Choosing a Resolution that Works

Lots of people feel a little sluggish and bloated this time of year.  Holiday celebrations leave us a little uncomfortable in our skin, which is why many of us use the new year as a time to get motivated to eat better and exercise.  I think it's great to reflect and set goals, but I'd like to offer some direction so that you can pursue resolutions that you can be successful at and that will make you healthier and happier. My former self was quite insecure (that's putting it mildly) and would always strive to lose weight.  No matter what weight I started the year off as, I wanted to weigh less.  In January I'd obsess over my eating habits, adopt the latest fad diet, and push myself to workout, but eventually I would grow frustrated or hungry and give up.  What I didn't know, was that I was setting the wrong goal.  In my early twenties I decided to shift my focus off of changing my exterior and instead focus on what's inside.  Instead of counting calories and obsessing over weight, I decided to pursue self-love and change the way I felt about myself.  I wanted to feel good in my body, no matter what size I ended up at and I was amazed at how that shift made adopting a healthy lifestyle so much easier.

We respond better to love than hate.  Motivating ourselves with punishment, mind games, guilt, negative thoughts, and deprivation just doesn't work.  It creates more obsession and gives more power to our negative thoughts.  It's a downward spiral that I was stuck in for a long time.  Every year when a new year is around the corner, I choose to use it as a time to reflect instead of time to riddle myself with expectations.  It's a time for me to look back on the previous year, acknowledge the growth I've achieved, and express gratitude for the gifts and lessons of that year.  It's also a time for me to set achievable goals for myself and to look forward to future challenges I'd like to overcome. Every year deepening my love for myself is a focus.

Self-love is a term I use constantly, but I realize that isn't a concept that is at the forefront of everyone's mind, so I'll explain what that term means to me.  I have this belief that love is a powerful tool.  Love is more than warm feelings and kind gestures, it is the thoughts we think and the actions we use.  I believe that all of our negative habits stem from some area in our lives where we need some love, nurturing, and attention.  By focusing on giving to ourselves more and nurturing these parts of us, we're able to pursue a healthier lifestyle more effortlessly.

I think it's important to note how hard it is to retrain ourselves to take care of ourselves.  Many of us, and this was very true for me, have a hard time putting ourselves first because it feels selfish.  It's okay to focus on yourself, in fact, it is when we ourselves are taken care of that we are able to give the most to others.  A lot of my clients tell me they have been wanting to get massages sooner, but it gets put on the back burner.  This is so common.  Whether it's taking the time to do something that's good for us or choosing to spend money on something that we want or need, it's easy to let these things slip through the cracks.  I'm asking you to bring awareness to the ways in your life that you do this and to choose to take care of yourself next time.

Right now, today, is an opportunity for you to make a commitment to feel deserving and worthy of self-love.  To show yourself this by nourishing your body with healthy foods, getting hydrated, finding ways to move, nurturing yourself with a bath, a book, a movie, a walk, a massage, surrounding yourself with loved ones that help and support you, asking for help if you need it, etc.  This year make resolutions that support you.  That support your journey to becoming a happier and healthier individual.  You deserve it and the world will be better for it.

I made commitment to love myself years ago and I still choose to make it a priority as it's just as important today.  The more I love myself the more I transform inside and out.  It's a constant journey and is equally challenging and rewarding, but it's the best decision I've ever made.  You can learn more about my transition here.

I know first hand how important support is when choosing a healthier lifestyle.  Starting this January I will be offering Wellness Coaching and Consulting Services to anyone who may need some help on their path to wellness. Click here to find out more.

Chronicles of a Yooper Hippie: Let Your Freak Flag Fly

This last week has been a little tough.  I found myself missing California… a lot.  This always scares me because I'm afraid it might ignite my wanderlust.  Roots… roots are what I want… right?! I'm settled in, started a new business, registered my car, got a Michigan license, signed a lease, bought a bed…! I now own more things than I can fit in my car and the pick-up-and-go attitude has been put on the shelf, so I do not welcome feelings of longing for elsewhere. After careful thought and reflection aided by an amazing yoga class, I realized that it wasn't a place I was missing.  Sure I'd love to have hot springs at my finger tips and my favorite hiking spots around the corner (ahh redwoods), but what I miss the most is me.  Being back home I have been able to reclaim part of my identity, the grounded, salt-of-earth, focused part of myself, but I've been squelching the weirdo, unique side of myself that flourished in California. That has been my constant battle, finding a balance between the two unique parts of me that allowed me to feel at home in two different worlds: the U.P. and Northern Cali.

Let me tell you, it has not been easy living the life of a Yooper Hippie, but it has been fun as hell.  Sippin' on whiskey after a mind-blowing kundalini yoga class, tromping through the woods, making kombucha cocktails at camp after an amazing vegan meal, living out of my car across the states, cherishing the love I have for friends and family in both my homes, and anything outdoors.  It's a unique combination that makes my life interesting and adventurous, but can easily get out of whack.

Since being back in Marquette, I've welcomed the shift to a more structured, rooted lifestyle, but I've stopped letting my freak flag fly.  Yeah, I've been hooping, yoga-ing, juicing, and all that, but I've been holding back, afraid of coming off as too hippie or too strange.  I've struggled expressing that part of myself since I'm not as immersed in a culture that celebrates weirdness, but I know I'm not alone in my yearning for spiritual fulfillment, delicious vegan foods, and deep, meaningful conversations about our inner children, astrology, chakras, alternative health, chi flow, feng shui, sustainability, spiritual enlightenment, parenting and childbirth, nutrient optimization, acupuncture, emotional growth and hardship… I could go on and on.

Despite my yearning for more, I'm slowly discovering a world here that is a blend of the two parts of me, but until I feel like I've created that for myself I am committing to spending more time accessing and expressing my inner weird.  Are you ready, Marquette?!  :) I do believe that we all deserve to fully embrace ourselves so that we can shine our brightest, even if it's weird.

An Unconventional Expression of Gratitude

Ah, yes, here we are again, that time of year when we reflect on the things in our life we're grateful for.  That awkward moment when someone at the dinner table suggests you take turns sharing: family, friends, happiness, blah, blah, blah.  Every year I express gratitude for the things that are very obvious, but this year I wanted to try something a little different, so here it goes: Angie's Off-The-Beaten-Path List of Gratitude

1. Slippery sidewalks for the extra core workout and for forcing me to be present while I walk.  Apparently staring at my phone, in no way, makes it easy to avoid falling on my a$$.
2. Shorter days for forcing me to get creative with my time indoors.  I've been reading lots of books, cooking, knitting, working, cleaning, doing yoga, meditating, and obsessively listening to the podcast, Serial (check it out!!).
3. My body's desire to consume large quantities of food (is this a change-of-season thing?! Am I getting ready to hibernate?!) for allowing me to try MANY recipes I've been wanting to experiment with.
4. My fear of driving in the winter (either I've turned into an old lady or I was in California too long), which makes me get A LOT of walking in.
5. My ignorance of the U.P. weather for providing lots of entertainment on my walks to work.  I completely forgot about wet hair icicles.
6. The stairs at Sugarloaf that resemble icy slides more than stairs for the adventurous and hilarious trip back to the parking lot.
7. The hurt caused by a freshly applied bentonite clay mask for creating some of the weirdest faces I've ever seen and the most painful belly laughs I've ever experienced.
8. Wool socks… enough said.
9. The soft, pillowy snow for catching my case-less (I keep forgetting it) iPhone more times than I can count…
10. My temperamental heating situation in my apartment for sometimes allowing me to snuggle up in slippers and tons of blankets and for other times encouraging me to have the windows open during a snowstorm.
11. My uneven floors for collecting the dropped lip balm tubes (I have lots of these as I make my own) in the middle of the room.
12. Aaaand… the whirlwind of life changes I've experienced this year for challenging me in every way possible, forcing me to be strong in who I am, and to claim the things I want in life.

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving full of laughter, delicious food, friends and / or family, and love.  Reflect on the things you love about life, but always find ways to be grateful for some of your struggles as they're our biggest opportunities for growth and learning.  Plus, it makes the world a better place when we can be thankful for everything that comes our way.

Thanksgiving Recipes

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I thought this would be a good time to share some good eats with you guys.  Holidays are important to me, they always have been.  My family holidays were saturated in tradition and great memories.  As I've gotten older lots of things have changed, but my love for food and cooking make any holiday an excuse to do what I love and share it with those I love. It's a beautiful time to gather with friends and family and enjoy each other over an amazing meal.  This Thanksgiving is extra special since it's the first Thanksgiving I've spent with my family in years. When it comes to holidays I'm pretty flexible with myself about what I eat and drink.  I want to enjoy myself and partake in holiday traditions.  That being said, I do enjoy creating a healthy spin on holiday classics so that I can enjoy the day without feeling too weighed down by what I'm consuming.  Here are some of my holiday favorites:

My absolute favorite dish on Thanksgiving has always been green bean casserole, so when I started changing my eating habits it was one of the first recipes I tackled and created a healthy option for. Here's what I came up with:

Green Bean Casserole

Yields 8-10 1/2 cup servings

Ingredients:

1 pound green beans, chopped into 1-inch pieces and cooked in boiling water until tender

Mushroom filling:

1 tbsp butter (I use a dairy-free option, but that's up to you)

1/2 pound crimini or wild mushrooms, sliced

1/2 medium onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Sauce:

2 tbsp butter (again feel free to use a dairy-free option)

2 tbsp brown rice flour

3/4 c. veggie or chicken stock

2 tbsp nutrition yeast

1 tbsp tamari

1/2 tsp dried thyme

Onion topping:

1 tbsp butter

1/2 - 1 whole medium onion, sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mushroom filling: In a large sauté pan melt 1 tbsp of butter over medium heat.  Add mushrooms and onions, sautéing until the onions are clear.  Add garlic and sauté for another minute or two.
3. In a medium baking dish combine cooked green beans with the mushroom, onion, and garlic mixture and set aside.
4. Sauce: Melt 2 tbsp butter in a medium sauté pan over medium heat.  Once melted, slowly whisk in the flour until slightly browned.  Whisk in the stock, nutritional yeast, tamari, and thyme, stirring continuously until the sauce is thick and bubbly.  You may need to add more flour or nutritional yeast if it's not thickening.
5. Combine the sauce with the green bean mixture and set aside.
6. Onion topping: Melt 1 tbsp butter in a medium sauté pan over medium heat.  Once melted, add the onions and sauté until caramelized (10-20 minutes).  You may need to lower the heat to prevent burning.
7. While the onions are caramelizing, bake your casserole until heated through (10-15 minutes).
8. Top the casserole with the caramelized onions and serve.

In the last couple years I have developed an obsession with brussels sprouts.  I've discovered a way to cook them that leaves them nice and soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.  Here's that recipe:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 pound brussels sprouts, halved

1/4 cup olive oil

1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast (I love nutritional yeast, so I use 2)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Toss ingredients together on a baking sheet
3. Bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring often to avoid burning.  Watch them carefully as they're baking at a high heat and there's a very fine line between well roasted and burnt.
4. You may need to finish with a pinch of salt, depending on your taste preference. Serve and enjoy!

My other holiday favorites I've already blogged, but here they are again:

Fall Inspired Kale Salad and Pumpkin Risotto

Vegan GF Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving.  Take some time to remember what this holiday means to you and focus on what's important: the people in your lives, the love you share, and what you're grateful for.