by Kim Wilson | Apr 14, 2020 | Health, Nutrition
As we transition into the spring season, our lifestyle changes and our cravings for nourishment may shift. This could be in the form of food, connection, relationships and other areas of fulfillment. Though this is a natural transition, we are experiencing a time where our day to day is being shifted. We are more limited with food choices as grocery store visits are less frequent. With the warmer temperatures and days of longer sunlight, we want to get outside and play but are now having to stay in and isolate. We are living in an uncertain time and one where many are having to pivot.
There have been some incredible examples of silver lining through this time. We are seeing dining room and kitchen tables converting to church, prayer and home schooling. Families are connecting more through games, cooking in the kitchen and friends are enjoying social time through online spaces. We are discovering new ways to get creative, restructure jobs, express creativity, learn and grow.
I’ve been hearing many women sharing and discussing their desires for a healthier “new normal,” balance, less stress and more self-care. As women, we carry many responsibilities and some of those are being shifted right now. We’re pouring more into our homes, families, relationships, careers and facing additional emotions and feelings. Possibly leaving our own needs and desires on the back burner. Ladies, I am here to tell you that your needs are important. Your self care is part of survival and it’s not selfish.
For me, I’ve had to develop a new routine. I will admit that the first two weeks had some good days and some not so great days. I decided that things needed to change in order for me to discover a new way of life that supporting my health and wellbeing. Not just for my own body and mind but so I could also show up the best possible to serve my family, friends, clients and community.
I set up a daily workout or movement schedule. Using what equipment I had at home and sticking to my gym routine. I created a menu for my meals and a shopping list since I knew trips to the grocery were cutting back. I’ve been connecting more through online platforms to check in with friends and family and connect through coaching. I committed to a Quarantine Kitchen with Kim cooking “show” to help others during this time. It also keeps me accountable to shower daily, get out of my yoga pants and implement self-care. I’m now adding in more Epsom salt baths each week for relaxation, stress management and immune support. These are just a few of my “new norm” routines that support my own bio-individuality.
Creating and implementing new habits and routines will help support you during this time. Maybe your self care looks like an Epsom salt bath. Maybe it’s a Zoom connection with a girlfriend and a glass of wine. Have you been saying “I wish I had more time to cook these recipes?” Well, now we have the time and more connection in the kitchen. While you’re cooking, throw a dance party with your kiddos or spouse. Different areas of life are now merging together and we are discovering how that looks.
Through my coaching programs and working one on one with clients, I emphasize several areas that support one another in life. These areas are fuel for life (nourishing foods), movement for life (whatever movement you enjoy), surrounded for life (relationships), fulfilled for life (passion, purpose, spirituality, and joy) and loved for life (self-care and love). Using a holistic approach, I educate others about how these areas of the “wellness wheel” are connected with one another.
Many if not all of these categories (in addition to careers) are being impacted during this time. They are also connected in many ways. Do you find yourself eating differently now? Maybe you’re feeling stressed, bored, uncertain of your career or experiencing tension in a relationship. Being mindful of how we are feeling, what we are thinking and our overall mindset is very important. Our thoughts, feelings and choices are not only harming or nourishing our wellbeing, but they affect our immune system too.
As we transition through this season and the ones ahead, I recommend reflecting on the different areas of life as mentioned (nourishment, movement, relationships, fulfillment and self-care and career. Where can you make changes? What changes do you think should be made? Would a new routine or schedule assist your mind, body and overall lifestyle? Spring is a great time to detox. Though it may be harder to do so with food right now, it’s a good time to release things that are not serving you well. Consider these areas (above) and see how they are intertwining in your life. Looking at a mind, body and spirit approach. How can you get creative with combining them? How can you nourish them?
Ladies, I tell all of my clients to think about the oxygen mask on the airplane. We have to put ours on first so that we can show up greater for ourselves and others. It’s time to move from the back burner. It’s time to pivot!
Stay safe and well!
by Laura Rennie | Mar 20, 2020 | Health, Kelye Rouse-Brown
When was the last time you got your friends together for a girl’s trip? Intentionally setting aside time to spend with girlfriends is worth the time and expense. Plus, there are countless health benefits that come with booking a vacation!
Let’s dive into four specific reasons why a girl’s trip is good for your health.
1. It gives you something to look forward to
Did you know that simply planning a trip can increase your happiness? A 2010 study showed that the participants felt most happy before their vacation! Imagine the pleasure you would experience if you set a date on the calendar for a girl’s trip. You and your friends would have a ton of fun things to discuss: where to go, what hotel to book, which restaurants to try — and so on!
Take your excitement to the next level by setting up a countdown on your phone. Treat yourself to something new, such as a stylish passport case, fashionable (but comfortable) shoes, or a satisfying book.
2. Female friendships are good for the soul
Psychologist Breanna Jayne Sada says, “Female friends [are] great for your self-esteem. A good female friend won’t fat-shame you or let you fat-shame yourself, they will tell you why you deserve that promotion or why your partner should treat you better. After walking away from a conversation with a good female friend you should feel confident and supported.”
While you might get plenty of social interaction with a spouse or coworkers, there’s something special about female friendships. Many women are empathetic and affirming, and can offer loving advice or join you in a good-for-the-soul laugh fest. A girl’s trip is a worthy investment in nurturing your friendships!
3. Time away increases creativity
Do you ever feel like you can’t escape the monotony of your routine? It’s hard to get creative juices when you’re in a rut. Vacation is the ultimate way to get unstuck! Breaking from your routine allows your mind and body to work in new ways. You might find yourself coming home with new ideas and perspectives.
Take advantage of the change in your schedule to try something new. Need ideas? Try meditation, journaling, or getting out in nature. Or learn a new skill! Cooking classes, dance classes, and language classes are all fun ways to get out of your comfort zone and be immersed in a different culture.
4. A girls trip promotes adult play
A girl’s trip is the perfect opportunity to engage in some good old-fashioned fun! Adult play has a ton of health benefits. It has the power to lower stress, increase brain function, help create stronger connections, and leave you feeling more energetic!
Go for a group hike! Sign up for a paint and wine class! Hunker down for a night of board games and jigsaw puzzles! Or, consider going “old school.” Think of activities you and your friends enjoyed as kids or young adults, and partake in those same activities while on your trip.
Are you ready to get away with girlfriends? Join us for a long weekend in sunny Sedona, Arizona! You’ll enjoy plenty of opportunities for connection, creativity, and play. Click here for more details and to register!
by Carol deLaski | Apr 26, 2022 | Health, Kim Wilson, Nutrition
Discover the essential foods that best support your well-being in every season with Health Coach Kim Wilson
Location: Brewer’s Alley (Private Room)
Time: 5:30–7:30 pm
Cost: $30 members | $40 non-members
by Kim Wilson | Aug 29, 2019 | Health, Nutrition, Personal Development, Self-Care
As the kiddos are getting ready to head back to school and summer is coming to a close, I am hearing the words “diet, self-care and balance” from many women. These words came up often this week during my attendance at several women’s networking events for the Frederick County Chamber “She Week.” As women discussed their desire for balance, taking care of themselves while being mothers and entrepreneurs and living fearlessly through uncertainty, it made me think. I wondered; how many women are striving for balance and how many are frustrated with trying to achieve it?
As women, we tend to do everything for everybody. We pour into our families, careers, community, relationships and other areas of life. All while often times placing ourselves on the back burner. This ends up leaving us frustrated, depleted, exhausted, sometimes resentful and overwhelmed. Ladies, can you relate?
So many people think, “I’ll focus on getting my finances in order when I grow myself personally. When I lose weight or feel confident, I will work on building a relationship.” Well, it’s time we said goodbye to the “I’ll be happy when..” mindset. It’s time to live the Nourished Life.
That’s not to say that we won’t do parts of life messy and imperfect. Honestly, I don’t even think that exists. There is no “perfect time, moment or scenario.” It’s important to take action towards the goals we want to achieve, the dreams we want to fulfill and the desires that we feel burning inside of us. We want to have a healthy and fulfilling life aligned with nourishing food, movement, relationships, finances, passions, and joys.
It was through my own struggles and journey that I learned how to live the nourished life for my own bio-individuality. Something I educate and share with other women whom I work with. When I began to implement what I learned through nutrition school and life, I felt empowered. I discovered the foods that supported my own unique body and lifestyle. Foods that reduced inflammation and pain, increased my energy, impacted my mood and emotions. Ladies, you can even increase your sex drive! Not sleeping well? That was me too! Now I sleep well and wake rested and refreshed.
Creating and implementing healthy habits that are designed for your unique, beautiful body not only help increase health and happiness, but it’s also an act of self-care. I understand that self-care comes in many forms and one may work for you but not for your girlfriends. Maybe you don’t like Epson salt baths or find the gym to be “not your thing.” Maybe you prefer grabbing a glass of wine with a friend or taking a walk after dinner with your spouse. Whatever you enjoy that fills your cup. Do it and then do it more.
Through my coaching programs and working one on one with clients, I emphasize several areas that support one another in life. These areas are fuel for life (nourishing foods), movement for life (whatever movement you enjoy), surrounded for life (relationships), fulfilled for life (passion, purpose, spirituality, and joy) and loved for life (self-care and love). Using a holistic approach, I educate others about how these areas of the “wellness wheel” are connected with one another.
Let’s think about it…
How many times have you felt lonely, bored, stressed about your job or frustrated with your spouse and you grabbed the ice cream container or cookie jar? Often our emotions and things that are going on in our world resort to the actions we take (especially with food and other means). I’ve been there and I am sure many of you can relate too!
Being mindful of how we are feeling and what we are thinking makes a huge difference in how we respond to things. Not to mention, our gut health is connected to our brain. So, if we are damaging our gut and microbiome, it’s impacting our thoughts, feelings, and actions. This is another big reason to discover what foods support your own unique body.
As the season changes and summer moves into fall, I encourage you to slow down. Observe the above areas in your life and how they are connected. Where can you make some changes? Where are you not feeling fulfilled and nourished?
Just as the leaves fall from the trees, fall is a season of releasing things that are no longer serving us. Whether they be habits we need to change, toxicity, unhealthy relationships, fears and doubts, emotional baggage from the past. Fall is a great time to detox…mind, body, and spirit.
I encourage you to include more self-care to support your body and mind as you naturally move through this beautiful process. Experiment with things that bring you joy. Get out and try something new. Maybe try a new yoga or cooking class, volunteer, grab some friends and enjoy a picnic at a local winery. Hold yourself accountable by penciling in your “self-care date” into your cute planner like you would a meeting.
Consider the areas I shared and see how you can interconnect them. Discover ways to fill the different areas of your own wellness wheel that work for you and your lifestyle.
Ladies, I say this to all of my clients. Think about the oxygen mask on an airplane. Who has to put theirs on first so that you can show up greater to give back and help others? That’s right..it’s you! So, please take your cute little teapot off of the back burner and start creating or fulfilling your nourished life. This isn’t a trendy new diet or phase. It’s a lifestyle and one you have to stay committed to.
by Casey Clark | Jul 1, 2019 | Health, Nutrition, Personal Development
Every single day we eat and every single one of us eats the amount we do largely because of what is around us. Setting things like emotional and stress eating aside, we often overeat because of family, friends, colors, packaging, plate size, smells, distractions, containers and even the way we set up our kitchen and dining room tables. This list of invisible influences goes on and on.
Invisible? Yes! Most of us are unaware of all of the factors that influence our eating and those that keep us from being in the moment while we eat so that we can pay close attention to how hungry we are, when we get full, what mood we’re in, how good our food tastes and just how much we’ve consumed.
As we all know, increased food consumption typically results in weight gain. If you consume just 3,500 calories, that equals a pound no matter if you consume it all together or over a week. You can revisit my previous blog and learn more about that and the mindless margin. So if increased food consumption often results in weight gain and mindful eating helps us reduce food consumption, wouldn’t that mean that mindful eating can be used for weight loss? Not exactly!
What Mindful Eating Is
Mindful eating is less about what you eat and more about how you eat it. “Ronald Reagan once said, ‘You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jelly beans’.” Are you one who eats only the flavors you love, eats them all at once or only eats a few and saves the rest? The way you eat them says a lot about the relationship that you have with food.
Mindful eating encourages us to become fully present with food and aware of our relationship with it. We begin to notice if we hide certain things, like jelly beans, when we eat them, if we wolf food down until our stomach hurts or if we avoid some foods like the plague. The more aware you become of your eating habits, the more likely you are to change them and to accept your body for what it does, especially that it has an inherent ability to guide us.
Don’t Mix Mindful Eating and Weightloss
When we mix mindful eating and weight loss, we tend to bring the conflict that we have with food to the surface. We get frustrated because we try to be “mindful” of the carbs we’re eating and don’t lose weight, we try to be “mindful” and drink more water and don’t lose weight. The fact of the matter is, we first have to understand ourselves – heart, mind, body, and spirit.
We have to be connected with ourselves enough to know that there are several other factors that contribute to weight loss and gain. Mindfulness is a tool used to help enhance that connectivity. It helps us learn to be still in all areas of life. Still enough to hear the small things like birds chirping, to be present with the ones we love, to recognize when we have triggers or glimmers in our day-to-day. The connection in our body is a foundational tool that is needed to be able to recognize when that extra slice of pizza puts us over the edge or all that caffeine in the morning causes us to crash in the afternoon which in turn requires more caffeine. With mindfulness comes awareness and with awareness comes a knowing of yourself that you may have never experienced.
I invite you to join me to learn more about yourself, mindful eating and how it can help you in all aspects of your life at our July evening retreat. You will find that practicing mindful eating will bring you much more joy and allow you to live a balanced and fulfilled life.
Today’s author: Casey Clark is a partner coach with Wholistic Woman Coalition. She manages a health and wellness practice, Heaven On Earth, which is a community for those looking to get inspired and give inspiration to anyone on their own health and wellness journey. Having made significant changes to her lifestyle over the past 2 years to live a more holistically fulfilled life, Casey understands the importance of self-care and having a community to get support from. Join the community and get some inspiration or become a guest blogger at www.aheavenlyyou.com.
by Dawn | Aug 17, 2018 | Guest Blogging, Health, Kat Middleton
If you know me, you know I’m all about sharing tools that support personal growth. It was about two years ago when I tried something new for the first time. I was skeptical about it, yet open to the possibilities of what it could bring me.
How would you like to …
- Feel full of energy
- Soothe away anger and tension
- Evaporate anxiety
- Unlock trapped stress
- Enjoy more confidence
- Decrease cravings
- Erase a bad mood
- Overcome depression
- Eliminate test anxiety
- Move past trauma
- And more
What if I told you I know of an evidenced-based practice that is safe, effective, and approved of by the American Psychological Association that is on the leading edge of self-help today?
Would you be open to hearing about it? How about trying it?
There are several studies out there to prove efficacy. I however, like to experience things first hand and decide for myself if the effects produce positive results. I was amazed at the immediate relief this brought me.
I’m talking about EFT, which stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques or tapping, also referred to as Psychological Acupressure. It is an energetic healing tool within the field of Energy Psychology that is gaining the attention of healing professionals all over the world, from scientists to spiritual leaders and everyone in between, including lay people like you and me.
Its popularity is attributed to the fact that it combines Ancient Chinese Acupressure, Modern Psychology and Neuroscience to create a powerful self-help tool to alleviate both mental and physical stressors and remove blockages in the energy system.
The brains master of the stress center, the amygdala, along with the memory centers hippocampus, both play a role in the decision making process of whether or not something is a threat, thus initiating the fight, flight or freeze response. EFT helps interrupt that firing alleviating undue stress.
Gary Craig founded EFT in 1990. He discovered lightly tapping the meridian points of the body in a particular sequence, as you focus on a feeling, sensation or thought resolved a whole host of issues from physical pain to emotional distress in a matter of minutes.
Best yet, it’s free, portable, and simple to learn.
Over 10 million people currently use EFT worldwide. It is an extremely useful tool to clear out limiting beliefs, restrictive behaviors, and do away with those “stinking thinking” negative thoughts, aka the gremlin.
So why should YOU choose EFT?
EFT can calm, relax, relieve and restore your harmony as well as renew flow back to your disrupted energy system. EFT can help transform your negative emotions and beliefs, rewire your neural connections and improve your immune system functioning. All these things will enhance the heart, mind, body, and spirit, which is so vital to overall wholeness, wellness and your Wholistic Woman Health.
If I have piqued your interested and you would like to learn more, here are a few reference links to give it a try.
- Gary Craig’s Introduction to EFT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFKVVP8KXd4
- How to Tap http://www.eft-alive.com/how-to-do-EFT.html
- How to Tap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAclBdj20ZU
- How to Tap https://www.livestrong.com/article/1011745-eft-tapping-need-try
Congratulations! You’ve just completed your first Tapping sequence. What did you think? Let me know your thoughts.
Today’s author: Kat Middleton is a professional certified coach and the founder and CEO of Wholehearted Concepts, LLC. Kat is a Professional Energy Empowerment and Self-Acceptance Coach who specializes in helping clients personally and professionally that struggle with inner doubt, perfectionism and being way too hard on themselves. She is available for private one-on-one coaching as well as group workshops, seminars, and speaking events. Learn more about her at her website: www.wholeheartedconcepts.com
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