It is proved over and over that skipping breakfast is not a good way to get ahead with your health. During the winter season, eating warm foods can help keep us warm if we tend to run a bit chilly! Nutrition is a critical component of our overall fitness, health and wellness routine. Fitting it all in can be tough but a very worthy journey.

Variety is the spice of life so here is a great healthy take on oatmeal that serves up like a healthy dessert without all the added sugar. I have enhanced the original recipe to make a touch healthier with less sugar & healthier fats. Take a peek at both & make it for multiple days worth of breakfast!

The original can be found here: https://www.womensrunning.com/health/food/baked-protein-oatmeal-healthy/

How I will make it:

1C Steel Oats & 1 1/2 C Rolled Oats

1/2 Unsweetened Coconut Flakes

1/4 C Pumpkin Seeds

2 tsp Cinnamon

Pinch of Salt

2 Eggs

4 C Berries of choice Fresh if possible

2 TBSP Melted Ghee

1 C Non-Dairy Milk (Add more if needed)

Soak Steel Oats in water for up to 4 hours

Preheat over to 350

Place Berries on bottom of lightly greased pan

Mix liquid ingredients & then add to drained oats & rolled oats. Spread on top of berry mixture

Bake on 350 for 40 minutes or until top is set.

Serve with dairy or non-dairy yogurt and a splash of maple syrup!

Body Essentials (BE) turned 10 at the start of the year. It has been a purposeful journey supporting clients one on one to begin and then evolving group and semi-private programming followed by nutritional & lifestyle programming.

Exercise alone is not the end all, be all to building and sustaining optimal health. Nutrition plays a significant role in our well-being and of course for those needing and desiring weight loss.

Our life, as a whole, further supports our adherence to good nutrition & exercise habits. Our work and personal lives are dynamic day in and day out and an inability to find a flow can lead to peaks and valleys of feeling like the best version of ourselves vs feeling burned out. Finding that flow includes quality sleep, ample stress management strategies, bullet proof thought patterns that promote resilience while also feeling connected to our purpose. All of these topics are discussed & programmed regularly with our clients in several ways, ultimately resulting in well-rounded support, growth, and results.

Even as time moves on and trends evolve, there are some strategies that are tried and true, that never go out of style when it comes to creating an optimal, healthy self. For better or worse we have access to a lot more information and tools that can help us explore exercise, specifically, in a variety of ways to keep it fresh and increase the likelihood of creating sustainable healthy behaviors that evolve over time.

Here are 10 take aways from 10 years coaching people in fitness, nutrition, health and life.

1. One size does not fit all. One form of exercise or an exercise in general is not suited for 100% of people. Every - body is different so a squat on "Susie" is not going to the look the same on "Samantha." And as our lives and ages evolve it behoves us to also evolve our exercise methodologies in the same way.
2. Coaches are also humans on the same journey as their clients but have an impeccable way of balancing & filtering out their own life and journey while supporting their client community thru their own journey.
3. Learning is paramount. Coaches who simply use a cookie cutter approach to training their clients the same way they would train themselves are not professionals, simply hobbyists. The difference is in commitment, consistency, education and role-modeling.
4. Strength training provides a significant return on investment of time & money when you get good coaching. Strength training checks all the boxes that most clients are seeking like building strength and increasing muscle to having good balance and posture, to name just a few.
5. Grocery stores are nutritional landmines that make healthy eating more difficult than it needs to be. Dialing in our daily eating habits is a very powerful way to find balance internally and externally.
6. There is a fine line of mobility & flexibility in the body. Tight muscles cause pain and limit movement but that can be improved upon. Hyper mobility and working or hanging out in our ligaments vs stretching and working our muscles is much harder to correct without diligent effort, strength, and stabilization.
7. Personal development beyond exercise and diet is an extremely under rated way to build health and resilience.
8. Yoga is not just about how flexible you are or can become. It is a blend of building strength and smoothness in our moves and breath while also supporting us spiritually if we choose.
9. Cardiovascular exercise still has value and merit and should not be abandoned as part of a fitness routine. However paying a trainer to stand next to you while you walk on a treadmill for 20+ minutes is likely not a good use of money.
10. Making room for life beyond work, having a supportive tribe, and a variety of life and health tools in our tool box helps build healthy flow & resilience.

I look forward to another 10 years of this wonderful work supporting others to becoming the best version of themselves in body & mind, inside & out. I will be forever grateful for each and every client I have had the chance to work with and those who have stuck with us thru the pandemic transition from being an in-person studio to a 100% virtual operation over the past two years!

Learn more here!