We all deal with stress.  It's just a part of life and there is no getting around it.  In this episode, Jessica and I talk about how stress and work go hand-in-hand, but there never seems to be time to relive ourselves from it.  It doesn't matter if you have an office job or if you work inside the home (yes, you stay-at-home parents are career people too!), stress affects us all and has detrimental outcomes on our health.  

So take a listen and see if the tips and pointers I discuss with Jessica could help you alleviate stress in your own life and make things a little more peaceful.  Remember, STRESS CAN HARM YOUR HEALTH!!!!  So let's find some ways to help you learn to calm your mind, lower cortisol levels, and help you breathe a little easier each day.  

If you have questions about this podcast or want more information, please feel free to comment below or simply e-mail me with your questions: [email protected]. If you like what you heard here today, SUBSCRIBE!!!!!!!!! That way you stay on top of all the great topics that is coming your way for 2020 from Lifestyle Listener. Be sure to follow me on social media too and get constant tips and motivations for finding your healthy lifestyle. Instagram: @lifestyle_listener, Facebook: @lifestylelistener, and Twitter: @lifestylelistener. Or just visit my webpage for more information about what I do as a health coach, recipes, other podcasts, and my blog. I look forward to hearing from you!

In January Jessica and I decided to do a cleanse, but not the type of cleanse that involves smoothies and certain food groups.  This was a cleanse to help clear out the used space in our brains squashed by mindless spending and social media apps.  For the entire month of January, we decided to ONLY purchase things out of a necessity.  So Target runs were only for needs like toilet paper, paper towels, and any other personal hygiene product we were out of at the moment.  No running through the dollar aisle or picking up cute "shirts with words" because they would be fun to wear.  We were working on being mindful of our shopping habits and seeing where we dropped extra cash on items we really didn't need.  We also decided to take a break from social media apps and not waste time mindlessly scrolling through news feeds or get wrapped up in the latest and not-so-greatest news regarding celebrities or other famous figures.  

This is a quick podcast, so take a listen and see how we did! If you had your own cleanse of something in January, we would love to hear from you and your experiences, so comment or e-mail!  

If you have questions about this podcast or want more information, please feel free to comment below or simply e-mail me with your questions: [email protected]. If you like what you heard here today, SUBSCRIBE!!!!!!!!! That way you stay on top of all the great topics that is coming your way for 2020 from Lifestyle Listener. Be sure to follow me on social media too and get constant tips and motivations for finding your healthy lifestyle. Instagram: @lifestyle_listener, Facebook: @lifestylelistener, and Twitter: @lifestylelistener. Or just visit my webpage for more information about what I do as a health coach, recipes, other podcasts, and my blog. I look forward to hearing from you!

January is off to a great start and we thought talking about physical activity would be the perfect topic for those still knee-deep in diet resolutions.  So, the connection between diet and exercise has always been promoted as a key to weight loss, but what if you were told exercising doesn't cause you to loose weight?  Would you still do it?  Would you stop all activity and become a couch potato?  

I did some research and digging on the correlation between physical activity and weight loss, and I was not surprised to find several articles with credible citations making the claim that moving more won't help you weigh less.  So why even bother?  Not all of us enjoy physical activity, but what is important to remember when it comes to a healthy MIND AND BODY is that physical activity is necessary for both.  

Some of my information came from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (http://www.integrativenutrition.com/).  I also found some great info about this topic from the book, Intuitive Eating:  A Revolutionary Program that Works by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch.  You can get it on Amazon or at any other bookstore.  I also found some interesting research links via an article on VOX.com  (https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories).  Go check it out if you want to learn more for yourself. 

Come take a listen and let's see if you agree or not with what we discovered about why Exercise Won't Make You Skinny!

If you have questions about this podcast or want more information, please feel free to comment below or simply e-mail me with your questions: [email protected].  If you like what you heard here today, SUBSCRIBE!!!!!!!!!  That way you stay on top of all the great topics that is coming your way for 2020 from Lifestyle Listener.  Be sure to follow me on social media too and get constant tips and motivations for finding your healthy lifestyle.  Instagram:  @lifestyle_listener, Facebook: @lifestylelistener, and Twitter:  @lifestylelistener.  Or just visit my webpage, www.lifestylelistener.com for more information about what I do as a health coach, recipes, other podcasts, and my blog.  I look forward to hearing from you!

We are all consumers...it is the world we live in.  But have you ever thought about taking time off from being a Consumer?  For the month of January, Jessica and I are challenging each other to buy less this month.  We only are going to try and buy the necessities-food, toilet paper, paper towels, household cleaners, etc.  What we are not going to buy is random things that look shiny and fabulous, but really don't need to be purchased.  After spending so much during the holiday season, we just want to be more conscientious of how we spend our dollars.  It's just our way of trying to ring in the new year being mindful of how we spend and how we save.  What are you doing this new year to add positive changes to your life?  

If you would like to ask questions regarding this podcast or any other podcast you hear on Lifestyle Listener, please e-mail me: [email protected].  I am also on social media:  FB (@lifestylelisener), IG (@lifestyle_listener), and Twitter (@lifestylelistener).  Or check out my web page, www.lifestylelistener.com.  We look forward to hearing from you and don't forget to hit that subscribe button to keep up with the latest podcast from Lifestyle Listener!!

We said goodbye to 2019 and hello to 2020, a new year and a new decade!  We are also starting season 2 of Lifestyle Listener!!  

So, are you someone that makes resolutions each new year?  Does it involve food and dieting after indulging during the holiday season?  Or do you find other things to resolve, like saving money or cleaning out that closet with all the junk in it?  Maybe you want to volunteer more this year, or work on advancing your career?  Whatever you might find needs a boost in your life, the new year is usually the time to start.  Jessica and I talk about our own resolutions this year and why we felt they were important to us.  We also discuss how resolutions can have a negative impact on life because it sets some people up for immediate failure.  The one thing we hit on is, when making a lifestyle change (a.k.a. resolution), it's important to slowly implement those changes.  You stand a better chance of actually sticking to the goals you have laid out, and the actions become part of your normal routine.  So whatever your 2020 goals are this year, we hope this podcast helps you reach them successfully!

If you would like to ask questions regarding this podcast or any other podcast you hear on Lifestyle Listener, please e-mail me: [email protected].  I am also on social media:  FB (@lifestylelisener), IG (@lifestyle_listener), and Twitter (@lifestylelistener).  Or check out my web page, www.lifestylelistener.com.  We look forward to hearing from you and don't forget to hit that subscribe button to keep up with the latest podcast from Lifestyle Listener!!

It's the last podcast of 2019!!!!!!  So, we recorded this before the end of the year, but I was a little late getting it edited and ready to post.  Whoopsie!  Lifestyle Listener is coming up on the one year mark for being a live podcast and we thank you so much for stopping by and taking a ride on this crazy train of ours!  We hope this last year of our conversations, recommendations, and personal roadblocks has helped you overcome something in your own life.  And as we look towards 2020 we are super excited to continue down the path of discovering the healthiest and happiest way to live life!  

For our final podcast of the year, Jessica talks about her time in Tulum and some of the struggles she encountered there as her mind and body learn this new process of Intuitive Eating and saying "NO" to typical diet culture.  It just goes to show that living your life the way your body needs is a constant learning process full of frustrations, but also tremendous personal growth.  So as you go into the New Year, try not to sweat the days you feel less successful and celebrate the moments where you found joy and peace.  

See you next year!!!

If you are interested in learning more about Intuitive Eating, I highly recommend Christy's podcast, The Food Psych.  She has some great guests and tons of pertinent information on how to fight today's Diet Culture.  If you would like to ask questions regarding this podcast or any other podcast you hear on Lifestyle Listener, please e-mail me: [email protected].  I am also on social media:  FB (@lifestylelisener), IG (@lifestyle_listener), and Twitter (@lifestylelistener).  Or check out my web page, www.lifestylelistener.com.  We look forward to hearing from you and don't forget to hit that subscribe button to keep up with the latest podcast from Lifestyle Listener!!

Question everything.  Even when you agree with someone or something, it is still healthy to question its foundation.  Part of living a healthy lifestyle is to gain knowledge of what works for your own mind and body.  In this episode, I discuss with Jessica my own uncertainty about a recent podcast I listened to by Christy Harrison, a licensed dietician and Intuitive Eating expert.  In the beginning of her podcasts, Christy answers Q and A from listeners, and this particular one hit home with me and had me doubting her reasoning.  It dealt with someone who was recovering from an eating disorder but also had Celiac Disease.  As a mother of an 11-year-old girl with Celiac, I am very heightened about the disease and how it forces my daughter into a restrictive diet.  But it's restrictive because her body requires gluten to be removed.  Otherwise it physically harms her intestinal lining.  What I heard had me definitely flipping the other side of the "intuitive eating" coin and recognize its flaws.  It goes to show even the best of ideas can have their weak points.  It's important we can recognize the weak points in things we hold near and dear, look at them objectively, and know how to incorporate our viewpoints into the theology.  It doesn't mean you completely disagree with the ideology, but know how to adjust it to fit your own needs and beliefs.  

If you are interested in learning more about Intuitive Eating, I highly recommend Christy's podcast, The Food Psych.  She has some great guests and tons of pertinent information on how to fight today's Diet Culture.  If you would like to ask questions regarding this podcast or any other podcast you hear on Lifestyle Listener, please e-mail me: [email protected].  I am also on social media:  FB (@lifestylelisener), IG (@lifestyle_listener), and Twitter (@lifestylelistener).  Or check out my web page, www.lifestylelistener.com.  We look forward to hearing from you and don't forget to hit that subscribe button to keep up with the latest podcast from Lifestyle Listener!!