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Good Food Health Coaching by Klesick’s

It is sure nice to be on this side of the Holiday Season. After New Year’s, life will settle, and things will return to a relatively more normal routine. And as far as I am concerned routine and normal are greatly appreciated!

The new year always brings such fresh optimism and renewed energy, we just need to sustain it, but how? That is the million-dollar question.

Well the answer depends on what the goal is that you are trying to accomplish. If the goal is to lose 5lbs maybe two weeks to a month. If the goal is to lose 50lbs maybe 1-2 years. If the goal is to lose that last 5 lbs., maybe 2 or 3 months!

Maybe your goal is to run a 5k which will require different training than a 10k or a Marathon. But no matter what the goal is, each person has to assess where they are, how attainable the goal is and then develop a plan to accomplish the task. The first hurdle is recognizing that something has to change, and then acting upon that goal. Don’t get stuck in the planning mode; yes, plan to be successful, but don’t be a successful planner!

Let’s talk about what makes achieving a goal successful. First, you need a good goal, that is reachable, but a stretch. Second, the big picture/plan, AKA the final goal. I like to use a business strategy called 4DX. Essentially, you state the goal “from x to y by z”. For example, I want to go from 205 lbs. to 185 lbs. by 3/15/18. Third, implement the plan. If your goal is to lose 20lbs, your plan might look like: eat 3 meals a day, cut out processed sugar, no snacking, drink 3 glasses of water, weigh myself Wednesdays/Sundays. The last part of the plan is probably the most important: accountability! Once you have decided what the goal is, its timeframe, and the plan to win, then you’ll need accountability.

Accountability can take many forms, a life coach, a counselor, a friend, joining a group. I am a big fan of accountability, it just makes reaching a goal that much easier.

Klesick’s is going to offer a group coaching call weekly via a private Facebook group. Our accountability will revolve around good food and incorporating more of it into your diet. The Good Food Coaching will be focused around eating better to feel better and a byproduct of eating better is losing weight. We are going to limit the group to 30 folks. The price for the Good Food Coaching and accountability will be $8/wk. and will run for 3 months. If you would like to join us on this journey, visit this link.

Wishing all of you a wonderful start to the New Year and we will see you in January with more good food conveniently delivered to your door!

 

Farmer and Health Advocate,

Tristan

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Love

I think this time of year is a powerful reminder of what was, is, and what can be. All of us find ourselves at different places than we were last year. Some of you have moved and are getting accustomed to new environs, establishing new relationships, and building community. Others have moved back to “home” and are reconnecting, reestablishing old relationships and rebuilding a sense of community.

Some of you are welcoming new family members—a new son in law or daughter in law or maybe a new future prospect for marrying into the family. Others are welcoming new children and introducing them to the wonder and awe that is life and life at Christmas. And a few more of us are welcoming grandchildren to their first Christmas’s.

Like many of you, I find myself experiencing life at warp speed. But one thing that is not lost on me is that I am a year older this Christmas and so are most of the important people who are in my life–except Arlo and Nathan our newest grandsons experiencing Christmas for the first time and joining our other grandchildren Kaden, Hadlee and Grayson. It is going to be a lot of fun around the farm this holiday season.

Joelle and I are in that middle spot. We have grandchildren, and children and older parents. It is a beautiful season in life, but a full one. It makes me think about Grandpa Hank. It has been years since he passed away, but what is forever etched in my memory are his eyes. If there ever was a tinkerer or inventor, it was Grandpa Hank. He built a riding lawnmower that could also be used to split wood and another attachment to mow the hillsides. Good old-fashioned ingenuity!

Funny thing about Grandpa Hank, his great grandson Aaron got the “bug” one day and took two riding lawnmowers and found a way to attach them and make an articulating lawnmower that was steered using pulleys and a winch. In many ways Grandpa Hank still lives and his talents and gifts are passed on, just like each of our talents and gifts will be passed on.

But back to Grandpa Hank’s eyes. As dusk was setting on his earthly life, I would watch his interactions with the family—all those little ones running around, stopping by for a hug or the newest little one landing in his lap. His eyes were always focused and taking in the entire scene. I think he was still a big kid, with an even bigger appreciation for life. The wonder and awe of life was not lost on him.

Love is a gift and is best passed on, but we will have to keep our eyes open to be able to not only share our love, but also to receive love. We can love and be loved because a baby boy born on that Christmas morning first loved us.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and the most blessed of Holiday seasons,

 

Tristan

Farmer, Health Advocate

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Keep the Holidays Healthy

Does anyone else think that this is a lofty goal?! Everywhere you turn there is an advertisement to buy something, do something, donate to something, plus all the running around and mental energy to keep up with it all! To complicate matters, our will power is severely depleted when it comes to food because we have already made another 100 decisions that day. We just don’t have the energy, time or will power to cook or prepare a healthy snack. And the winner is…. Sugar and Processed Foods! The loser is….

But there is an antidote to the food traps. Planning! We have to plan to eat healthy or most of us will have a lot more to “lose” in January. It is the same with our finances. If we don’t want to owe VISA/MC for this holiday, we will have to plan where our money goes and how it gets spent. Otherwise, come January, we will have two crises, a visa bill crisis and a “I ate too much in December?!?!”-crisis. But personally, I want to have “0”, NADA, no, crisis in January. Not a financial crisis. Not a weight crisis. And I want that for you, too.

With Thanksgiving down and Christmas coming, I am going to have to be diligent. It is hard enough to eat well, but during this season there is SUGAR everywhere and for a lot of folks, sugars and flours are addictive. If you are one of those people and honestly find yourself craving sugar, this season is especially hard. Just saying “no” probably hasn’t worked in the past and it probably won’t work now either.

I personally don’t believe that this is a will power issue. Many of us have elevated insulin levels in our bodies and elevated insulin levels block a hormone called Leptin whose primary job is to let us know that we are full and to stop eating. This means that for a whole lot of people, the natural processes of eating and feeling full aren’t working. This is due in part to a diet with too much processed foods in it. The other challenge is that in order to make this switch, a person will need accountability—firm, loving, compassionate accountability–to help them hold on to the new way of eating.

The good news is that our body is so resilient that we can lower our Insulin levels so Leptin will begin to work again. The solution is simple, we will need to eat whole foods and less processed foods, and, yes, eliminate Sugar (except that which is found in fruit and vegetables.)

Look for more information next week on eating better during the holidays. Until then continue to eat healthy and be healthy,

 

Your Health Advocate and Farmer,

Tristan Klesick