Tuesday, 31 January 2017
Reconnecting to My Roots
The following post originally appeared on January 30, 2017 on my other website, StephGaudreau.com. (Yes, I’ve been writing there for over a year!)
I’d encourage you to read the whole thing, but hey, I know you may want the quick conclusion:
I’m re-expanding Stupid Easy Paleo back into a super-mega-awesome home for all good things nutrition AND fitness AND mindset related. You know, the stuff that makes you Harder to Kill.
And I’m bringing my signature Steph-ness back, too.
Yep, recipes will continue to flow, and I’ll be adding lots of other thought-provoking, kickass topics…
I’m really frickin’ excited to put all my energies here going forward.
From StephGaudreau.com….
Plot twist (noun): a radical change in expected direction.
This post is bound to be a ramble because I’ve gotta get out all the stuff that’s in my head, but the tl;dr is that things are a-changin’ round these parts.
I’m closing down the blog and active content creation – for the forseeable future – here at StephGaudreau.com…
…and shifting it, along with my energy and message, back to StupidEasyPaleo.com.
I know, probably not what you expected, right?!
I’m so excited, and I want you to join me.
(If you found me through SEP and followed me here, the good news is that you won’t have to check two sites and two sets of social accounts to get your daily dose of Steph-ness.)
I’ve gotta say this up front, because I know there’s a chance you wrinkled your nose at the p word (paleo). If it’s not your jam, that’s totally cool…but hear me out:
I believe in nourishing your body, and every body is different.
I believe context is more important than rigid dogma.
I believe in making humans harder to kill.
I believe in helping you become stronger so you can achieve your full potential.
And all that goes way beyond food or a strict dietary regimen.
What we want to believe is like this…
…is actually more like this:
Stick with me, and you’ll see what I mean. It’s a chance to explore how to make yourself resilient and strong and badass.
But let me back up, because every plot twist needs a back story.
In 2011, I started my blog and began posting recipes for the world so I’d remember them. I wrote however the f*ck I wanted because, well, like three people were reading it.
And then in 2013, I left my 12-year teaching career to make Stupid Easy Paleo my full-time gig. (Yes, scary. Yes, exciting. More on all that in a soon-to-be-published post.)
Risk is a funny thing.
In a way, you’d think that taking a flying leap into entrepreneurship would mean charging forward with that “write what I want, do what I want” spirit.
Well, as the stakes rose, I got more concerned with stuff like web traffic, SEO, and email subscribers. Naturally. If you start an online business, that tends to be a logical progression.
But I started softening my voice and my opinions. What I gleaned from the “biz world” lead me to believe that I had to vanilla-fy who I was to appeal to more people and “be successful.” (That was what I took from it at the time. I was wrong, obvi.) If you look back at blog posts from the 2013-15 period, it’s there. I got lured by the siren song of trying to appeal more broadly…
…and mid-2015, I knew I was going to head straight into the rocks if I didn’t do something.
I’d created this pretty big website with a great community and social following, but I’d painted myself into a corner, afraid to express what I really had on my mind for fear of losing what I’d created.
A very small percentage of comments coming in were complaints…about only wanting recipes – not all the other stuff that goes into a healthy lifestyle – or objecting to my very occasional use of wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap words.
And I let it change me.
I didn’t stick to my guns. I didn’t listen to my gut.
Hindsight is always 20-20.
Looking back, I should have had the cojones to keep writing about what I was passionate about…yes, food but also fitness and mindset and how to not take yourself so seriously.
But instead, I ran away and created another space for myself. Here. A “safe” place where I could say what I really wanted.
Everything I was reading, business-wise, at the time was saying, “Niche down. Get specific. No, more specific than that.”
Okay, so Stupid Easy Paleo would be about recipes. And all the other stuff would go here.
If I could go back to July 2015, my first urge would be to slap myself in the head…
…but then again, that’s all part of the process…trying things out, making mistakes, keeping what works, and pivoting. I really admire my pal Dave Conrey for his skill at doing exactly this. (If you’re curious about pivoting, read Rework by Jason Fried & David Hansson.)
So I can’t say I regretted the split. Not at all. It’s taught me a shit ton.
I’m a child of divorced parents, perhaps like many of you. I know what it’s like to divide time and have two parallel tracks and feel conflicted about where you fit in, what the rules are, and what’s expected of you.
Here’s the thing: For some people, splitting their businesses makes sense. And I’m not here to tell you that’s wrong. (I always joke with Z that if I sold Pokemon cards, I’d definitely make a different website for that.)
But what I ended up with was a divided heart and mind. Not to mention a confusing, logistical nightmare.
I launched this site in January 2016…and on the daily, I’d think, “Should _____ post / program / thingie go on Stupid Easy Paleo or here?”
If I wanted to say something on social media, should it go on this Instagram or this one?
Instead of solving my problems, it created more of them.
And if it was confusing for me, I can’t even imagine what y’all were thinking…other than, “What the hell is Steph doing?”
The reality is that both sites are aspects of my philosophy. It became impossible to separate them effectively.
I spent a whole year agonizing over what to do. So much precious mental energy, down the drain.
And at one point, I thought I knew.
I got really close to moving the last 6 years of Stupid Easy Paleo here, keeping a lot of it and pushing self-destruct on the rest.
Starting this new site has been hard…building it and everything that goes with it from zero.
I have seven email inboxes, two different e-commerce systems, two badass coaching programs on two different websites, and two completely different sets of social media accounts.
Tired yet just thinking about it?
Some people could probably manage this just fine, but it’s been a huge challenge.
But last week, while on a call with my business coaches, I had a huge lightbulb moment. (Yes, even coaches need coaches.) I’d invented a problem where there wasn’t actually one.
(It’s worth noting that nothing changed except how I chose to view the situation. Powerful lesson in mindset, indeed.)
Yes, there will always be the minority who complains – right before announcing to the world that they’re unfollowing. #ByeFelicia
Yes, some people may never get on board with being harder to kill because they’re turned off by the paleo word. They’re probably not My People anyway. (h/t Dallas Hartwig.)
No, I can’t please everyone. No, I’m not responsible for how others perceive and react to my work.
But damn, that’s taken a long time to sink in.
It’s easy to say you know something. But to really believe it and live it, that’s another level. It’s a process.
Anyway, my dominant feeling this past week has been RELIEF, followed by excitement. I’m so psyched to share my philosophy and really go deep about how to make unbreakable humans on Stupid Easy Paleo. Without fear. Without holding back. Unapologetically me.
So, what now?
Basically, all the things you’ve come to know and love about the blog here will move to a new spot, streamlining the process. If this split and merge have been confusing for you, I am really, truly sorry…sometimes the learning process isn’t linear.
This merge will mean more energy for me to invest in creating more stuff you love…instead of constantly dividing my time. And you’ll find a large community of like-minded people who you can learn from, too. The more, the merrier.
It’s going to take a little time for the full merge to happen, and I’m pumped about bringing the Harder to Kill lifestyle to the forefront of Stupid Easy Paleo. Over there, I’m going to tweak things a bit to reflect that as this year plays out.
Details:
- This site will remain up, but will become more like an author bio page instead of an active blog. My SG Instagram will also remain up, but soon, I won’t be posting there. Follow me here on IG.
- Stupid Easy Paleo will include more content than just recipes going forward, which I’m really jazzed about. I LOVE teaching and coaching about a holistic approach to health. (I’m not getting into racecars or knitting or underwater basketweaving, don’t worry.) Follow me there and jump on my newsletter for weekly updates.
- Listen to my podcast, Harder to Kill Radio. Things got really real this season!
- All shirts and stuff are now in the other store.
- If you’re a Strength School member, you’ll continue to access the program and login here. Eventually, I’ll be moving (and rebranding!) it. I’ll email you when that happens.
- If you’re on my SG newsletter, I’ll be transferring that to my SEP newsletter. I’d love for you to stay on, and I’m going to send an email out about that very soon.
- I’m planning on another summit later this year. If you’re Women’s Strength Summit All-Access member, nothing’s going to change for you. Continue to access all the interviews as you have been. Stay tuned for details on the new one!
Alright dudes, that’s the true story, the plot twist, and the new direction.
If you know me, you’ll know how much this meme encapsulates so much goodness because I’m a crazy cat lady:
My hope is that being vulnerable and honest will help someone out there reading…
…maybe it’ll help you take action on something in your life, to change things up, or to have the courage to move beyond the fear of “what if.”
My wonderful friend and coach Allegra Stein has always impressed something upon me:
You can’t know-for-sure if something’s going to be a spectacularly epic success or a flaming-pile-of-poo-failure until you do it. Until you act. Until you live it.
The paralysis of trying to “make the right choice” can keep you absolutely stuck and tortured by your own thoughts.
So here’s my story of taking a path and deciding later on that it didn’t work out like I’d hoped. And everything’s gonna be just fine.
In fact, no: Everything’s gonna be fucking great.
The post Reconnecting to My Roots appeared first on Stupid Easy Paleo.
from Stupid Easy Paleo http://stupideasypaleo.com/2017/01/31/reconnecting-to-my-roots/
via Holistic Clients
Fit For Her Minneapolis + 30 Minute Legs and Shoulders HIIT Workout
It’s that time of year again. The 2nd Annual Fit For Her Minneapolis fundraiser event is on Saturday, February 18th and I want to see all of you MPLS people there. You may remember last year’s Fit For Her 2016 event, where we sweat, ate, and shopped local female-run businesses to raise money for the Her Initiative. I...
The post Fit For Her Minneapolis + 30 Minute Legs and Shoulders HIIT Workout appeared first on Fit Foodie Finds.
from Fit Foodie Finds http://fitfoodiefinds.com/2017/01/fit-minneapolis-30-minute-legs-shoulders-hiit-workout/
via Holistic Clients
Monday, 30 January 2017
[Exciting News]: The Precision Nutrition Method now validated in 3 peer-reviewed research studies.
Here at Precision Nutrition we know that our coaching methods help clients lose fat, build strength, and improve their health. Now, with the publication of 3 peer-reviewed research studies, the rest of the world does too.
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I recently got some really exciting news — news that’s both good for Precision Nutrition and for anyone who’s registered for (or is considering registering for) one of our programs.
Three research papers have just been published in peer-reviewed journals confirming the safety and effectiveness of Precision Nutrition’s methods, which drive our Coaching, Certification, and ProCoach programs.
Why is this so awesome?
Well, although we know that our coaching methods work to help people lose fat, build strength, and make vast improvements to their health (we’ve proven it with more than 45,000 of our own clients)…
…people outside Precision Nutrition sometimes remain skeptical, especially those in the evidence-based communities (including medicine, pharma, etc).
Not only do these peer-reviewed studies show *very* positive results (as you’ll see); they also demonstrate that our coaching program is truly “evidence-based.”
Study #1: A personalized, multi-platform nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle coaching program: A pilot in women.
In one study, done in conjunction with Dr. Maggie Watt, a Precision Nutrition Coaching graduate and physician from Victoria, BC, we studied a group of overweight/obese women in her practice.
Particularly, we looked at how Precision Nutrition Coaching influences:
- weight,
- waist circumference,
- fat mass,
- muscle mass,
- blood pressure,
- total cholesterol,
- and other factors.
The results were very exciting.
Over 12 months, women who completed the program:
- lost an average of 16.5 pounds
- reduced waist circumference by an average of 3.4 inches
- decreased diastolic blood pressure by 3.33 mmHg
- increased high-density lipoproteins by 0.14 mmol/L
In conclusion, the women who completed Precision Nutrition Coaching experienced significant weight loss (8.3% of initial body weight) coming mostly from body fat. Chronic disease risk factors also improved.
To read more about this study, click here.
Study #2: Commercially available lifestyle modification program: randomized controlled trial addressing heart and bone health in BRCA1/2+ breast cancer survivors after risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy.
The second study was done in conjunction with Dr. Shannon Lynch and Dr. Kathryn Schmitz, both Precision Nutrition Coaching grads, and researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania and the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.
Here we studied female breast cancer survivors who underwent prophylactic oophorectomy (the preventive removal of the ovaries) and thus experienced premature surgical menopause. We examined:
- cardiovascular fitness,
- dietary intake,
- leisure time activity,
- body composition,
- bone mineral density,
- bone structure,
- muscle strength.
Again, really positive results.
Average adherence to the program was 74.8%, and those who completed it:
- maintained their fitness (1.1%) while the control group decreased (−4.0%),
- gained bone area (0.5) while the control group decreased (−0.8),
- decreased BMI (−4.7%) and fat mass (−8.6%) while the control group only lost lean mass.
In conclusion, in this population at high risk for negative bone and cardiovascular outcomes, Precision Nutrition Coaching preserved cardiovascular health, improved bone health, and decreased weight through fat loss.
To read more about this study, click here.
Study #3: Evaluation of a Web-based Weight Loss Intervention in Overweight Cancer Survivors Aged 50 and Younger.
The final study was again done in conjunction with Dr. Shannon Lynch and Dr. Kathryn Schmitz (mentioned above) and looked at young male (testis) and female (breast) cancer survivors. We examined:
- weight loss,
- body fat percentage,
- BMI,
- waist-to-hip ratio
- retention rates
- adverse events.
Again, exciting results. Men and women who completed the program:
- lost an average of 17.8 pounds,
- lost 9% of their initial body weight,
- decreased their BMI by 2.5,
- lost 3.5% body fat.
In conclusion, as half of adult cancer survivors under the age of 50 are obese and struggle with weight loss, this study demonstrated that Precision Nutrition Coaching can help this population experience clinically significant decreases in body weight, body fat, and BMI.
To read more about this study, click here.
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In the end, these three studies confirm what we know to be true:
Research-driven personal nutrition coaching (using our unique habit-based methodology) produces life-changing results in clients of all ages, dealing with all challenges, and from all walks of life.
The “secret” is out — and I can’t wait to see what our method can do for the tens of thousands of new Precision Nutrition Coaching, Certification, and ProCoach clients to come.
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If you have a friend or colleague who may be curious (even skeptical) about Precision Nutrition Coaching — or know someone who could benefit from results like these — please share this with them. Our next coaching group kicks off in July.
And if you’re a health and fitness professional yourself and are interested in using this methodology with your clients, we’ll soon be accepting a new group of students in our Level 1 Nutrition Certification; Level 1 spots open up in April.
Finally, for Level 1 students and grads, we’ll be accepting new Level 2 Certification Master Class students in April as well.
The post [Exciting News]: The Precision Nutrition Method now validated in 3 peer-reviewed research studies. appeared first on Precision Nutrition.
from Blog – Precision Nutrition http://www.precisionnutrition.com/precision-nutrition-research-studies
via Holistic Clients
Organic Check-Off Program: Protect Our Healthy Food Future
Today’s post is going to differ slightly from my health and wellness articles, but it’s a topic could affect all of us who are worried about the food supply and availability of organic foods for our family.
There’s a big new initiative on the horizon, and it affects a topic near and dear to my heart (and to many of yours as well, I’d wager):
How to get good food and more of it, for less!
It’s called the GRO Organic Check-off Program, and it’s the next big thing in the organic food industry. In fact, this idea has been years in the making. This program means that organic food producers will work together to make organic food more widely available than ever before … It would mean lower prices for organic food while still ensuring that our organic farmers are being given the best tools to stay profitable and successful and keep growing organic, while also driving down prices for consumers!
Sounds great, right? But organic farmers and the OTA (Organic Trade Association) need your support to make this plan a reality.
What’s a Check-off Program, Anyway?
Check-off programs in general are not exactly new. Does the phrase “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner” sound familiar? Or maybe you’ve heard of the “The Incredible Edible Egg”? Check-off programs brought us these now famous advertising campaigns and very popular slogans.
The term “check-off” just means that producers of a certain type of food group (for example, all the beef producers) would check off a box indicating they wanted to participate in the program. They would then pay a fee toward the check-off fund. (Some check-off programs are in fact mandatory, which is controversial.)
These programs don’t promote one brand over another but the food commodity as a whole (eggs, beef, dairy, and now organics!).
An elected board puts the funds to work in a variety of ways. The check-off program handles education, marketing, advertising, strategic expansion into new markets, and so on. It’s worked wonders for many sectors of the food industry.
And it’s about to do the same for organic food, but only with our help!
Organic Check-off Program: Why The Time Is Now
American consumers clearly want organic food in their grocery stores. The Organic Trade Association (OTA) reports that this sector of the food industry has grown by double digits almost every year since the 1990’s. Recent years are no exception, with a 10. 8% growth rate and a record $4.2 billion in sales in 2015. (Compare this to the overall food industry which grew at a rate of about 3% that year.)
While the demand is great, the supply is not. The same report tells us that as of 2014 only 1% of America’s farmland produced organic food. If you’ve dabbled in economics, you know that high demand and low supply drives up prices … as we all know too well when we’re trying to decide between conventional or organic at the grocery store.
Up until now, the organic food industry hasn’t had an official national check-off program. The OTA describes exactly why the industry should band together now at this critical point:
“We can either leave consumers guessing about what organic is, or we can come together to educate the public about what the organic seal really means. We can be solely dependent on others for research dollars to help solve industry challenges, or we can generate a pool of funds to help ourselves. We can struggle to meet the growing demand for organic, or we can work together to grow domestic acres and encourage more farmers to transition.”
In short, there’s no time like the present to make organically grown food more available and cost effective than ever and to make sure the farmers that grow our organic foods have all the resources available to stay in business and to expand!
What An Organic Check-Off Program Would Do for You
The GRO Organic Check-Off Program has 3 main goals:
- Encourage more farmers to enter the organic food sector
- Help all organic farmers be more successful and profitable
- Increase consumer confidence by educating about what the organic seal really means
It’s estimated that the program would raise $30 million dollars per year to use toward these goals. More specifically, a nationwide organic check-off program would raise money for the organic industry to:
- Educate consumers about what the organic label really means
- Distinguish organic from lesser claims and unregulated seals like “natural”
- Confirm the science behind the environmental and public health benefits of organic
- Undertake research to solve problems such as invasive pests and weed control
- Bring new farmers into organic production through information and technical assistance
- Reduce the supply crunch by transitioning farmland to organic production across the U.S.
Small organic growers would no longer have to struggle alone but would have the support of a coordinated, nationwide organization with their best interests in mind.
And all of this means we get to feel better about our choices in the grocery store.
How to Get Involved Today
For the next two months, the USDA is asking for public comments in the Federal Register on the proposal for the GRO Organic Check-Off Program. Anyone—consumers, business owners, or organic food producers—can comment to show public support for this initiative that promises to make organic foods better understood, more accessible, and less costly.
Still have questions? Check out these helpful FAQs with all you could ever want to know about the GRO initiative!
Ready to vote for a better food future? The USDA wants to hear your opinion! Between January 18, 2017, and March 20, 2017, you can influence this decision by entering your comment of support at www.groorganic.net. Use your power as a consumer and let your voice be heard!
Do you think an organic check-off program is a good idea? If you do, be sure to register your comment and ask others to do the same!
Continue Reading...Organic Check-Off Program: Protect Our Healthy Food Future
from Blog – Wellness Mama® https://wellnessmama.com/147769/organic-food-checkoff/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=organic-food-checkoff
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How to Put Your Healthstyle Back Together After Having a Baby
Rachel knew that having a baby would make it harder to maintain her healthstyle. But it’s now been 18 months and she still hasn’t found a way to regularly make the best choices and ends up eating out 2-3 nights per week.
Her issue is that her old healthstyle––which she loved––required an amount of time and energy that simply aren’t realistic for her anymore. She and her husband love to cook elaborate meals, but trying to fit it into their new baby life just isn’t working.
We also identify a few other invisible barriers that are blocking Rachel from fully utilizing her tiny New York kitchen. Subtle barriers can derail any well-intentioned healthstyle, but when you’re exhausted and every single part of your life feels new and overwhelming, identifying and eliminating those barriers is extra hard.
Together, Rachel and I come up with a few ways to simply her meals and make weekday cooking more practical.
Wish you had more time to listen to the podcast? I use an app called Overcast (no affiliation) to play back my favorite podcasts at faster speeds, dynamically shortening silences in talk shows so it doesn’t sound weird. It’s pretty rad.
Related links:
How To Cook Perfect Rice Without A Rice Cooker (and store it for months)
Listen:
If you’d like to be a guest on the show, please fill out the form here and tell us your story.
from Summer Tomato http://www.summertomato.com/how-to-put-your-healthstyle-back-together-after-having-a-baby
via Holistic Clients
GlobalXplorer invites you to find and protect archaeological sites
On GlobalXplorer, people around the world will team up to map satellite imagery of Peru. Image: GlobalXplorer
The power of the crowd has helped digitize the world’s books; it maintains the online encyclopedia many of us check by default. The crowd has fueled our understanding of the connections between neurons in the brain and contributed voice samples that will become a simple phone test for Parkinson’s.
Incredible things happen when people around the world team up to work on important tasks. Today, a new one for you: searching satellite imagery to help find and protect ancient sites that modern archaeologists don’t know about.
In today’s TED Talk, Sarah Parcak explains that hundreds of thousands of archaeological sites around the world are vulnerable to looting because archaeologists, and often governments, don’t know about them. The winner of the 2016 TED Prize, Parcak is a pioneer of satellite archaeology, which operates like a “space-based CAT scan.” Her team takes imagery captured by satellites and processes them using techniques that allow them to see patterns in the vegetation and soil that might signal manmade features, hidden from view. Parcak’s work has helped locate 17 potential pyramids and more than 3,000 potential settlements in Egypt, and led to major finds in the Roman and Viking world.
Searching satellite imagery once it’s processed is easy. But Parcak’s team is small. That’s where you come in. With the TED Prize, Parcak has built GlobalXplorer.org, a citizen science platform to crowdsource this work. Launched today, GlobalXplorer’s first campaign will take users to Peru, where they’ll help search 200,000 square kilometers of satellite imagery, from the highlands around Machu Picchu to the deserts around the Nazca Lines.
“We’re the generation with all the tools and all the technology to stop looting, but we’re not working fast enough,” says Parcak in her talk.
Users will search 200,000 square kilometers of satellite imagery. Large sections like this will be broken into smaller tiles. Archaeological features like this stone structure on a hill will be visible. Image: ©DigitalGlobe 2017
GlobalXplorer is a collaboration between the TED Prize, National Geographic and DigitalGlobe, which provided the satellite imagery broken down into search tiles the size of a few city blocks. When users log on to the site, they’ll get a tutorial on how to search satellite imagery for signs of looting. Users will level up as they search and unlock photos, articles and videos from National Geographic’s archives that will give them rich context on the ancient cultures of Peru. When they train their eye, users will move on to comparing imagery from two different time periods, to look for signs of sites threatened by urban development. Finally, users will learn to search imagery processed with a technique called “Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI).” It makes healthy and unhealthy vegetation appear in different colors, and users can spot patterns in less-healthy vegetation that might be growing over ancient ruins.
To keep the location of potential sites safe, GlobalXplorer tiles do not contain any location data and are displayed to users in a random order, one at a time, without the ability to navigate or pan away. Peru’s Ministry of Culture is a close partner in the project and will put in place plans to study and safeguard potential sites. On-the-ground partner the Sustainable Preservation Initiative will help, and engage local communities in protecting sites.
“It’s not the Pyramids that stand the test of time — it’s human ingenuity,” says Parcak in her talk. “The greatest story ever told is the story of our shared human journey. But the only way we’re going to be able to write it is if we do it together.”
from TED Blog http://blog.ted.com/globalxplorer-invites-you-to-find-archaeological-sites/
via Sol Danmeri
Power Biscotti from Blissful Basil
“…I’ve finally learned to greet anxiety with gratitude, because it is not my enemy but my teacher. And it’s taught me one of the greatest lessons of all: When faced with a problem, you can choose to avoid it, you can walk around it, and you can pretend that it doesn’t exist, but you will repeatedly run into its pain until you open your heart to its purpose.” Ashley Melillo, Blissful Basil
It’s no secret I’m a quote fan (and I love to include one in each issue of In the Glow), but lately I’ve been looking to them more and more for inspiration. I don’t know if it’s the dreary, sunless winter days of late or simply the phase that I seem to be in, but I’m craving new perspectives, some external sources of wisdom to reframe my thought patterns. The above quote from Ashley really spoke to me, so I thought I’d share it with you today!
I’ve been talking a lot with friends lately about how labels—both those we are given and those we give ourselves—can hold us back. We all have them, don’t we? Ways of thinking about ourselves can become an invisible boundary (conscious or subconscious) we never attempt to grow beyond because we actually believe that we can’t. It’s when you tell yourself NOPE before even giving yourself a chance. It’s a self-imposed personal growth ceiling. It’s thinking, I’m too this, or not enough that. Or how about, I don’t have that skill set; I’m not that type of person. Before long, a single label can start to represent our whole selves, rather than just a PART of what makes us who we are (and who we are is pretty awesome, by the way).
I often use the anxiety label as a reason for why I can’t do something. But what if I viewed my struggles with anxiety as something that makes me stronger? Something that if talked about openly could lift me (and maybe others) up, and take away its power to hold me back? Having shame about something and burying it deep below the surface seems to only give it more leverage. Our struggles are what make us human and relatable and we shouldn’t be embarrassed by them, ya know?
Think about something you have long thought of as a personal disadvantage or weakness. Now, try to picture yourself taking small steps to overcome it, and imagine that feeling of personal strength that you’d get from doing so. It feels good, right? Scary too, perhaps, but good. It won’t be an overnight success story, but the fight will be worth it.
For many of you, the author of the lovely quote at the top of this post needs no introduction; Ashley, the author, photographer, and recipe creator of Blissful Basil, has been blogging for a little over 6 years now. Her quest for inner peace led her to discover the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle, and she never looked back. The quote is an excerpt from the introduction of her beautiful new cookbook, Blissful Basil. Just like on her blog, Ashley’s voice and vulnerability is so beautifully intertwined throughout this book. Her passion for creating feel-good recipes just leaps from the pages, and I think it’ll inspire you, too.
A few recipes you’ll find within these pages are: Simple Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze, Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Tahini-Cilantro Vinaigrette, Sloppy Shiitakes with Tangy Rainbow Slaw, and Baked Yellow Split Pea Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce. I’m thrilled to share Ashley’s Power Biscotti recipe with you today. (Many of you asked for this recipe when Ashley did an OSG Instagram Takeover last year, so it’s coming full circle!) Made with a base of ground sunflower seeds (grain-free biscotti, what!?) and very lightly sweetened with maple syrup, it’s about as healthy as biscotti gets. Upon first bite, I wasn’t too sure about the subtle flavour, but as my taste buds adjusted for the reduced sweetness (compared to traditional biscotti) I came to love this healthified version and found myself reaching for it non-stop.
Before I go, I want to let you know about a fun interview I did with Anna and Nia from Vegan Creative. They’ve shared their review of Oh She Glows Every Day, too, so be sure to check out their post!
from Oh She Glows http://ohsheglows.com/2017/01/30/power-biscotti-from-blissful-basil/
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64: How to Keep Your Family Safe With Tips from Former CIA Agent Jason Hanson
If you watch the news, it can feel as if life is never truly safe and that even a routine trip to the park with children can be a dangerous endeavor.
The truth is that we are statistically safer than we’ve ever been, but those statistics don’t matter to the families who have been victims of crimes. So how do you keep your family safe without living in constant fear and how do you separate common sense prevention from paranoia?
Learning from a Former CIA Officer
In this interview, I talk with Jason Hanson, a former CIA Officer and the New York Times bestselling author of Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life. Jason has appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank, Fox & Friends, Dateline, NBC Today Show, and Rachael Ray, to name a few. He runs his Spy Escape & Evasion school on his 320-acre Spy Ranch in Cedar City, Utah.
Jason shares his story of how he became a CIA agent and how he uses the knowledge he gained through operative training to protect his family. He also teaches workshops to help men, women, and families take practical steps to keep safe.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn
- The number one way to reduce your chances of becoming the victim of a crime
- How criminals, when interviewed, could identify potential victims in seconds just from looking at pictures
- What to do if you are ever in a dangerous situation with your children
- The reason women (and especially moms) need to be concerned with self-defense
- Ways to teach your children to be safe at home and when out and about
- How to have a “family safety plan” for your home and what to do if an intruder ever enters
- What to do to reduce the chances of home invasion, car jacking, and kidnapping
- Simple tips to stay safe while traveling
- How to use some spare change and a sock for self defense
- The one place Jason would never take his family (hint: it is a popular vacation destination)
- A simple tool you can carry anywhere (even in airports) to help defend yourself
- If and when you should carry a gun or knife for protection
Resources We Mention
Special Thanks to Today’s Sponsors
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from Blog – Wellness Mama® https://wellnessmama.com/podcast/family-safety/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=family-safety
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VIDEO: Southwestern Sweet Potato Nachos – the perfect game day app!
Make yourself some nachos made from REAL FOOD. These Southwestern Sweet Potato Nachos are perfect for game day or any week night dinner! It’s the last week of January, do you know what that means? Football season is almost over! Don’t worry this recipe has come in the knick of time for the big game....
The post VIDEO: Southwestern Sweet Potato Nachos – the perfect game day app! appeared first on Fit Foodie Finds.
from Fit Foodie Finds http://fitfoodiefinds.com/2017/01/video-southwestern-sweet-potato-nachos/
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Sunday, 29 January 2017
5 Meditation Practices You Need to Know About
Meditation has come a long way since it first became popular in the West during the 1960s. Some of the most popular and effective methods are now backed by scientific evidence, showcasing the benefits meditation has on the body and our mental health. While meditation has been around for ages, only recently has it become a part of popular Western culture.
Currently in the modern world, there are five meditation practices that have stood the test of time. The reason for this is that they provide the most successful results, some of which can be felt after only one session. In this article, you’ll learn what these five methods are and how you can benefit from practicing them. Each of the techniques should be practiced for at least 20 minutes to have maximum impact.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness was developed to help us place our attention fully in the present moment. It doesn’t have a focus on spirituality; its sole purpose is to teach the student awareness of presence. What are the benefits of this? When we learn to become fully present, we can see our thoughts as separate from us, meaning we don’t have to engage with every one of them. Learning to watch negative thoughts come and go without harming us is one of the foundational principles of mindfulness.
Popularized by Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness teaches us to avoid secondary suffering. Secondary suffering is where we enhance our own pain by thinking about something negative that’s happened to us and then replaying it like a mental movie over and over again. Through developing mind awareness, we can learn to tune out secondary suffering and most negative thoughts, helping us to live in a happier, lighter and healthier state of being.
Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation was popularized by the Maharishi in the 1960s when he met The Beatles and taught it to them. The purpose of this method is to silence the mind and transcend to the source of all present-moment awareness. This is achieved through repeating a special mantra given to you by a qualified Transcendental Meditation teacher. The mantra is repeated internally in your mind, and you place your focus solely on your breath and the sounds of the mantra. When other thoughts arise, you let them be but do not engage with them.
After a while has passed, you will find your mind activity is very quiet and peaceful, and you will have transcended to the core of your being. This is the purpose of this technique. A certified Transcendental Meditation teacher is the only person qualified to teach you this method, as he or she knows what mantra is right for you and how to show you the process in its latest form with complete precision.
Walking Meditation
Walking meditation is a fast-growing meditation method that provides a unique experience to most other techniques. Typically, it involves slow, mindful walking in nature, where the student can use her surroundings to anchor herself in the present moment. This technique can be great for beginners to meditation as the grounding apparatus is very influential because your senses are far more active. You feel the wind and air passing across your face and the contact between your feet and the ground.
This method is typically practiced on nature walks; however, you can use it wherever you wish as long as you feel comfortable in your environment. Meditation teaches us that anything can be used as an anchor into the present moment; therefore, this particular technique could even be used in a busy city center!
Mantra Meditation
Similar to Transcendental Meditation, mantra meditation uses a word or series of words repeated over and over again to quiet the mind. Mantras can be repeated aloud or internally depending on your environment and how comfortable you are with chanting out loud. There are hundreds of different mantras all with different meanings.
Mantra meditation is typically practiced while sitting in a meditative pose, using slow relaxing breaths. The same principle applies as for most meditation methods where you allow everything to be just as it is in the moment. Thoughts and distractions will arise, but the trick is to know that that’s okay. Let everything be as it is, and simply focus on your mantra. You’ll find that if you concentrate on the process of mantra meditation, all distractions will melt away naturally over time.
Mala Bead Meditation
This meditation method involves using mala beads. Mala beads are usually made out of wood but can also come in the form of precious gemstones. An authentic mala bead necklace has 108 beads. The student is supposed to count each bead using a mantra. The entire mantra is repeated on each single bead, meaning the mantra is stated in its entirety 108 times. Mala meditation should be done slowly with deep breaths. Once you reach the end of the beads on the necklace, you’ll find that your mind activity has decreased and you’re in a state of peacefulness and contentment.
Overall, these five methods have proven themselves to be the kings of the world of meditation. You can learn more details about each of them online via YouTube videos, blogs, and other sources.
After learning more about these techniques online, you may wish to take things further and deepen your meditational practices. The best way to do so is to seek out a teacher who’s experienced in your chosen method and learn directly from him or her.
Happy meditating 
———————-
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Diamond, a keen meditator whose favorite methods are mindfulness and transcendental meditation. She enjoys developing awareness by helping others find the right kinds of meditation to suit their needs and personality types.
from Daily Cup of Yoga http://www.dailycupofyoga.com/2017/01/30/5-meditation-practices-you-need-to-know-about/
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Healthy Glow Guide Recap – Week 3
Well week 3 of the Healthy Glow Guide definitely turned out much different than expected! Totally thought I was going to GSD, get some great workouts in, and eat really healthy before leaving for my big trip to Colorado. Whelp, I got whatever is going around and was pretty much hunkered down on the couch from Mon-Wed...
The post Healthy Glow Guide Recap – Week 3 appeared first on Fit Foodie Finds.
from Fit Foodie Finds http://fitfoodiefinds.com/2017/01/healthy-glow-guide-recap-week-3/
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Friday, 27 January 2017
From shanty mega-towns to a cyborg uprising: Talks from TEDNYC Idea Search 2017
Artist Olalekan Jeyifous kicks off the night at TEDNYC Idea Search 2017 with a gallery of his hyper-detailed and gloriously complex imaginary cities. The event took place January 26, 2017, at TED’s New York headquarters. Photo: Anyssa Samari / TED
Here at TED headquarters, we are constantly looking for new voices, new ideas — and late last year, we opened a challenge to the world: Make a one-minute audition video that makes the case for your TED Talk. On Thursday night, January 26, at our New York office, co-hosts Kelly Stoetzel and Cloe Shasha presented us with eleven audition finalists in a fast-paced program that took us from imaginary shanty towns to the cyborg uprising. (It’s all part of our Idea Search project, and Thursday’s event was the first of three evenings planned — the next two are in Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya.) Here are voices you may not have heard before — but that you’ll want to hear more from soon …
Dystopian design. Artist Olalekan Jeyifous creates speculative architectural interventions — fantastical, sci-fi-inspired designs that spur inquiry and discourse about the places we live. In an image-packed talk (seriously, check out his work), Jeyifous shows us his future vision for cities like Lagos, Nigeria, where millions of people live and work in improvised buildings cheek-by-jowl with luxury megastructures. With elegant lines and colors, and the kind of detail you could get lost in for days, his work celebrates the organic, eye-popping complexity of our cities.
Designing the “how” conversation. Ask a group of people whether something should happen, and you’ll get a discussion where people take sides and likely end in a stalemate; but ask them how something might happen, and you’ll get a design discussion with room for many voices and, possibly, a solution. In his six-minute talk, David Dylan Thomas suggests that too much of our discourse, both online and off, focuses on telling people what they’re doing wrong instead of on how they could be doing better. “The best thing we can do is ask the right question in the first place,” Thomas says. “The next time you see someone doing it wrong, ask yourself, is there a How conversation to be had?”
Journalist and “industrious optimist” Lara Setrakian runs Syria Deeply, a news site that covers complex and difficult — and vastly important — global news. As she says, we must “embrace complexity to make sense of a complex world.” Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
The news, deeply. Lara Setrakian was working as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East when she noticed the stories all around her, from conflict zones to climate change, that were going untold by the news industry. Determined not to let Syria become another forgotten story, she left ABC News to found Syria Deeply, a news site that’s dedicated to helping people understand current events in all their complexity. With trust in the media at an all-time low, Setrakian offers a three-point manifesto for fixing the news, never wavering from her belief that for journalism, today is “a time of reawakening and reimagining.”
Life lessons from NYTimes obituaries. By analyzing 2,000 obituaries over a 20-month period, Lux Narayan uncovers the lessons and values that obituaries can teach us about our everyday lives. He found that, when condensed into an obit headline, people are celebrated much more often for their impact on others than for their personal, material success; in fact, one of the most common verbs in an obituary headline is “helped.” The most powerful lesson, he concludes, is that “if more people lived their lives trying to be famous in death, the world would be a much better place.”
How to use an AED, as explained by Star Wars. If Yoda goes into cardiac arrest, will you know what to do? Artist and first-aid enthusiast Todd Scott breaks down everything you need to know about using an Automated External Defibrillator, or AED, in the Star Wars universe (or ours). Everyone in the audience is now prepared to save the life of Yoda, the Ewoks and even Chewbacca the Wookiee (he’ll need a quick shave first).
Olivia Hallisey won the 2015 Google Science Fair with this elegant, low-cost diagnostic tool for Ebola. It could someday be used to detect even more conditions, from Lyme disease to certain cancers. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
A better diagnostic tool for Ebola. Olivia Hallisey was a high school student during the Ebola outbreak, but instead of buying into the media hysteria and public fear, she set out to help by creating a better diagnostic tool. ELISA, the best test available, relied on constant refrigeration, from the moment of manufacture to the moment of testing, and Hallisey was determined to make an Ebola test that was easier to give and take. Her paper-based Ebola Assay uses a technique she learned about in a TED Talk (Fiorenzo Omenetto’s “Silk, the ancient material of the future“) — and it not only requires no refrigeration, but it’s cheap, fast, portable and doesn’t require trained medical personnel.
Standing up to ageism. I want to live in a world, says Ashton Applewhite, where people do not age out of having value as human beings. The founder of the blog Yo, Is This Ageist? and author of This Chair Rocks, Applewhite confronts our socially constructed ideas about old people and asks us instead to celebrate the self-knowledge that comes with maturity. “The longer we live,” she points out, “the more different from one another we become.” She challenges us to stop assuming there’s a line between old and young “after which it is all downhill.”
Break the trap of imposter syndrome. Want to stop feeling like an imposter? Stop thinking like one, says Valerie Young. Many of us have a tendency to discount and downplay our own abilities, a bad habit that can have real consequences on our success. The best way to step out of the imposter syndrome trap, Young says, is to reframe how we see ourselves and our accomplishments — and she shares a few tips for doing just that. The trick? Learn to talk yourself out of your shame spiral and over time, your feelings will follow. As she puts it: “You don’t have to feel confident to act confident.”
Ben Mirin makes beats out of birdsong and other sounds from the natural world. He DJed a set of whalesong, dolphin beeps, frog croaks and more at TEDNYC Idea Search 2017. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
The sound of conservation. A lifelong birdwatcher, sound artist and musician Ben Mirin found himself in need of nature after moving to New York City. Using birdsong recordings he found online, he began to put the sounds down to some beats. Now, he travels the world to record the sounds of nature, using the recordings not only for scientific research but to make music that celebrates the beauty and musicality of our world. “Music and art can connect us all to the wild world,” says Mirin; “it turns conservation into an international language that anybody can dance to.”
Searching Watson for ourselves. Nearly every dystopian script related to the future of artificial intelligence involves a conversation about the dangers AI poses for the human race. But according to Elizabeth Kiehner, these fears belong to a future far distant from where we are today. The real concern, she says, lies with our own ethical systems, and how we embed those values in the AI of today — the biases, prejudices, and beliefs we form during our lifetimes. If we’re creating artificial intelligence in our own image, then we need to be careful about the ways in which we actually program it.
Take back our digital DNA. “I used to fear a cyborg uprising,” says Evgeny Chereshnev, “but now I am one.” Two years ago, he had a biochip implanted in his hand. The chip gives him some cool Jedi skills like opening doors and unlocking phones, but it also tracks and records his every move. And it turns out, tracking every second of his digital life has transformed the way he views the collection of our private data — collection that’s happening constantly, often without our notice or permission, and whether or not we have a chip in our hand. Our collected digital habits collected from credit-card shopping, mobile phone records, browsing histories, etc., become a kind of digital DNA, offering marketers “a cheatsheet to your brain, to your life.” He offers a rousing call to take back our privacy, which is “another word for freedom.”
Technologist Evgeny Chereshnev implanted a microchip in his hand so that he’d know what it felt like to be part of the Internet of Things. Photo: Anyssa Samari / TED
from TED Blog http://blog.ted.com/from-shanty-mega-towns-to-a-cyborg-uprising-talks-from-tednyc-idea-search-2017/
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