How to Determine if You Are Really Hungry?

HOW DO YOU DETERMINE IF YOU ARE REALLY HUNGRY? 

Hunger is often a symptom of stress, and thinking about food begins the escape from stress. But when we really want to  get away from something we are feeling, we often turn to eating food, because it provides the comfort our body is craving. Turning to good healthy nutritious food for comfort is actually brilliant, because good, whole foods, found in nature, connect us to the earth and ground us. The process of cooking these foods nurtures us, in addition to the nurturing we receive from actually eating them.

Most of us however, do not turn to broccoli or beautiful green salads when we are stressed, instead we turn to processed, sugary foods. These foods provide us with the ability to have a quick fix, and we usually enjoy the hand-to-mouth, repetitive action cycle. But no matter how long we keep this up, sadly, this act does not actually comfort us. Even worse, it stresses us out more because we feel guilt, and disappointment with ourselves, in addition to feeling to side effects of elevated blood sugar levels.

Next time you are obsessing about eating junk food, but not really hungry for it, try the following:

1) Pour yourself a tall glass of water and see if the craving goes away. If it does great, but if you are still looking for something to fill that possible hunger, think about eating a piece of whole fruit or vegetable, an apple for example, or some raw nuts or seeds.  If you are experiencing true hunger, the idea of consuming these foods will be appealing to you. If you can't stop fantasizing about Doritos, something else might be going on.

2) What is the emotion you are feeling? Sometimes when we can put a label on it, it helps us to understand what we are experiencing, and the urgency to get away from that feeling subsides. A craving for the Doritos is urgent, but true hunger does not have that same immediate, drastic sense of urgency.

3) Go Outside! Really, sometimes just removing yourself from your current environment will eliminate the stress and the need to snack senselessly.

4) Squash your inner voice critic. Don't let it speak badly about you. When we feel discomfort, we often want to point blame, and sometimes the easiest place to point is at our selves. Do what you can in that moment to build yourself up not down. Think, I am good enough!

5) Are you mindfully making a decision to eat the chips or the cookies, then just freaking do it! Do it, enjoy it and then let it go and move on and don't berate yourself.


MY NEW BOOK HUNGRY FOR HEALTH STARVED FOR TIME

Looking for more great health tips, my new book is Available now on amazon Order Hungry For Health, Starved For Time HERE

If you have already ordered my book, and enjoyed it, please consider posting a short review on the Amazon ORDER link above,  it would help me out so much for a Book Contest I am in the running for.

FEELING CONFUSED ABOUT YOUR HEALTH AND NUTRITION NEEDS???

Want to get together for a 75 minute Brain Storming Session Email Suzy Here to book a session

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Harmoniously Yours,
Suzy

Could Your Weight Loss Trouble be due to Your Hormones??

In my Coaching Program, when I work with women who are trying to lose weight, I often find they are frustrated with themselves from harsh deprivation, beating themselves up over poor willpower and they suffer with daily struggles with food, everyday deciding if they are "good" or "bad". This leads to stress, body shame, food addiction and the biggest problem of all HORMONE IMBALANCE!


It is not overeating that makes someone fat. It is being fat, and the hormonal chaos that led to the fat that makes people overeat. Quality of your food is what the focus should be on, not on calorie counting. If you are having trouble with overeating, keeping your portions controlled, or with cravings the first step is to balance out your Hormones. The very first step to balancing out your hormones is to get your estrogen balanced.  If you have too much estrogen in your body it is nearly impossible to lose weight and you are also at a greater risk for weight gain, breast cancer, and prediabetes.
Here is a delicious meatless recipe you can try for Vegan Enchiladas inspired by Angela Liddon of "Oh She Glows". I have made this many times for dinner and my family always loves it. Do not leave out the Cilantro Avocado Cream Sauce because that is the kicker that makes it amazing!! I hope you enjoy this recipe.



By eliminating meat for just 3 days you can begin to rebalance your Estrogen levels. According to Dr. Sara Gottfried, 3 days is the minimum amount of time to reset a metabolic hormone. I have developed a program based on her Hormone Reset Diet where I work with women on resetting each of seven different hormones in 3 day bursts, but the first one I always start with is Estrogen.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 onion, chopped (~2 cups)

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 cup sweet potato, chopped (or zucchini) I do a cup of each

• 1 bell pepper, chopped

• 2 handfuls spinach, chopped

• 1 can black beans (~2 cups), drained and rinsed

• Enchilada sauce or Pasta sauce (about 2.5 cups)

• 1.5 tsp ground cumin

• 1-2 tbsp fresh lime juice, to taste

• 1/2 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp chili powder, or to taste

• 4 whole grain tortilla wraps (I used Food for Life Ezekiel)

• Cilantro Avocado Cream Sauce, to pour on top (recipe below)

• Green onion & chopped cilantro, to garnish

1) Preheat oven to 350
2) Boil water and simmer sweet potatoes in a small pot for 10 minutes until soft.
3) Heat oil in a large skillet, add onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic, lower heat and cook another 2 minutes. Add chopped pepper, spinach, zucchini (if using), drained black beans and precooked sweet potatoes and cook 5-7 minutes on medium low. 
4) Now add in your enchilada or pasta sauce. Stir well, and add in your seasonings: cumin,  lime juice ( I use Santa Cruz Organic pure lime juice in a glass bottle), salt, garlic powder, chili powder- all to taste. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Stir well.

5)Scoop about 3/4-1 cup of the mixture onto the bottom of your casserole dish and spread out in a thin layer. Scoop about 1/2-3/4 cup of the mixture onto each tortilla and wrap, placing the fold down on the casserole dish. Repeat for the remaining 3 tortillas and leave a bit of filling left to spread over the top. 

5. Bake tortillas at 350F for 18-20 minutes. Meanwhile, make your Cilantro cream sauce (see below). When enchiladas are cooked, remove from oven and pour the sauce over top. Garnish with chopped cilantro and green onion. Serve immediately. Makes 4 enchiladas.

CILANTRO AVOCADO CREAM SAUCE

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/4 cup avocado flesh
• 2 tbsp water, or more as needed to thin out
• 2-3 tbsp lime juice, to taste
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (optional)
• 1 cup packed fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp kosher salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 tsp ground cumin
• Black pepper, to taste
• Red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a food processor, process the avocado flesh and water until creamy. Now add in the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth and well blended. Use immediately for best results.

Here is the final Product......

And here is how I eat the leftover filling for lunch.....

To learn more about balancing your hormones, or for more support with healthy meatless meals EMAIL SUZY  

The Secret to Sticking to your New Year's Resolutions

Happy, healthy 2016!!

Wow! My gym was so crowded this morning I actually had to wait for a machine for the first time in a while. I wonder what it will look like 2 weeks from now at the gym?? I remember last year the same thing happened, and by early February it was back to normal at the gym and many of the new folks were nowhere to be found.

Why does this happen?

In working with many clients over the past year, and in my Nutrition School studies, I have learned that many of these people are missing a key understanding. They do not have the most important piece of information on how to change their health habits. What is that key? ....Awareness.

As Deepak Chopra says "The body is a physical reflection of choices you make over a lifetime. Knowledge is important, but adding more good advice is not the solution to healthy eating (and living). The solution is to transform your awareness."

In my coaching program I teach clients how this transformative awareness works, and why and how they can achieve it.

Become aware of why you are eating - I mean really aware!! Do you respond to triggers without even thinking. Are you really just stressed, angry, upset, seeking comfort, bored or unfulfilled??

Become aware of how you are eating - If you are busy or distracted while you are eating you will tend to overeat. Are you in front of a TV? Online? With other people who are eating CRAPPY food you don't really want but feel pressured? Just trying to clean your plate without focusing on how hungry you really are? Rushing and not chewing and breathing?

Become aware of how your body feels - Your body wants to move, but movement is personal. Pay attention to what kind is right for you. If your muscles are strained, if you feel aches, if you are not getting proper sleep and making poor food choices, you will feel sluggish and you will not stay motivated to continue with your exercise routine.

Start slow if you have not been exercising much. Get up at least once an hour everyday stand and stretch and move. Your blood fat and blood sugar levels mount when you sit still, by moving you restore those levels. Add in some walking outside, and then add a few minutes of vigorous exercise to warm your muscles up. Maybe try some yoga. Increase your awareness of what type of exercise makes you feel happy, connected, balanced and clears your mind. If your exercise choice feels like a chore you will not stay motivated and you will stop by mid February.

My 2016 Harmonious Health Motto
Be easy on yourself
Take extra time to make good choices about food and exercise
Speak positively to yourself
Stop judging
Be patient, don't look for instant solutions. It took you a lifetime to build the body you have, it will take more than just a few weeks to change it.

As always, I am here to support you in any way I can! If you have health goals, need support, accountability or guidance please reach out. I love my work as a health coach and I love watching someone become the happiest version of themselves.

Wishing you all much happiness and success in 2016.
Harmoniously yours,
Suzy
Health and Wellness Coach
www.harmonioushealth.com

Email Suzy

Did You Hear I'm Writing a Book, Why Potatoes are Stressing Me Out, and The Truth About Cravings.

So peace out November and welcome to December and the Holiday frenzy. I kind of  freaked out when I realized that Hanukah begins on December 5th this year. That's Saturday folks!
I realized how early Hanukah was this year during Thanksgiving morning when my son's dear friend was over hanging out with us, watching the parade and casually asked, "we are having mashed potatoes with Thanksgiving dinner tonight, right?" Oops, um, oh gosh, sure we are.... so I got busy texting the hubby to pick up a bag of potatoes, and scrambling to come up with a healthy mashed potato recipe with 3 hours notice. Then I got a text from my son's other friend who was headed over to join us for Thanksgiving dinner, "Since we won't be in Dallas for Chanukah can we do latkes (that's fried potato pancakes eaten on Hanukah, for those of you who don't know)? I know they aren't very "thanksgivingy" or healthy, but they are tasty!" I love these boys like my own sons, yet all these potato requests were stressing me out, .... but I digress!

The holidays can be a source of stress despite the pleasures associated with them. The food prep, the shopping, the lack of quiet time, and for many people...the cravings!! Which brings me to my big announcement, I am currently writing a book that is expected to be completed in the Spring and I can't wait to share it with all of you in my Harmonious Health Community.  My book will be a simple step by step guide to many of the topics I teach in my Health Coaching Program. One of the big topics I work on with my clients is helping them to deconstruct their cravings, and how to satisfy them in a healthy way. Today I was working on the "Cravings" chapter of my book.  I originally thought I would include it in the EATING section of the book. Then I realized, no, cravings need to be discussed in the section of the book that talks about HABITS TO CALM YOUR MIND, and here is why.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I have heard statements like this from clients and friends, "I was bad this week", "I f**'kd up yesterday", "I have no self control", "I suck I can't stick to anything".  So much negative self talk, so damaging to our self-esteem when really, giving in to those cravings is brilliant. This negative self-talk upsets us, creates guilt, stress, and disappointment none of which are good for someone seeking good health and a calm state of mind.  Learning what our body is trying to tell us through cravings is brilliant, we should feel great about ourselves when we notice our cravings, it means our minds are in tune with our body, and that is the first step in making baby steps toward a healthy diet and lifestyle. That is why I am including cravings in the MIND section of my book.

Cravings are your body's way of telling you what it needs, and when we listen to what our body needs, we are actually doing something wonderful for ourselves. Now don't get me wrong, I am not praising you for giving in to your craving for a pint of Ben & Jerry's. When we crave sweets our blood sugar is probably dropping, when we crave salt we are likely deficient in certain vitamins and minerals. We also have cravings related to mood swings, events (like an argument with your boss or friend), lack of exercise, memories (especially around holiday time). Smells and sounds can also trigger cravings, especially in December.

So during this busy time of year, stay alert to the cravings you are experiencing. Remember you are not weak for having them. Do the best you can to deal with them. If you need something sweet choose the healthiest sweet option available, do the same with salt cravings, stay hydrated, get fresh air, take a walk, stretch, and do the your best to eat a whole food diet which will keep you balanced and help minimize these cravings.  Only a superhero can fight a craving. We are human, deconstructing cravings is a process, but sometimes step one, just recognizing them, before you give in to them, is the beginning of healthy progress.

As for my potato dilemma, the mashed potatoes mixed with rice milk and sea salt were delicious, and the latkes, sadly never made it onto the Thanksgiving table, they may show up this weekend in a healthier format if I can find a good recipe....but honestly I will likely make the real ones fried in vegetable oil, because I always CRAVE them this time of year!

For more info on surviving the holidays, for a one-on-one health coaching session with me during the December craziness, to motivate me to keep writing my book, to tell me if you are enjoying my blog posts, or that you just polished off a pint of Ben & Jerry's,  send me an email here


Harmoniously yours,
Suzy
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Finding comfort in Primary Food so that the food we eat becomes Secondary Food

One of the concepts that I studied at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) that distinguishes my Health Coaching Program from other programs is the idea of "Primary Food".  You will not see Primary Food on the USDA Myplate, it is a concept developed by Joshua Rosenthal, the founder and director of IIN. Primary Food relates to lifestyle factors that create optimal health.  This includes relationships, physical activity, career and spirituality.

When I first began Health Coaching, I did not expect to be discussing these areas of my client's lives with them. I encourage clients to look at these 4 aspects of their lives as a form of nutrition, because these aspects of life "feed" them on a much deeper level than food. The food we eat plays a central and critical role in creating our health and wellness, and it is extremely important for us to discover the right foods for our bodies.  However, the 4 forms of primary foods will nourish us and can make our lives complete and wonderful.  When our primary food is balanced and satisfying, our life fills us up with joy, it "feeds" us. Our hunger for the food we eat diminishes as we feel "full" in our soul and the food we eat becomes "Secondary Food".

Ask yourself the following questions to see if your primary foods are in balance:

1) Are my relationships with my spouse, children, other family members, friends, co-workers healthy and do they support my individual needs and wants?

2) Is physical activity a habit that I fit into my weekly schedule? Different types of movement nourish our bodies in various ways. I work with my clients to help them identify what form will keep them feeling balanced, nourish them, and fit into their schedule.  Some of my clients who have been rigorously doing aerobic exercise several days a week, substitute one day with yoga which helps them in unexpected ways such as reducing their cravings because they are feeling less tight and tense.  Ask yourself, does my current exercise routine fit my current condition?

3) I spend 8-10 hours a day at work, am I doing work I love? Maybe you do not need a new career, just a change in work space, a raise, a more flexible work schedule. Go after whatever you need to make your job a more positive place to be. I do not think it is a coincidence that 2 of my recent clients  in my 6-month Coaching Program switched jobs within their field.  Feeling happier and productive in your workplace will dramatically increase your well-being.

4) What is my spiritual practice that I am committed to and how can I deepen my practice to add more meaning to my life?  Spiritual nutrition feeds us on a very deep and profound level. For me,  I find that connection when I am in harmony with nature, on a walk or a run, listening to music. I also feel it when I am connecting with my community attending religious services and chanting prayers.  When we have meaning in our life, we will stop searching for meaning and purpose in the bottom of the potato chip bag (where it certainly is not hiding), because we feel at peace in the world and that satisfies us and there is no void we need to fill.

To learn more about my Health Coaching Program and working with me please visit my website or send me an email

Suzy Harmon
Harmonious Health
Health and Wellness Coaching

Green Chile Chicken

This is a great recipe I just tried courtesy of the Whole 30 diet. It is a delicious tasting  chicken recipe that is prepared in the crockpot. I love having this in the fridge during the week to serve for dinner with rice, or to top on a salad or in a taco shell for lunch.

What is also great about this recipe is that you can prepare all of the ingredients ahead of time and freeze it in a large ziplock bag. When you are ready to prepare it just defrost the bag the night before and in the morning just dump it in your crockpot and it is ready to cook.

The recipe below will provide you with 2 gallon sized bags that you can use one at a time to prepare in your crockpot.

Ingredients

4 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts

2 (12oz) jars of salsa verde (I like Trader Joe’s Hatch Valley Salsa)

2 cups chopped onions, divided

4 (4oz) cans diced green chiles, drained

2 Tbsp cumin, divided

2 Tbsp chili powder, divided

2 Tbsp garlic, minced

2 tsp salt, divided

Instructions

LABEL two gallon-­sized zip­-top bags with the date and cooking instructions:  “Thaw. Crock pot for 2-­3 hours (high) or 4-­6 hours (low).”

DIVIDE cleaned chicken between the two bags.

ADD remaining ingredients in no particular order.  To each bag:  1 jar of salsa, 1 cup of onions, 2 cans of drained chiles, 1 Tbsp each of cumin and chili powder, 1 Tbsp minced garlic, and 1 tsp of salt.

Freezing Instructions

REMOVE as much air as possible, lay the bags flat, and freeze!

To Serve

THAW the chicken overnight. Dump ingredients into slow cooker and cook on high for 2­-3 hours or low for 4-­6 hours.

Creating Sacred Space for Yourself Everyday

Marilena Minucci a great coach taught me to "Create sacred space for yourself everyday."

That is what I love to teach my clients to do. When we don't do this, we let distractor factors such as perfectionism, procrastination, fear, and the normal ups and downs of life get in our way. Sacred space provides the energy and perspective we need to fuel our passions and give us a special appreciation for life. It is very hard to attain this energy and perspective through the normal pace of our busy lives without time out. 

When I first began this process, I found it very scary because transforming ourselves creates discomfort. Deviating from my normal routine and habits made me uncomfortable. Procrastination often felt more comfortable. However, when I pushed passed the discomfort, and the fear that I was "wasting" time, and began making a daily commitment to creating time and space for myself everyday, I began to notice a lot more joy and calm in my life.

How can you create sacred space in your day? It will look different for everyone. Some find it at their place of worship. Many of my clients have set up a special spot in their bedroom or living area with a comfortable chair, surrounded it with pens and pretty paper journals, a special scented candle, a pretty tea cup and some special dark chocolate and relaxing music. They try to spend 20 minutes there in the evening before getting ready for bed. Others take the dog for a walk outside, listen to their favorite tunes and appreciate nature. Others find it at the gym or in the yoga studio. I often suggest that clients find a special recipe they have been wanting to try, take some time to shop for the ingredients, schedule time on the weekend to pour themselves some wine and enjoy the cooking process when they are not rushed to get dinner on the table. 

Recently I spent a week visiting with my mother in New York. I grew up by this beautiful bay by our home, but I  did not take advantage of its beauty by visiting it and appreciating it as much as I could have when I was younger. On the morning of September 11, while I was visiting Mom, I ran along the bay in an effort to create some sacred space and snapped this photo. I took a moment to pause and think about the lives that were lost on September 11 as well as the lives of those  people who I have loved and lost. This is what creating sacred space does for us, it takes us out of the minutiae of our day to day problems and lets us see the bigger picture of life. My whole run only took about 20 minutes, but the perspective it gave me transformed my entire day, and gave me a deep sense of appreciation for the life I have and the people I am blessed to have in it.

Let's get together in a sacred space and discuss how you can create time for yourself everyday despite your busy schedule. EMAIL ME and lets find a time to get together to talk. Visit my WEBSITE to see how working with a Health Coach can help you improve your energy, reduce your stress and create vibrant Harmonious Health in your life and for your family.

Harmoniously yours,

Suzy Harmon

Health and Wellness Coach

Harmonious Health

Creating Sacred Space on an early morning walk