Winter Warnings & 6 Quick Solutions! - Guest Blogger!

Forget the blizzard warnings. Winter should come with another weather advisory—rough beauty conditions ahead. The main culprits are cold air, which holds less moisture than warm air, and low humidity and central heating, which makes already dry hair and skin even drier. But cold weather also hits harder as you get older, when the production of skin's natural moisturizers dips with age, says Doris Day, MD, a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at New York University Medical Center. The result: Your skin becomes rough and flaky while your hair feels dry and loses its shine. These simple cold weather beauty tricks will help your skin stay smooth, your hair retain a shine, and your makeup looking fresh well past the groundhog’s springtime start date.

What is the Solution? 

• Use a humidifier. Add some drops of essential oils to create the relaxing spa feel and assist with sleep. Lavender is a relaxing sleep aid. 
• Put lotion on at night then wear gloves and/or socks to increase locking in moisture.
• Don't wash your hair so often. 
• Take shorter showers - excess washing and with water too hot can dry the skin.  Condition your hair before washing it.
• If you have static in your hair, calm it with a dryer sheet, new or used.
• Keep many sticks of lip balm handy so you never go outside without applying. 

- Dahli Mama!

Do your grocery habits impede your health goals?

Do you have any New Year’s resolutions? Or “challenges” as I called them in a piece I wrote this time last year. If you are one of the many that tackle weight loss, cooking more, eating out less or anything dealing with food and nutrition, then consider your grocery shopping habits as one factor that can positively or negatively affect your goal’s progress and outcome. Many people just tackle what they eat and how they prepare the food. This is important, but take a few steps back and consider how you obtain the food. Is it grocery shopping, prepared meal delivery, CSA/Farm Share box, and/or grocery delivery? Do you enjoy the process or do you view it as a cumbersome necessity to reach your goal?

When I begin working with a new client, one of my services includes going on a grocery store tour with them. Why a tour of the grocery store? How can you obtain the most nutritious food in an efficient manner if you don’t know how to navigate your grocery store or a new one you want to visit? Some of the time-saving tactics I suggest include shopping the perimeter of the grocery store, choosing name brands over store brands for certain items, identifying effective substitutes, and selective choosing of pre-chopped veggies and sale items. We all can’t spend hours at the grocery store so the key is creating the knowledge for efficient shopping with usually less money spent. Lack of knowledge and time often leads to over spending. Don’t be left making one of these excuses: “I don’t have time to shop around” or “I have no clue how to use these ingredients so I’ll just buy this prepackaged all in one item.” These excuses result in dining out more often then in.

What about the size of the grocery store you visit? Is it massive with aisle numbers well into the double digits? When you forget an item on one end, does it take you over five minutes to walk to the other side? Is the size so daunting that you find yourself dreading to go or needing to budget over an hour just for the shopping and checking-out process? If so, you may need to rethink your grocery habits. Is there a smaller one closer or farther away? Sometimes two quick trips are the same as one long one and can lead to more deals and better quality food. For example, we shop at a Whole Foods that is farther from us than the Star Market nearby. However, the Whole Foods is smaller and I can easily navigate it within 10 minutes. I shop the perimeter mostly and buy about 75% of my items there. The rest come from our bi-monthly organic vegetable delivery box, sometimes a local butcher, and then random items at Star Market, which are usually last-minute needs. This has equated to more piecemeal shopping however, we have saved money because I’m not buying EVERYTHING at Whole Foods (which can add up). We have guaranteed organic, and I’m using everything I purchase with no waste. Plus, I love supporting local vendors when I can!

So choose a store that feels accessible and approachable, not overwhelming. Familiarize yourself with the store so that at each return trip you know where to go. Consider proximity, but also think outside the box so that you can have more variety for your body and mind! Variety creates interest and ultimately, leads to success in developing and sustaining a new habit.

The benefits are threefold. You’ll learn to like grocery shopping more, you will ensure you reach your wellness goal by providing a solution that tackles many impediments to improving health and you may even find yourself motivated to search out and try new ingredients.

Need help navigating your local Whole Foods or health food store? Contact me!

Holiday Blues – Do they strike you? Quick tips to overcome the blues!

Feeling blue when you take down the decorations or have no more parties to attend? Or, when the holidays are over do you have trouble getting back on track? Some years it seems the holiday spirit is harder to muster along with the recovery from the holidays. Your waistline doesn’t need to suffer nor does your productivity and mood. All that sugar, alcohol and caffeine increases the roller coaster of emotions, hormonal imbalances and over indulging. So cut yourself some slack, everyone gets off track.

We often experience some sadness this time of year amidst joyous times even when with friends and family. End of year memories, dark days, stress over holiday plans, are often the triggers. The pressure to be “happy” and joyous during this time makes the sadness more apparent. Often perusing sites such as Facebook can increase these feelings that your life is seemingly without or that others are having more fun and success than you. Is that really the case? Guilt over feeling this sadness creeps in when everyone around you is happy and enjoying the season. But again, these feelings are normal.

So how do you move past the sadness or maybe recover from the holidays? With no more holiday parties or family gatherings around the corner, there’s a lack of something fun to look forward to, right? Or is there. We need to remember this is a time for self-care and attention. Check out this quick tips for how you can get back on track and ditch those holiday blues. 

• Find outside activities like hiking or if snow bound go sledding to renew the kid in you!
• Enjoy comfort foods in moderation. This is the time of year for them, not the summer. 
• Seek out friends or other contacts. 
• Maintain a schedule to keep you on track; don't give into what you want or don't want to do. 
• Conversely if alone, meditate and find some solace with a book or a hobby. Pick up a new book or find a new television series to indulge. Remember the creature comforts, of good food, intelligent reading, loving relationships, are often the more sustaining comforts. 
• Seek out a new activity for January. Maybe try that new cooking course you have been eyeing or that Meetup on hiking, sewing, fixing cars. Choose one. Don’t overload your calendar in desperation to stay busy.  
• MOST OF ALL! If you have overeaten a bit don't put the pressure on yourself to loose immediately.  No rush to lose a pound in January.  February will be here soon enough. 

Remember, small changes lead to lasting results. Focus on the activities that make you happy, the foods that nourish you and the weight will come off. Being convicted in weight loss is important, but not to the point of stressing and depriving yourself. Let me know if you need help with finding quick tips that you can easily integrate everyday into your life.

The increasing light and longer days will help with the mood and the appetite, so be patient with yourself - all will pass.  Change is always happening. Enjoy the present, the future is right around the corner.