Holistic 1-Hour Meal Prep: Holistic Nutrition (Seasonal Meals For Fall & Winter)

November 15, 2021 Brandi Jackson

Today lets talk about holistic nutrition and meal prep. I have been working on observing and understanding the ebbs and flow of each season and how to stay grounded in nutrition as our season and environment shifts. Sometime it can feel extremely overwhelming and exhausting to figure out healthy holistic and nutritious food choices for yourself and your household but with inspiration all things become more possible.

I’ve decided that I want to share monthly inspiration for healthy nutrition via the blog in order to give us all a chance to think about easy ways to practice nutrition without feeling overwhelm or overworked. Let’s make it easy and then we’ll be more likely to make it consistent.

This month I have been investing in seasonal eating for produce, which can be such a great benefit for our physical health and mental health too. Something foods that can be great for fall and winter season is going to be sweet potato, onion, carrots, apples, oranges, pears, dates, greens, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, garlic, clementine’s, squash and persimmons.

Granola, It’s What’s For Breakfast

This month I felt like granola cereal would be a perfect quick, healthy and hearty breakfast. I also love homemade granola cereal because you can add all the good spices and I tend to go heavy on the ginger and cinnamon. I also love oats for their health factor of keeping your body nourished and sustained for longer periods of time when you have a busier on the go lifestyle starting your day with oats can be such a great power move. If you want to be even more of breakfast champion consider adding fresh strawberries or chopped banana to your granola cereal for a delicious breakfast or you can also take the granola and add it to a cashew or almond milk yogurt with fresh fruit to mix up the breakfast routine or to make a good mid day snack.

Granola Cereal Recipe:

4 C. Old Fashioned Oats

1 C. Golden Raisins

1 C. Walnuts

1 C. Crushed Almonds, Cashews, or Walnuts

2-3  Tsp. Cinnamon

2-3 Tsp. Ground Ginger

1 Tsp. Nutmeg

2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/2 C. Coconut Oil or Olive Oil

1/2 C. Honey

Directions: Pour all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Mix all dry ingredients. Combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Apply non-stick oil to a baking tray. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes based on the brown texture you prefer. Allow the Granola to set for one hour before serving. It has amazing flavor and tastes great with fresh sliced strawberries or bananas with almond milk. My favorite cereal!

Green Protein Smoothie

Next, I love keeping a batch smoothie blend ready to go in the fridge to drink whenever the mood strikes or after my workouts to make sure I’m getting enough protein. I believe in green smoothies because they are amazing and packed with good for you nutrition. In the smoothie recipe below, I’m using the same mixed greens that I enjoy year around but I do love adding lemon for healthy digestion and increasing the flavor quality of the smoothie. I like to add vanilla protein to my green smoothie just to make the benefits more multi-use and multi-purpose and so far it’s been my easiest green smoothie and very satisfying to drink daily.

Green Protein Smoothie Recipe:

2 Cups Water

2 -4 scoops Vanilla Protein

2 Cups Mixed Greens

1/4 Ripe Avocado

1 Lemon Fresh Squeezed Juice

2 Servings Sea moss Gel

Directions: Add all ingredients. Blend ingredients in a high speed blender for a few minutes until the smoothie is consistent in texture. You can make a few batches of this smoothie and store in air tight glass containers. The smoothie mixture will expire in 5-7 days.

Warm Chicken Curry All The Time

Finally, my favorite recipe for the colder month’s is going to be golden chicken or tofu curry because it’s so hearty and like a stew but the flavor is amazing and makes you feel like you’re cuddled up in front of a fire place with a warm blanket even though your just eating a really good bowl of curry over jasmine rice but for all things we must find gratitude and enjoy life’s simplest pleasures. I also really love this curry recipe because it’s made in a crock-pot so you don’t have to do much but “set it and forget it”. I’m a big fan of crock-pot meals especially when you want to have a easy meal prep session.

Golden Curry Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Pound of Chicken or Tofu (optional)

2 Sweet Potatoes (chopped)

1 Large Yellow Onion

2 Tbsp. Garlic

2 Carrots (chopped)

1 Can Coconut Cream

1 tsp. Red Chili Flakes

4 Tsp. Soy Aminos

1 Tsp. Sea Salt

32 oz. Vegetable Broth

4 Tbsp. Curry Powder (Yellow)

2 Tbsp. red Curry Paste

1/8 Tsp. Black Pepper

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a crock pot with exception of coconut milk. Allow for soup mixture to slow cook for 6-8 hours on “low” setting or 3-4 hours on “high” setting. Add coconut cream, sea salt and pepper to taste. This recipe is great to enjoy as a soup or served over brown rice.

I hope you enjoyed all of the recipes for this month’s Holistic Nutrition Meal prep. I’m so looking forward to coming back next month with a new 3-part meal prep where we can put the blender, oven, and crock-pot to use. Let’s save tome and also get our best health and nutrition, and we’ll keep it simple and easy!

MY #1 HOPE:

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your wellness and health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

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Sign up for your free 30-minute wellness consultation session to help you glow and live a happier lifestyle. Together, let’s use our Online Therapy and Wellness Coaching sessions to help you overcome your seasonal depression so that you may live your best life during this holiday season and to help you start fresh during the start of the new year.

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Best 5: Fall Self-Care Habits: How I’m Keeping My Energy Up & Staying Resilient I Holistic Therapy

November 11, 2020 Taylor Hornbeck

5 Self-care Tips for the Fall Season.png

Best 5: Fall Self-Care Habits: How I’m Keeping My Energy Up & Staying Resilient I Holistic Therapy

Now more than ever is a great time to practice self-care and also how we can create nurturing, calm habits including healthy sleep and communication. I thought it may be helpful to share my top 5 self care tips and routine as lots of individuals are experiencing extra stress from the election, homeschooling, the ongoing pandemic and other everyday stressors.

1. Get up on time

If you consider yourself a night owl at the moment but want to start getting up early then I recommend practicing getting up early. Eventually your circadian clock will shift to match your habits. If you want to create more hours in your day by getting up earlier. The other benefits of getting up early are having quiet time to yourself before others are awake, you have time to do more self care practices so when you go to sleep at night you feel more fulfilled.

2. Drink a green smoothie

It’s important that we get our nutrition in but it can sometimes feel like you don’t have time. I have found that making my smoothies in bulk for the week and putting them in mason jars for easy access makes the goal of getting proper nutrients much more achievable.

3. Meditation

To me, meditation = medicine. I find that having time to meditate everyday is very valuable but during extra stressful times I try to make a commitment to meditate at least fifteen minutes per day. This gives me an opportunity to clear my mind. If it’s helpful for you I recommend breaking up the fifteen minutes into five minutes 3x a day. For instance, five minutes in the morning, afternoon and before going to bed to keep your mind cleansed throughout the day.

4. Journaling

I make sure to do at least one page of journaling per day. Journaling helps me to clear my mind by having everything written out on paper and organized. When I journal I also include a list of things I am grateful for. This helps uplift me and keep me focused on the positive. Another journal prompt I use is celebrating myself. This is a great tool for filling your emotional cup of self acceptance. As an example instead of saying “I am grateful for…” you would say “I did a great job at…” or “Good job (your name) when you did x, y, z. Practicing this will allow you to feel more centered and at peace with yourself. I have created The Holistic Planner Self-Care and Wellness Journal which includes a journal prompt per day as well as a daily habit tracker and daily gratitude section.

5. Exercise

Get up and move your body! This can be in whatever way you prefer, personally I enjoy running and lately I have explored getting back into dance through dance certification programs. Exercise is a great way to take care of your mind and body.

In closing I just wanted to share these tools with you and give you some practices you can apply to your life as we move into the period of Seasonal Affective Disorder and post election season. The important thing to remember is despite whatever may happen is that we can manage if we are taking better care of ourselves first. We can’t control most of what happens in the world however we can control how we show up in the world.

WATCH THIS VIDEO TO LEARN MORE:

MY #1 HOPE:

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your wellness and health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

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Holistic Therapy For Anxiety Treatment: Negative Thought Loops + Ruminating Thoughts

November 2, 2020 Brandi Jackson

Holistic Therapy For Anxiety Treatment: Negative Thought Loops + Ruminating Thoughts

Have you ever felt anxious about something going unexpectedly wrong in your life where you did not feel like the situation was in your control? Did the negative thoughts and emotions keep circling around in your head for hours? Sometimes negative thoughts will loop in our minds because we are interested to naturally problem solve. But sometimes we have an issue that will need time to resolve which means the negative thought loop or ruminating thoughts will potentially do more harm than good.

In the paragraphs below, I would like to share some of my favorite anxiety management treatments for negative thought loops also known clinically as ruminating thoughts.

Meditation Can Help Your Anxiety

It may seem difficult to believe that meditation would even be possible when you experience ruminating thoughts. The truth is you can practice focusing your mind on your breathing and focusing on bringing your energy into a calmer space by trying and being intentionally single focused. If you struggle with thinking clearly when anxious like most, consider meditations that are meant for body awareness like completing a relaxation body scan or sending peaceful energy throughout your body for increased sensation of relaxing more deeply.

You can also follow a guided meditation to help channel focused thoughts and needed relaxation when you feel overwhelmed by ruminating negative thoughts. I have several guided meditations that are free and available on my YouTube Channel. You can also opt to follow a mantra-based meditation where you will verbally or mentally repeat a healing or calming phrase for the duration of your meditation session. Ideally after even a 5-10 minute meditation session you are likely to feel more relaxed than before making time to focus on energy shifting and reducing stimulus. You may not feel like you won the lotto after a meditation but 99% of people who genuinely practice will feel better.

Use Internal Narration To Stay Present

When your struggling with ruminating anxious thoughts something that may help you focus your thoughts, attention, and memory is to single task where you complete literally just one thing at a time without moving on to do anything else until you complete the task you are working on.

The other part of what makes this tool/ practice so amazing for anxiety is the internal narration component. As you single task your work try to also repeat/ narrate your task in your mind. For example if you are washing the dishes consider narrating the process for washing the dishes in your mind as you wash the dishes. This helps block out ruminating thoughts because you are intentionally using all of your awareness to complete your single task. This practice works! You can also use this practice of narration to be a more present parent or partner; you’ll notice your ability to engage in time together feeling increasingly happier.

Slow Down/ Rest Your Anxious Mind

When you are feeling anxious it can be hard to think clearly. Something that can help is to intentionally slow down. You may notice your productivity decreases when your anxious anyway so slowing down will likely give your new energy to complete your goals better. Be sure to take a break for rest and relaxation. Sometimes just choosing to sit down and rest for 20 minutes can make all the difference. Usually when you allow yourself some room to sit down you might realize how tired you feel. Rest for a moment, hydrate, and take intentional deep breaths.

You might find that coloring is a great way to shift your anxious mind when you take a rest break, you can also break out the play dough, or knitting supplies. It’s ideal if you need a break to reach for relaxing thought free activities if you need to buffer rumination or anxious thoughts.

The goal is really to create a space for calm and relaxation and to buffer negative thought loops where you will need time to resolve and problem solve. Try these tips and see how they can work to treat and reduce anxiety and negative thought loops. Remember the more you genuinely practice the better your tools become. When your tools for mental wellness gain strength so does your ability to feel more in control on your mood management.

MY #1 HOPE:

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your wellness and health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

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JOIN THE FIT LIFE NEWSLETTER AND GET CONSISTENT HOLISTIC INSPO, TIPS, TOOLS, RESOURCES, AND INFORMATION TO HELP YOU INCREASE ENERGY AND REDUCE STRESS FOR BOTH AT-WORK AT HOME!

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Holistic Therapy Tips: How To Feel Less Alone, Lonely, or Isolated: Tools For Introverts

October 16, 2020 Taylor Hornbeck

Holistic Therapy Tips: How To Feel Less Alone, Lonely, or Isolated: Tools For Introverts

I wanted to put together a holistic support article that focuses on the feeling of loneliness or isolation. I have been reading and hearing from many sources that this is an undercurrent for many at this time. During this time of COVID-19, quarantine and working from home it's no surprise that people are experiencing these feelings as well as depression and anxiety but I have put together some tools that you can use to feel less isolated.

Feeling isolated and disconnected from others is a very common experience that people feel or have felt during the current times or other times in their life. The feeling of loneliness is a feeling that’s prevalent amongst many people for different reasons and different times. It’s a normal part of the human experience. Instead of feeling bad I want you to feel empowered and understand that this is normal. Humans are naturally creatures that crave connection and enjoy being social. There may be times that you feel lonely even if you are among many other people. The following tips were designed to help you combat any feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Create a routine to reach out

Make a point to reach out to people you want to have connections with. The amount of times you reach out will vary from person to person depending on how much socialization they crave and the boundaries they have for themselves. Some may choose to reach out to others on a daily basis while others will reach out weekly or less. I recommend considering the method of your outreach. Think of it in terms of a scale of connectivity. The higher on the scale the closer the connection with another individual, for example connecting in person face to face. The second method would be connecting via phone call, Zoom, Facetime, etc. I encourage you to connect with people in person if that is healthy and safe for you to do at the time or connecting over the phone. The next method would be texting which is a popular option however it doesn’t provide as much space for connectivity. If you do choose this method consider ways you can sprinkle in phone calls so you are able to have the human interaction necessary to feel less lonely.

Share experiences

Consider the various ways you can share an experience with other individuals. In the current times this may be a bit more challenging to do however there are still plenty of ways to implement the sense of connectivity. Some examples of ways you can connect are hosting a virtual party, have a virtual movie night, participating in a virtual book club. Take some time to brainstorm ideas of how you can connect with loved ones or your community virtually while not compromising on connectivity levels.

Expand your circle

Some people may say that they don’t have people they can connect with to have these shared experiences but I would like to encourage you to take this time to form meaningful connections and foster new relationships with others. It can be easy to sit back and say that you don’t have something and you can’t get it but we need to go after the things we want in our lives and not expect them to fall in our laps. There are many platforms where you can build relationships with others like meetup.com, Bumble BFF or Hey! Vina which is an app exclusively for girls to find other girl friends. You may also want to take a look at old friendships and consider if there is a chance to breathe new life into those. There may be old relationships that you had previously written off but maybe they just need some fine tuning.

It can be difficult for people to make friends in adulthood but it can definitely be achieved if you are willing to do your part as well. Even though they can be hard I would like to remind you that they are available to you and to everyone and they are something that makes our lives more fulfilling. I would encourage you to try out some of these methods for yourself to help with your feelings of loneliness and build better connections.

Watch this video to learn more:

MY #1 HOPE:

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your wellness and health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

DID YOU LOVE IT?

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Holistic Therapy For Black Women: How Holistic Therapy Can Help Women Of Color

October 8, 2020 Brandi Jackson

What is Holistic Therapy for Black Women and how is it different or the same as holistic therapy for any other gender and race experience?

As a Holistic Therapist, I see Holistic Therapy as a best practice and concept to create harm-free, dynamic, and intuitive approach to mind body and spiritual healing that is, well; holistic. This is a valuable conversation to have regarding the black woman experience to achieve wellness with mental emotional health.

If this article interests you, chances may be higher that you are a Black Woman interested in Holistic Therapy, or perhaps someone interested in supporting a Black Woman to achieve mental emotional health.

How Holistic Therapy Can Help Black Women

Holistic Therapy is a great mental health and wellness support for Black Women, historically speaking Black Women are more likely to go without support for emotional needs, space for emotional safety, non-biased medical care, and non-biased mental health support. There’s been a breech of trust in the field of medical care and limited support in therapy services historically in the Black community. Please look up the Tuskegee Study or ask the family of Henrietta Lacks. Let’s not even get into the historical past where Black Women were sterilized without consent in order to reduce personal rights for family planning due to racism. I’m sharing these historical traumas to demonstrate the lack of trust when working with helping professionals as Black Women. This is an undercurrent of what feels safe or not safe when working with a health professional. Considering the social unrest of current day America, this energy has not dissipated for many, but to be fair; I can’t speak for all Black Women.

The Diversity Factor Is Important

There is more diversity in the mental health field than ever before and there’s still more experiences of unmet emotional needs for Black Women. Most Black Women have personal experiences where their expectation to have mindful and present support for medical and therapeutic services were underwhelmed. The good news is there are more positive experiences than in the past. That doesn’t mean everything in the system of health and wellness support for Black Women is in perfect order just yet.

Changes Are Happening: Let’s Keep It Going

As a Black Woman Holistic Health Therapy Provider, I’m excited to see and personally work with Black Women for Holistic Therapy support services. I see a great increase of Black Female Therapy Provider’s existing, which is helpful for Women of Color to feel safe in therapy to explore their feelings with a certain familiarity of the lived experience of being a Black Woman without having to stop and explain that when you’d much rather stay focused on your emotional needs. Some women don’t mind at all, and some find this to be helpful as a feature of emotional safety.

Is it Different At All? Is it The Same?

I would say that Holistic Therapy can be provided by a whoever you ultimately feel most comfortable with and it’s worthy to think about what factors of your support team feel useful to have when choosing your holistic support team. Each Holistic Therapy Provider will likely have a varying background of expertise. Find what feels right for your emotional wellness needs.

I’m personally trained in Fitness and nutrition as supplemental support for emotional wellness. But there are other Holistic Therapists trained in Reiki therapy, yoga, acupuncture, massage, and so on. All of it’s useful but you’ll get to decide what is most useful to you.

You essentially will get to work a provider you feel comfortable and safe with who is also qualified to support you holistically in the areas of your life that will be an asset to your emotional health and wellness journey. I hope this post inspires you and feels like good food for thought.

MY #1 HOPE:

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of my tips to improve your wellness and health journey. Be sure to share your real life wellness questions below!

DID YOU LOVE IT?

SHARE THE LOVE!

JOIN THE FIT LIFE NEWSLETTER AND GET CONSISTENT HOLISTIC INSPO, TIPS, TOOLS, RESOURCES, AND INFORMATION TO HELP YOU INCREASE ENERGY AND REDUCE STRESS FOR BOTH AT-WORK AT HOME!

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