Healthy Hacks

Woman walking down steps to the beach

This article was written by Stacey McBride-Wilson from The Healthy Happy Soul.

 

HEALTHY HACKS

 

1. RECIPE/SNACK – ‘Not quite apple crumble’

Ingredients:

  • 1 X Apple (I like to use Pink Lady apples!)
  • Natural Peanut Butter
  • Cinnamon

Method:

  1. Cut apple into quarters
  2. Lather generously with peanut butter
  3. Sprinkle with cinnamon
  4. Enjoy!

 

This snack is quick, easy, wholesome, nourishing and tasty! Apples are extremely rich in important antioxidants, and dietary fibre plus may help reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Cinnamon is another power packed ingredient boasting such benefits as anti-inflammatory properties, protects heart health and fights infections and viruses. And Peanut Butter, what’s not to love about that?! Once you try it I guarantee it’ll become an afternoon favourite to curve those 3pm sugar cravings. Enjoy!

 

2. REMEMBER YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, BUT NOT EVERYTHING!

YOU are amazing, so you can do anything. But if we try to be everything to everyone, we end up being nothing to no one. There is power in doing a few things well. So what will you unload off your plate, and what few things will you do well today? Trust me, less really is more.

 

3. MAKE TIME FOR FUN
Thought for today: What’s life without a little fun and adventure? Remember fun is absolutely key for health and happiness. Things don’t always need to be so serious! How will you factor in a little fun and adventure today? Trust me you’ll be glad you made room for fun!
*I’ve tied this in with the #mondaypunday meme ‘An adventure? Alpaca my bags!’ And it’s an alpaca with a helmet. Always love a Monday Pun!!
4. GET OUTSIDE IN THE SUNSHINE

Did you know that small doses of regular exposure to glorious sunshiney rays without sunscreen is essential for your health? Vitamin D, the ‘sunshine’ vitamin is produced by your skin in response to exposure to sunlight. In short, vitamin D:
• increases immunity
• reduces depression
• fights disease
• boosts weight loss
BOOM! What a great excuse to get outside into the sunshine? It’s a glorious day here today and I’m about to get outside and soak up just a little sunshiney goodness for myself, I encourage you to do the same!!

 

P.s. Let me stress that I’m not talking about the get outside and baking your skin kind, that kinda stuff does mega damage! Just 10-15mins will give you the dose you need. If you are planning on being out longer, choose a good quality non-toxic sunscreen to keep your skin safe (I like the one by @ecotan!). 

 

5. THE PERFECT POACHED EGG

All LOVE all the fluro yellow runny goodness from perfectly poached eggs. Do you love poached eggs but got poaching problems? See below for my simple tips for creating the perfect poached egg.

PERFECT POACHED EGGS
Step 1. Fill a large shallow frying pan about 3/4 full of water.
Step 2. Heat water until boiling.
Step 3. Crack egg straight in slowly, take time to allow it to set slightly/not move around.
Step 4. Cook for 3-4mins until all uncooked clear white has changed to flat cooked white.
Step 5. Retrieve from pan and enjoy! |
*note* over the years I’ve tried many many times to achieve the perfect poached eggs without success. I’ve tried to swirl the water and add vinegar etc etc. with no joy. But this simple method works for me EVERY time! Good luck!

P.s. Did you know that the brighter and yellower the yolk of an egg is, the fresher the eggs and the healthier the chickens are? Go organic, go fresh and I promise you that you’ll see and taste the difference! 

 

6. MONDAYS MATTER

I absolutely LOVE Mondays, because it means a whole week of possibility, potential and opportunity is just waiting to be adventured into. PLUS, Monday mornings are the best chance to set the tone for our whole week ahead. Cause when we set the tone early, the rest of the stuff flows later…..
So how do you feel about Mondays? No really! Do you see Mondays as the worst day of the week, or one that totally rocks? Because what you perceive determines the experience you receive peeps (eg. If you think Mondays suck, guess what….Mondays will suck!)

So what one practical thing will you do TODAY to set the tone and set yourself up well for the week? Mondays matter!

 

7. EASY PEASEY FANCY FRENCH TOAST

Why go out for a fancy brunch when you can make it yourself? This beauty took me 5mins to whip together plus looks and tasted AMAZING!!! Recipe below

5min Easy Peasey Fancy French toast
INGREDIENTS
• Your choice of good quality bread (this is a heavy rye loaf)
• An egg
• Cinnamon

METHOD
1. Whisk egg and cinnamon together 
2. Dunk sliced bread in egg mix until fully coated
3. Cook in pan until golden each side
4. Serve with toppings of choice (I like plain yoghurt, blueberries, chopped hazelnuts and a drizzle of maple syrup)
5. ENJOY!

 

Food isn’t the enemy. Food is the tool to fuel all the good stuff you were created to do!

You can go to post here to steal the photo – it looks yummy!!!! https://www.instagram.com/p/BSZwYgEhJ0i/

 

8. THE BEST BLISS BALLS

What could be better than getting busy in the kitchen making up a humongous batch of bliss balls?! These bite sized sweet treats are the perfect thing to nail those mid afternoon sweet cravings. Recipe below…

INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup cashews
• 1 cup coconut
• 3/4 cup dates
• 2 Tbsp cacao
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1-2 Tbsp water to make gooey and soft
• Drizzle of honey or maple syrup to bind if needed
• Extra coconut to roll in

– *you could add protein powder of choice if you wanted to take these from bliss to protein packed snack!*

METHOD
1. Place cashews in food processor and blitz until creamy 
2. Add dates, coconut, chia seeds and cacao and blitz until combined.
3. Add water to make smooth and creamy (add honey/maple syrup if needed) and blitz
4. Roll into bite sized balls and coat in coconut
5. Enjoy!

I usually make a double batch of these babies which yields between 30-40 and pop in the freezer. They’ll keep up to a month in the freezer but they never seem to last that long in our household…. Enjoy!

 

9. ENJOY THE JOURNEY

Too often we can delay our enjoyment of life til we get to ‘there’ [holidays, retirement, when I lose X amount of weight etc. etc.] But life isn’t meant to be a destination, it’s a beautiful journey! The pursuit of perfection or getting to a certain destination is paralysing, BUT progress (no matter how small) along the way is a reason to celebrate – I know which one I’m choosing! Go for progress today and enjoy the journey each and every day!

 

10. LIVE LESS OUT OF HABIT AND MORE OUT OF INTENT

Living with intent takes more care, more energy and more focus yes, but you (and the world around you!) are so worth it! So today beautiful people, be international with your time, be intentional with your words, be intentional with your energy, be intentional with your thoughts, be intentional with your movement, be intentional with your finances, be intentional with your love, be intentional with your food, and most importantly be intentional with the peeps around you.

After all, this life ain’t no dress rehearsal! What one thing will you do with greater intention today?

Training your brain to experience more happy

This article was written by Stacey McBride-Wilson from The Healthy Happy Soul.

 

Training your brain to experience more happy

Happiness is without a doubt a choice. We don’t always get to choose the situations or circumstances we find ourselves in, but we do get to choose how we react.  Sure that choice is more challenging to make than others sometimes, but it’s always possible and it’s always a choice worth making. After all, the quality of our choices determines the quality of our journey.

 

I just LOVE this quote from Dr Frank Crane. He absolutely nails it for me in saying that ‘People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be!‘ 

 

Perspective and attitude are powerful, almost like superpowers. They are truly the only things we have total control over in our life. How we perceive the experiences life throws our way ultimately determines how we receive them. Not only that, happiness is like a muscle; it gets stronger the more we use it. So the more we look for the good, the easier it becomes to experience happy and see the good going on around us.

But this isn’t just some fluffy airy-fairy feel good thought, this is actually a scientific process called neuroplasticity. Basically this is the latest cutting edge scientific findings that has proven we can retrain our brain from our instinctive reactions or choices (eg. yell when something upsets us, or eat an entire block of chocolate if it’s there) to more positive choices over time.

 

We have pathways in our brain and just like roads they get easier to travel the more we use them. Think about it as though your driving a regular route you take between two points for example from home to work. Often times you’re on autopilot. You make that journey without giving it too much thought. It’s instinctive.

But what if you discovered a new, easier, quicker, less congested way to get from point A to point B, you’d probably make an effort to learn the route and start taking that way instead right? Initially it’d take time to navigate and remember where to go, but over time if you continued to take that new route, it would become normal. You’d strengthen your knowledge of driving that path and it’d become so simple.

 

The same thing happens in our brains as we experience life. And just like you can make a choice to change the route you take from point A to point B, you can also make a choice to change how you respond to situations. The only difference when your brain is concerned is that you won’t get to the same destination. Instead, you get a whole new positive outcome, like more feelings of joy, contentment and peace.

So how do we practically transform our minds and choose happy? Remember it’s a process, not an event. As I shared earlier, happiness is like a muscle that gets stronger with use. The first step is to be aware of the principle of choosing happy, and then all you’ve got to do is work out your happy muscle each day. How? I’m so glad you asked….

 

  1. WAKE UP HAPPY – One of my favourite ways is to decide each and every morning that today is a good day and you’re going to be in a good mood. Seriously, try it for yourself! You can do this practically by setting yourself a reminder on your phone or alarm so it’s the first thing you see in the morning. After a while, it’ll just become second-nature. Your new happy normal.
  2. DRESS HAPPY – Life isn’t meant to be a funeral, it’s a celebration!! Party each day by dressing in some happy threads. Think bright. Think bold. Think clothes that make you happy to wear!
  3. MOVE HAPPY – Exercise releases endorphins; they’re the happy feel good hormone. Just get your amazing body moving in some way today!

 

It’s that simple! So what you waiting for? Get out there and get your happy on today!

How to break the quick-fix cycle

A person holding their arms out at sunset

This article was written by Stacey McBride-Wilson from The Healthy Happy Soul.

 

How to break the quick-fix cycle

You know the quick fix cycle I’m talking about. The cycle of feeling a little blergh about yourself and your health, so you launch into the best, newest, 30-day money back guarantee product/program/method with much gusto, hope and promises to yourself that this time will be different, only to find it all too hard to keep up after just a few weeks, so you throw in the towel which reinforces the feeling that you’re a failure, don’t have enough self-discipline, and why did I even try in the first place, only to recover and try it all again in a few months or so later when you feel a little blergh about yourself and your health so you launch into the best, newest…. Well, you get the idea…

 

This cycle and the quick fix mindset just breaks my heart. Why? Because I’ve seen people stuck in this cycle and short-change themselves time and time again by pursuing what they think they want NOW, at the cost of what they really want MOST.

 

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So often people chase what they think they want MOST, with a process that can only deliver for the NOW, by engaging in a soul-destroying cycle of calorie counting and flogging the body and feeling guilty for even thinking about chocolate. And I see people engage in that process again and again and again, year after year after year….

 

But it’s not meant to be like this! There is a way to break that cycle once and for all! It’s simple. If we want to enjoy true and long-lasting transformation for the body, then we first need a transformation for the mind. There’s a saying that goes something like this, ‘where the mind goes, the body follows.’

 

Making a change for your health is so much more than just needing to exercise more and eat better. If it was that easy we’d all be doing it! No it goes so much deeper than that.

 

  • It relates to WHY we want it and what’s stopping us.
  • It requires clearing out all our junky thinking.
  • It means repairing the disconnect in our thinking which subconsciously sabotages all our best efforts.

 

To experience long-lasting change, fitness freedom and an enjoyable journey we need to deal with the negative self-talk, poor self-worth, warped perceptions and unrealistic body images, once and for all. Think about how much rubbish thinking you’ve been exposed to over your lifetime; that’s a lot of junk to shut down and break through! (And sorry quick fix lovers – that’s going to take a little bit of time…)

 

It’s quite simple really, if we want a healthy body, we need to have a healthy mind. So what if your wellness journey wasn’t just about weight loss for the body, but you lost some of the heaviness in your mind as well? When you’re kicking goals on your Get Healthy Get Happy my question is this, do you want to be healthy, happy, fit and free, OR do you want to lose weight? Because these are two completely different things…

 

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If you’re ready to break the cycle of the quick fix and continue your health journey with consistency long after your Get Healthy Get Happy journey is done, here’s just a few ways to get you started:

  1. Get accountable! Share with your friend, spouse, or mentor that you’re committing to a wellness journey and ask them to keep you accountable by checking in from time to time.
  2. Expose yourself to health and fitness content with a journey based approach. The team at The Moderation Movement do this so well.
  3. Engage with someone like a life coach or wellness coach to help create some new, healthier mindsets when it comes to your health.