all caps because he made sure to say “GO TO BED ON TIME!” about 10 times last night! haha. So, first, go to bed on time. We try really hard to get to bed at 9:30pm. For a while, I was definitely the culprit as to why we were NOT getting to bed at that time. I used to go to bed at 11-12pm, so it took everything I had to not call him an old man for wanting to be heading to bed by 9pm :-p While we still don’t always get to bed right at 9:30pm, we set a goal for that time, and due to that goal, we typically are definitely in bed by quarter of 10! Not too shabby!

So, once you start getting to bed on time, it gets easier to get up early! I used to wake up to the sound of a siren (if you were at the workshop last night, and had the pleasure of HEARING that terrible alarm, yes, I woke up to that every morning, and yes, I had it about 5 inches from my head. In my defense however, it was the only way I could wake up!), now I wake up to kisses and whispered “good mornings”, “You’re going to have a great day”, “You’re beautiful”. Can you SEE how that very difference could make a change in your day?! Now, if that is not available to you in the morning, Nick talked about some great alarm clocks that gradually wake you up to soothing sounds. I didn’t see anything wrong with this before, it was really all I knew. Not to call my dad out, but my dad used to find it humorous to come into my room in the morning and find the most obnoxiously loud chords he could on my piano and POUND them out to wake me up…quickly followed by a “GOOD MORNING!!!!!”. Typically when this happened, I woke up VERY grumpy, to say the least :) I love you dad :-p :)

So now, I wake up at 6am typically, sometimes 5:30. I wake up, peacefully, head into the kitchen to have breakfast with Nick before he goes to work, and then once he leaves at 6:30, I have an hour and a half before I need to be out the door. What do I DO with all that TIME?! I sip coffee, read, journal, sometimes watch “the office”, chat with my mom…whatever I WANT to do! Then once 7 hits, I have an hour to get ready, listen to the radio, and walk to the train :) This is getting much easier, and less stressful every single day!!! On Fridays, I head to Franson Chiropractic at 5:40am for morning rituals! There we meditate, journal, say daily affirmations, and, my favorite part, attitude of gratitude. This is when you would just say out loud all that you are thankful for in your life now, and what is to come (here is where you can get creative and start being thankful for the things you WANT to happen. Want a raise at work? “I’m so thankful for the raise I have received in my job” Just try it.. :) ). I LOVE the way my day starts when I am “on track” with this! Not to COMPLETELY expose my nerdiness to you all, but this morning on my walk to the train, I was so freakin’ happy that I couldn’t stop SMILING! I didn’t even care if people thought I was weird. I went to the 6am workout this morning with my friend Jen, walked home and got ready, ate an amazing breakfast that I made for Nick and I this morning  (eggs, chard and avocado), stopped and got a coffee at Atomic Cafe, and had spring in my step as Earth, Wind and Fire’s “September” played in my ear :) There really was nothing better at that very moment!

Master Your Response

So, now that your morning has started off on the right foot, you’re ready to take on the world!!! Right?! Oh crap..is that my train?! What!?! It’s early!!! And its..pulling….away….

Okay, well there are two ways you could handle this. You could a) freak out, cry, start swearing, get yourself REALLY worked up…OR! You could take a deep breath, count to ten, and go to your happy place. Don’t have a happy place? Think about a time that you were super, suuuuuuuuuuuuuper happy..and start practicing going to that place often, so that when you need it stat, it’s easy to pull up. As Nick said last night, “You don’t start practicing game day..”. Another thing that will help, is thinking “will I remember this tomorrow, next week, next month?”…etc. Chances are you won’t. So, chances are, you shouldn’t let it affect your physiology (or my NEW favorite way for Nick to say that to me is, “Check your Phys”. I had heard “Don’t let it affect your physiology” so often that I needed a new take on it :) ). As Nick reminded us all last night, our body creates the same chemicals, and physiological response, when we are sprinting for a train, or when someone cuts you off in traffic, or you catch your child writing on that gorgeous new Pottery Barn (white) couch you just bought, with her favorite new Crayola marker, in red…that your body would make if you were being chased by a ridiculously hungry Bengal Tiger! This physiological response is great when running away from you death! Your blood pressure goes up (pumps nutrients out to your whole body, faster!), your immune system shuts down (because you have bigger things to be worrying about at the time than fighting off a common cold, and your immune function is a HIGH energy expense, so it’s one of the first to go), reproductive system shuts down (you’re not thinking of making babies at that moment), digestion shuts down (high, high, high energy expense, don’t need it right then), blood clots quicker (perfect if you are bitten…you want that to seal up STAT!) …etc etc etc. Do you SEE how brilliant your body is!? The problem, however, is that we, as a nation, are in this state of stress, CHRONICALLY! This is what is causing heart disease, cancers, diabetes, etc.

Deep breath….1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. How do you feel? Still not that great? Will you remember this next week? Yeah? How about this..next year? MAYBE you’ll even think this very moment is really cute and funny when your child is 25 years old…there ya go…feel better now right? :) It’s just not worth it to do that to your body over something that is not life threatening/altering.

Master Your Thoughts

This is one of the ones I still struggle with the most, but at the same time, have had the most development in. I’m not going to go SUPER into this, but basically, we have controls over our thoughts. We have the choice to think positive or negative thoughts. Instead of standing there, watching the train pull away, and thinking “Seriously, do I EVER get a break???”, you COULD think “Alright, there is nothing I can do at this point…I’ll have to take the next train. Until then, I have 15 extra minutes to stop and get a coffee!” Find SOMETHING about the situation to be thankful for. Life is awesome, and it’s NOT out to get you. I’m also not going to get TOO hokey on you, but “the universe” or God, or whoever/whatever it is that you believe in, DOES want to help! If you’re constantly saying “PLEASE don’t let me get fired today!! Please!!!” The Universe hears “fired” and does everything it can to help you out in some way. Try remembering that every thought and word you put out there is like placing an order. So this is where that “Thank you so much for the raise I’m about to receive at work” comes in beautifully ;) This is something that I HAVE been a lot more conscious of. Instead of thinking, I’m not going to be late today!!! (which is still sending the ‘late’ out there) I think, “I’m going to get to work EARLY today!!” Woot, give it a shot!

Trying to RETRAIN your negatively driven thoughts? Remember, and I LOVE this analogy that Nick made up:

Thoughts are like carving a path through a heavy forest. The first time you want to go through, you need to hack your way through, working your bum off with every step. It’s NOT easy! The second time, still not easy! You may even have a hard time finding your path! However, the more often you visit that path, and walk through it, the easier and clearer it gets!!! That old path (the negative thought) does not disappear though guys…at least not right away. You can’t just pretend that old thought is not there. Instead, you work your butt off on the new path, and eventually, with time, that old path grows over :) Thank GOODNESS :) Now you can, leisurely, stroll down your new path and enjoy every step! :-D

A friend of mine that I brought with me to the talk last night texted me this morning:

“I tried all the things Nick was talking about in the morning, and it really made a difference.”

Try it out tomorrow morning :) Let me know how it feels :)

For more on this subject, check out Nick’s Blog!

Have an AMAZING day guys :) XOXO!

Jen

Big Effing Tire-1: Jen-0

Posted by beautifullystrong in Crossfit Workouts and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Let me be clear:

Big effing tire that weighs approximately 275 pounds- 1: Jen-0

This Saturday the workout at Crossfit was: “Pet Rocks”. We were put into teams of two, had to accomplish a list of absurdity, all the while holding your “pet rock”, that of which was a 25# weight for me…. One person works at a time, the other hold their 25# pet rock.

“Pet Rocks”

800m run

150 wallballs

80 pullups

60 pushups

30 burpees

20 handstand pushups

5 rope climbs

3 tire flips

800m run

The gym was counted off into groups of two, and guess who my partner was?! Mr. Araza himself. How we managed that I don’t know…we were no where near each other :)

We took off on our 800m run, and decided to get the burpees out of the way first since they’re pretty friggin’ tiring. 15 burpees each…next!

Handstand pushups, rope climbs…

…then we headed outside for the tire flips.

Now, I’ve never done a tire flip before. It looks pretty fun, I wanted to at least see if I stood a chance. Nick did two flips; made it look way too easy. So, for those of you that know me (or for those of you that do not, I’ll fill you in…) I am a littttle competitive. Being competitive has its pros and plenty of cons for me. When you are in Crossfit, and you work out with a large number of EXTREMELY capable athletes (when I say capable, I mean JACKED…SHREDDED…STRONG AS WHAT!!), and you “lose” repeatedly (this is when Nick would, once again, tell me it’s not a competition, and not to compare myself…but my very point here is that I tend to do that…often), that is when being competitive isn’t so awesome. So anyway…I wanted to AT LEAST TRRRRRRYYYYYY to flip the 275 pound tire….I mean, it’s not like I was push pressing the thing…just flipping it….

So I get down on my knees, into proper position to flip this sucker…

try #1- didn’t even budge

try #2- I think it came about an inch off the ground

try #3- I got it off the ground about a foot, then it slipped and dropped

try #4- same as #3

try #5- Danny decided to help me, and I got it up and over!

HA. HA! Take that huge flippin’ TIRE!!! Then, I go to stand up…ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Not good batman…I felt like one of those cartoons where someone bends over and then tries to stand up and is still stuck in the bent over position….

I straighten up and head inside to do Wallballs and continue down the laundry list of exercises with my partner :) . When we have done all of the reps for all of the exercises, we head out to do our final 800m run. The last 400m I am DEAD TIRED! Nick thinks we should pick it up the last 200m (that is where you make the most gains). We do. When we get to the end, I immediately squat down, head between my knees and start that lip quiver, eyes watering…realllly want to cry. I start to…then realize….suck it up Nadeau. Deep breath, I’m over it. I walk inside.

At this point in the day, or even ten minutes into the awesome free yoga class we had following the workout, I was NOT over it… my back was killing me. I really hurt my back….again.

So here I am again, only a month after the LAST time I hurt my back…BUT, at least I can say I hurt it because I was trying to flip a TRACTOR TIRE!!! haha! Seriously…who AM I? :-p

Once again, I am realllly glad I have a boyfriend who is a chiropractor! I spent the majority of Saturday being adjusted, laying on ice packs, or walking around the block to get some movement into my spine. While I was grumpy about some of this at the time, I am really glad Nick made me do them. Thanks to him, I was able to drive up to Portsmouth, NH on Sunday and walk around town for a few hours with my friend Lauren…that of which I would NOT have been able to do if I had just taken a nap on Saturday like I wanted to. Thank you Chiropractic, and thank you Nick :)

Eating From the Heart: My Thoughts on the Emotional Eating Workshop I Attended Last Night

Posted by beautifullystrong in recipes and tagged with , , , , , ,

Last night I attended Doctor Stephen Franson’s workshop on Emotional Eating. There were many powerful messages and inspiring thoughts. (Alexis presented a beautiful introduction for Doc Franson, and as usual, Doc Franson was incredibly informative and captivating.) Even though I now have a changed view about the purpose of food, and I have changed my lifestyle, I still have moments where I eat something for the wrong reasons. So, I was excited to go and learn some tools that I could use when in a bind. 

What I took away from the workshop: 

Often times when we eat something that isn’t a fuel for our bodies (when we distinctly KNOW it’s not healthy for us) we are filling a void. The thing to do would be to look inward and figure out what that void is and start ADDING things in our life that will fill us up (rather than unhealthy food choices). 

Think of every single thing that we put in our body as something that will make our cells healthier, or less healthy. Let’s face it guys, we are nothing but a large mass of cells. So start thinking of food as a fuel to make those cells healthy. That goes not only for food, but for movement and thought as well. We need to think of movement as something that is important enough (because it IS!) that if we don’t get enough of it, we will become  deficient, and eventually ill. 

When face to face with a destructive food like substance, think to yourself “What is it that the person I want/am trying to be would do right now?” When I heard this I had an immediate response of “OH!! Thats a good one!” I think the only way we will ever become the person we want to be, is by playing the part until we just ARE that person. I’m not condoning being something you’re not. However, self-improvement, wanting to be a better person is something we should be doing every single day of our lives. 

Doc Franson said that if you are really craving something, or you just want something really bad (like that vanilla cupcake with sweet pink cream frosting), do something healthy first, and then if you still want it, go ahead! For instance, you’re standing in your kitchen, staring that cupcake down. “Oh godddd I want that cupcake!” Your mouth is literally watering at the very thought of it hitting your lips! Step 1: make a choice of what it is you are going to do that is HEALTHY (ex: go for a run, eat a kiwi, call your buddy who will talk you off the ledge, just go for a walk around the block). Step 2: Do the healthy action. Step 3: If you get back from doing whatever it is you chose to do, and you’re still thinking, “Yep, STILL want that cupcake”, then eat the dang thing. Chances are, it won’t be as dire for you to eat it. 

The biggest thing I took away, and agree so highly with, is that our day needs to start on the right foot. I know personally that when I have a great morning, the rest of my day typically goes that way too. So first thing first: food. Our day needs to start with a nutrient packed breakfast…you wouldn’t start a long road trip with an empty tank. It needs to be the right food! You wouldn’t put diesel in your car if it runs on regular gas…you wouldn’t get too far. So fill up your tank and make sure its running clean! 

A field of kale?? I MUST be dreaming :)

 

Last night Doc Franson made a smoothie that he calls the Green Monster. It’s a healthy smoothie so that his family leaves the house to begin their day with more nutrients in them than most kids probably get in a WEEK! So I was inspired to get back on the bus of making smoothies (it’s been a long cold winter…). This morning I made something very similar, with just a few tweaks, and it turned out to be DELICIOUS! So…I thought I would share with you :)  

1-1.5 cups of frozen peaches 

1 banana 

Almond milk (enough to give it a smoothie like consistancy) 

1-2 tablespoons of fish oil 

1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil 

1 raw egg 

TONS of kale!!! 

It may not SOUND like it tastes good, but I honestly think this is the best smoothie I have ever made! So…give it a whirl! 

Have a great Thursday!!