"I don't have time to stop and eat."
"I just pop something in the microwave and off I go, but this never feels satisfying."
"I drink coffee in the morning and then I don't eat all day and then I am ravenous at night."

Sound familiar at all? These are the major things I hear from my very busy clients. We have come to believe that healthy meals are a luxury that we don't have the time or money to afford. But, if you're someone like me who loves working and doing something at all hours of the day, then you have to put your own self care first so that you have the energy and stamina to do all of those awesome things you want to do in the world. So here are 2 major tricks and tips to begin to plan ahead to get optimal nourishment all day long.

1. Scope out your area for healthy take out. Yes, I am all about cooking your own food, but I also understand that simply just isn't possible for everyone. Luckily, there are healthy restaurants and easy ways to take out food popping up everywhere. If you have a Whole Foods near you, perhaps you can stop by before work and make yourself a loaded salad with great fats and protein and get a smoothie to go. Look around at the restaurants around you and find some meals that would be something you would/could make at home. This way going out to eat doesn't become a treat that you have to splurge every time you do it, but it transforms into a game of finding the best nutrient dense meals that you can feed your body. Even going to Chipotle and getting a bowl or salad made can provide you with quality energy fast and a nutrient dense meal over grabbing a bar or going to a drive through.

2. Plan ahead. Now if you do love to cook like me and you want to wake up a little earlier or make a day out of cooking, planning ahead for the week can help tremendously. If you have a day where you don't have to rush out the door, take that time to make yourself a scrumptious breakfast and pack a lunch to go with you. This way you know you have a wonderful meal for yourself later and you will be keeping your blood sugar levels stable throughout the day which is key to helping you feel grounded and mentally clear. Or if you don't have much time during the week, take a Sunday and make meals for the week. You can either freeze these meals and re-heat them later or make a huge batch of quinoa or chicken breasts that you can quickly add on to any meal or become a simple snack.

*Planning ahead can also possibly facilitate some thinking of all the ways you can put yourself and your self care first in other areas of your life so that you can fully show up embodied and present in each moment.

Making sure that you get in nourishment in a rhythmic way throughout your day you will be setting yourself up for success! I would love to hear from you! Do you eat on the go? What ways have you discovered to get quality meals into your day throughout the week?

I know it has been awhile since I last wrote something. Let's just say I have been traveling in the depths of my own soul as I entered my last year in my 20's. It took me awhile to be able to first acknowledge that a lot of emotions and questions were coming up for me. Instead of honoring and embracing where I was at, I was pushing it all away. And of course in me pushing it all away, everything that wanted to arise to be explored pushed right back. And so this push pull went on for awhile until of course the emotions won (as they always do) and I began to explore and question how do I want to spend my precious time here on Earth and what am I looking forward to going into my 30's. My body began to relax into the uncertainty of it all.

Whenever we push away our feelings, that usually intensifies the feeling. We may think that pushing something away means it will just leave and never come back. In not honoring how we feel, in not embracing our human experience as messy as it can be, that is when food comes in, addictions come in, digestive issues worsen, and stress increases. We have to own our emotions, own our situations, own our body just as it is to be able to love where we are at now, bringing our body into a relaxation response, to set up an internal atmosphere of relaxation for deeper healing to occur.

Is there anything in your life right now that you are pushing away? Are you having a hard time slowing down and listening to the deeper message within your symptoms? As difficult as it may feel, trust that your symptoms, your emotions, your weight, your relationship with food is all there for a beautiful reason and is perfect just as it is right now. It is all there to be the greatest teacher for you to cultivate the most beautiful insights and wisdom.

So how do we do this? How do we begin to embrace what is? Here are two suggestions:

1. Whenever you hear old harsh internal voices arise or old patterns show back up, begin to breath and start to name what is unequivocally true around you. Usually our thoughts are going over things from the past or anticipating what is to come for the future. When we begin to name what is true around us, like the sky is really blue today, I am wearing jeans, the leaves on the tree outside my window or bright green, you can begin to come back to your body and the present moment and that in that very exact moment nothing bad is actually occurring and that you may even find you are having a pleasant moment.

2. Name the thought or feeling. We get to approach everything with childlike curiosity. So when a thought passes by like a cloud in the sky, you can just name the thought, "O look that old thought is popping up again. Thanks thought for showing up. I wonder where this thought is asking me to go and explore how I am feeling today." There is so much softness and loving kindness in just approaching a thought not as a fact but as a fabrication of our own mind that we can explore how it got created in the first place. The same thing can happen with feelings. When you feel anxious or stressed and want to begin to push it away, actually welcome it in. "O my dear old friend anxiety, how are you today? Thank you so much for being here." In embracing your human experience, it suddenly makes emotions not something that is dangerous but in actuality they are your friends.

These two tricks can facilitate coming into the present moment with so much love and compassion that whatever is going on or whatever you are experiencing is just a part of your beautiful journey. Embrace it. Invite it all in. Have dinner with it. Own it. And then watch it all shift and change and transform into something else that supports you in stepping into your life more honestly and authentically.