💖Hello Beautiful!

How are you REALLY? Overwhelmed, Excited, Neh? Indifferent?

I’ve been cocooned in healing due to a sudden colitis flare that had me in the hospital for a forced healing retreat December 6-10. It was a very scary situation, YET it was a rebirth and renewing vibrational impact. Those 4 days was full of inquiries and reflecting on this past year, the celebrations. There are so many blissful and learning moments with ALL the challenges…I am in AWE with the cosmic joker’s mercy and grace.

I hope this email makes sense because I can be kinda loopy with the high prednisone I’m on…

🪩Soul Shift: Shift from things being GOOD/BAD to its Vibrational Impact on you

Gamify everything. Kids play all the time and they get what they want. For your gatherings, below is a great game to play year round. We did this last year at Christmas. I’d love to know what your favorite game(s) to play are. Put it in the comments so others can explore them. 

🤗I want to help you SHIFT to whatever you desire it to be

So however you are experiencing it now, be OK with it. Give yourself PERMISSION and savor this year.

This is a holy week of sorts with the Winter Solstice, Angel Day, Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanza, all starting the same time!!! It’s the return to LIGHT.

Eating is such a thing. Especially with this time of the year when the emotions are high and low.

Our relationship with food can take us down or fill us UP.

Maybe your have health restrictions like I do, its an opportunity for you to explore new foods that can make you BETTER! Below is an email from my Gut Expert Guru Tess Masters, aka The Blender Girl. It will help you with foods to nourish yourself. Bring these to your gatherings. Uses these tips to Bounce Back to RADIANCE.

🤗How to stay on track during the holidays, AND have fun from TESS MASTERS!

“We want to celebrate with our family and friends during the holiday season, participate in culinary traditions, eat our favorite festive foods, and make beautiful memories.

But, eating these foods can wreak havoc in our bodies. It may be joyful while it’s going in, and then not so great afterwards.

Rather than depriving yourself of the foods that you love, “mindfully participate” in balance.

And, embrace the SK60® “Good, Better, Best, NOT Perfect” philosophy.

🤗Find a Balance Of Self Care AND Fun.

I embrace a gentle and fluid approach to food during the holidays, and do not allow deprivation to dampen my holiday spirit.

I choose to feel ZERO guilt about food. I indulge in my favorite foods with family and friends, and offset the indulgences with some strategies that REALLY help me to eat festive foods that I don’t normally eat AND feel good.

Yes! You CAN participate in the festivities without the stomach pains, gas, bloating, fatigue, and all-round feeling of “Ugh.”

🤗Practical Strategies To Avoid The Holiday Slump.

Fill Up Your Freezer. Do some advance batch cooking this week, and freeze some of your favorite healthy SK60® meals so you have delicious healthy options you can pull out in between celebrations.

🪩Plan Ahead For Events. When you’re attending holiday parties and attending family group meals, offer to host so you can better control what the offerings are. Or, with potlucks or group contribution gatherings, make something healthy (that tastes indulgent) that everybody else will enjoy as well.

I do this all the time, and unless people need to know what is in the dish because of food allergies, intolerances, or taste preferences, I just slide that plate onto the table with all of the other food.

If you present your dish with qualifiers like: “This is gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, vegan….or it’s from this “program” I’m doing” etc” people just hear “Yuk”, they are skeptical about trying it, and it’s a hard pass. But, if you say, “Oh, this is so delicious, you have to try it!” or just put your food on the table like it belongs with all of the other “regular food”, people just gobble it up and enjoy it. And, when I do this…guess which dish is devoured first and everybody wants the recipe for? Yep…

🪩Eat Before You Binge. When you know there will be very few healthy options at an event, eat something healthy before you arrive, so you’re not as hungry, and can participate in the event without eating as much of the things that you know will make you feel bad. (I also eat a bunch of sauerkraut before I leave and when I get home, and I take digestive enzymes with me. I also take an extra probiotic supplement when I get home and drink some coconut water kefir.)

🪩Everything in Moderation. Enjoy your favorite indulgent foods in balanced amounts. A good approach is to eat one piece of apple pie with a scoop of ice cream, instead of two scoops. Or, even better: Get gluten-free pie and eat dairy-free ice cream. Best: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free Dessert.

🪩Adopt the 80/20 Rule. In terms of your plate composition, put a lot of non-starchy veggies and leafy greens or salad on your plate (80%) to offset all of the acidic foods and provide some fiber. (A lot of holiday foods are lacking in fiber, are dehydrating, and can make us constipated.) And, reserve 20% of your plate for the animal protein, bread, and sugars that are more difficult to digest.

🪩Satisfied not Stuffed. Eat until you feel satisfied, and not until you are completely full. Food takes time to hit your stomach, and this strategy will ensure that you don’t reach that “Ugh” place where you can’t even move off the couch. (We’ve all been there…)

🪩Stay Hydrated. Animal foods, processed foods, alcohol, and other added sugars are all incredibly dehydrating. Drink more water-based beverages than you normally do (filtered water, herbal teas). And, either eat one raw meal a day (smoothie or salad) and/or eat something raw with every cooked meal, such as a side salad, cucumber, celery, avocado etc.

🪩Water and Wine. When you’re drinking wine and/or holiday cocktails, a good strategy is to drink a glass of filtered water between every glass of alcohol. Better: two glasses of water between every glass of alcohol. Best: Drink non-alcoholic festive mocktails.

🪩Push The Probiotics. Improve your digestion and maintain better gut health by including 1/4 to 1/2 of fermented sauerkraut (or kim chi) or fermented pickles (made without vinegar) with lunch and dinner. Other strategies include drinking coconut water kefir, coconut milk kefir, or the SK60® Almond Milk “Kefir” in the morning or evening, and taking a probiotic capsule morning and evening. And, in consultation with your practitioner, using digestive enzymes at every meal during the holidays to support better digestion. (Digestive enzymes are not probiotics, but they support the “better digestion” agenda.)

🪩Keep Moving. Better digestion and detox requires movement. Go for a walk after each meal to aid digestion and burn off some calories. Better: Do a workout each day.

🪩Rest. Get plenty of rest and sleep in between celebrations. This will help your body to regenerate.

🪩All Liquid Day. A great way to recalibrate after an indulgent day is to reset with a whole plant-based “liquid nutrition day” the next day. Smoothies and soups provide calories, fiber, and sustenance, and are easier to digest. So, take a break from processed foods, animal protein, gluten, dairy, grains, legumes, added sugar, and alcohol (all of the things that are more difficult to digest) to give your body a chance to “bounce back.”

🕍Some popular holiday recipes from ​The Blender Girl website​.

SOUPS: For holiday soups, my show-stopper is the ​Thai Pumpkin Soup​. You can also make this recipe with orange-flesh sweet potatoes.

SIDES: I will often volunteer to bring a side dish. Number #1 is always the ​Lemon Garlic Green Beans with Almonds​. and the ​Scalloped Potatoes​. Nobody will ever know there is not dairy in them!

SALADS: The ​Caesar Salad​ and ​Orange Quinoa Salad​ are big winners.

DESSERT: First choice is always the ​Damp Lemon Almond Cake​. Then, ​Cranberry Lemon Cheesecake​ or ​Chocolate Orange Cake​. I do NOT like to spend hours in the kitchen making desserts, and all three of these can be made in less than 30 minutes hands-on time.

SWEET TREATS: Hands down, I always take are the ​Maple Cinnamon Pecans​. Why? Because they are crazy-amazing and taste just like “regular treats”, but because they are SUPER EASY and keep in sealed containers for weeks. So, I double and triple batch the recipe and can take the same thing to several different parties. (Yep, let’s work smarter not harder.)”

Helping you SAVOR every moment in your journey with AWE

Thuy