New Year, New Blog, New Wellness “truth” to question

Saturday night, I waited up for my son to come home (do other parents do this, please advise) and then couldn’t get myself back to sleep. I’m sure the remnants of jet lag didn’t help matters. My body has no idea what time it is. I did what every sleep expert would advise against and started reading things on my phone. My phone wouldn’t have been next to the bed, if not for the teen at a late movie, but still.

I started scrolling through my Instagram feed. I am a little bit of a quote whore, so many people that I follow tend to post quotes. However, some are snarky and hilarious (my preference) and others are more of the annoying Instagram variety, you know what I’m referring to. I get it, I should love myself and some days I do. I read this quote “watch your habits not your weight.” At first glance, I was on board. Habits, and establishing them, are a good use of your time. Fixating on weight and the scale, we all know that helps us as much as a Mallomar when it comes to actually feeling good. But the commentary- and I realize many people respond to this type of thing, bugged me. The poster explained she is starting the year at a higher weight and it doesn’t matter because she now cares more about habits. I felt a pang of doubt, I call it my quote intuition. It happens when I read a quote, wait for it to inspire me, and sometimes react with “nope, that doesn’t work.”

Carolyn and I had lunch, ok hot toddy’s with some eggs on the side, on Friday. We talked about this recent ethos of “weight doesn’t matter.” And we weigh our clients backward, so it’s not like we’re weight fixated but, call it what you will, size matters (to some) J I feel accomplished when I take my vitamins or make my matcha. It feels good. But so does putting on my ski pants, or any pants for that matter, and feeling fit and pretty. If things fitting snugly or a muffin or mini muffin top doesn’t get under your skin, that’s great. But I don’t necessarily aspire to not care about size. I care about my house being decluttered, I love pretty flowers and I love feeling confident or sexy. I like that boost.

I’ve talked about this holier than thou social media movement before. Diet is a bad word, as is thin, forget skinny- the wellness elite will excommunicate you for that one.  But we all agree, I hope, in using our energy to feeling good, have less negativity and guilt. If, for one person, that means weighing more and accepting that, amazing. But feeling that way isn’t necessarily morally superior to putting on an outfit and liking that way it fits. It’s all about keeping it positive and knowing which camp you’re in. Speaking of camps, our New Year’s Squeeze week starts today. Good luck to our 50 Squeezers, many of whom have goals, of feeling "lighter", "leaner" and "debloated", at the end of the week.

Happy New Year!

P.S. How do you like the new blog? Any topics you’d like us to cover? Are you a size doesn’t matter person or does it matter to you?

The Secret to our Squeeze Programs

Squeezers Insta story

Carolyn and I are both R.Ds, we seek out and sample fab food products (many are not fab)  and have years of nutrition counseling under our belts (I hate belts btw, where did that expression come from). I’ve noticed that the extraordinary success participants, in our Squeeze weeks, have doesn’t entirely depend on these things. It sounds so simple, and not groundbreaking, but one reason these programs are successful is because participants are focused on their food. I’ll explain..

We all talk about the juggle. My juggle is parenting and working and working out and cooking and walking the dog. I’m getting anxious just listing these items, so I’ll stop there. But we all have various things demanding our focus. Inevitably, some ball, or more than one, gets dropped during any period of time. If we have an important project at work, that gets moved to the top of the list. Our kids are going back to school (ahem), there goes a couple of workouts that week. You can relate, right?

During our week-long programs, our Squeezers move wellness to the top of the list. There’s also the financial commitment and daily accountability but I’d say the overall focus is paramount. Some Squeezers leave work earlier in order to have dinner at a normal hour (we suggest an early bird dinner on the Squeeze). Or maybe, on a typical week the wine, yogurt and old olives in your fridge are sufficient but this week, you’re going to get to that long, lost grocery store (see photo above)

Once you’ve signed on for a healthier week, the added structure isn’t overwhelming. You’ve carved out time and cleared, or somewhat cleared, your calendar. Even clients forced to travel during these programs find they have resolve they previously didn’t. So try it, you may have to plan it a few weeks out. Carve out 5-7 days to do all those healthy things that’ve been marginalized.

And if you aren’t satisfied with my “secret” I teased in the title, check out our September Newsletter, “Two, new must-have items for a September reset.”

What clean eating means to me

Add some more protein, maybe dark chocolate and avocado 

I’d like to think I have a good handle on nutrition news. I may skip some of the endless, depressing political articles but I read the food-related ones. There was an article in the Guardian that I missed and, more than that, I seem to have missed when “clean eating” went from being a descriptor and morphed into a cult.

There are a lot of annoying diet terms. Yesterday, I talked about plant based. Now, let’s tackle clean eating. For me, clean eating is akin to sensible eating. More veg, fewer sweets. More whole foods, fewer packaged items. In my eyes, clean eating isn’t perfect eating, clean eating isn’t unreasonable.

This article on clean eating conflates clean eating with orthorexia. Orthorexia is an eating disorder characterized with an obsessive relationship with consuming healthy foods. I don’t’ understand this, that’s like assuming hydration is similar or ove rhydrating (a dangerous type of hydration). The Guardian piece also makes clean eating seem like a club. Either you’re in or you're out, clean or dirty? If that’s the case, my eating since my kids arrived home would be dirty, I’m out? C’mon. We all have times where we lean more clean and others where the picks or treats are a little too frequent. Find me the person who is 100% clean and I’ll find you issues may more damaging than any French fry or margarita (just examples, not saying they are my favorite friggin’ things) can inflict.

The other issue is Instagram and those without qualifications offering advice. Let’s start with Instagram. If Instagram is real, no houses have clutter, no food is ugly and we’re all off in exotic locations all the time. We all play a role. I like Insta stories as I don’t filter and tend to present less pretty things. The more we all do this, the better. I have a ways to go. As far as credentials. I am not a snob. There are people who are fantastic cooks without culinary school and others who have a ton of knowledge without letters after their names. BUT, I find that when you have someone who only offers advice on social media or blogs they are sharing their story. When you see clients, or have experience beyond your own, you are more conscious of being general.

I’m halfway through my coffee, I don’t think I’m expressing that well. I’d see bloggers and “influencer’s” (talk about annoying terms) posts as inspiration versus prescriptive.

So, that’s that. I’m trying to write and blog more so please let me know if there are topics or articles you want me to address. Off to have my “clean” breakfast. We’ll see if I veer dirty as the day drags on.