A Health Coaches Coffee Confession

So here it is.  Yes I drink coffee.  I sometimes have more than one per day, and I truly have been trying to give it up for the past few years.

Why?

Because it’s not good for me.  Because I feel the need to put sugar and cream in it, which makes it even worse. Because I am a health coach for pete’s sake!

Well, here’s the thing I’ve come to realize. What if I decide, in my search for balance, I decide to go with the flow and enjoy life? What does that mean. Well to me, it means eating healthy, taking care of myself with exercise, energy work and meditation. What I must do, I’ve decided is find balance. Enjoy my ONE coffee in the morning and the rest of the day drink water or loose leaf tea and chaga. If you don’t know, chaga is a mushroom that is harvested for it’s health benefits.

It’s hard to admit this, because I am a health coach after all.  Well, I am also human.  I also struggle to live my life in the healthiest way possible.  I am always learning, growing, changing and adapting.  My struggles with coffee are not struggles at all, rather it is my need to learn, tap into my body and intuition and acknowledge and accept something and when ready, change it.  That is the key; when I’m ready!

So, now I must acknowledge to myself that I have not been ready to change or willing for that matter.

Now, let me make another confession.  I once smoked cigarettes.  Quite heavily in fact.

I would light a cigarette before I even got out of bed in the morning. Gross I know! And when I think about it, I still can’t believe I actually did that. It’s now been 22 years since I quit, but it took some time.  I had been smoking since I was 15 or 16 and I admit that I loved it.  Not sure why, but I did. When I met my husband and we got married, he hated that I smoked at home.  He would have a cigarette when we went out to the bar or to friends parties sometimes, but he didn’t smoke the way I did – which fascinated me.  It was a bitter fight between us at times.  He wanted me to quit.  I tried many times, and then I would start again.  I would hide them in my car for a while until he found out I was smoking again, and it was a cycle that we would go through.  After we had been married a few years we decided to go on vacation, to Jamaica with another couple. Don’t ask me why, because I still don’t know, but I decided I wasn’t going to bring any cigarettes with me.  I think Paul rolled his eyes at me when I said that. After all we were going to be around other smokers, so I’m sure he was more than a little doubtful. But I did it! I quit smoking, I don’t want to say just like that, because truthfully it took years of quitting and starting and quitting again. But, this time it held.  I’ve not picked up a cigarette in 22 years.

So, why? Why was I able to quit like that?  I believe it had to do with the change of scenery for a time, with the fact that I was away from my routine and in a ‘good’ place.  I was busy having fun and enjoying myself, that I didn’t feel the need to pick up that bad habit, even though I was around other smokers. I’m very proud of myself for that, for giving it up and staying off of it.

It has also taught me something important.  I will quit anything I want to, when I’m ready.

So, I’m not completely ready to give up my coffee.  I think I have it in my head that the world believes I need to quit completely and I must be perfect, and so I beat myself up for drinking one or two coffees a day and keep saying; ‘I know I must quit.’

Today I will enjoy my coffee, but I will also enjoy my many glasses of cold water, my greens, my complete proteins, my oatmeal every morning. I love avocado and eggs and fresh veggies….oh, those fresh veggies are soooo good.  I also love and enjoy meditation, reiki and energy work, playing with my puppy and helping others find their power and learn to listen to their intuition, and so that is what I will focus on, and when the day comes that I am ready to quit drinking coffee completely, then I will.  For now I will enjoy my morning routine. ❤

Update!

It has been a just over a month since I wrote the above post and I have quit drinking coffee.  I had started a cleanse a few weeks ago, and so coffee was on my list of things to stay away from for 5 days.  I don’t do well with long cleanses. Even short ones I need to be careful, as we all do. I ate very well, and did stay off coffee for the entire time.  I will say, that in the beginning I felt like absolute hell.  I started to have panic attacks again. I had trouble sleeping, unbearable fatigue and generally felt very unwell.  I know I was detoxing, but what I hadn’t given thought to when I planned this detox, was that I was starting this around the same time of my menstrual cycle.  Ugh! Those two did not go well together at all. However, I made it through. I felt much better as the days went on and I continued to stay off the coffee as well as incorporate juices and smoothies into my daily routine.  I haven’t lost any weight, but that wasn’t the point for me.  I wanted to cleanse my body of the build up of toxins that had accumulated, and to see how my body responds to different foods. I now approach my health and wellness as a proactive experiment.

It has been just over a month and I continue to drink warm water with apple cider vinegar and honey in the morning as well as juices and smoothies during the day, along with a pretty (although not always) healthy diet. I do allow myself to be bad sometimes. I enjoy a cup of coffee on the weekend with Paul, I’m sticking with decaf these days, and a glass of wine sometimes in the evenings as I sit in my porch swing in the early evening. I enjoy some cake on birthdays and burgers at my dad’s summer barbecues.

During this whole process, my whole life really,  I am learning to understand my body and my mind a little better.  I believe that my hormones are changing and I want to do what I can to work with my body and not against it.  I don’t like the anxiety, panic and lethargy that I have felt off and on for the past few years, and so I must do what I can to change it.  I have noticed that I have a layer of fat around my midsection that doesn’t want to go away regardless of my diet, exercise and stress level.  I sometimes have a very difficult time waking up in the morning, and I do believe that this all has to do with my changing hormone levels, low iron and stress.  So, what can I do about this? I can rest. I can go with the flow. I can take my multi vitamins and supplements and do my exercise. I can meditate and lean on friends when I need support and encouragement.  I can do energy work also, which I believe has helped me to heal in so many ways, body, mind and soul.

My healing is completely in my hands. The change that I seek starts with me and when I am ready to make the changes necessary I will.  And so will you! Every situation we find ourselves in carries a lesson. One that is essential to our journey and fulfilling our purpose. I believe that part of my purpose is sharing my journey honestly with others, so that you will know you’re not alone. I believed for most of my life that I was supposed to stay silent. That sharing my pain and challenges was something that was frowned on because it’s a ‘private’ matter. How many times have you heard or thought that? Certainly, there are things I don’t care to share with the world, but there are other things that I think are important to share.  Let me know your thoughts? Do you share yourself with others or do you prefer to stay silent? If so why?

If you would like help changing your diet, exercise routine or mindset by all means message me and we’ll work together to help you find your balance and the lessons in your journey.

Much Love,

Jennifer

http://www.embrace-change.ca

How my clean eating cleanse was more of a challenge than I expected!

  

  

I decided to do a cleanse this week and as much as I would love to say that I feel great and full of energy, I cannot.  Not because of the cleanse, actually it has been a wonderful experience, but because my hormones decided to play havoc with my body this week.  I didn’t realize when I chose to start my cleanse this week that it was the week before I am to start my period.

It wasn’t what I considered a strict cleanse.  I didn’t feel I was restricting myself from eating a lot of foods, however I did have some restrictions.  I wanted to stay away from meat, dairy, coffee and gluten.  My diet for the week consisted of loaded oatmeal in the morning, homemade nut mix and fruit for a snack, a very healthy smoothie full of veggies and fruit for lunch with a couple hard boiled eggs for added protein, a homemade granola bar for snack and something great for dinner.  Tonight it was loaded quinoa with butternut squash, raisins, broccoli, purple onions and spinach. 

The beginning of last year started with a lot of changes happening.  Among them, I realized that my body was changing and there wasn’t a lot I could do, except to hold on and enjoy the ride.  Not that every moment has been enjoyable to be honest.  Some moments have been downright frustrating and filled me with anger at my lack of control in the situation.  I had thought I had made it through that period and I was on the upswing once again.  I have returned to my workout routine and have been feeling very strong and motivated. I was so excited to seemingly get back on track and so I thought I would add to this by doing a cleanse and really getting back on the clean eating train once again. And then! 

And then my body seemed to decide to throw a wrench into this whole idea by knocking me on my ass.  I started day one feeling pretty good. My husband did the shopping last week, and with all my requirement for smoothies and lots of veggies, fruits, quinoa, nuts and seeds and such.  Day two I woke up not feeling so wonderful.  I had that familiar feeling of lethargy and anxiety that usually starts the week before my period is to start. I checked my calendar and confirmed that yes, this is in fact that week.  I thought surely, with all this clean eating and healthy foods I couldn’t feel as terrible as I have in the past and the answer is no, not quite.  This week has been a roller coaster ride of feeling somewhat okay to completely terrible.  I do feel better than I did at the beginning of last year.  I am recovering quicker for sure.  It is another reminder to myself that no matter my plans and intentions sometimes things are just out of my control.  I do believe that I am detoxing and maybe that is part of it, it could be allergies as well,  but those damn hormones are not being very nice to me right now.  I’ve been fairly exhausted this week not allowing for much working out except a few lunges and standing crunches. I’ve also noticed that I’m a little more bloated around the middle, a definite sign of the impending period.  

Today is the last day of my cleanse and with all the ups and downs I’ve had this week I am very glad that I did it.  It did help to remind me that clean eating is not that hard and I do have the willpower to stay away from the coffee and pizza. The pizza was a bit difficult I’ll admit, but I’m proud of myself for staying strong.  I do feel good being off the coffee every day.  I’ve come to realize what a crutch it had become for me and that even though I do like it, it had become too much of an addiction for me.  I wouldn’t mind having a cup on the weekends on the porch with Paul in the summer, but not every day.  I love my blender and the delicious concoctions I can make. I love that I can look at this whole situation in a positive way and not feel completely derailed and defeated.  

Please don’t get me wrong. This is not about how the cleanse didn’t work because I’m not feeling great with all this healthy food I’m eating. No, it’s actually the opposite. I’m glad to have been on the cleanse this week or who knows how much worse I might have been. I take my supplements, and use my essential oils and I drink my water as well and it does all help, but sometimes we just have to go with the flow and let our bodies do what it needs to do.  Sometimes there is no miracle pill or answer. It’s important for me to not be scared of this process and allow it to ebb and flow.  When I allow my fear to take hold, things become so much worse.  Sometimes what we need most is rest, and the universe tells us this in different ways.  This week for me, it was feeling exhausted and in need of relaxation and quiet time. 

I hope you will take something great away from this post. Whether it’s learning to go with the flow, experiment with healthy foods, love yourself where you are or not being afraid of the process.  Tell me about your challenges. How you faced them and made it through.  I firmly believe that the most powerful ally we have is our mind.  It can also be our greatest enemy if we allow it.  Don’t beat yourself up when your feeling challenged. Approach it with curiosity and see what it has to teach you, and you will come out on the other side so much wiser and better for it. 

Much Love,

Jennifer

State your intention, set your goal AND follow through!

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So as I sit here at 11:00 at night, the house quiet and the tv playing white noise in the background (Mash actually) I can reflect on what I would like to get done this week.  Oh, there is SO much, can ya feel me? I am getting better though, at the follow through, isn’t that the hardest part? We can all set goals and state our intentions, but it’s the follow through where we usually falter and fail.

I have found a template that works well for me, in which I write at the beginning of each week what my priorities are and what my goals are for the coming week.  It is working really well.  I look at it every day and find what I’ve done and what I haven’t and it helps me to stay accountable and on track.  I list my business and personal wellness goals and at the end of my week can look back and reflect on how well I did and maybe where I faltered a little and could use a little more work.  If you’re doing this, be sure you’re not beating yourself up for the things you’re not getting done.  That’s not the purpose of this exercise. 

So, one of my fitness goals for this week is to add more push ups to my push up challenge. This is something I’ve decided to do this year to challenge and push myself. I’ll be 45 in October – my husband says I’ll be 46, but honestly I’ve lost track and stopped counting.  I have until October to reach said goal.  I have a recent shoulder injury that I don’t want to make worse, but I don’t intend to let it hold me back either, so I must take my time, listen to my body and go slow.  I figure this will give me a good amount of time to do just that, and if I happen to get there before the actual date then even better!

I also have business goals and some personal goals that I’ve set. I am very blessed to have a wonderful support system set up for myself.  I have recently started a mentor group.  This is  great group of women that will meet monthly here in my studio.  We will support, encourage, inspire and push each other to grow.  Accountibility is very important for me, and I find that I need to say things out loud to others to make sure I get moving and don’t just let it sit on the shelf in the back of my mind with ALL the other ideas I have and haven’t put into action. 

So what goals have you set for yourself? How will you be accountable? Do you have a support system set up for yourself or will you go it alone? How will you feel to reach said goal and what tools do you need to get there? Ask yourself these questions and answer them honestly. Find what works for you and if you’re not sure what to do or how to get there, reach out to someone you trust for support and encouragement.  I am always here to lend a hand. Let me know what your goals are and how you intend to get there. I’d love to hear from you and cheer you on. 

Much Love,

Jennifer

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Quote of the Day

So true! Just keep moving. One foot in front of the other. Sometimes you may find you’ve taken a step backward or even two. Don’t quit!! Get back up and start moving again.