Inspire One Wellness
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4 Great Cookbooks to Keep You Eating Well
When trying to gain control of your health, you have got to eat well. In order to do that, you need to eat most meals at home. When eating out, you often don’t know the ingredients or the cooking methods. Therefore, it’s nearly impossible to eat the best when eating away from home. One way to maximize healthy meals is to plan your at home meals utilizing cookbooks. Unless you’re a trained chef, you’re probably not going to be able to create amazing, healthy meals on your own. I’ve listed my favorite (for now!) cookbooks below.
Why I love The Fresh 20 by Melissa Lanz
- You can buy 20 Fresh ingredients to plan out 5 meals for the week
- Meals utilize leftovers, nothing goes to waste
- The book provides lists for pantry essentials, spice blend recipes and cooking tools
- Recipes are based on the seasons
- Beautiful pictures
- Concise and easy to read shopping lists
- Ways to Prep Ahead
- When to buy organic
This book is easy to use and I feel good about what I’m eating. The ingredients are fresh and often times organic. The lists keep you organized and allow you to plan efficiently. Find more of Melissa’s amazing Fresh recipes here.
Why I Love The Runners World Cookbook
- There are 150 recipes!
- Beautiful pictures
- An introduction to “how to eat like a runner”
- A Recipe Key – Recipes are marked for Prerun, Recovery, Fast, Vegetarian, Vegan, Low-Calorie, Gluten-Free. This book has your meals covered!
- Nutrition information is listed for each recipe
- A runners pantry staple list
I love this book for when I’m training for a run. You know exactly how to plan for the type of meal your body needs. A bonus is the pancake batter and topping ideas! If you are a runner or just venturing into the sport, this cookbook deserves a place in your kitchen. Find out more about this cookbook here.
Why I love Superfood by LoveFood
- This book explains the “superfood”
- There are 150 recipes!
- The foods are easily organized by Fruit, Vegetables, Meats, Dairy & Eggs, Grains & Pulses, Herbs & Flavorings, Nuts & Oils
- The “superfood” is listed along with scientific evidence of it’s nutritional benefits plus several recipes using the superfood
- There are practical tips on how to eat and store the foods
This book offers a great way to educate yourself and your family about the foods they are eating. It’s a good teaching tool to pull out at the dinner table when serving the meal. SuperFoods is bright, pleasing to look at and provides many recipes to incorporate “superfoods” into your daily life. You can find out more about LoveFood Cookbooks here. 
Why I love The Whole30 by Melissa Hartwig and Dallas Hartwig
- If you are into Paleo this book will interest you
- This book teaches a “way of living”
- This book is a 30 day program designed to heal your immune system and digestive tract through food
- Meal plans are provided
- A kitchen essentials list is included
- Chapters on feeding kids and eating vegan/vegetarian is included
The authors note “the next 30 days will change your life.” You can still use the recipes without jumping into the program. But, if your having inflammation issues, digestive issues or just want to jump start a health makeover, I would check this book out. You can find out more about the WHOLE30 program here.
Next up, I’ll show you a way to store your own favorite recipes!
Printable Food Diary and Exercise Log
Sometimes all it takes to get healthy is to put pen to paper and start tracking. We often tend to underestimate our calories and overestimate our activity. Be truthful with yourself and jot down as much as you can keep up with. You may start to see a patter where you are over consuming. Or maybe your didn’t get in the amount of activity that you thought you would for the week. Click the link below, and start journaling your food intake and exercise participation.
Let me know if you have questions!
It’s Time to get SMART about Goal Setting
“Goals are dreams with deadlines.”
~Diana Scharf Hunt
In a crazy, busy world, Goals can help us achieve the life we want, they energize us, guide us through the process and hold us accountable. Goal setting can be used in numerous areas of our life but for this article we’ll focus on health and wellness.
“Realistic and inspiring plans also provide the framework for people to improve their health, fitness and wellness.”
~Wellcoaches Manual
To begin with, I’ve included this downloadable form to help guide you in the goal setting process.
- Brainstorm: How do you envision your life? Where you want to go? Write down your ideas and thoughts. Make this fun. Use colored markers, sharpies, a unique journal, etc. This is your time to dream.
- Look through your ideas and prioritize by what’s most important to you.
- As you prioritize, think about your motivation behind your dreams. Studies show the more you are motivated by an intrinsic motivator (personally rewarding behavior, something that is emotional and important to you) vs and extrinsic motivator (motivated by rewards or to avoid punishment), the more likely you will succeed.
- Turn your ideas/thoughts into actionable goals. Use the SMART system. Goals should be:
- S – Specific
- M – Measurable
- A – Action-based
- R – Realistic
- T – Time-lined
- Once you have your goals written down, keep them in a safe place where you can check them weekly. Start with 3-4 goals and don’t begin new ones until you’ve reached the current ones. You can also classify your goals by Yearly, Monthly and/or Weekly goals. Don’t go further than 1 year out because we often feel discouraged at the lengthy timeline to reach goals further than a year out.
A Wellness Coach can also assist you with reaching your goals. If you would like more information on a free coaching demo, email me at kwiesmann@inspireonewellness.com. Good luck. Check back for more information and forms to help you reach your goals.
How a Dog Saved This Boys Life!
We are all inspired in many different ways. Sometimes its a piece of art, or a delicate pastry, a walk in the woods, a simple hug… the list goes on and on. But sometimes, the inspiration is even bigger! Sometimes, our lives cross paths with another person or even a loving animal and it changes our lives forever. Here are two stories of love between a human and their pets.
Are You Happy?
We often wonder what makes a person happy. Is it money? Is it health? Is it family? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi may have the answer. Listen in to find out.
Find out more about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi at http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/
Influence Someone Today
Want to help motivate change? Telling someone what they “should” do is not the best way to go about motiving someone. Inspire someone by using these simple steps!
Let’s Get Moving
“Sitting is the new cancer” ~Apple CEO Tim Cook
It’s time we get moving! More than ever, our society is sitting throughout the day and becoming obese because of it. These long periods of sitting are causing weight gain, disease and a host of other health problems. Exercising for an hour a day, can’t combat the amount of sitting in a 24 hour period.
Use these tips to keep you moving throughout the day.
- Use the last 10 minutes of every hour to take a short walk, whether it’s to the lobby of your office, to a friends desk or down the hall.
- Stand during phone calls. “Standing works your core no matter what you are doing and automatically engages your whole body.” ~Adam Borstein of Born Fitness
- Sit on a stability ball at your desk. Every so often, sit up straight, squeeze your core and roll back and forward and side to side.
- Keep your posture in check when sitting at your desk. Don’t round your shoulders or jut your chin out. Check out this Pinterest board for more tips on office ergonomics.
- Hold as many small group meetings (1-3 people) as you can walking outdoors. Nature will calm you and get your creative juices flowing.
- At lunch time, do this workout – 10 jumping jacks, 10 push ups, 12 air squats, 15 bridge hip thrust, 20 superman pulses, hold a plank for :30 seconds. Finish with another round of 10 jumping jacks.
- Always take the stairs.
- Park far from the building.
- If you are able to verbally speak with someone by walking to their desk then choose this option over email.
- Use a pedometer. Work to get in 10,000 steps daily.
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