It's Go Time!

We’re moving into a fresh new year, and it’s a great time to think about what you really want for your health and fitness. Last week, we encouraged you to focus on how you feel and make choices that help you feel confident and content. This week, we discuss how you prepare both the mind and body to making such a commitment. Simply saying you’re going to eat better or exercise more is not enough; committing to a healthier lifestyle takes time and attention. Here’s how to prepare both the mind and the body.

Preparing the Mind
* Reflect on Your Motivation – Take some time to clarify why you want a healthier lifestyle. While there are no “right” or “wrong” reasons for changing your habits, having a good understanding of your reasons will carry you through challenging times.
* Set Goals – Your chances of success are much higher when you assess where you are, where you want to be, and your progress along the way. If you try to overhaul your entire eating and workout regimen at one time, you may end it before you ever really get going. Change one thing at a time or and set realistic, small, manageable goals that help you feel successful and continue to motivate you.
* Set an Intention – At the beginning of each day or before each exercise session, set an intention for what you want out of it. Whether it’s to deny dessert that day or feel peaceful, an intention gives you a focus for your new habits.
* Be Forgiving – Know that you may have some moments when you don’t quite hit your mark. Beating yourself up will only make you feel defeated; make sure to be flexible and forgiving with yourself. Positive self-talk will always overpower negative self-talk. Understand why it happened and what you can do next time to make a better decision.
* Be Self-Motivating – You are the only person who controls you. Be your own biggest cheerleader and value every healthy decision you make. You can increase your self-motivation by picking what fits you best, such as your favorite types of exercise, healthy foods you enjoy, or more time for mindfulness.

Preparing the Body
* Plan Ahead – To optimize your gym time, schedule your workout time and plan your workout ahead of time. To make better food choices, plan ahead for challenges like eating out or going to a party. Planning ahead prevents pitfalls and helps you monitor your progress.
* Start Slowly – In terms of exercise, you don’t want to injure yourself by doing too much. Gradually increase the length and intensity of your workouts. Keep in mind that things like yoga for flexibility training and meditation for mindfulness are also really good for your body; include these in your routine as well.
* Learn Good Form – Good form does two important things for your body: prevents injury and helps you get better results. Hire a trainer to show you good form before you start your exercise routine. Utilize the mirror to check your form periodically and adjust as needed.
* Experiment – It may take some time to find the foods, exercise, and habits that work best for you. If you hate running and hate eggplant, don’t force yourself to run and eat eggplant. You will simply be miserable. Give yourself permission to experiment with lots of different things at the beginning. Try and try again until you find what makes you happiest and feel your best.
* Maintain Flexibility and Consistency – The adage that life is what happens when you’re making other plans rings very true when you’re working on your daily habits. Be flexible with your plans but aim for as much consistency as you can. Events and mishaps will often get in the way, so adjust where you can and say no when you can. Remember that the focus is your goal and how you want to feel,

Merry Christmas & a Healthy New Year!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow we celebrate Christmas and we will soon have another year behind us.

With the New Year rapidly approaching, we can reflect on the past year and our choices regarding our physical, mental and spiritual health.

Most of us have no problem taking care of others, making commitments for others, helping others and putting others first; but how many of us made a decision to make OUR own health a priority?

Often times, it doesn't even require the sacrifice of putting others on the back burner - it just means rearranging our weekly schedules to accommodate a daily commitment to self.

•   Nutrition:  We've all heard it before; nutrition is 80% of our health.  If you do nothing else, make a commitment to eat more real food, less processed food.  You will be amazed with the positive impact this will have not only on your body composition, but your health, your sleep, your stress and even your outlook on life!

•   Exercise:  If you think you can achieve a positive step towards optimal health without doing some form of exercise or physical activity, you're not headed in the right direction.  You can, however, move towards the right direction without killing yourself in the gym.  Simple changes like choosing to take the stairs at every available opportunity or parking the car far away from the entrance, can have surprisingly positive results in just one month if done daily.

•   Buddy System:  Most of us know someone else in the same predicament as our own. Whether it's someone that wants to change their nutrition or begin an exercise program, or both, studies show the success rate with lifelong changes happen when you have a good support system or, at least, someone that you are accountable to (your trainer, coach  or nutritionist can be an awesome support system!).

Enjoy your Christmas celebration, good food, great company with family and friends and be prepared to make your health a priority for 2013!

Merry Christmas & a Healthy New Year!

A New Year, A New Outlook

Another year is about to end, giving us good reason to reflect on the events of the past twelve months and the accomplishments we have achieved in that time. The end of 2012 also marks the usual time for planning and goal-setting—the beginning of a brand new year and what it might behold for us. Because of our busy lives, obligations and responsibilities often drive our decisions. We try to do it all, be it all, and finish it all, without much regard for how this constant motion is affecting us. This year, instead of making a list of resolutions or promising to change something about yourself or something about your life, how about a new approach? How about having one focus instead of a long list, one that will you help you be more peaceful and more content? In this brand new year, your support team at Salus Lifestyles encourages you to adopt only one outlook this year: how do you want to feel?

The concept that our outlook impacts our health isn’t new – our culture is pretty familiar with the idea that stress, anxiety, and negativity can have an adverse effect on our health while optimism, stress relief, and a calm demeanor can have a positive effect on our health. While wanting to improve on something in our lives is an important trait and can teach us significant lessons about who we are, the tradition of choosing resolutions sends us the message that there is something wrong and that something needs to be fixed. The way to lasting change and self-improvement is not to point what’s wrong and vow to turn it around, but to think about how these traits or habits make us feel. Moving our attention to our emotions rather than what we do “wrong” is a better motivator and will promote more lasting change.

To shift your way of thinking, choose a resolution or goal you had in mind for the new year. For example, it might be to exercise more, eat less, or call your mother more often. Don’t worry about mapping out how or when you’re going to do those things or what reward you will give yourself for accomplishing them. Think about how you currently feel about those habits or goals and how you want to feel. If your resolution is to exercise more, are you currently feeling guilty that you haven’t made your health as much of a priority as you should? Are you feeling isolated because you don’t have anyone to exercise with? Are you feeling lethargic? You could be feeling a number of other emotions as well. Identify which emotions surround this habit or goal as it is now and record them somewhere where you can look at them often.

Once you have identified your current emotions, think about how you want to feel. Do you want to feel proud that you are being healthy and productive with your body through exercise? Do you want to feel connected with someone by having them as an exercise companion? Do you want to feel vibrant and energetic? Whatever you want to feel, record that as well.

Take some time to reflect on the ideas you have recorded. As you look at both sets of emotions, think about how what you do or say or think can move you toward how you want to feel. Review scenarios in your head and mentally choose what brings you closer to your emotional goal. When real decisions present themselves, it will be easier to make the ones that will move you closer to that emotion because you have reflected and practiced making that decision. Be gentle and forgiving with yourself; you do not need to be fixed.

As the new year approaches, turn the attention to your emotions and create a positive outlook when you can. Don’t worry about what you should be or what you should do. Walk through the world with mindfulness and awareness of others but pay more attention this year to your emotional wellbeing. Whatever your goals may be, make choices that help you feel good, not that make you look good or look good to others. By seeking emotional wellness, healthy habits and peacefulness are sure to follow.

Arrowroot Flour

By:  Coach Maria - Salus Nutritionist & Food Expert

If you have been following this blog for any amount of time, you have learned that using almond and coconut flour can be an incredibly easy and delicious substitute for refined flour that does not elicit digestive disruption.

The problem is, there are some people that have an allergy or are sensitive to all sorts of nuts, including almond and coconut flours; which means baking gluten-free and nut-free treats becomes quite the challenge.

Enter Arrowroot Flour: Dairy-free, Nut-free, Soy-free, Corn-free - it makes for the perfect allergen-free flour!

Arrowroot flour, the only starch with a calcium ash that maintains a balance of  acid and alkali in the human body, is a nutritious food.  Obtained from the fleshy root stock of a tropical American plant, it is also an easily digested food.

I was a bit hesitant to try this flour, but then I also realized that using almond and coconut flour had their issues if used frequently, and I wanted to be able to have more variety without leaning too much on a single product.

I have attempted several different types of baking with this flour and was surprised and impressed with the taste and texture!

Arrowroot flour can be used for:

• Flour substitute
• Thickening agent
• Cornstarch replacement

Arrowroot Flour Cupcakes
3 eggs
1/2 c Maple Syrup Grade B
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.5 c arrowroot flour
1/2 c organic palm shortening (yes, you could use coconut oil, but organic palm shortening has a unique chemistry that is good for replacing butter if you are dairy free. The flavor of the cupcakes will be different by using coconut oil)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a large mixing bowl, blend eggs and maple syrup with a hand mixer.
Add vanilla extract, salt, and baking soda and blend again.

Add half of the arrowroot, and carefully blend until smooth, pushing the batter down the sides of the bowl with a rubber scrapper.

Add the remaining amount of arrowroot, and blend again.

Add the palm shortening to the mixing bowl and blend until smooth.

Line a muffin tin with papers, and fill each paper 3/4 of the way with batter using a ladle.

Bake cupcakes for 25 minutes, remove from oven and cool.

Top 10 Reasons to Start (and Finish!) a Detox

Detoxes have long been touted for their positive effects on the body and mind, including increasing energy and “resetting” your habits. The goal of a detox is to clean out the body, particularly throughout the digestive system, and to gain clarity and focus. The Salus Fat to Fit Challenge starts January 7^th and kicks off with the Salus Detox. Here are the top ten reasons why you should join detox with us!

1. Get focused for a new healthy eating plan. Set the parameters and goals for your healthiest year yet.
2. Reset your palate by eliminating unhealthy foods so you can better taste fresh and natural flavors.
3. Enjoy better digestion. Your body won’t be working so hard to digest unhealthy foods, so you will feel better and strengthen your immune system. 
4. Improve your mood by significantly increasing your fruit and vegetable intake and giving your body the nutrients it needs. 
5. Improve concentration by easing your mind from making constant decisions about food. Your choices are simpler and fewer and you can focus on other needs.  
6. Sleep better. Taking a break from stimulants like caffeine, sugar, and alcohol will allow you to establish better sleeping patterns.
7. Improve hydration. Drinking a lot of water will decrease fatigue and give you healthier skin.
8. Explore your body’s reactions to food and find which foods work best for you. Slowly eliminate or introduce foods to monitor how they affect your energy levels and digestion.
9. Increase your self-awareness. Paying attention to what works and doesn’t work will increase your awareness of your mind and body and how they feel.
10. Take time to reflect and concentrate on personal needs. Activities like walking, yoga, and massages will help you get the most of the process and help you decide what you want to manifest for yourself in the new year.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Fajitas

By: Coach Maria - Salus Nutritionist & Food Expert

For many of us, weekly and daily schedules are filling up quickly with the hustle and bustle that is so common during this holiday season.

The convenience of fast food can be really tempting for many during this busy time, but there are better, easier, more affordable and healthier ways to feed you or your family without much effort.

If you enjoyed the easy meal prep from last post, you'll like this one as well.  These chicken fajitas may not have the sizzle that most fajita recipes describe, but it's delicious and EASIER to prepare than the traditional stove top method - leaving you more time to get those holiday errands done!

Tip:  If you double or even triple this recipe, you'll have leftovers for lunches or dinners that will allow for some time off from food prep during the busy week!  The chicken can be substituted with your favorite beef fajita meat!

Ingredients
serves 4-6

2 lbs boneless chicken breasts (you can slice or dice chicken if you want)
1 onion, thinly sliced (red or white)
1 red bell pepper sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 tsp chili powder (increase or decrease to suit taste)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 c chicken broth (you can also substitute with your favorite salsa)
1 lime or lemon, juiced

Toppings:
diced tomatoes
sliced olives
guacamole

Place sliced peppers and onions in bottom of slow cooker. 
Place chicken breasts on top of veggies.
Mix seasonings together and sprinkle over chicken. 
Pour chicken broth and lime juice over chicken.
Cover. 
Cook:  low - 6-8 hours
            high - 3-4 hours
I like to serve this over a bed of lettuce with toppings.  Served in a warm tortilla - if that's what you prefer - works as well!

Slow-cooker Barbacoa

By:  Coach Maria - Salus Nutritionist & Food Expert

Barbacoa is a favorite meal in this household and is especially conducive to satisfying picky eaters.

Full of flavor and a cinch to make.

A set-it-and-forget-about-it meal that requires little preparation - an essential component with meal prep during the busy holiday season.

Barbacoa can be made into different meals to suit different tastes - topped on a crisp corn tortilla, rolled into a warm flour tortilla with favorite toppings, or my personal favorite; sans tortillas but topped with grilled bell peppers, chopped tomatoes, some cilantro and sliced avocado.

Ingredients
Serves 8-12

4 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 red onion, cut into chunks
6-8 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
4 bay leaves
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp sea salt
juice of 2 limes
1/3 cup raw apple cider vinegar
3-5lb beef brisket
2-4 c beef broth (homemade is optimal, but lowest-sodium purchased is fine)

Stir together chipotle peppers and sauce, cilantro, red onion, garlic, clove, salt, lime juice, and cider vinegar in the insert of a slow cooker (if you have a food processor, pulse till combined first before adding). Place the brisket on top of this mixture. (I like to cut my brisket in two pieces so it fits better in the slow cooker.) Add stock to cover the meat and place bay leaves on top. Use tongs to move the meat around gently to combine everything and put the lid on.

Cook on HIGH for 4 hours. Once finished, turn crock pot to WARM and let sit for 6 to 8 hours (I like to put mine on before bed and let it sit on "warm" overnight - this allows the meat to shred easily and falls apart with little effort)

Shred beef with fork and serve with favorite toppings.

**I have doubled this recipe using a total of 7-8lbs of beef and have feed a huge crowd - an easy meal to put together for holiday gatherings!