Real Food. Real Conversations.

Exercise habits are important in general, but the other areas of life that they can positively contribute to make them even more critical!

Just because you were a college athlete, it doesn't mean that having exercise as part of your regular routine will be a lifelong simple thing to do. If you lose incorporating movement into your daily life, it is possible to get it back!

Having healthy exercise habits isn't a use it or lose it kind of thing. Life happens, and our wellness goes up and down. Today's guest, Jenny Melrose, shares how she went from college athlete to exercising only when she had time. But has now worked to make movement as part of her daily habit!

Jenny is a former reading specialist who “retired” from her teaching career when her blogging income far exceeded her salary. Through hard work and dedication, her lifestyle blog, The Melrose Family, became regularly sought out by nationally recognized brands such as Neutrogena, Smuckers, Glad, Costco, Stanley Steamer, Sara Lee, and many more.

She is a content strategist that helps entrepreneurs better understand their messaging and unique position in the online space. 

Now, she’s combining her passion for teaching with her extensive experience of creating strategic content for online business owners via JennyMelrose.com and her podcast, Influencer Entrepreneurs with Jenny Melrose as well as her first book Influencer Entrepreneurs: The 4-Step Framework to Building Your Audience, Growing Your Business, and Making More Money Online.

If you're feeling stuck and need some support to jumpstart your business, make sure to download Jenny's free guide!

The Fluctuations of Exercise Routines

Your routines for movement can change over your life. Jenny was a multi sport high school athlete and went on to play 2 sports in college. This gave her a routine to count on and made exercise easy.

However after college, that structured routine went away and exercise was harder to keep up with. So just because you excelled at one point in your life, that doesn't mean it's set forever.

Throughout the years your routine can be a roller coaster of ups and downs. If you are a routine oriented person, it makes getting a regular system hard.

So finding something to help get that routine back is important. For Jenny it was deciding to train for a marathon. She had structure again, which made her bring regular exercise back into her life.

After she had kids, it became hard again and it wasn't until she found an exercise program that she connected with that she was able to regularly exercise again.

Lack of Exercise and How We Feel

Moving our body is a very important part of overall wellness. When we don't move our body, we are not able to feel our best.

This is especially true when we go through times of stress, which happens with all of us. As life happens and stress builds, we start to feel things like anxiety and even deperession.

If we step back and listen to our bodies, they are pretty good at letting us know that we need something to help. When I feel things like:

My chest tightenMy stomach being uneasyMy breath getting rapid

All these things let me know that I need to get out and get moving.

Benefits of Exercise Habits

There are so many benefits to exercise, many have nothing to do with how you look! Here are some that both Jenny and I have felt first hand:

Overall feeling betterLower frustration levelsGrounds you overallHelps you feel centered and focus on the tasks you need to doGive endorphins which help in life and businessContributes to overall happinessDecision making are better, they don't come a place of emotion

Physical changes can also be seen. While these should not be the focus, they can help motivate you. Jenny had plenty of muscle memory from her past, so the first thing she started seeing was definition in her shoulders.

I personally don't change much in size,

Learn more about the mindfulness principles, the pillars behind them and how you can start incorporating mindfulness into your daily life!

Mindfulness incorporates a variety of principles specific to attitude. Each of these principles can help you find ways to live a more mindful life.

History of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a concept that goes back to the Buddhist influence of alertness, attention and awareness. It was the monks and nuns who practiced meditation and mindfulness, the broader population didn't take interest until the 1960's.

As immigration to the United States increased, so did the Buddhist culture and it's teachings. By the 1970's, Buddhist influence was on the rise and an interest in mindfulness practices became more prominent.

The Purpose of Mindfulness

The concept of mindfulness is surrounded by the idea of being present. It doesn't have to be complicated, and there are many ways to practice mindfulness.

There isn't really an end goal when it comes to practice. It's simply something to be aware of in your every day life. It's okay for your practice to go up and down, but taking a few moments each day to be present and mindful can have many benefits.

Being present and aware can help strengthen your relationships with not only others but with yourself. Today's technology has our attention on a million things at once, which makes our brains constantly distracted.

Science shows that no matter how much we think we can, multitasking does not allow us to do the things we are doing well. It's always best to give our full focus to one thing at a time.

Therefore, not only can being present help us improve relationships, it can also help us more successfully complete the tasks we are doing.

Mindfulness has also been show to have many other benefits:

Stress reductionConcentration and focusDecreased depressionOverall improved healthConfidenceSuccess at workLess burnout

Pillars

There are 9 main pillars of mindfulness. Each key attribute focuses on attitude.

Non-Judgmental- allowing your thoughts to pass through versus acting on them.Patience- living in the present versus worrying about what's next to come.Beginner's Mind- being open to new experiences.Trust- trusting yourself with the decisions you make.Non-Striving- accepting ourselves for who we are in the present moment.Acceptance- working on the things that you can change instead of focusing on things you cannot.Letting Go- staying present in the moment instead of worrying about things we cannot control.Gratitude- being grateful for each moment and recognizing it.Generosity- helping others.

How to Practice Mindfulness

Practicing mindfulness doesn't have to be a big undertaking. In fact, by trying to do it all at once, you are not practicing mindfulness.

Start small (small habits) and work on one thing at time, keeping the various pillars in mind. It can be a simple act you weave into your day, or an intentional change you make. Here are some ideas:

Start the day with saying something you are grateful for.Put all technology away during a meal.Do something nice for your neighbors.Make a plan for meals for the week.Take a moment each day to be still.When you get anxious, notice the present environment and say things you see, hear, feel, etc to focus on the here and now.Learn a new hobby.Meet someone new and be open to learning more about them

The idea is to stick to being aware and present in life. Instead of sticking with what you are used to and being complacent, try new things and be open to growing.

To learn more grab me FREE mindfulness guide!

If you're looking for weight loss without the stress of dieting, counting calories or tracking what you eat, then this guest is what you need!

Does anyone really like to track all they eat, count their calories and cut out foods they love? I doubt most people do, but many feel they have to to lose the weight they want. Listen in as our guest today tells us otherwise!

Claudia is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Nutrition (CSSD) and a Strength and Conditioning Specialist/Trainer (CSCS) with a master’s degree. Basically she’s an overall health coach.

She created ONE-TWO PUNCH to simplify eating, provide education on nutrition and offer tools to have at your fingertips. The book came together from meeting with thousands of clients and creating a method that is easy, doable and sustainable.

Food touches every aspect of our lives and everyone needs to eat. Because of this, your relationship to food and your body is important, but it doesn’t need to be hard. ONE-TWO PUNCH shows you how!

You can check out the book on Amazon or grab a free copy at ONE-TWO PUNCH (you pay $4 shipping) with code: VEGGIES.

When is Weight Loss Needed?

Weight loss is a very personal subject. Because everyone is different, there are many reasons that it may be an appropriate part of their health journey.

When you are not seeking a particular ideal or focusing on what social media tells you, weightless can be ok and you shouldn't feel bad or ashamed if it's something you want to do.

Some of Claudia's clients are telling her that they feel uncomfortable, they know they are over eating, stress eating, etc and they want help in stopping this habit.

While in essence the focus is working on the habits that are causing the weight gain, losing that weight is part of the process as well for them.

The body positivity and health at every size movement is amazing, however when taken to the extreme, some people may feel like they can't say they want to lose weight even if they want to for good reasons.

The point is that you need to pay attention to your body's signals, not what the outside world is telling you.

Also, there are some medical conditions that can be helped with weight loss. Things like diabetes and pre diabetes, high cholesterol, dislipidemia, etc.

Reasons Why Diets Don't Work

When a diet is creating a calorie deficit, this will work initially but it works until it doesn't. The way most diets go about it isn't sustainable for real life. Which is the main reason people give for stopping the diet.

We need to find a way to eat with how it works for our reality, we want to create a lifestyle not a short term thing.

Also, many diets cut large groups of food or tell you that you can't eat things you actually love. If we love certain things, why would we agree to never eat them again? Which brings us back to stopping the diet.

Our bodies need a balance of nutrients, and cutting out whole groups of them isn't something that is good long term. While we are all different, in general most of us need a balance of everything to function at our best.

Counting Calories

Overall, counting calories for every thing you eat is stressful. It's one more thing to do, and it doesn't allow you to be in the present moment so you can enjoy your food.

As you continue to count calories and bring stress, you create a system of chronic stress which can increase your cortisol. And in turn and increase of cortisol will make you store fat.

This goes back to the caveman days of fight or flight. Your body thinks it is in distress so it stores the fat for future use in order to keep you alive. Also, your other systems shut down in order to help you focus on fighting the stressor.

When certain stress hormones are released, it makes you crave carbohydrates, which then makes you want to eat them and can lead to overeating. And the cycle continues.

While goals are great, small habits are even better. Working in tiny incremental steps will get you big goal success that is sustainable!

We are told to have big goals in life. Reach for the stars! But the reality is that trying to meet those big goals is overwhelming, and when a task feels too big to tackle we give up.

So how do we achieve those big goals? It is possible with the right strategy! My education years getting my regular and special education teaching credentials and my masters degree in education, plus my 14 years as a teacher, taught me that small achievable steps had far greater results.

I then went on to become health coach certified, and my training further strengthened that belief in small steps. We need to create small habits and integrate them into our every day life so that our goals feel natural and not a mountain we must climb.

The Tiny Habits Method

Part of my training to become a certified health coach included a section on the Tiny Habits Method by a man named BJ Fogg. This was one of those boxed out side pieces that we often skip as we study.

But something about it caught my eye and I was fully immersed into this information. It took what I learned through my teaching experience and gave it a name. It all seems like common sense but I realized that many people don't know this.

The idea behind the tiny habits method is to make the behavior changes you want so small that they are easy to do. Not overwhelming. This is exactly what I did with my students when I was teaching.

I now take this method and use it in my health coaching business. I help my audience and clients achieve their wellness goals without overwhelm. When something feels achievable you are more likely to stick with it.

How to Start Small Habits

But where do we start? Actually starting seems to be one of the hardest parts. My free habits guide is a great place to begin if you're looking for a little push. I also work with clients one on one and in groups if you're needing a little something extra.

The first thing I like to focus on is your why. The big reason for making a change. It's really important because it keeps you focused and reminds you why you are doing something.

When things get hard, it's easy to give up if you don't have a why behind it. Your why can be anything that is meaningful to you. Just make sure it is about you and not what you "think" it should be.

Some whys by current and past clients are:

Help reduce my blood pressure and cholesterolReverse my diabetesAvoid diabetesAvoid the obesity some of my family has gotten toFeel strongerBe able to run around with my childrenLive long so I can see my kids get married and have childrenImprove overall wellness

But it can really be anything! There is no wrong answer, unless it is based on what someone else has told you to focus on. Your why must come from within or it won't be meaningful.

Steps for Creating a Small Habit

Once you have your why, it's time to choose a goal and then dissect it into those small habits. This is a very personal process so I can't give specifics but I can give an example of my own journey.

When we changed our diet to help better my husbands health, my own wellness also got better. This helped me realize that I wanted to keep working on my overall wellness. Since wellness encompasses the body and mind, I wrote down goals in both areas:

Bring meditation into my daily habitsBe able to do a handstandCut gluten out of my diet

In the food arena, I felt pretty solid, however I discovered that gluten is a huge issue for me so that is something I needed to work on taking out.

It is really important to work on one small habit at a time, which means you need to pick one goal to start with. For me, making meditation as part of my daily routine was a good starting point because when I have a healthy mind the other goals come easier.

Find out what willpower is and why you actually don't want to rely on it to meet your health and wellness needs!

We've heard a lot about how willpower can help you meet your goals, but what if we addressed it from another angle? Do you know how it can actually hurt you?

Jenn Trepeck is described as a “force of nature" in the wellness space. She is an Optimal Health Coach, Podcaster and Business Consultant. After graduating from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, Jenn founded Better Life Now LLC while working full time in hedge funds.

After over a decade of coaching clients, Jenn started Salad with a Side of Fries Podcast to help pay it forward and reach a larger audience to teach the nutrition education we are all supposed to know but no one ever taught us.

Jenn implements revenue generating wellness programs in doctors' offices, salons and spas to further expand impact and help change the state of healthcare as a Certified Transitions Lifestyle Coach and Consultant with nutraMetrix Custom Health Solutions.

When not hunkered-down at home during a pandemic, Jenn is typically working out at Physique57, discovering hidden gem restaurants in NYC or traveling to spend time with friends and family.

Click here to book a free wellness discovery call with Jenn!

What is Willpower?

The easiest way to describe willpower is that it is how we make decisions and what motivates those decisions.

It is like self control, and stems from a very complex neurological and hormonal function.

How Willpower Works

Generally our day starts strong. We make our best decisions in regards to our wellness, but as the day goes on it can go "downhill" as people say.

In the course of the day we make many decisions, and as those pile up, so does our ability to make them. This is called decision fatigue.

Willpower is like making a decision and you need a brain in good form in order to make that decision.

Since willpower is based on making decisions, our willpower changes as the day goes on. This is why you may find yourself choosing more wholesome options at the start of the day and turning to those not so wholesome snacks as the day goes on.

The Science Behind Willpower

All of this is very science based. As we wear out, we need to replenish our bodies with it's needed sources of energy. One main source is glucose, which is carbohydrates. Our brain especially needs carbs in order to function at it's best.

Which is why we crave things like sugar or carbs when we are tired or drained. This helps us balance our blood sugar so that our brain can function at it's best.

This goes back to the caveman days when our fight or flight response was triggered as we faced real dangers, like being attacked by a bear. Our body needed that quick burst of energy in order to fight to stay alive, or flee to save ourselves.

However now, most of our stressors are mental versus physical. But our systems are still acting in the same way. It has not changed like our lives have.

We also need to take other factors of brain science into account. When making decisions, are we operating from the emotion center at the back of brain (using fear and stress) or are we using the reasoning center in the front of the brain (using ordered thinking and problem solving).

When it comes to making decisions with food. All the senses are involved (seeing a commercial and billboard or smelling a bakery etc). It isn't as simple as one might think.

By using willpower we can also ignore the sensation coming from our body that help us decide if we are hungry or full.

Is Willpower Needed?

The real question is do we need to rely on willpower in order to make healthy decisions for our wellbeing.

When people reference willpower they are focusing on the act of resisting desires. Studies have shown that people spend almost 20% of their waking hours resisting desires.

By relying on that for our health,

When it comes to vending machines, vegan options are hard to come by. And one that is filled with all vegan treats is unheard of. Until now!

These two women are taking the world by storm with their new product, a fully vegan vending machine! Listen to find out why they are doing it and the barriers they are breaking.

Introducing CEO’s Gabriella Rubin and Aurellia Cammock the Founders of VEGMI LLC. Gabriella is 24 from Staten Island, NY and Aurellia is 25 from Brooklyn, NY.

VEGMI is a vegan vending machine business that is designed to offer snacking options for everyone. They also launched a global vegan market place in April 2021. Their mission is to save animals, stand up for human rights and help bring income to people all over the world.

Vegan Vending Machine Options

The goal of VEGMI is to replace every vending machine out there. To make grab and go snacks accessible for all, regardless of diet, allergy and perference.

Right now there, are not always options in vending machines for a variety of needs. And if there are, trying to figure it out while looking through the glass at something you may or may not be able to read is downright impossible.

VEGMI has the snacks clearly labeled so that you can grab and go without stress.

The snacks encompass foods that are vegan, gluten free, kosher, soy free, non gmo, organic and more!

Reasons to Have a Vegan Vending Machine

The mission for VEGMI is focused on accessible food for all but it's also about giving opportunity to everyone.

They want to make everyone feel included, so when you're needing that easy quick option there is something for you, no matter what diet you must or choose to follow.

What we consume directly corresponds to how we feel, so we need some healthier options out there for those that want them. And currently, most vending machines do not provide that.

Also, we need access to these types of options in all societies, money or not. We can't continue to sit back and watch our lower socioeconomic neighborhoods not have the same accessibility.

VEGMI also wants to create an opportunity for everyone. The VEGMI vending machines are individually owned, so anyone that wants to start their own business has the opportunity.

Gabby and Auri (we're besties now so I feel like I can call them by their nicknames), want to help people creating an income. Be their own boss and have that residual money coming in.

Things Inside a Vegan Vending Machine

There are so many options for what can be inside a vegan vending machine!

The idea is to allow each person to own their own machines, and then they can make up what they want inside themselves. If they want it all healthy options, then great. If they want it all vegan or all kosher or all organic, then they have the choice.

Some of the types of snacks you can find in a VEGMI machine are:

OreosPotato chipsPretzelsProtein barsBada Bean Bada Boom snacksTrail mixYum EarthPumpkin seedsNutsMade Good snacksHippeasVeggie chipsAnd so many more!

Where to Find Vegan Vending Machines

The idea is to replace all vending machines with VEGMI machines. So truly, anywhere you see a vending machine is a great place to find VEGMI.

A few places that you can find them are:

SchoolsShopping MallsOfficesAuto body shopsGyms Apartment complexes Hospitals Nursing homes

Challenges in Creating a Vegan Vending Machine

The biggest issue is first to get people familiar with the snacks. One strategy is to have something they know, like Oreos, in the machine. Oreos are vegan, but many people don't know that.

So if we break the stigma that vegan snacks are everywhere, even things you are used to eating, it will make people feel more comfortable. Vegan and healthy snacks are tasty, it's not all just nuts and fruit.

Once someone is interested, they are able to explore the other options, and may be open to trying new things. Even healthier things that they may have not selec...

We are unpacking the truth behind what intuitive eating really is, clearing up any misconceptions and shedding light on its benefits!

The phrase intuitive eating is thrown around the internet often. But what actually does it mean? There is a lot of misinformation out there and today our guest nutritionist is giving us the truth!

Steph Gaudreau, NTP, is a nutritional therapy, intuitive eating, and strength training expert helping purpose-driven women build stronger bodies and healthier relationships with food.

In her best-selling book, The Core 4, she details a four pillar approach to building health, embracing your body, and owning your power. Steph is trained in biology and human physiology and is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and USA Weightlifting Sports Performance coach.

Her weekly podcast, the Listen to Your Body Podcast, has 3+ million downloads. She’s an international speaker that has been featured in Outside, MindBodyGreen, SELF, and ESPN Radio.

Make sure to check out her FREE Food Freedom Mini course!

What is Intuitive Eating?

Simply put, intuitive eating is a set of 10 principals that you use to improve your relationship with food, yourself and your body.

It is when what your body is telling you (as in your likes dislikes, etc) merges with the external stuff you are exposed to (like things you should and shouldn't so, what's "bad" or "good," etc).

Th goal is to find overlap between what the external world tells you and your internal world to achieve optimal health for you.

Everything we consume online and in the media has made people more disconnected with our own bodies and it's needs, so it helps bring us home to our body.

Intuitive Eating and Mindful Eating

Intuitive eating and mindful eating have a lot in common. Mindfulness is a component of intuitive eating, but intuitive eating goes a lot further and deeper.

Both are centered around the concept of honoring your body, being present and in tune.

Both have many studies, but one main difference is that the studies associated with mindful eating tend to be centered on weight loss. However intuitive eating is weight neutral.

You can also get certified to be an intuitive eating counselor.

The Basis of Intuitive Eating

Intuitive eating was first coined in 1995 by two registered dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch.

It is based on 10 principals:

Reject the Diet MentalityHonor Your HungerMake Peace with FoodChallenge the Food PoliceDiscover the Satisfaction FactorFeel Your FullnessCope with Your Emotions with KindnessRespect Your BodyMovement- Feel the DifferenceHonor Your Health- Gentle Nutrition

While it has been around a while, it's really in the last few years that it has caught on.

There are over 150 studies and growing, going into things like the efficacy of intuitive eating for mental and physiological health.

Weight Loss and Intuitive Eating

Intuitive eating is a weight neutral practice. Weight is something that is not focused on and can go up, down or stay the same.

Honoring your hunger is one of the principles of intuitive eating. This not only focuses on the idea of eating when you are hungry, but also learning to feel your body's cues of satiety.

Hormone signals for satiety don't happen in the first 5 minutes of eating, so the simple act of slowing down gives your body a chance to catch up and allows you to feel when you are full.

So instead of counting your calories and allowing that to control what you eat, learning to honor your body's natural cues is the focus with intuitive eating.

Diet Culture

In intuitive eating, you work on making health promoting habits that stick and that have potentially no bearing on weight.

Because weight and health has been so connected for so long, it's hard to break the habit of connecting the two.

The goal of intuitive eating is to improve your relationship with food a...

Food accessibility is an area not taken into consideration often enough when we talk about wellness. Healthy can be done in many forms!

The online world makes us feel like if you don't eat fancy products you can't be healthy. From superfoods to super grains, it's a super amount of money!

The Evolution of Healthy Food

Being what they call "an influencer" I see it all online. From people pushing fancy products with the promise of optimal wellness, to the opposite side of simply being able to access food for some populations.

In today's almost post pandemic world, health is of uttermost importance. So why do we focus on creating newer "better" products instead of trying to find ways to get simple wholesome food to all populations?

I consider myself very blessed to afford what we do. Yes, we work hard for it but my families history wasn't an easy road.

I am first generation Greek, my parents were Greek immigrants to this country. When I was little, both of them worked full time in order to get food on the table and give us a good life.

However my mom came from very little. She grew up poor in the mountains of Greece, not knowing if she would have food every day. She was one of the only women to go to high school and the first woman in her village to attend college.

Back then, at 13 the women were brought home and married off. But my grandmother saw a light in her that needed to be fueled. So my mom was pushed to get an education.

My mom is a hero in my eyes. She taught me the concept of hard work, and accomplishing dreams. She worked her ass off to give us an incredible life, and now lives very very comfortably.

She gives a lot to the less fortunate, not only here in San Diego but also to family back in Greece who live on barely anything. She has volunteered and mentored at the homeless schools and basically is an incredible human.

I tell this story, because I was raised on good wholesome healthy food. My mom also grew up eating all whole fresh foods, when they actually had food, because that was what they could grow and trade for.

No superfoods. No fancy products. But here we are in America today where it seems if you can't afford Whole Foods prices, you are screwed. Except, you aren't.

Social Determinants of Health

If we are going to make health something all people can achieve, we need to take certain things into consideration. We need to think about where people are born, work and continue their life.

There are social determinants that must be considered such as socioeconomic status, eduction level, the actual physical environment, their social networks, where they work and access to healthcare.

While this is a deep discussion that could go on for hours, I will touch upon a few of these aspects and why we need to work on changing the narrative.

Economic Access to Food

The most talked about issue with a healthy diet is being able to afford it. If you can't shop at Whole Foods, is there still hope you can live in ultimate health?

There are so many factors with economic access. From the income you bring in, your expenses, the debt you have, your medical bills and other supports. They all play a factor.

Physical environment

While money is a major issue, we also need to think about the fact that some people can't even get to places that offer fresh nutritious food. We take for granted how easy it is for those of us that have cars to get places.

If you cannot afford a car, you rely on public transportation to get around. Not only does that take longer, but it also may not get you close to what you need.

Where you live and what you have around you is an important factor. The grocery stores in your neighborhood, access to public transportation to get to them if walking isn't an option, and even the safety of leaving your home at the hours you have open to get that food should all be considered.

The health of our planet needs our support. Being creative with food waste by reusing, recycling and upcycling is a great first step!

My guest today is a food waste solutions expert! She has all the tricks to help us move closer to saving our planet.

Known as The Plant-Powered Dietitian, Sharon has established an award-winning career in the field of plant-based nutrition and sustainability. One of the most widely recognized registered dietitians in the world, Sharon is an accomplished writer, editor, blogger, author, speaker, professor, advisor, and media expert.

Sharon has authored over 1000 articles in a variety of publications, including Better Homes and Gardens, Oprah Magazine, and LA Times.

Her latest book, California Vegan: Inspiration and Recipes from the People and Places of the Golden State, was published on March 1, 2021. And she’s currently working on her fourth book on plant-based eating due for publication in 2022.

She serves as the nutrition editor for Today’s Dietitian, associate faculty in the MS of Sustainable Food Systems Program at Prescott College, judge for the James Beard Journalism Awards, nutrition consultant for several organizations such as AICR and Oldways, and co-founder of Food and Planet.

Sharon recently completed her Master of Science in Sustainable Food Systems from Green Mountain College in Vermont. And she still has time to blog every day for her popular online community (400 K members strong and growing) at The Plant-Powered Dietitian.

Living in the sustainability mecca of Ojai, California with her husband and two dogs, Sharon enjoys tending to her own organic garden, visiting the local farmers market, volunteering in local environmental organizations, and cooking for friends and family.

What is Food Waste?

Food waste is when you discard edible nutritious healthy food, basically throwing away food that can be eaten. 40% of our food supply is wasted. That's crazy!

This is not just about food going bad, it's about waste happening on many different levels.

A lot of it is happening at the consumer level, in our household, when we shop at the grocery store and when we eat at restaurants. While it also happens at the grocery level and with the restaurants themselves, a lot is a result of what we do.

All of this food is wasted while 12% of our population has food insecurity, meaning they don't know if they will have food to eat.

Why Food Waste is Happening

There are many reasons why food waste happens in our country, but a large issue is our food is relatively inexpensive compared to other countries.

A study was done on the percentage of income we put towards food and when compared to other nations, it's a lot lower. This info is purely statistical and not related to food insecurity or those that cannot afford food.

Since we put a lot less of our salary towards food, we don't value our food as much. Therefore, wasting it isn't something that we think about as an issue.

Also, we don't use the entire plant when it comes to produce. We tend to throw away a lot, things like carrots tops, peeling veggies and fruit when the peels are edible and stalks of broccoli.

Also, here in the US we are disconnected from our food system. Many people have never been to a farm, so we don't stop to think about all that goes into getting our food.

Another issue is our perfection principal. If produce isn't perfect, it isn't good enough to buy or sell. From blemishes to off shapes, we tend to buy the produce that does not have these issues. And grocery stores only display those that are perfect as well.

We also don't understand the expiration dates on packages. What are actually best buy dates, we take as an expiration. But in fact, many things are good well past the best buy date.

Another huge issue in our country is our problem with portion sizes. This is actually factual, if you compare our portion sizes to other countries you can see a ...

Mindfulness practices are not just for yoga! When you take them beyond the mat, you begin to feel better and live a life you thrive in.

While many people think mindfulness is something you do while in yoga class, there are many ways to bring it into your life. It doesn't have to be complicated, but the results are so beneficial!

Donna Jones is a senior leadership executive with nearly twenty years of experience in the healthcare industry. As a registered nurse and community health leader, Donna is intimately familiar with the multitude of concerns associated with a hectic modern lifestyle. 

Donna credits her own wellness journey to saving her life during a time of intense personal stress and change. Working her way up the career ladder in a competitive field while obtaining four degrees and multiple certifications, Donna knows exactly how it feels to push yourself to your limits in your life and your career.

Through adopting strategic wellness practices and accumulating a multi-faceted lifestyle toolkit, she was able to not only overcome the odds stacked against her, but to thrive. 

Donna’s desire to share her knowledge with others prompted her to begin (R)evolution Healthstyle, a 360-degree approach to wellness and healthcare that strives to prevent the common diseases and illnesses she saw plaguing those around her.

Through plant-based, holistic strategies, Donna helps her clients create stress-free, health-filled lifestyles. With the help of yoga and meditation, the (R)evolution Healthstyle plan allows clients to become more present and to gain clarity wherever they happen to be in their busy lives. Donna is confident that she can help you create the vibrant, energetic life of your dreams. You can reach her at her website above or on Instagram.

You can also grab her free Plant-Based Grocery Shopping Guide!

The Definition of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a broad term. It refers to an awareness that arises from paying attention when living on purpose, being present in the moment and doing it all in a non judgmental way. The root is in compassion, both with others and ourselves.

Overall wellness isn't just about the food we eat, it has to do with the wellness of our mind, body and spirit. We put a lot of emphasis on the food piece and not enough emphasis on the mind and spirit. Mindfulness helps us focus on all areas.

While the mindfulness practice starts on the yoga mat, the practice can be brought into regular life with amazing results. Because the world today is filled with technology and instant access to just about everything, being mindful takes effort.

Pillars of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is not just one thing. There are a variety of characteristics that make up the concept of being mindful. A few of them are:

Being purposefulNon judgmentBeing present in the momentCuriosity and self awareness

These aspects can be woven in to every day actions but can also be part of a meditation practice. Mindfulness is multifaceted and can be done in just about every situation.

Bringing Mindfulness into Life

Many people start with yoga in order to get familiar with a mindful practice. There are so many types of yoga, and something for just about eveyrone.

It can even be as simple as breath work, closing your eyes and just breathing as you pay attention to your breath.

You can also begin with meditation. It can be done with music, just sitting in quiet or simply taking a few minutes to focus on the moment. It doesn't have to be complicated.

Another way to practice mindfulness is journaling. From full journaling or just writing down a few things you are grateful for, it helps you focus on the moment.

You can also just simply be in the moment. Sitting and being. It's that simple. Many people think that you have to rid your mind of all thoughts, This isn't true, it's ok to be aware of them, you simply need bring yourself back.

Mindful eating