8 Ways to Regroup After a Holiday Overload

January is back. 

Many of us are secretly rejoicing that the holidays are over for another year.

Once again, we have probably over done it. 
Festivities and feasting has left us feeling very weighed down and tired.

But January is traditionally a time of fresh starts and resolutions.  

These quick tips and easy changes can help get you regroup after a holiday overload and have you moving and grooving in time for Spring

 1. Drown Your Sorrows~

While not exactly as it sounds, however, some of the reason you may be feeling sluggish after the  holiday is because you need a good flushing out.

Your body is more than two thirds water.
 Not coffee, not pop, not eggnog… water.
It is easy to forget that during the holiday.

Water is needed for all proper cell and organ function and for elimination of collected waste. 

Start reaching for the glass of water before you reach for anything else.

2. Veg Out~

How often do you binge on salads over the holidays?  Fruits and veggies get pushed off the plate for much more tempting delicacies.

When the veggies get pushed to the side, so do the nutrients and all those intricate ingredients that make your body work properly.
If you body isn’t getting its best fuel, its not going run its best for you.  Simple as that.
 
Making your plate at least 75% veggies can transform the staunchest couch potato

3. Veg Out Naked~  
 
While you are choosing more fruits and vegetables, make sure as many as possible are raw.
Natural enzymes in the veggies can be altered or destroyed with heat and you would like to get the best bang out of every bite.

Speaking of your bites… chew, chew, chew and then chew slooooowly

Raw fruits and veggies need to be broken down very well for you body to utilize them efficiently.

4. Watch the Clock~
 
Yes, you have to eat more greens but don’t graze.
Holiday time tis the season for nibbling non-stop.
More food (and calories) slide down without ever knowing by popping bites here and there.

When we graze we don’t chew properly therefore we don’t digest the food’s nutrient potential properly.
As well, your body doesn’t send “full signals” to your brain when you constantly munch.
 Blood sugar levels can shoot up and down like a roller coaster creating even more food cravings.

Not only does grazing make you feel lazy, your bowels get lazy too. 
With only a little amount of food at any given time in your sewage system, there is not enough bulk to move everything along properly. 
Stuff just sits, like a rock in your belly, weighing you down and creating fatigue. 

Three meals a day with 2 light snacks is more than enough to keep you going. You won’t starve. I promise.

5.  I Really Mean Watch the Clock~

 Stop eating 3 hours before you go to bed.  Not a nibble.
A drink of juice or tea is just fine but nothing solid.

Your body shuts down for repairs and rejuvenation while you sleep, but it can’t do that if its busy trying to pack away the bag of potato chips you just ate an hour earlier.

Your body will store all late night snacks as fat. 
I repeat… Food eaten before bed will go directly to your hips, waist and bottom, or sit fermenting in your gutt making you wake up groggy and unmotivated.

6.Yes, You Have to Get Off the Couch~  

Holidays are over. You need to move.  Be wise about it, however.  
How many of us have invested in gym memberships, expensive exercise equipment and gimmicky programs right after the holidays?

Instead, try starting with walking 15 minutes every day.
Manitoba weather right now is scrumptious and the days are getting longer and brighter.

So get out there and go.

Movement will get a stagnant lymph system pumping and flush debris out of your body.

Movement also causes you to inhale deeply compared to the shallow breathing we do when we are laying around.
Your body needs oxygen to function, the more the better.

Oxygen is the most important element required for human life and the key to vital health.

Every body activities require oxygen. 
It is central to metabolism, circulation, respiration,

digestion, assimilation and elimination.

For those of you who don’t have the energy to move, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.
 (Bad news) If you don’t move you will stay perpetually tired, but (good news) as soon as you start to move you will discover a wellspring of energy.

Something similar to your car battery recharging itself the longer it runs.

7. One Thing at a Time~

New Years brings many good intentions.
But if changing your health is part of those great intentions, do it with some strategy. 
Don’t take on everything at once.

Your health and weight got the way it is one day at a time, one bite at a time. 
Don’t try to reverse everything immediately overnight.

The enthusiasm wears off quickly and your body will protest very loudly.

Pick one or two ‘do-able’ goals and do them well.

Invest time and make a quality commitment. 
Twenty-one days to establish a firm habit, they say.

When your new lifestyle change is well grounded you are ready to step into another new change.

8. Get Some Cheerleaders~

Whether your undertakings are going to be a marathon change or just a short sprint you will need a cheering section.

Surround yourself with people who will speak life and encouragement to you.

It’s easy to find those who are very happy doing nothing except complaining about their weight and health. 

Leave them in the dust.

You will need to find someone who will walk the discouraging parts of this journey with you, keep you focused on your goal and celebrate your victories

Raw Foods First Step to Total Vibrant Change

I’ve started my 40-2-40 countdown, and wow, can time fly by when you are already feeling you don’t have enough hours in the day.
It’s almost as if the big cosmic clock winds itself into overdrive or the treadmill of life jump up a m/hr and the incline goes to the straight-up. (or any other cheezy word picture )

You know what I mean, Jelly Bean?
As soon as you set your heart on a goal, and all the forces in hell will try to undermine your victory.
Since leaping off this bridge, I have had an anniversary dinner, birthday dinners, out-of-the-blue, let-me-totally-spontaneously-bless-you dinners, crazy fatigue, sleepless nights, bouts of depression, discouragement and every undermining tactic in the book, throw under my feet.

Forces of hell don’t worry me much, however it’s those reoccurring nasty, ugly things that rise up inside me, my own stinking-thinking, and bad habits, that will do more damage than anything.
We will blog about those closet skeletons, soon, as I dust them all off.

But as I promised, my agenda for my Wild and Glorious Fortyish Make-Over.

Step by step, thought by thought, all my little secrets and tweeks that I have found along my road to grow my health.

These are the areas that I re-evaluate, first, when I want to take my health out of a rutt, and on to a higher place.

Things that I know bring success, and bring it quickly.
But (sigh..) things that are first to get pushed to the side and neglected in my health/freedom journey.

1. Raw Foods~
Just Google the benefits of raw foods, and the hits go crazy.
It is a principle that is finally coming into its own.
No longer just for hippies, tree-huggers, and extremists.
A diet high in raw fruits and veggies, is unequaled to increase health, detox the body and heal disease.
Experts and advocates of a raw food diet, challenge us to a diet of no less that 75% raw fruits and vegetables to see the change.

What I know is that it works for me.
I don’t know if there is a regime, “diet”, theory (call it what you will) that has ever been more successful in my life.
It has been a weapon to kill compulsions and food addictions I never thought would die.
I am free from eating disorders that haunted me for decades.
I feel better. My emotions don’t rule my life. I sleep better. I think clearer. That bloat is gone. My bowels do amazing things. My skin clears up. My cellulite disssolves. I never struggle with colds, flues, and allergies.

I’m a die-hard believer. Period

For anyone wanting to see fast changes, I absolutely challenge you to a raw food cleanse: all fruits and veggies, all raw, all the time.
You’ll never believe me till you try it for yourself.

Step number one, to catapult myself into my 40-2-40 challenge:
I aggressively become aware of my raw food ratio, and try to keep it at 100%.

As, I said, you can Google the subject till the free-range, organic cows come home, but here are some quick sites.
Hang tight, in a day or two, I’ll get some real powerful flabby- butt kicking resources into your hands that you won’t want to miss.

rawfoodhowto.com
raw living
howtodothings.com