 Meal planning is a great way to ensure that you eat healthily, and get this: it doesn’t have to be hard! That’s right, despite how overwhelmed many of us become when we think of planning meals for an entire week, meal planning can save you time and money. Without being prepared, it is easy to end up eating something on the go, like pastries, fast food, or prepared meals. The problem with this is that often grab-and-go options are not the most healthy, and we end up spending a lot of extra money that could be saved by being better prepared. The trick to successful meal planning is, of course, all in the preparation. Follow these steps to get started: Pick a Day When meal prepping, you want to start by choosing a day that works best for you where you will have a good couple hours to plan, prep, and prepare your food. Sunday is often a good day for this because it gets you ready for the week with a fresh menu. Prepare Next, you will want to get prepped by getting your food containers ready for each day and clearing out space in the refrigerator for your week of meals. Create a Plan/Shop Meal planning is about prepping food in bulk to eat throughout the week, so you will want to choose foods with lasting power, so no light greens or foods that are likely to lose their integrity after a few days. You are preparing meals for 5 days, so think balanced. You want a protein, a healthy starch and fat, and a bunch of veggies. Get to Work Time to get going! Because you are prepared, prep should be easy.  Here are some great ideas for your meal planning:
Breakfast - Overnight Oats -Fill 5 jars each with ½ rolled oats -1 tablespoon chia seeds or powdered flax seeds -1 tablespoon protein powder -Enough almond milk to cover your mixture *Optional - 2 tablespoons of pumpkin puree, cinnamon, and coconut flakes. Lunch - Turkey Taco Bowl -Sautéd 2 lbs of organic ground turkey -1 packet of low sodium taco seasoning (or make your own) -Roasted peppers and onions -Rinsed black beans -Salsa of your choice Add in each ¼ cup black beans, ½ cup prepared ground turkey, salsa, roasted peppers and onions to each of your five containers Dinner - Marinated Chicken Breasts -Mix together 1 tablespoon Dijon, ¼ cup balsamic, ¼ cup olive oil, chopped fresh rosemary, garlic and a hint of sea salt into a bowl. -Place 5 chicken breasts in a glass container and coat with the marinade. -Marinate chicken for 1 hour. -Bake for 1 hour at 375 degrees. Prepare sides, such as sweet potatoes, roasted carrots, or mashed potatoes to include with your meal. Snacks - Smoothie -½ banana -½ cup blueberries -1 cup chopped kale -1 teaspoon each of flaxseed, hemp seed, and chia seeds. Put each smoothie combo in a separate freezer bag or container and freeze until you are ready to enjoy. Simply add water, coconut water, or your favorite milk - blend and enjoy!
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 The weight lose industry is a billion dollar industry. We all know that right?
For years they have been suggesting ways to lose weight that are so wrong it makes my head spin. I am going to make this post short and to the point... Dieting is NOT about cutting calories. Eating a tiny piece of cake for the day is not going to work, nor is eating salads all day. Zeroing in on what macro-nutrients your body needs does work. Dieting is NOT about cutting out fat. Eating skim this, low-fat that, or 0 grams of a fat free processed food will not work. Zeroing in on healthy fats, what fats to cook with and learning what fats we’ve been misled to believe that are good for us, helps you to make healthier choices. The right fats can help you keep your youthful appearance ;). Message me if you want more info on fats. Dieting is NOT about eliminating carbohydrates. Our bodies need the glucose, the fiber, the micro-nutrients, and the energy carbohydrates provide. Your diet should be balanced according to your body’s constitution and to your lifestyle. Dieting is NOT about eliminating foods. Real foods are not the enemy. Trying to hand pick your foods from trial and error can be stressful (and thus raise cortisol levels). Out of all these styles of dieting, limiting calories, in my mind, is the worst. Why? Because reducing calories to a level of starvation on a day by day basis will mess up your metabolic rate. A low burning metabolism leads to storing fat, and thus either plateauing with your weight, or worse, gaining more back. If you have been on and off so called diets and have seen your weight fluctuate throughout the years, you might want to consider hiring a Nutrition Coach. A Nutrition Coach can help you
The bonus is… ….you get human support and a "real person" accountability partner. You’ve got a question to ask; text it to your coach. You’ve got a hurdle to jump; your coach has your back. Need a quick breakfast idea; reach out to your coach. I think you get the idea. To see if nutrition coaching is for you, schedule a free consultation here:  Lately we have had to get a new perspective on a lot of things due to this COVID-19 virus and it's grip on what we can and can't do. Looking at how we live our lives from day to day, and getting creative with how we can do things differently can be a good thing. In my world right now, there is a push to offer on-line personal training. This is the last thing I want to do. I like working with my clients in person, making sure they are lifting weights, remaining flexible, scheduling, breathing, maintaining, etc, etc....correctly. Motivation and accountability are key components as well. However, due to the circumstances, exercise "how-to's" are flying through the internet as I write this. No more in-person for now. So I can offer two bits of advice... PLAN AND IMPLEMENT Maybe the catchy title of "The Power of Ten Times 3," can help. Pick 3 different exercises, do ten reps of each, for 3 sets, for ten days in a row. Of course rest in between sets. You could be even a little more discipline and pick 2 groups of 3 different exercises to make a real push with your athletic finesse. I have been doing 3 for my upper body and 3 for my lower body. My routine includes free weights, however I am going to give you ideas for both. This is what I have been doing for the last three days: Upper Body: Standing Bicep curls, Standing Over Head Press, and one-arm Tricep extensions. Lower Body: Squats with weights, Forward Lunges with weights, and Side Leg Lifts. Ideas if you don't have weights at home: Planks Jumping Jacks Squats Push-Ups Lunges Donkey Kicks Burpees Lateral Skater Jumps Ab Side Crunches And the list could go on! I found a helpful video of Jackson Bliton explaining how to do some of the workouts I mentioned. He does them in super sets, however you can do super sets of three as well. Be creative and do what you are comfortable doing. Stick with in your own workout parameters. (Don't forget to warm-up before and stretch afterwards). Until we meet again...in person, stay well. -Coach Ann #exercisefromhome  If you're trying to lose weight, tapping into the power of peer group support may bring you the best results. Putting Peer Group Support to Work For You 1. Feel validated. For many people, the most important component of a peer support program is joining up with others who share their experiences and goals. It's easier to empathize when you really know what someone is going through because you've lived through similar events. 2. Develop a sense of community. Your weight loss buddies can become like a second family. You share each other's struggles and victories. 3. Address emotional issues. Being overweight can be more than a physical health issue. You may need support to overcome emotional eating habits or deal with social stigmas. 4. Get practical assistance. People who have reached their own weight loss goals are in an ideal position to advise you about what really works. Focus on improving your daily routine and locating helpful resources in your community. 5. Change your behavior. Losing significant weight and keeping it off involves choosing the right foods and much more. You'll learn a broad range of behaviors for eating better, exercising and managing stress. 6. Take a long term perspective. Maintaining a steady weight is more important than losing a couple of pounds for a special event . Learn skills that will keep you fit for life. 7. Remain flexible. Your body and living conditions will change at different times in your life. Be prepared to adapt your diet and workouts to your current needs. 8. Stick to your budget. While some expensive diet products have little research to back up their claims, peer group support is effective and affordable. Many group services are very reasonably priced. 9. Discover the power of reciprocity. One of the most amazing benefits of peer support programs is the phenomena by which people help themselves by helping others. You become empowered and make more progress while you reach out to others. Understanding the Limits of Peer Group Support 1. Eat less and exercise more. Of course, diet and exercise are essential along with group support if you want to take off some pounds. Eat a balanced diet and try to get at least a half hour of exercise at least three days a week. 2. Talk with your doctor. Peer support programs complement medical care rather than replace it. It's especially important to follow your doctor's recommendations if you have conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure. 3. Adapt successful techniques to your own needs. Our eating habits are as different as our thumbprints. What works for some, doesn't work for all. It's important to learn what works and doesn't work for you, just don't give up. 4. Consider online options. If there is no established program in your immediate area, there may be support for you on line. It may be possible to get support through group conference calls with or with out video. You may even be able to start your own group through a community organizations or a wellness coach. Losing weight the healthy way is a gradual process that needs to be sustained for life. Increase your chances of success by putting peer group support to work for you along with a sensible diet and regular exercise. Please reach out to me if you are interested in starting such a group. -Coach Ann   Transform Your Life, Transform Your Health! Your emotional health is just as important as your physical health. Raising one's self-esteem sounds easier than it actually is. We all know that if we've suffered from low self-esteem for a long time, simply telling ourselves to feel better about ourselves, won't do it. We need what I call a "mental habit" change. Sure maybe people from your past contributed to your poor image of yourself, yet believe it or not, you have choice. It's time to RISE above it. Rise above what they have said about you, how they made you feel, influenced what you believe, persuaded your values and made you feel guilty that you were never enough. It's time to honor your freedom to choose what you think and how you feel about yourself. Why must we do this? Because having a poor self-image can affect all aspects of your life. ...it affects your: Relationships: How you act in social situations, how you communicate in your relationships, and how you feel and who you are within your relationships, can be influenced by a lack of self-esteem. Outburst of anger or acting like a doormat are aspects that can come from having a low self-esteem. Vocation: What type of jobs you feel you are qualified for, what you choose as a career, how well you like what you do for a living...can all be affected from your self-image. Health: Often times you can bring on an illness from low self-esteem due to wanting to play a victim or from having stress in regards to how you view yourself in certain situations. Your food choices may be influenced by how you feel about yourself as well. You may sabotage your diet because you feel undeserving or incapable. Now that you are reacquainted with the importance of having a higher level of self-esteem, let's go over ways to improve upon your habits of positive self-regard. The first step is to... Notice What You're Thinking: What is your mental chatter like? Are you critical of yourself and of others? Are you thinking positively or negatively regarding what you are doing? What are your thoughts like when you make a mistake? For the most part, are your thoughts positive or negative? HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON on your negative thoughts! Remind yourself that there is no such thing as perfection, it's a choice of how you feel about something. Stop worrying that you're not going to do it "right" and/or you'll make a mistake. As you hit the pause button, let that be a reminder to lighten up and take a different view. Maybe list in your mind all the things you do well (I call this internal bragging), or learn to laugh at your silly mistakes and move on. Don't focus on the negative. "Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly." -G.K. Chesterton It seems to be that when you internally judge yourself, you think others are judging you too! Visualize a Positive Outcome: I view any type of visualization as a meditation technique. It helps to align your mind (thoughts) with your body (action). See, feel, and imagine yourself as succeeding at what it is you wish to accomplish. This type of visualization can help you to step out of your comfort zone and reach for the possibilities that you may of thought were impossible. Vividly picture yourself reaching the results you wish to achieve. Be and become the person that succeeds. Again, focus on what can go right. Utilize affirmations through listening to recordings of you saying positive and encouraging affirmations, or read positive quotes daily. Affirmations and positive quotes can act as encouragement when you are feeling poorly of yourself. Journal Your Daily Accomplishments: At the end of the night, write about how you did for the day in regards to feeling good about yourself. Be honest with yourself. With honesty, comes room for improvement. Were you able to keep your thoughts about yourself, about others and what you did throughout the day in a positive light? If not, how can you remind yourself to think positively? List all that you accomplished in the day. List the things that you are grateful for in life and things that you are grateful for regarding your abilities and accomplishments. Go ahead brag, nobody will notice, but you. Did you step out of your comfort zone, or did fear hold you back? Write a story about how great you are! Choose one of these strategies of building yourself esteem or all three. Do it with consistency and watch your self-image improve. Discover what it means to be at your BEST health! Coaching can help you open many more doors on your path to success. Give it a try! Schedule a complimentary 40-minute session today! See what it can do for you.
 When it comes to losing weight, staying healthy and feeling your best, one of the worst things you can do is to be unclear of what you DO want your health to be like.
What do you want your weight to be at; how do you want to feel and look like; what would you love to be doing more of (or less of) with your new healthy body, or what would your life be like as the new healthier version of yourself? So many questions to ask of your desires. Clear goals bring clear results! So as you go about your day, making choices of what foods to eat, do you have your desired destination in mind? For me, eating all the wrong foods is like putting the wrong clothes in my suitcase, because I have no idea where I'm going. It's easier to slip up on your eating habits when you don't know what you're trying to attain. Put a picture to the results you want and watch your motivation and inspiration soar! Get clear with your VISION! I know when I become more clear with my desired destination for my overall health, I begin to make better choices. "Eat this, not that," became second nature to me. But it takes an end goal in mind. It takes a crystal clear vision. My imagination begins to take over and my actions and thoughts are all guided from my vision. Discover what it can do for you. Your free gift of rediscovering your destination! If you have heard of the movie, The Secret, you have heard of the Law of Attraction, as well. The Law of Attraction is not something that simple comes your way; you have to put a little effort into, as well.
There are techniques that you can use in order to make the Law of Attraction work for you so that you can get what you want out of life – and not just this life – but YOUR life. 1. Learn How to Meditate Using Creative Visualization First and foremost, if you are interested in utilizing the Law of Attraction to its fullest potential, make sure that you begin each day with meditation. Meditation is important as it brings your focus toward what you desire and what you expect for that day. Creative Visualization is a powerful tool in creating the feelings behind the desire. It is not enough to just meditate on something you wish to attract into your life, visualizing brings it to life. Creative Visualization takes it one step further by incorporating the feelings you are feeling as you see yourself, receive what you want to receive, and be a person of increase in health, relationships, and purpose. As you embrace the feelings of joy and happiness, you will see that more joy and happiness will enter your life. Creating visualization makes this happen by using your emotions as triggers. 2. Learn the Art of Being Grateful Being grateful means truly understanding how much we already do have without asking for any more. When you are in a state of gratitude, so many more things to be grateful for come your way. Take a look around you, there is so much to be grateful for, but you need to stand up and take notice. When you start to understand the simple blessing such as butterflies or flowers that envelope your life, you will feel more joy. Once you feel more joy, you will manifest more joyful events in your life. 3. Write Your Own Thoughts If you really want to get the most out of the Law of Attraction, then you must consciously control your own thoughts on a daily basis. Sometimes you must control your thoughts on a moment-by-moment basis. If you find yourself going into negative or self-sabotaging thoughts, you need to take responsibility in several ways, such as moving towards routinely thinking more positive, concentrating on all that you are grateful for, and giving yourself positive affirmations. By creating your thoughts to show up as you wish, you create your life to show up as you wish, as well. Both our lives and our minds can become consumed with things that keep us "stuck" and unable to move forward. We often feel like the wheels are spinning, but we aren't moving. What direction would you love to be going in? Are there times when you just want the chaos and overwhelm to course correct itself? My Dream Builder Program addresses these feelings of "spinning your wheels" and the chaos and overwhelm that so many of us feel. It helps you to discover exactly HOW to create a life that you've imagined. I offer complimentary Strategy Sessions to help you gain more clarity of ways to get "unstuck" so you can head in the direction you wish to go. They're pretty powerful and they're absolutely free!  Everyone wants to be successful. When one hears the word “success” the focus is generally toward “career” success. However, personal or life success, such as with your health and relationships, is also important.
Success is about setting goals, blueprinting your vision, and then adding action to the mix. So what are the four secrets that can help you be successful? Set Goals It is vital that you set yourself goals for your personal and professional lives. These will provide a target to aim for. Once you've listed your goals then write down the steps you are going to take to achieve them. In other words, connect action with your goals. “Inspiration without action is merely entertainment.” -Mary Morrissey It can be helpful to find an accountability partner, mentor or coach who can help and support you. Remember That Your Personal and Professional Lives Are Inter-dependent You may think that your career goals are totally separate from your personal goals. However, they are inter-dependent. Your career relies on your well-being, impacts on your relationships, health and happiness. Same holds true for your happiness, relationships and health being affected by your career. If you're not happy at work or doing a job you love then it will have an impact on your emotional and physical well-being, as well as affecting other areas of your personal life. To be successful in one area you need to create success in other areas as well. Start to look at the big picture. It can be to the “30,000 foot view.” View your overall situation from the vantage point of a bird flying overhead. Find Your Passion and Purpose If your personal and professional lives are inter-dependent, then to be successful in them you will need to discover your passion and purpose. By discovering these you will create determination to succeed, enhance your creativity, spark inspiration and be able to harness the power of flow in your activities. Ask yourself what you really want to do with your life. What do you want your legacy to be? What would you love? Don't Focus on the Money While many people consider amassing wealth to be a sign of success, that should not be your end goal or sole success indicator. Instead focus on your emotions, lifestyle and well-being. What will your life look and feel like when you have successfully achieved your goals? How will your family and friends feel? Why not create a vision board with words, quotes and pictures showing your life as a success? Our mind can be a powerful tool in bringing forth what we desire. Picture what success will look for you. What type of person will you become? With your success, how will you be making an impact in your company and in the wider community? What will your weeks look like? Think about work/life balance and the effect on your family and relationships with friends. How will your new role or business affect your life, health and happiness? While success can mean different things to different people, one thing all definitions have in common is that success is measured by achieving goals that make you feel positive emotions, for example, happiness and a sense of achievement. You will find the greatest success comes when you use your passions to create your goals in life and work. If you would love more support and guidance with moving forward with your vision, and would love to start living the life you would love to live, then reach out to me. My website is BestDietandLifestyle.com or my email address is atreacy@rochester.rr.com. I offer a complimentary strategy session to help you get a crystal clear vision so you can create the life of your dreams. To your health and happiness, Ann Treacy  Even if you have heard of the term 'committed to excellence', do you fully understand what it means? The following quote is from Aristotle and defines what excellence is. "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." Immediately you can see that excellence is a habit, and any habit can be formed. The best way to create a new habit is by setting yourself new goals and creating a plan of attack. Let's see how you can do this. First you want to define your reasons, or why, for wanting to commit to excellence. Does this pertain to your business, your health or for some other reason? If it helps write down your reasons and your why for wanting to achieve this. If your goal is to be committed to excellence for your health there are some simple actionable steps that you can put into place. If your health is not where you would like it to be, then get into the habit of implementing small changes to improve your health. You can easily improve your health by doing any of the following:
Another way to improve your health through excellence is by pre planning. Start to find time to enjoy more home cooked meals. Share this responsibility with others in your home. There are healthy recipes on the internet, as well as in cookbooks that can be picked up at your local library. Possibly joining a support group, such as the Restart program in your area to learn more about how to make healthy eating a part of your everyday life. Health encompasses many aspects of our lives. Our relationships, financial status, careers, social lives, emotions, and spirituality, all have an effect upon our health. Yet at the same time, all of these different attributes of our lives is affected by the state of our health. If you want to excel in your life then you can start by attempting to put forth the best effort you can. If you do this consistently you will have that air of excellence surrounding you. This will rub off on other people and they will begin to view you in a different light. Ann Treacy offers 1 40 minute complimentary consultation (a $150 value) to help you find the path toward wellness. Book your appointment today.  Making the decision to dream big can be a scary endeavor for many people, and yet it’s the exercise that leads us to living a life we absolutely love. What if we gave ourselves permission to dream beyond our current reality? Where could these thoughts take us? Are you ready to find out? Here are three steps to help you begin building a life you would love living. 1. Honor your discontent. Discontent is an important signal from our soul that something bigger is seeking to emerge through us. Give yourself permission to enter and explore the realm of your deep desires. Harness this discontent by letting the dream begin to live in your mind and heart as a true possibility. Notice your body and your emotions. Do you feel more alive when you "become" in your mind what it is your truly desire? An expanded feeling of aliveness is an important indicator that you are on the right path. 2. Practice repeating “Up until now…” These three words are very important to remember in order to keep thoughts of your past experience from limiting your possible futures. If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get the results you’ve always gotten. If you notice what you are saying to yourself, you’ll hear your old thought patterns that dictates every reason for not taking a risk. Listen, then pause. All these negative experiences and disappointments may have been true in the past. Now is the time to shrug them off and let go of them. Your history does not determine your destiny. Your disappointments and regrets are in a moment that does not exist. In the next moment, begin to live your desires. 3. Consciously co-create with your higher power, and the impossible becomes possible. Co-creation means you partner with Spirit to build the greatest life you can live. When you recognize yourself as a co-creator, you ask for guidance and break through the self imposed barriers that have stood between yourself and your desires. Begin each new day thanking your higher power and concentrating on a desire of yours that you previously believed was out of reach. Just for that day, act as if what you wanted was possible. Then see what transforms. Here’s to your BEST LIFE! Get a more indepth look into how to blueprint your DREAM and make it a reality at The Vision Workshop on July 26th at 7:00 pm at ONE Wellness (2349 Monroe Ave. Rochester, NY 14618) |
It's a blog...I am a fanatic when it comes to uncovering the truths and the falsities to sound nutrition and good health. When we use a little common sense we can back up anything, yet there is always room for debate. Archives
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