Tag Archive for: challenge

Is the Holiday Stress Already Getting To You?

Does the approaching holiday season stress you out? I have had a few clients come in to my office recently who are already beginning to feel the stress of the holiday season now that it’s November!  One conversation really stuck with me.

 

Sara walked into my office this week all stressed out. I asked her what was wrong, and she started to tell me about how overwhelmed she’s feeling about Thanksgiving, Christmas, all the parties and family visiting. There’s still 3 weeks until Thanksgiving, yet she’s already anticipating and feeling the stress.

 

These are some of her stressors that she started listing:

 

  • Gift shopping. Sara is a mom of four children and in charge of gifts for them for the holidays as well as the rest of her large extended family. This causes her a lot of anxiety about finding the right gift and making sure she’s getting what everyone wants, while still staying on budget.

 

  • Hostess. Her parents come in from out of town during the holidays and tend to stay with her and her family. She said this becomes very stressful because she has to make sure her house is spotless the whole time, cooking meals every night and she feels pressure to constantly entertain them.  This becomes overwhelming and takes away from her own self-care.

 

  • Cooking. Finding a balance between cooking what her family wants and finding meals that nourish her own body has become very stressful. Normally, she likes to choose meals based on whole foods. During the holiday season, her family requests lots of holiday favorites, which she enjoys as well, yet she has trouble balancing the holiday favorites with foods that feel best in her body.

 

  • Cleaning. As the holidays approach and her extended family visits, Sara finds that she is cleaning nonstop.  This chore becomes daunting and stressful, as it’s hard to keep a full house clean all the time.  However, she feels she needs to do it to keep everyone happy and not let anyone know she is overwhelmed.

 

  • Parties. This is where Sara said she has the most stress. Sara is usually the hostess at the family holiday parties and dinners. She feels extra pressure to entertain everyone while still ensuring they are well fed and happy. She really doesn’t have any help, and finds it difficult to ask for assistance from her husband and kids. She feels she ‘should’ be able to do it all.

 

And then of course there is the obligation of attending her workplace holiday party where there’s lots of food and drink available. By this time, she’s physically and emotionally drained and just says “What the heck. I’ll deal with my eating in the New Year!”

 

Woah! No wonder she is already worrying about the holidays.  This is a lot to handle and can be hard for anyone to keep from getting stressed.

 

In working with Sara, I’ve identified that she has the all-or-nothing mindset when it comes to the holidays.  She needs to do everything herself at 100%, or it doesn’t count. She needs to eat perfectly, or she eats “terribly” (her words!).

 

Does any of this resonate with you?

 

Can you relate to Sara?

 

Well, Sara asked me to help her handle the stress better this year and lucky for her, and you, I have exactly what she needs.

 

I invite you to join my 3-week free challenge “Enjoy Your Holiday Festivities (and Sweets) without Guilt” where I’ll give you tips on self-care during the holiday, navigating holiday parties and eating your sweets without guilt.

 

Yes, you CAN eat your holiday sweets and not have any guilt. 

 

You CAN rid yourself of the all-or-nothing thinking when it comes to your food and the holidays.

 

Allow me to show you how.

 

In this challenge, you’ll get step-by-step training and support every step of the way.

 

We start Monday, November 6th!

 

Learn more and join us HERE!

 

I look forward to supporting you through the holidays, so you can enjoy your holiday festivities and sweets, without the guilt!

 

How Do You Handle Food-Related Stress?

Food is supposed to be enjoyed. Yet, when speaking with so many clients, and potential clients, they tell me that food is stressful. All aspects of food, whether its deciding what to eat, shopping and preparing food for meals, or even the thought of going out to eat food.

 

Stress, stress, stress!

 

Do you feel the same way?

 

If you have had a difficult relationship with food for some time now, then you can probably relate.

 

I know you probably want food to be a non-issue in your life. And you know what? It can be.

 

Let’s first start with 3 strategies that you can put into place immediately to help you minimize the stress around food.

 

Strategy #1: Set up your environment for success.

While I’m all about teaching you how to be intuitive in your eating (of course…I teach intuitive eating!), I am also very practical. It is important to be mindful of your eating and one way to do that is to reduce your external eating cues. That means put all food away after you’ve eaten and don’t leave food on the counters or table. If food is left out, it can very easily lead to mindless munching which then leads to feelings of guilt and frustration for eating when you weren’t hungry.

 

Strategy #2: Seek assistance from your family members.

Food shopping and meal prep doesn’t have to just be your responsibility. Get everyone involved in the menu planning. Even better, assign everyone a night to prepare the dinner. This way the whole family is involved, the kids will more likely eat what they help to prepare, and you get quality family time too.

 

Strategy #3. Start to use meditation and visualization. Meditation can be a powerful tool to help keep your mind clear and stress-free. You can use meditation as a way to visualize yourself being stress-free around food and, by visualizing that, you can start to believe it will happen too.

 

These strategies are a good place to get started and you can use them as a way to figure out what works best for you.

 

But I have more!

 

Come join my 3-Day Challenge – Managing Food-Related Stress.

 

It starts TODAY, August 30th and runs through Friday September 1 and is happening in my Private Facebook Group.

 

Download your free e-Book “How to Manage Food-Related Stress” (which we are using throughout the challenge) as a tool to teach you ways to manage your stress around food.

 

Head over to our Private Facebook Group to see what Day One of the challenge entails!

 

See you there!

 

How Do I Stop Eating Impulsively?

To someone just hearing about intuitive eating, it sounds glorious, almost too good to be true.

 

“You mean I can eat all those foods I’ve deprived myself of all those years? And still lose weight? Where has this been all my life?”

 

So, before I delve too deeply into the topic for today (which I’ll reveal in a moment), let me be sure that I am clear about something very important regarding intuitive eating.

 

Intuitive eating is not about losing weight. It’s about changing your relationship to food, your mind and your body.

 

If someone is telling you that they will teach you intuitive eating as a way to lose weight, please run the other way. I’m not saying that some people don’t release excess weight eventually. Some do, some don’t. It’s not the point.

 

More on this topic here!

 

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, let’s address today’s topic which is impulsive eating.

 

The definition of the word impulsive means “actions based on sudden desires or inclinations rather than careful thought; actions based on emotional impulses; acting under stress of emotion.”

 

When acting impulsively, you are acting quickly or acting without fully examining the consequences.

 

So for example, when you impulsively grab for the cookie when you walk in from work because it was sitting on the counter, or you impulsively reach for the ice cream in the freezer after you have an argument with your partner. These are examples of when you act without fully examining the consequences. And it’s only after you finish the cookie(s) or the pint of chocolate fudge ice cream that you stop and wonder “why did I do that again?”

 

Does this resonate with you?

 

Do you suddenly find yourself eating without having even thought about it first?

 

Then you feel guilty for “what I have just done…again” and start to criticize yourself for “not wanting it bad enough”?

 

Impulsive eating can be an emotional roller coaster with triggers at almost every meal that can lead you to overindulge.

 

And more often than not, there is some emotional reason behind that impulsive decision to eat. It’s just that sometimes it’s not so easy for you to figure it out. But, you have the power within you to identify the WHY behind your impulsive eating. You must first become aware in order to have change.

 

I’m going to show you how to start this process in my FREE 5-Day Challenge called ‘How to Triumph Over Emotional Eating’. This challenge will help you begin to break your pattern of emotional eating. Together we’ll find YOUR power.

Register for Free HERE!

 

During the 5 days, you’ll learn my “6 P’s to Success” in changing your relationship to food, so food no longer has power over you.  Each day you’ll receive an email with training and a quick assignment to complete. Then later that day we will meet in our Facebook group for a Facebook Live training to dig deeper into that day’s lesson. You’ll also be able to can ask questions and get my personal help.

 

This challenge will help you triumph over emotional eating and give you the tools you need to succeed.

 

As a bonus, you will have a chance to win prizes just for participating in the challenge!  You will also get access to all 5 videos after the challenge is over.

 

What are you waiting for?  Head over to http://dietfreeradiantme.com/howtotriumphchallenge and sign up today to secure your spot!

 

Is it Possible to Eat without Food Worry?

Woman eating fruit saladIf I told you, a chronic dieter, that you can recapture the pleasure in your eating and look forward to your meals with excitement and not fear, dread or worry, what would you say?

“No way, impossible.”

“I wish!”

“I doubt it!”

 

I know that this might seem unachievable to you, having battled with your weight for years, being on and off diets without long-term success. All these diets have caused food to be your enemy, which is quite unfortunate because food is meant to nourish your body.

 

How many times have you accepted a lunch date with your girlfriends, or dinner date with your partner only to worry for hours beforehand what you will order and if you are going to overeat? The worry about how many points the salad dressing is, how many calories are in the creamed spinach and concerned that you will leave the restaurant feeling bloated, heavy and miserable.

 

All this fear and worry leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. You DO overeat, you DO feel guilty and ashamed and you DO leave the date feeling bloated, heavy and miserable.

 

In my work with my clients, I help them to understand that through the process of learning to be an intuitive eater, you actually lose this food fear and food worry and instead leave the restaurant or dinner table feeling utmost pleasure in what you have just eaten (and you were able to focus on your wonderful dinnertime companion instead of thinking about eating too much food).

 

The secret is in SAVORING YOUR FOOD! This means slowing down and taking the time to enjoy all the qualities of the food you are eating including taste, texture, temperature, aroma and appearance. This sounds a lot like mindful eating, doesn’t it? Yes, it is and it is exactly what I teach my clients as they move along their intuitive eating journey.

 

This month is National Nutrition Month. The theme is “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right”. This theme meshes wonderfully with the message of mindful eating. Take the time to enjoy food traditions and appreciate the pleasure, great flavors and social experience that food can bring to your life.

 

Would you like to participate in a free 7 day challenge where you can learn how to “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right”?

 

This challenge is happening in my private Facebook group. It’s called:

 

Challenge - Savor Flavor-When-Where

Savor the Flavor of Eating

7 Day Free Challenge

 

Discover:

– What’s behind the “HOW”, “WHEN”, “WHY” and “WHERE” you eat.

– Begin your journey towards a more mindful and pleasurable eating style.

 

Join us for Free by clicking here. There is no opt-in required to join our group. This takes you to my private Facebook group. All you have to do is request access to join and Walla! I’ll accept you and welcome you in.

 

The challenge starts on March 7. You can only participate if you are part of the private Facebook group, so click here now and request access to join.