Healthy Eating Royalty: Purple Cabbage
Purple Cabbage: A Quiet and Underrated Leader
In the plant-based world, leafy greens get a lot of attention for their health benefits. Most certainly, I have heard that message over the past few years. I eat leafy greens daily.
Mentally, I aways include purple cabbage as part of the leafy green family, even though neither “leafy” or “green” applies to purple cabbage. But, cabbage is used in similar ways as leafy greens, and purple cabbage embodies quiet strength in this world from a health perspective.
Self-Talk and Strategies for Work-Life Balance
Lose a Few Battles to Win the War: Navigating Life’s Busy times
Life gets crazy, and there are times when the battle to maintain a work-life balance feels impossible around my overall goal: Eat When Hungry.
For most of my life, I have thrown in the towel during times of work-life business. To be clear, I ate too many unhealthy foods in too high of quantities.
I Was Not Broken and I Am Not Fixed: The Food Is the Problem
Moderation Was Never Going to Work: Processed Foods Are the Problem
In mainstream society, there are many misconceptions around weight, weight loss, obesity, and morbid obesity. One of the central misconceptions is that obesity is caused by personal shortcomings.
Understanding the role of processed foods in my weight has helped me see myself and my weight differently. Years and years of failing at moderation taught me that moderation was never going to be the answer.
Rebalance with Ready-to-Eat Foods after a Long Weekend
Rebalance with Ready-to-Eat Greens and Fruits
Despite my best intentions, my meals got sloppy over the long weekend. My balance of the foods got off, and I had too much fruit and too many higher calorie density foods, such as nuts.
This is a normal part of getting off balance for me. Today, I am readjusting. When I went to the store, I prioritized fresh greens and fresh fruits that are ready to eat, so I can find a sense of balance again.
Living Under Seige: Winning the Battle
Living Under Siege: Face Failure
The battle to center my own health and wellness has been a lifelong one. For years, I failed against the pull of rich, unhealthy foods. No matter how much I wanted to live a healthy life, I was living under siege and could not find a way out of this battle.
Facing failure has meant acknowledging how deeply these foods impact me. I had to reject society's messages of moderation around these foods and had to leave them behind altogether.
Change: Just Start Someplace
I have lost half my weight and have maintained that weight loss for several years. While I now eat a fully plant-based diet, I ate some animal products for a while when I was first starting out, and I was comfortable doing so.
Entering the plant-based world does not need to be an all-or-nothing decision — especially if it is going to keep you from making healthy changes in your life.
Dates for a Sweeter Life: Living Without Processed Sugar
My Dates with Dates: An Overview
Dates are one of the ways I live a sweeter life without processed sugar.
These are medjool dates, and they are my favorite. I have dates almost every day. Dates are calorie dense, so I have to be careful how many I have in a day.
I often add dates to my smoothies and blended salads. Dates add a delicious sweetness, enough so I can get more vegetables into my mix, especially leafy greens.
I have also discovered that I love dates as part of my soups. I often blend a few dates with a few nuts to add as a paste into my tomato-based soups to help add flavor.
Eat When Hungry: An Overview of My Transform Shadows Framework
My Framework for Personal Change
This is an overview of my Transform Shadows Framework. The top part helps me tell my story about the mental actions that I use to be successful in losing weight and maintaining weight loss.
These mental actions may help you guide change within yourself. I use these for my self-talk in many ways. Try them and see if they work for you:
NAME Your Shadows
FACE Your Shadows
UNDERSTAND Your Shadows
FIGHT Your Shadows
REFRAME Your Shadows
TRANSCEND Your Shadows
I wish I transcended my shadows all the time, but my life does not work that way. When things are easy and effortless in my lifestyle, those moments of transcendence are glorious.
Eat When Hungry: My Launch of a Signature Series with Dr. Doug Lisle
Eat When Hungry: My Journey Through a Complex Labyrinth
Three years ago, I started working in earnest on creating educational resources that felt like what I was experiencing in my personal transformation of losing half my weight. Transform Shadows is the result of that work, and it continues to evolve. Today marks another step.
My goal has been to create a bank of free educational resources. The 3:00 am resources. The resources that you seek when you look for a different way of living, a healthier way of living, a way of living that you know is best for you. A way of living built on truth, not gimmicks. I know how this works. I lived this life. For years.
Today, my bank of resources broadens with the launch of my first video interview. A very special guest, Dr. Doug Lisle, joins me for this signature series titled Eat When Hungry: My Epic Journey Through a Complex Labyrinth. Dr. Lisle is a well-known expert in the plant-based world, and his work has helped me in my own journey.
Flipping the script for an interview like this, Dr. Lisle actually interviews me about my journey to lose half my weight and transform my shadows.