Today I plan to spend time absorbing the beauty of my backyard. I intend to plant a seed that will bear fruit for me and mine for generations to come.
What will you do to celebrate our planet?
Happy Earth Day
Category: Health
Is your energy drink clogging your arteries?
Is your energy drink clogging your arteries? Click the link to read full article
My protein scientist husband forwarded this link to me, AFTER checking every supplement and protein powder bag in our house for carnitine. Since we only use Arbonne supplements in this household, we were naturally in the clear! If you’re an omnivore like me then this is more important than if you are vegetarian or vegan. The compound to watch for is carnitine; present both in red meat and certain energy drinks it can lend itself to atherosclerosis (hardening/clogging of arteries).
Like with everything else, it is vitally important that we become conscious of everything we consume. Our health is our responsibility and it is our duty to take care of it in the best way we can so we can live the longest, healthiest lives we can for ourselves and our future generations. It’s no longer enough just to read carbohydrate, fat and protein content; its the ‘other ingredients’ that you really have to watch for. If you can’t pronounce it, it doesn’t deserve to be in your food or your skincare.
Would You Like To Change Your Relationship with Food?
Good morning Niki. I’m doing pretty well. I’ve had some slips but for the most part the program is changing how I eat – giving me a breaking point with past food behaviors. My belief is that in the long run this will help me in so many ways. I have more energy, I’m sleeping more soundly and longer. I know I have shrunk a bit – my friends have noticed in my face and in the middle. I’ve also received input that I just look healthy.
For more information or a 20min complimentary wellness consult contact me at nikirichardson@myarbonne.com
Stop and Taste the Coffee
Today I was fortunate enough to spend the day at a leadership retreat in the company of some incredible emerging leaders. We heard from some incredible facilitators, coaches and speakers. Since it was an all day retreat we were provided breakfast pastries with coffee and yummy lunch by Freebirds in Isla Vista. The interesting dilemma for me was that I LOVE having a hot beverage in the morning – it doesn’t have to be caffeinated, but I do need that ritual to be fulfilled. I had run out of the house and hadn’t had a chance to brew my own decaf coffee and looked forward to a cup. So, I decided that I would allow myself my very first experience with caffeine in over 6 months. Now, since I’ve been doing the 30 day fit kit, I had to eliminated caffeine, alcohol, peanut butter, dairy, gluten, soy and processed sugar. Most of these were easy enough to eliminate – but for me my Sunday morning staple breakfast usually is baguette and French Brie – that was hard to give up – as was the occasional glass of wine or Belgian beer! Caffeine was an easy one for me…so when I partook in the caffeine this morning, even though it was just about 8oz – I ‘felt’ it. My head actually felt fuzzy, I almost felt like I had had too much alcohol the night before and I was paying the price. It was the oddest most uncomfortable feeling. It made me realize that now, as I re-introduce gluten, dairy (just for the baguette and brie), and soy (LOVE edamame) I should really watch for the effect on my body. This program is a natural detoxification that allows you to reset your metabolic thermostat and eliminate allergenic (peanut butter, soy), addictive (caffeine, alcohol) and acidic (gluten, dairy) foods from your diet. Now as I re-introduce them just one at a time, I get to see the true effect these foods have on me and whether or not I should stay away from them for the long haul.
We are so busy in our lives that we never stop to smell the coffee, let alone analyze the affect that it has on our body. Lately, I have become a huge proponent of mindful eating; it’s a great way to get full sooner – that is, you end up eating a lot less than you should/would. We are such an instant gratification society – we want food here and now and we want it when we want it. We get impatient at a restaurant when the waiter takes longer than usual to bring out our food – they’re as impatient to get you out so they can turn the table over to a new set of diners, as you are to eat and get out of there. Even when we’re taking the time to have a night out…we’re in a hurry to eat and run. Maybe that’s because as parents of young ‘uns we don’t really get to sit down a lot. In my house, we all eat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen that only has 3 chairs and so I always end up standing and eating – especially since I’m feeding the little one simultaneously in the high chair, to the point where these days even when I don’t have to feed him – I end up standing and eating my meals because it’s such a habit…one that I am committed to breaking!
All of this to say – that if you can take a few minutes to sit down with your meal in front of you – look at your plate and absorb with your eyes what you see in front of you; after all we eat with all our senses, not just our taste buds. When was the last time you spooned glop into your mouth even if you were promised it was as tasty as lobster? It needs to look, smell AND taste good! If it doesn’t we won’t even take a bite of it! My daughter is proof of this hypothesis – I offered her something that I knew she would like – an Indian lentil, a different one than what she usually likes and because it looked different and not too appealing, she refused to try it. She wouldn’t even smell it!
After you’ve appreciated the aesthetics of the food, THEN taste it; and when you taste the first bite…savor it. Try and isolate flavors – pick out spices, enjoy the textures, chew slowly and a lot. My grandfather always said – chew your food as many times as you have teeth!
And you’re thinking – is the woman mad? I don’t have time to do this every day for three or more meals a day! What if I told you that if you did this for every meal for a week you would lose 10lb (you won’t)? Or what if I promised you that if you did that, I would send you a check for $1,000! (I won’t) – but my point is, you would find the time, and make a way to do it. So do it for yourself! Do it because it will make you healthier in the long term, because it will help you eat less and feel full for longer, because you will develop a new appreciation for food apart from it being a source of nourishment. Do it because it will cause you to slow down just a tic. In our fast paced life- where we barely even take the time to eat lunch, or we eat at our desk while working- if this is the only thing that slows you down, then how can that be a bad thing?
To borrow from Nike…Just Do It!
Bon Appetit
Falling off the wagon but not hitting the ground hard!
So this past weekend, I had family come to visit. My husband being the amazing cook/bbq-er that he is smoked ribs and made buffalo chicken wings, grilled zucchini and smashed potatoes! Our house was filled with 6 children including mine, ages ranging from 2 – 14! Talk about needing a glass of wine! BUT – no actually I didn’t fall off the wagon there. Nope, I am not in recovery – if you remember, I talked recently about the Arbonne 30 day fit kit – well the first no no on the list of no nos is alcohol! The goal of this program is to help you naturally cleanse your system of foods that are allergenic, addictive and acidic (caffeine, milk etc.) and so there’s a list of foods that you must abstain from for the 30 day period. It’s not to have you NEVER eat/drink those foods again – rather it’s just to rid your body of them for 30 days so you can see how it responds, when you re-introduce them into your body one at a time after the 30 days are up – much like you would introduce new foods to a 6 month old baby! One at a time, to see the reaction. For some of my clients, they’ve discovered gluten is bloating, for others they realized the headaches they were having were related to dairy or gluten, and for yet others there was no difference except a ‘lightness’ when they eliminated these allergenic, addictive and acidic foods. Leave a comment with your email address for the entire list if you’d like to have it.
Anyway – so here I am, 2 weeks into this program and doing rather well I might add…no temptations for bread, pasta, peanut butter, caffeine…and then along comes this BBQ from the heavens! Well – there’s nothing better to drink with a BBQ meal than beer…so I allowed myself ONE of my absolute favorite beers – Abbey Leffe, Blonde. I didn’t over eat the ribs and chicken like I usually would have – not because I didn’t want to, but only because 2 weeks of being on this program and my stomach has shrunk so that 2 ribs and 2 small chicken wings and 1 spear of zucchini is all I could take on after my beer. My 10 year old niece did a better job demolishing the chicken than I did! I had made gluten free, dairy free brownies for the allergic kids, and so that was the perfect compliment to the meal! I got to eat a piece without feeling guilty- gluten and dairy are both on the NO list! (so is sugar, but again, I just had a small piece).
The next day, we went roller skating! Now, I haven’t been on skates in 20 years but it came back as easily as if I had been skating daily for years! It was so much fun, didn’t feel like exercise and it was a great social/physical activity to do with 6 kids with boundless energy! After 90 minutes of skating, Coldstone Creamery seemed to be the obvious next choice! Here we go again – temptation…so I ordered a dark chocolate peppermint ice cream with almonds, brownie and coconut shavings (try it if you haven’t it is absolutely divine!); but then proceeded to share that with my dad, my brother and my son! So I am lucky if I got two bites…and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I learned that it was OK to fall off the wagon, as long as you didn’t hit the ground too hard! I did the things I wasn’t supposed to do, but I did them in moderation.
- Depriving yourself makes matters worse – when your body wants something, give into the craving – but just don’t over do it! If you want dessert and don’t have anyone to share it with – take a few bites and then sprinkle salt or pepper over the rest, thereby ruining it for yourself. (learned that from my mentor!)
- Don’t be a party-pooper! – whether it’s a party you’re attending/hosting, or when you have family in town like I did – people who don’t visit often, you want to enjoy their company, and we are such a food society that a lot of our celebrations happen around food! Enjoy it – just within limits.
- Get back on the wagon as soon as possible – So I knew that the weekend was one of eating things off the NO list – the moment they left, I went right back on to the YES list and made sure that I stayed committed to my program.
- Do away with the guilt – If you’re going to ‘cheat’ enjoy it! Don’t eat every morsel with remorse or guilt. You’re ruining the experience for yourself, and the vibe you’ll give your guests is one that they’re the reason you’re miserable. Instead, embrace the foods, and savor every bite – appreciate the fact that you are eating foods that have been off limits to you and let the flavors linger in your mouth (another great way to ensure you don’t over eat).
30 days to feeling fit
On February 4th I started Arbonne’s 30 day fit kit because I’ve been carrying around 10 extra pounds since my baby was born two years ago. They were stubborn and clinging to me like my baby does when he’s sick and needs mommy!
I didn’t start talking about it right away because quite frankly I wasn’t sure if I could commit to it. It was more a fear of failing my public accountability partners than anything else. And then it occurred to me that this was silly. You more than anyone else would help me stay on track and stay accountable. You wouldn’t judge me half as harshly as I judge myself and if anything you’d make the journey easier and way more fun!
So here I am- I want to bring you up to speed:
I ordered the kit which when you do the math works out to less than $10 a day for breakfast and lunch for a period of 30 days, stocked my pantry and fridge and got going. I’d already been doing smoothies for breakfast so no change there. The big question was would I be full enough on a smoothie for lunch? And the answer I found even from day 1 was YES! And that’s because I am eating every 2 hours. I’m actually NEVER hungry and because of how densely I pack my smoothie with fiber booster (spinach, kale, almond milk and butter, even raw almonds, berries, flax seed, sometimes even carrots…) I’m very satisfied!
The supporting products are great– the lemon chews are perfect for my 3 pm sugar craving and the fizz sticks give me the effervescent drink I sometimes want when water isn’t cutting it. (Drinking 8-9 glasses of H20) – the detox tea is quite yummy for end of day wind down time with hubby and oh I added the Arbonne chocolate protein bars to my repertoire. These 7g stevia, 170 calorie dense not overly sweet bars really help me bridge the gap between lunch and dinner. Morning snacks are almonds or just a fizz stick and a few chews!
So here’s how it went: the first day was really hard. I wanted so badly to eat a bag of chips! I think it was my mind checking to see how committed I was…because I barely ever eat chips anyway! But once I ensured I was eating every 2-3 hours it got easier. The hardest thing for me is to not jump on a scale every day! I am doing this to kick start my healthy habits again– not to drop the weight — well who am I kidding– of course I want to drop those final 10lbs but I do want to get back to my good eating habits and I’ve always wondered what my body does in response to certain foods- so when in 30 days I reintroduce bread, pasta etc it will be interesting to see.
I will keep you posted as I progress but the biggest win so far is the fact that my stomach has nicely shrunk so that yesterday when I ‘over ate’ by eating a smallish Cobb salad at a celebration lunch (dressing drizzled and no bacon) I was stuffed for hours after.
I cannot wait to step on the scale at the end of week two. Suffice it to say that at the end of week one I had lost 4lb!
WOOT! For details on this program of for samples contact me
Indian style purple cabbage with peas
1T light olive oil
1/4 t mustard seeds
1/2 onion diced
1/2 head purple cabbage cut like for cole slaw
1 T coriander powder
1/4 t red chili powder
Salt to taste
1/4 green peas
•Sauté mustard seeds and onions in warm olive oil on medium heat till onions are just beginning to turn color
•add cabbage and seasonings stirring till cabbage is well coated
• add 2T water stir cover and cook for 5 min
• uncover and cook till flavors are well melded– about 10min.
• add peas and cook another 2 minutes
Serve hot! Bon Appetit!
Thought for Today
What can you do to elevate your view of yourself? According to Deepak Chopra we must all treat ourselves to moments of luxury– make time for a cup of coffee/tea with a good friend, have a warm bubble bath with a drop of your favorite essential oil for fragrance, or just take a nature walk. When we are good to ourselves, good things happen. We are all so wrapped up in the busy-ness of daily life that we often don’t take that time to ‘stop and smell the tea leaves’ so make a commitment to yourself– today, even if only for a few minutes you will do something luxurious for yourself! The ripple effect of those few minutes will cause a tidal wave of goodness!
The Birthright Gift
At the leadership orientation that I spoke of recently, we were given this essay to read. And for reasons that aren’t quite clear, it moved me to tears. I don’t know if its because we were so close to, and therefore one with nature, or because of the introspective and thoughtful nature of the work we were doing, but as I read this essay, my eyes welled up with tears. I was grateful that everyone was engrossed in their own reading and thoughts and so didn’t see the little salty drops trickle down my face.
For longer than I can remember, I have wondered about my purpose in life; I knew there was more to life than the one I was leading. I was a lost soul in my 20s truly dragged far far away from my birthright gift, of my own doing…it’s because I gave my power away. Life became more centered in my 30s – true happiness, peace, home, marriage, kids, roots, community all happened in this incredible decade. And now, poised on the springboard as I am – 8 days away from entering my next decade I am beyond ecstatic – I KNOW that this is the decade that I will ‘find out the path to authentic service in the world.’ For it’s as Frederick Buechner says “vocation is the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”
The work that I have been doing, and continue to do will surely bring me closer to my birthright gifts. My true vocation of how I will best serve the world. In no particular order, these are some of the things I have embraced which I believe will help me find what I am truly meant to do.
1) Be Mindful: This is key – living in the here and now. As human beings, our nature is such that we’re always planning for our next best thing. Goals are good and worthy and important, but equally important is living in today. Expressing gratitude for where you are on this road and acknowledging that you are exactly where you are supposed to be, because there’s a purpose to that experience.
2) Simplify/Learn to Say No: The first thing my business coach did when I started to work with her was to make me aware of all the things that I was doing that didn’t really add value to my life; commitments that I made to other people – that took away my commitment to myself and my family. I quickly learned how to say NO…and it is powerful. And what’s more, I realized that the world didn’t fall off it’s axis because I said no. It’s continuing to spin just fine. She recently sent me a link to Jonathan Fields‘ The Good Life Project as he interviewed world renowned blogger Leo Babauta who spoke of transforming and simplifying his life. It was inspiring to listen to and made me realize that my own journey is on track as I minimize my ‘outside commitments’ to stay true to what I really want to/need to do.
3) Make more space in your life to explore, create, write, question and spend time with yourself in quiet – you cannot be creative if you don’t give yourself a physical and mental clutter-free environment. My darling husband sent me a great link on Life Hacker on Why you need more margin in your life
4) Conscious Living: We are such a minute speck in the cosmos and I believe that we have been given a responsibility – a gift…we are expected to steward the gift of this planet earth wisely. In fundraising, if you don’t steward your donors and their gifts, you probably won’t get a second meaningful gift from them; this world isn’t so different. If we just focus on how to live OUR best life consciously rather than unconsciously going through our daily motions without thought (read more on that at Zen Habits) then by extension we will be stewarding this beautiful planet we call Earth.
This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means – but this is not something you can take on overnight. However it is something you can make a decision to do/start and then once you make that decision – as then, as has been told to us by Nike over and over again – Just Do It™.
Change is Constant! Embrace It!
Confessions of a Serial Runner
Sometimes I still hate to run, but love to have run!
I’ve been running since I was 7 years old. I ran track all through school – 100m sprint was my race. I HATED distance running… in 1998 I ran my very first 5K in Central Park, NY – it was the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure – and boy you would have thought I ran a marathon! I was so out of breath and so beat up after it that I hobbled around for days. See those days, I HATED to run, but loved to have run! I loved to say that I was a runner…never mind that what I was doing was just about putting one foot in front of the other at a slightly faster clip than walking. In fact, I have a cousin who used to be a Speed Walk racer and I bet she would have beat me, had we ever put that to a test!
So What Changed?
I discovered that I was running too hard. See as a sprinter you give it all that you’ve got right out the gate! You only have a short distance to run and so you run fast and hard! However that’s not sustainable – and sure you can train to be a fast distance runner (I wasn’t born with those Kenyan genes) – but for the average Jane wanting to run – sprinting long distances isn’t realistic. So I slipped into a more conversational pace and lo and behold, I developed a true love for running.
I call it my moving meditation – it’s the only time that I can guarantee I will slip into true mindlessness. I truly become one with the road under my feet, the sound of my own breath mingled with the tweets (birds, not 140 character posts) of the birds and the occasional car passing by provides me with the white noise I need to totally ‘zone out.’ I have some of my greatest a-has and longest periods of quiet mind during my runs.
So why suddenly am I talking about running? Well – intuitively you would think that running outside your comfort zone would bring you the greatest reward – and if you were training for the Olympics you would be absolutely correct! However, for those of us who want to run for the pure enjoyment or exercise value – the way to run is to be able to hold a conversation with yourself. Even at that pace, if you do it consistently enough – you WILL get faster. I have run at an average 10 minute mile for over a year, and suddenly, without warning – I have started to run 9 or even sub 9 minute miles. I am still amazed when my RunKeeper program announces an 8min 25 second mile! WOW! ME??? no way!! Yup! ME!!!
So apply this to anything in your life – do it consistently for long enough, sometimes even without thought of reward and the reward will come anyway!
Run On!
The Breathing Space 