Mindfulness

Mindfulness seems to be a buzz word these days. I think that it’s easy to say and not practice. Most of us are aware that mindfulness is beneficial especially now that mental health has become a more common topic of conversation. I want to share with you different mindfulness techniques I’ve tried as I am still open to trying new methods, and am constantly learning what it means for myself.

MUSE – The Brain Sensing Headband

The MUSE headband is basically a band that goes across your forehead and behind your ears that has sensors that give real time feedback on your brain activity. You download an app on your phone that takes you through a tutorial, and once it is all set up it records your brain waves as you meditate. You start at 3 minutes of meditation, with a background sound of choice. The goal is to focus on your breath with the sound in the background guiding you along – it will get louder the more active your brain is. This tool is meant to train your brain how to calm itself when it is getting overwhelmed with activity. I know some people who go for about an hour, whereas I have only done a 10 minute meditation as my longest session.

I tried it for a couple months and I would say it gets more effective the more often you use it. It was helpful to me because just by putting on the headband, it forced me to sit still for a length of time. I am usually trying to do something at every second of the day to keep me busy. This tool showed me how important it is to give your brain a break. The way I think of it is like working out. You usually give yourself breaks in between sets, and rest days in between workout days. You could argue that sleeping gives your brain a break, but I think with the amount of stimulation it gets throughout the day, it is also important to allow it to relax a few minutes throughout the day. Not only does it have to make choices and take in information in the present moment, but it also has millions of memories to refer to and possible future situations to protect from as well.

I was just borrowing this device so I haven’t invested in one for myself yet, but I know they have come out with a new version that senses your breathe and heart rate as well which I would be interested in trying out.

Floating

Float Meditation: Elements Float Spa 280 — LIFE. CULTURE. PEOPLE. — Source: http://www.lifeculturepeople.com/culture-2/2016/6/27/float-meditation-elements-float-spa-280

My cousin introduced me to Float Space here in Kelowna as it was something I had never tried before. The whole purpose is to take away all possible sensations so you only focus on your own thoughts and your breath. You have the choice between going into a fully enclosed capsule, or laying in a bath in a room. The owner suggests to float for 60-90 minutes at a time to fully get the benefits of meditation. It is salt water so I learned it’s not worth touching your face and getting salt water in your eyes… that wasn’t so pleasant. Other than that I thought it was a cool experience, although I wish I used the foam pillow they suggested as my neck got quite sore. It was interesting that I had no sense of time after the first 10 minutes… and noticing thoughts that come and go, and which thoughts were recurring.

I can see this being difficult for people who are quite active and always on the go – I personally had a hard time being still but I also made the mistake of drinking coffee beforehand. I think it’s worth trying out at least once to see if it’s something you can invest in for the health benefits that it provides. The owner said it is meant to re-wire your nervous system to initiate calmness.

Yoga

I have only done yoga a few times a year for the past 6 years. It wasn’t until this year that I have been doing it more consistently. The difference is I was paying for drop in classes and due to my love for sports, I couldn’t find a reason to invest in a membership or monthly pass to keep up with yoga. Now, I am doing yoga videos that I find on YouTube because it’s free and I can do it in the comfort of my own home.

Every time I went to a yoga class, it was noticeably beneficial to my mind and body. Sometimes I would be so present that I would actually feel emotional and that I wanted to cry – maybe a shock to my system for how I forget about the importance of living in the “now”. My muscles and joints have always come out happy as well – nice and loose.

I can also see the spiritual aspect being addicting as well, especially being in a room full of people who are all connecting movement and breath together. I have been to some ridiculously spiritual classes that talk about your chakras, the third eye and enlightenment etc… with an open mind I kind of like to believe in all of it because it’s a cool take on life.

Now that I do yoga at home I never usually feel the emotion I do when I’m at a class, maybe because I don’t feel the vibe from other people, but I still get the benefit of staying in the present moment and stretching my muscles. To me, yoga is one of the best forms of practicing mindfulness because I am an active person and am very connected to my body. It is more effective for me personally to notice tension in a muscle and to become self-aware of letting that tension go in order to relax rather than sitting and focusing on my breath. With certain types of yoga, you focus on your breath as you flow through movement and this for me is a simple and effective connection to make.

Miscellaneous Mindfulness

Culinary Lingo — Source: https://www.eatright.org/food/planning-and-prep/cooking-tips-and-trends/culinary-lingo

Everything that allows you to be in the present moment can be considered a form of mindfulness. For me, cooking is a great way to be present as it forces me to focus on what I’m doing – especially when creating a new recipe. I also really enjoy colouring and painting, it’s an easy way to just let my thoughts come and go and get the satisfaction of making something beautiful. Also, any type of physical activity helps as well – from working out to rock climbing to skiing.

Although I have tried multiple methods and continue to learn about other possible ways of practicing mindfulness, I still struggle to work on it every single day. There are so many leaders and genuinely happy people out there who swear that meditation is what keeps them going in a positive direction. I think it’s important to stay grounded when things seem overwhelming and chaotic and that’s why I am constantly looking for mindfulness methods to find what works best for me.

I would love to hear what you have tried to implement mindfulness in your lives in the comments below.

The Struggle of Staying Fit

It seems like it takes a fair amount of effort to stay fit in our society. Obviously more so if you have a rather sedentary job that requires little to no physical labour. It’s a fact that the more active you are, the more energy you have to be more active. In my opinion, having a sedentary job is a pretty big determining factor if you have the energy to workout after work. That being said, it sounds like the best solution is to workout before work to get it out of the way, but then you have to wake up earlier to have enough time to do a workout and shower… after a terrible sleep from being stressed and inactive. It’s easy to be stuck in a cycle of excuses and negative thinking. Not to mention, not having a strong reason as to why you need to stay physically active makes it even harder to stick to a routine.

Know your “why”

If you don’t have a very convincing and good reason as to why you want to keep up with your physical health, I guarantee that you will not do anything. Think of the reason why we go to work. We must have a pretty convincing “why” since we do our best to go in every day of the week. Maybe it’s because you need to make money to survive, or you don’t want to get fired, or you are working with a coworker on a project – these are just a few reasons why we go to work.

I have struggled with having a solid “why” for staying physically active. I genuinely enjoy sports for the social and competitive aspects, but as an adult I have to go out of my way to find and pay for a sports league. I have paid for gym memberships, yoga classes, other fitness classes, recreational sports etc because I know that if I don’t have all of these obligations, I will not stay active. I used to be a personal trainer for a few years so I would workout between clients because I was already there and had nothing better to do. Now that I’m in quarantine, it has become very apparent that I don’t have a strong enough “why” to stay active.

I am not overweight, I don’t have any health issues, I am fairly strong (which may slowly diminish if I don’t do anything about it) and there is no need for me to have good cardio as I don’t have physical labour to do. However, there is still a little fire inside of me that thinks that if I don’t create good habits now, I will not be healthy when I am older. The small little voice I have in the back of my head will whisper the “why” to me every now and then to get me back on track. Ashley, you do not want osteoporosis, heart disease, or to be confined to a wheelchair when you are older.

Make it a habit

Somehow, I manage to brush my teeth every morning and every night. I have been doing this my whole life and thus, it has become a habit. So why didn’t physical activity stay as a habit? Well, in high school you sit in desks all day, then plan to drink with your friends on the weekends, and only some people stay in organized sports. When I was in school, there were only a few people that consistently went to the gym, and I was not one of them. I stuck to sports which is good, but I didn’t do it for the reason of being fit. I just liked the game and hanging out with friends.

In university, you sit in class all day then plan to drink with your friends on the weekends… or weekdays. It’s strange to me that growing up, we never really cared about each other’s physical health. I’m not sure what it’s like now, but it would be amazing if it was “cool” to go to a Zumba class on Friday night with your friends, or to ask your peers what they have been doing to stay physically active.

I think in order to make a habit out of physical activity it’s important to make it a part of your routine at the same time every day, but I think it’s MORE important to surround yourself with supportive people. I have a few friends that I can rely on who enjoy being active or who count on me to do something active. If you currently don’t have a support system with the same desires as you, maybe find people online who constantly support each other in their weight loss journey, or who just generally want to stay fit and healthy.

Do whatever it takes

When I find myself in a sedentary rut, the first thing I do is reach out to my fit and healthy friends, and ask them what they’ve been eating, what they’re doing to stay active, or even just ask them to go on a hike to get started. I will look at healthy recipes, google some workouts, or watch some inspiring YouTube videos on how to stay fit and healthy. Once I am fully convinced as to why I should continue to work on my physical health, I am a lot more likely to get up and do something to get back on track.

The other day, a good friend of mine who I often turn to for fitness advice said to me “just do something simple for 10 minutes – squats, lunges, push ups – as soon as you wake up.” This sounds really simple to do, but I needed her to say that to me because of how I overthink things sometimes. In my head, I need to eat beforehand to fuel my body, do a proper 30-60 minute workout, have something to eat after my workout, shower, and eat healthy for the rest of the day otherwise it wasn’t worth it. That is A LOT of pressure to put on myself every single day, which is why I get into these inactive ruts. The most important thing for your physical health is literally to just move. It’s not a big deal if you don’t eat before, or if it doesn’t make you sweat, or if it’s not a proper workout regimen with sets and reps… just do whatever it takes to move every day.

Support each other

I think that anything is possible with the support of others. I would love to read your comments about how you are staying physically active, especially during quarantine, and any other tips you may have to maintain a consistent routine.

Take Advantage of Quarantine

If you are laid off like me, or at least have reduced hours due to COVID-19, take advantage of this time you have to yourself. Yes, it’s easy to get stuck in the rut of fearing what the future might look like, but it’s likely to get back to normal, or at least a “new” normal. I have been surprised to hear from quite a few friends that they secretly are loving this time. I think right now everyone is feeling obligated to be stressed out and hoping things will get back to normal, but it’s totally okay to actually enjoy the “break” from your normally fast-paced life. If anything, I think what we learn from being in quarantine will actually help us in the long run. Let me tell you why.

1. Spending less money

For us, we are saving a ton of money just by cooking at home. We usually go to a restaurant to eat at least once a week, especially when our sports leagues are up and running. Yes, it’s still possible to order in right now, but our problem was we went just to get a different environment, be around people, and to get out of the house. Now that we can’t do that, we are forced to cook at home. This is something that will teach us that it is easier than we thought to make things homemade and prepare meals ahead of time.

We are also not driving as much since we can’t go and visit friends and family and thus saving money on gas. Obviously we miss being able to do this but the upside is saving the money. Again, on road trips we would usually stop and get food along the way as well.

We are unable to go to the movies, go bowling, or any recreational center so we need to depend on other things for entertainment. I think this will really benefit us in the future for when we are bored and need something else for entertainment. We have tried a bit harder for watching movies at home, making “nests” and homemade snacks instead of going to the theatre. We have also been filming YouTube videos as a source of entertainment which we are having a lot of fun with, and it’s something that we would have never done before. I think in the future we will try harder to work with what we have and think twice about spending our money on food and entertainment.

2. Planning ahead

This mostly has to do with getting groceries. Normally, we would have to go a few times a week because we would be craving something, or forgot things for the meals we want to make, or ran out of something that we didn’t expect to. Now that we are trying to only get groceries once or twice a month, it takes a bit more planning ahead. It turns out that it’s not that time consuming and it’s pretty easy. We look at everything that we have already, and think of meals around that.

We are getting much better at using what we have instead of loading up our pantry and forgetting about half of what is already in there. We are also more cognizant about how long fresh food can last and how we can make the most out of it. I hate to admit it, but an example I have is with spinach, we would use it a lot at first, forget about it for a few days, then it would get all wilted and we would throw it out. Now, if it’s starting to get a bit old, we have just been freezing it so we can use it later for spaghetti sauce or casseroles. I’m sure this sounds like a no-brainer to most people, but we honestly just didn’t pay enough attention to what was in our fridge.

There are also a few things we have figured out how to make last longer, such as growing store-bought green onions in water, or storing asparagus or celery in water will make them last longer too. We have learned how to make your own kombucha and sauerkraut, and have pre-made snacks that can be stored in the freezer.

3. Relaxing

Sometimes without trying, I’m sure that everyone ends up with a busy schedule. With work, recreational activities, meeting up with friends, baby shower invites, birthdays, meetings, phone calls, along with household tasks and trying to squeeze in your own hobbies – it’s easy to forget to slow down.

At first it was a bit shocking to go from 100 to 0 in a matter of a few days, but now that I’m settling in, I have found ways to take “me” time that I never gave myself before. Whether it’s cooking or baking something I never have before, colouring or painting, looking back at my old travel pictures, or doing yoga, I am realizing that I have been neglecting both my mind and body from what it needs. Of course, this is from the perspective of someone with no kids and no pets to worry about – that would be a different story.

Usually on my days off while I’m working, I am constantly thinking of what I should be doing to be productive. I am used to completely exhausting my mind by the end of the day to the point that all it can handle is watching TV. My boyfriend would quite often say, “you’ve done a lot, you don’t need to do everything in one day, just relax for the rest of the day.” This is something that I just couldn’t listen to. You could argue that it’s good to be busy to get ahead in life… but this also leads to spreading yourself too thin to the point of burnout.

I have found enough to keep me busy that I feel productive, but I have also allowed myself the time to breath especially now that I have so much more free time in my day. It actually feels wonderful giving that time to myself, and I feel like a better, happier version of myself instead of a stressed out stress ball that’s anxious all the time. I will definitely be more mindful of how I’m treating myself in the future.

4. Time to reflect on life

This sounds deep, I know. I think it’s important to notice what you take for granted every day, what isn’t working in your life, and what you’d like to work on for the future. Like I said before, I have learned that it is much more fun to not stress about everything and to dive into self-care. I also wrote a blog on being a creator and not a consumer, which I have been taking very seriously now. I didn’t realize how much I was consuming – on my phone particularly – outside of work. In the first couple days of quarantine I didn’t really know what to do with myself so I would just go between watching videos and scrolling through memes. I made the decision to delete some apps and took up some hobbies that I could do instead. I think this made a world of difference on keeping my mind busy in a more positive way.

I hope that despite the circumstances, you are able to take this time for yourself and make minor improvements for your day to day life. Now is the time to reflect on your values, make some positive changes, and exercise your creativity in the process.

Travelling Solo

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling — On my way to travelling solo

Travelling alone was something I’ve always wanted to do, to find new experiences and to prove to myself that I am capable of surviving on my own. After university, I decided to travel Europe for about 3 weeks. I didn’t end up doing the typical “backpacking” trip as I had wanted to do as there was still a little bit of fear around the idea. I honestly think I played it a little too safe on this trip because I didn’t do enough research on what I could do on my own. I would go on day trips around the city of Munich, Germany and I met some cool people in Austria who were pro kayakers. I visited a friend in London, did some walking tours and explored on my own every place I went. It was a little boring at times because I wasn’t sure where to go or what to spend my money on, but I was young and just wanted to go and try it out.

I had some family and friends that I was able to stay with, but I made sure to plan a trip alone to Prague, to truly get the experience I was looking for. This trip is what I would like to share with you as it turned out to be a good learning experience.

Alone in Prague

I decided to buy a bus ticket to Prague and just go for 4 days. I found a hostel to stay at after doing some research with my cousins. My expectations were to meet people around my age at the hostel and have a good time in Prague and explore together. It turned out to be a very mellow trip, but I learned a lot about myself while I was there.

Again, I failed to do very much research before heading to the Czech Republic because I just wanted to figure it out once I got there. It was at the point on my trip that I realized I wasn’t challenging myself enough, and was starting to feel disappointed that I wasn’t able to “find myself” through different experiences. When I arrived to Prague, I had no idea what type of currency they used and where to get it from. I also didn’t know where I was supposed to get off – thinking about it now kind of makes me laugh… with my level of anxiety that I have now there would be no way I wouldn’t do my full research before heading out on a trip. I ended up getting off at a train station and was VERY lost. It was the biggest most confusing building I’ve ever been in. Eventually, I found a currency exchange kiosk so I could get some Czech Crowns – I’m sure I got completely ripped off.

Once I found my way out of the building, I decided to completely avoid taxis as I knew I would for sure get ripped off from them. I had arrived in Prague at about 4pm so I needed to figure out where my hostel was before it got dark. I also wanted to make sure I found some food as I didn’t know when restaurants would close. I began walking through the city and got overly excited about everything. The streets and alleys are mapped out like a spider web, which didn’t make sense at all, but it was cool to see the old buildings and cobblestone streets. I walked through some sort of fair that had all kinds of food being made like pretzels and pork roast etc. so naturally I grabbed some for my journey to the hostel.

No photo description available. — Pork Roast

A couple of hours later, I arrived where the map said my hostel should be only to find that it wasn’t there… no signs anywhere. I went into the stores around the area and asked where it was, and no one seemed to know. A wave of panic set in as I could only think that is was some sort of scam that I fell for. I accepted defeat and began looking for a nearby hotel. As I was speaking to the front desk, the automatic glass door opened up and a stranger walking by overheard what I was saying. He came in and said “hey! I know where that hostel is!” So without thinking twice I decided to trust that he knew what he was talking about. He brought me to a set of doors that led to a store of some sort and told me to keep walking through to the back. I thanked him and with some hesitation I walked in. I went out the back, up some stairs in the alleyway and through a hallway. At last, I saw the sign and a beautiful lobby for the hostel I was seeking. How could anyone ever find this place?! I stayed in a female-only room and had a key to a drawer where I could keep all of my belongings. I was so relieved to find my hostel and finally be safe after a 5 hour bus ride and 3 hours of walking. I didn’t want to get lost or explore in the dark so I ended up going to bed at about 8:30pm.

I met a few American girls in my room and we decided to go do a walking tour together. We learned about the city and took some pictures of the beautiful scenery. It was so interesting to hear where we all came from and why we were in Prague at the exact moment as we were all travelling solo. I had a wonderful time getting to know them and I am still friends with them to this day. I did some shopping around the town, tried all different kinds of food, and eventually it was time to head back to Germany. I didn’t stay up late and have drinks with a bunch of new friends as I had thought, but I am glad I met those two girls and explored the city together.

Image may contain: 3 people, including BreAnne Emma Oja, people smiling — My American friends!

What I learned

I realized that I cannot rely on other people to have fun or to give me the experience of a life time. This is what I was looking for during my trip – someone else to make my solo travelling adventure absolutely amazing and life-changing. Not only that, but learning to accept that I don’t need a crazy adventure to learn about myself. I am still proud that I went on this trip, especially now that my views of the world are a bit more tainted and I would have a hard time making the move to travel solo again. I also learned that I am a lot more capable than I thought I was to make decisions, navigate, solve problems and stay safe. I think it was a really good idea for me to first travel to Europe alone, but also to force myself to have a completely solo trip to a country I knew nothing about.

Now that I have a boyfriend, who has never traveled alone, I am motivated to go with him to explore the world as I think everyone should be able to have that experience. I think it would be more fun to have someone there with me to enjoy the experiences with too. If you are scared of doing something on your own, I highly recommend going for it as long as you are smart and do your research, you will have no problem surviving in a different country.

The Mindset of Healthy Eating

It can be very confusing to know how to properly eat with all of the social media, opinions on the internet and keeping up with the new trends. It wasn’t until the last few years, especially after my experience as a personal trainer, that I started taking my nutrition more seriously. Obviously it helped actually feeling the results of super clean eating when I did the Whole30 diet, but now my main focus is how eating healthy can change my energy and mood. It always seemed like something you would do to get a nice looking body, but I have always been an average size so it was something that never affected the way I eat. I will always continue to learn more about what my diet would ideally look like, but I think at the same time we all need to put less pressure on ourselves.

It’s okay to make mistakes

There are so many factors that contribute to the way you eat every day. How you slept, what time of the month it is (for the ladies), what your job entails, the people around you, Western culture, who you live with, peer pressure from friends, all while trying to have the will power to not eat a freshly baked cookie that is sitting on a pretty plate at your grandma’s house.

Yes, it’s you who can control what you put in your mouth in the end, but as humans we are wired to socialize and do what everyone else is doing. I’m pretty sure there was no tribe that had someone who only ate blueberries because they were on a diet, they most definitely also ate the kill of the day. The problem now is that we have access to everything all the time. And so does your family, and your friends, and your coworkers, and everyone is all confused about what we should eat. I guarantee every person that I mentioned knows fairly well about how they “should” eat.

I think we all just need to support each other with any choice that we make. If a friend doesn’t want to have alcohol, don’t buy them a drink at the bar. If someone wants to be on a diet, let them be on a diet and don’t judge them for it. If your vegan friend wants to try fish, that’s okay too. There are so many opinions out there to worry about that it’s nearly impossible not to make a so-called “mistake.”

Find what works for you

Without thinking of other people, or what the internet is saying, just try to stop and think about what type of eating would make you happy. For me, I am trying to learn how to make more meals homemade because then I know what goes in them. It’s not full of processed food, and it’s interesting to learn how to make things taste good. I am also constantly trying to find ways to make vegetables taste good especially while living with someone who would rather not have to eat them. I like trying out baking recipes that are a bit healthier by using other types of sweeteners or non-dairy products. I try to not consume “empty calories” from juice and alcohol and candy, and I also avoid fast food as much as I can.

That being said, I have no idea what the ideal diet looks like for my body, so I am learning to accept that and be okay with occasionally eating something that isn’t so healthy. There is no reason to beat yourself up for wanting to have a beer out on the lake with your family, just have it in moderation and don’t do it every day all day.

Another option that I have been dying to try is to actually invest in seeing a nutritionist and to get a blood analysis done. I think it’s always worth learning more about your own body so you stop trying to figure it out among the chaos on the internet. And after learning about how my body might be malnourished, I still have the control to decide what I would like to keep eating and what I might eat less of.

Conclusion

There are so many choices that we have to make each day. Not only about what we will eat, but just anything – what to wear, when to leave for work, how to do your hair, etc. So every time you eat, you are making a choice and it should be one that you feel good about. I think if you at least stop to take a moment about how you feel about your choice, you will feel much better about it. This includes allowing yourself to indulge once in a while – it will be much easier to accept when you realize you’ve been making healthy choices as much as possible. Don’t dwell on mistakes you might make along the way, just keep moving forward.

I remember reading something once that said we tend to self-sabotage when we feel guilty about something. The example they gave was after we eat a pizza, we feel bad then have a beer and ice cream and chocolate and another beer just because we messed up and deserve to just keep messing up. They said to just let the pizza go and have a healthy breakfast the next day to break the cycle. For some reason we think we have to eat clean and healthy all the time for every meal in order for us to be doing it “properly.” I think it’s just important to keep moving forward, be aware of your choices, and do what feels right for your body.

Nature is Nurture

I never truly realized how much I needed nature until I moved from Vancouver to Kelowna as an adult. I grew up in a few different small towns throughout my life and nature was just something I took for granted. After getting consumed by the city for 4 years, I was used to being around concrete 24/7. Although Vancouver is one of the greenest cities on the planet, it’s still very easy to forget to force yourself to go on hikes or just sit by the beach.

I think there is a specific type of nature that can immediately calm me down. Of course I appreciate being outside in any climate, but when I think of having a campfire by a lake or in the forest, I can immediately relax. I also love the smell of the fresh air wherever I go – I feel like it wakes up my senses immediately.

As I am getting older, I am learning how much of an effort it takes to implement nature into my life. This seems so wrong… humans are meant to live in nature, but our lifestyle has changed so much that we have to make a plan just to go outside of the city?? I definitely didn’t care about this concept as much when I was going to university, but now that I am so focused on my mental health and how much it can be affected by our day to day lives, I NEED to schedule in some time in nature. It’s quiet, fresh, and beautiful. I would like to start making an effort to see the amazing things in my own backyard – here in British Columbia. It seems like in order to accomplish that, I need to spend a lot of time and a lot of money.

My ideal summer

Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/6832426/alberta-camping-reservations-cancelled-coronavirus-covid/

Obviously there are numerous hikes available – not right now of course – that are free. However, in the summer in the Okanagan they can get quite overcrowded so it doesn’t really feel like you’re in nature any more. So what is the solution for this? Well, if I grew up in Kelowna I would know all of the best places to go that no one knows about. Luckily, I have made a few friends who are very outdoorsy and can show us where to go and what to do, but this leads to a different problem. A lot of places require a heavy duty vehicle like a truck to get to, and the super adventurous endeavors require excellent camping gear.

It’s difficult to know what to invest in, because if I only get the basics of camping gear then I would have to go to a campground to have a safe trip which costs money and you’re usually around quite a few people. Or, I could invest in top quality camping gear that makes it possible to do some overnight hikes, but then I would have to know where we are going assuming there would likely be no service. We could invest in a GPS, or maybe just go with a knowledgeable friend. I also think it’s possible to avoid the need to upgrade from a car and still have good adventures.

Another summer activity that my boyfriend and I have really wanted to take up is mountain biking. It is a little discouraging that most alternative outdoor sports require good gear, so you really have to commit to what you want to do and make sure that it will be a hobby you enjoy. Not only would we need all of the actual biking gear, but we would also need to figure out a good bike rack to get as well. At our age, we could get a bunch of used stuff to save money, or we could get everything new so it will last a life time and have the best features. I think in the end, all that matters is what can get us active and out in nature right now.

My ideal winter

My ideal winter would be skiing every weekend. Maybe some snow-shoeing here and there, and maybe skating once or twice. I would be happy to have some campfires or try ice fishing. But mostly, I would like to ski.

Obviously the first barrier that comes to mind is the pricey seasons pass. Lately, I have been just paying for a day pass since I only make it out once or twice a year, but I think getting a seasons pass would force me to make the effort to get out and ski. Thankfully I already have my gear, so getting the early bird pass is definitely a possibility. I have some friends that start their payments in July and are fully paid out by the time the ski hill opens.

Other than the price of the pass, it seems to be so dependent on the weather, and the availability of friends… who ski or board… who want to spend the money… and have the time. I have a goal to get more involved with the Kelowna Adventure Facebook groups, as I know there are quite a few of them. For myself, I would rather go with randoms than go by myself. Another option worth looking into would be to join some sort of ladies ski club, so I can learn from other people who ski at the same level as I do. Of course, this would be another investment to make.

Make it happen

Regardless of the most ideal way you’d like to enjoy nature, the most important part is to do what you can, right now, to implement nature in your life in one way or another. It’s good to have dreams and goals as to what your life might look like, but even going for a walk outside to see some trees and flowers will give you a taste of the nature you need because it will nurture your biological need to be outside.

Let Your Ideas Flow

A good friend once told me that the best way to write something was to just write without going back to re-read what you put down. She said that once you stop to go back, you will disrupt your flow and not be able to get back into it. I always need to remind myself to trust the process instead of constantly doubting what I’m doing. I believe this concept applies to more than just writing.

Self-doubt is a killer when it comes to creativity in my opinion. The more your process or flow gets interrupted the less likely your brain can fully finish a concept. That is something that I have been working on for a few years now with any form of creativity. It’s so easy for me to go back and change something immediately or to stop altogether and never go back. This is the main reason that I don’t paint or draw as often as I would like to – which is funny because the more often you paint or draw, the better you will get. I think I depend too much on instructions and doing things the right way sometimes and I don’t leave room for my own thoughts and opinions. I think what stopped me in the past is when my friends in school would comment that my art is “weird and doesn’t make sense,” or that it’s “too abstract.”

This may sound easy to get over, but it’s so nice when people can appreciate the creativity you put into your art work. This is a prime example of why you shouldn’t take things personally, because there are billions of different styles of art work in the world and it’s one thing that absolutely does not have a right or wrong answer. Yes, there are courses on writing, drawing and all sorts of genres of art… but as soon as you finish your own piece of work it doesn’t matter what all the rules are of certain colours that go together, or certain ideas that flow in an article.

There must be a reason why using art therapy is so popular. It’s something that provides an open space for non-judgement, and allows you to understand yourself in a new way in whatever form that may be. I think it would be especially useful for people who don’t think they are creative. You don’t have to be able to paint a self-portrait to be a good artist. It can come in all forms – some people are good at taking pictures, whereas some are good at motivational speaking. The only thing that gets in the way is self-doubt.

So whatever way you want to let your creativity out, I encourage to start and don’t look back and criticize. It’s not so much the end result that you should be focusing on, try to enjoy what you are experiencing in the moment and perhaps every once in a while you’ll have created something you are really truly proud of.

Source: https://www.ronitbaras.com/family-matters/parenting-family/handy-family-tips-5-kids-artwork/

Intermittent Fasting

My boyfriend and I had been doing a lot of research on this concept, and wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a bandwagon everyone was hopping on. It wasn’t until I attended a Personal Training conference until I fully understood what this meant.

We had a doctor (I wish I remember her name, but I can’t at the moment – this was years ago) speak about the importance of limiting your eating hours to at least below 12 hours per day. I think the name of it can sound a little intimidating and misleading, but all you do is work on fasting an appropriate amount of time to help balance out your metabolism.

Before I looked into this research, there would be days that I would eat as soon as I woke up, say at 7:30am, then I would be eating throughout the day until about 11:00pm before I went to bed. That’s 15.5 hours of letting your insulin go all over the place. I can’t even imagine how messed up it would’ve been in university… binge drinking all night then having pizza at 4:00am? Yikes. Insulin is meant to come in and do its job by lowering your blood sugar levels, then leave and carry on with its day. It is similar to when we think of the hormone, cortisol – the stress hormone – where it is supposed to enter the body when you are stressed (being chased by a tiger) and then leave as soon as you are safe. But with our lives that we live, it’s quite often that cortisol stays in our bodies in small doses all of the time.

Anyways, back to insulin. What I learned from this keynote speaker, is that your metabolism works like your circadian rhythm, our biological clock letting us know when it is time to sleep or wake up. Eating for long periods of time completely throws off your metabolism and doesn’t do what it’s supposed to while you are sleeping. You want to make sure there is a set period of time when insulin enters the body and has time to lower for at least 12 hours.

An interesting study that she told us about was when they tested this on rats. They gave the same amount of calories, same food, to two different groups of rats. One group ate within 9 hours, and the other group ate within 15 hours. The first group who ate in a shorter amount of time actually gained lean muscle mass and lost fat mass, whereas the other group lost lean muscle mass and gained fat mass. She said eating in a shorter time interval is MORE IMPORTANT that WHAT you are eating. There have been studies showing that eating in short time intervals has incredible benefits on the body and can even help add years to your life.

My experience with intermittent fasting

I have always been someone who eats breakfast immediately in the morning. I couldn’t think of a good time period to choose in the day because I also like snacking after dinner. They say that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, but after learning more about this concept, it’s more so that “your first meal is the most important meal of the day” which is also technically a ‘breakfast’ because you are breaking your fast. So I decided to try and keep my eating hours between 12:30pm and 8:30pm.

The first day was tough just because I had always thought I would pass out if I didn’t eat immediately after I woke up. I was definitely feeling hungry, but thankfully I was at work and could focus on that while I was secretly starving. My first meal was my lunch at 12:30pm and from there, I packed more snacks than normal because I thought I was going to die or something. I found I was more hungry because I was missing about 300 or so calories that I would normally have in the morning. I also found it difficult to stop eating at 8:30pm, so a couple of times I would eat a bit later and felt okay about it. As long as I at least stayed with eating in less than 12 hours, I knew it would benefit me.

The next few days became easier, but I was struggling to remember to eat snacks throughout the day. I was only eating lunch and then dinner, so I would be hungry for the rest of the evening. I think a big part here is to still consume enough calories, but just in a shorter amount of time. I watched a few YouTube videos on people who are into this, and I found the big body builders who would eat 4000 calories in 2-4 hours… That was not very motivating and seemed terrible. So I did my best to make bigger meals and add more snacks in between.

The end result

What I noticed is I actually felt more focused in the mornings. I read up on this and apparently this is because your body enters “survival mode” from the long period of fasting, so it’s as if I’m on high alert to find food. I thought that was pretty cool. The first meal also always tasted so amazing, so I enjoyed my lunches a lot more. I lost about 10 lbs doing this and found that I was sleeping better. I feel liberated knowing that I won’t pass out if I don’t have breakfast immediately after waking up. I remember being at friends’ houses after staying the night and no one would even think about breakfast for 1-2 hours after waking up. I felt pressure to not complain, yet all I wanted to say is “so what are we having for breakfast?”

I still to this day make sure I am eating within 12 hours. I know that it is a better idea to start eating early and finish early so you aren’t consuming calories right before bed, but that just hasn’t worked for me. Ideally I would eat at 8:30am and finish eating at 4:30pm, but I find this difficult because it’s hard to eat snacks sometimes while I’m working… it can get very busy. So on most days, I will just have a black coffee, head to work and have my first meal at lunch. On days that I have off, I still enjoy making a nice breakfast, but it’s usually a bit later in the day around 10:00am.

I would recommend that everyone try to at least keep their eating to below 12 hours per day, and if you are already doing this – good job and keep it up!

The Whole30 Experience

A few months ago my boyfriend and I wanted to challenge ourselves. I heard about this Whole30 concept through a friend and decided to do a bit more research on it. I am absolutely not into any sort of crash diet in order to lose weight. In fact, that was not at all my intention… I just wanted to know what it would be like to feel better than I did. I have tried and tried to figure out how to eat healthy but also make things taste good, and I honestly thought I had it down. After I read this diet I was intrigued because I wanted to test out all of the claims that it made. Less bloated? More energy? Better sleep? Good mood? Seemed magical, and my boyfriend was on board with trying it out. Here is what I learned from doing this “challenge.”

Before we begin, take a look below. THIS CALENDAR IS SO ACCURATE IT’S SCARY.

Source: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/438819557433260389/?autologin=true

I pay way more attention to what is in our food

WOW WAS I EVER SHOCKED. There are definitely some permanent changes I’ve made since doing this. This diet says to stay away from alcohol, added sugars, dairy, grains, legumes, and processed foods. I immediately went to my cupboard and in my fridge and looked at all of the labels to move what we could eat for the 30 days to be right in front of our faces. I didn’t even realize there was sugar or MSG in seasoning salt… I have been using this my whole life, but I always thought it was just spices and salt. And olives need chemicals to stay green and firm? And pickles?! I can’t even have pickles?! Don’t get me started with condiments. This was so shocking to see the amount of chemicals I put in my body every single day. Not only chemicals but there is sugar in everything. Like, everything.

I learned how to make a few sauces and dips to help make things taste better and it was actually easier than expected to make homemade sauce. I remember how long it took my brain to comprehend how to make spaghetti sauce until I realized I am supposed to blend tomatoes and spices. I always just grab spaghetti sauce off the shelf and call it a day. It turned out great and I felt really good eating it.

There were also a few things that were Whole30 approved that definitely saved the day. For example, my friend gave me a Whole30 approved mayonnaise, and thankfully Frank’s Red Hot Sauce was also approved – and yes, I did put this on everything. There are probably a lot more choices out there now and it would be worth investing in them to make your life easier.

I’m pretty sure sugar is heroine

I cannot accurately describe the feeling of going through a sugar withdrawal. It is brutal. In just a couple days I felt like I got hit by a bus. Especially going cold turkey on it, it was a shock to the system. You’re not supposed to have even a small amount during this and you need to fully commit to going 100% for the entire 30 days. I have never craved something more… All I could think of was sugar because I wasn’t allowed to have sugar.

A couple of things that helped me were fat bombs and berries. I think a lot of the time I’m craving sugar is actually just me craving chocolate. You aren’t supposed to make anything that resembles what you usually crave because the point is to destroy bad habits. HOWEVER, that being said, I was suffering HARD at the beginning, so these got me by for the first 5 days. Fat bombs can be made all sorts of ways, but I made them with cocoa powder, coconut oil, cinnamon, and almond butter. You freeze them and then they end up having the same consistency as a chocolate bar, but tastes pretty gross. It would be good with sugar of course… Now I make them with honey or maple syrup and they are most definitely tolerable.

Berries are a good choice since they are easy to eat for a snack and a bit lower in sugar than other fruit choices. Sometimes I just want something to graze on and they are the perfect size for that. My go-to easy snacks were blueberries and almonds. As soon as I was craving something sweet I would make myself a small bowl of berries and almonds and it worked just fine.

It’s much easier to eat healthy when your entire household is on board

There has been many times that I told my boyfriend I don’t want to eat dairy, or processed food, or sugar, but as soon as I see him with cheese and crackers I can’t help myself. Same for him, there has been many times he wanted to stop drinking alcohol, but I would constantly invite him out with friends and my sports teams and he would feel obligated to have a beer.

I would say to successfully do the full 30 days, you and whoever else you live with NEED TO be in it together. It’s a huge challenge especially during the worst part of the sugar withdrawal where you become angry and irritated. I remember finding him on the couch just scrolling through pictures of delicious burgers. We wanted to quit about 10 times during this, but we kept going because we needed to find out the benefits of eating clean.

It actually turned out to be quite fun once we go the hang of it since we needed to learn how to make everything homemade. We worked together to come up with ideas for meals and snacks and cooked together whenever we could. It would’ve been brutal to be making a salad while he was eating hot dogs so again, try to get everyone on board.

It’s a bit lonely

Although we spent more time cooking together, we spent much less time out with friends. We were so committed that we didn’t want to take the chance of what is potentially in restaurant food to ruin what we were working so hard at. This diet also says to steer clear of industrial oils which would be a hard one to avoid. We found mixed nuts without peanuts (which is a legume) that was roasted in peanut oil so we couldn’t have it. We also found cashews that were roasted in canola oil so we couldn’t have that either. So we assumed pretty much everything in restaurants wouldn’t be guaranteed to be “clean.”

We were not only paying attention to what might be in the food in restaurants, but being around friends has a huge amount of impact on the choices we make. Even if we both ordered plain salad, it would be so hard to eat while watching everyone else drink beer and eat saucy wings. So rather than suffering through this, we just didn’t go out.

The benefits of getting rid of waste

After going through the roller coaster of mental and physical confusion of changing our diet so drastically, amazing things happened. We were sleeping well, we had more energy, and we weren’t bloated… at all. I know the goal of this diet is absolutely not to lose weight, but I found it fascinating how much weight we lost just because we weren’t full of inflammatory foods and processed junk. I ended up losing 13 pounds and my boyfriend lost 23 pounds. Of course, this was a minor motivating factor for the last few days just because we were also looking good in addition to feeling good.

It is still shocking to me that I ate a normal amount of food… but lost weight. Eating whole foods is filling when you eat enough and lower in calories too. So the amount of “empty calories” we were consuming before must have been a lot. Alcohol and juice are easy ways to get a lot of calories with no nutritional value. And having a little bit of this every day adds up! Had I not done this diet, I would still believe that it’s fine to eat whatever I want when I want because it won’t affect me. It in fact affects me a lot. Not only with managing weight, but with mental clarity, stable mood and just not feeling gross (i.e. bloated all the time).

What NOT to do

Do not end the diet like we did. I repeat, DO NOT do what we did. After the 30 days, we were SO EXCITED to be able to eat yummy foods again. What you’re supposed to do, is slowly introduce foods back into your diet category by category to see what is truly negatively affecting your body and how. I think our problem was we didn’t start this diet to find foods we shouldn’t have anymore, we just wanted to see how good we can feel without all the junk in our body. So naturally, we decided to make a big ‘burger and fries’ feast. We didn’t take our time to enjoy every bite, we just ate like animals who haven’t been fed in a month. Delicious soft brioche buns, ketchup, mustard, pickles, cheese, handmade burger patties with fries on the side.

Then our bodies exploded. Just kidding, but that’s pretty much what it felt like. Think of a time you had eaten way too much and had to sit on the couch to digest. It was like that, except add in a million times more inflammation and bloating on top of it. Our bellies were hard. Like a basketball. And we could barely move. We were instantly filled with so much regret. It also felt like the worst fast food you’ve ever had and how it made you feel. I think we would’ve actually been dead if we got fast food burgers instead.

As exciting as it is to accomplish 30 days of eating well, I highly advise that you slowly introduce foods back into your diet. If you aren’t looking to find out what affects you and how, please still add things slowly and in small amounts.

Conclusion

The Whole30 diet is worth doing at least once in your life. Go all out, 100%, because you will learn a lot while doing it. We are considering to do it again with less drastic measures, just being a little more lenient so we don’t feel guilty eating at restaurants or wanting to use different sauces. I would go without alcohol and sugar for sure, no dairy, legumes or grains.

I think all in all the “whole foods” concept stuck with us. We prefer eating whole grains rather than bread and pasta, and we eat less sugar in general. We construct most meals with a protein and two vegetables and we try different healthy snacks. I eat much better than I did before and I don’t feel guilty when I do want something like a beer or pizza. Instead of having these twice a week, we can now appreciate that having it once a month is a better option.

The Circle of Life – Laundry Edition

Something occurred to me the other day. I was cleaning the house and putting in the laundry then I thought to myself… why does life seem to be mostly sleeping, cleaning and eating? Will I look back at my life and remember all the good times when I did the dishes? Then I got really deep – “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?!”

Seriously though, we spend about 8 hours sleeping, then a few hours eating, and 8 hours working for a lot of us, then a couple hours cleaning our environment or ourselves. It’s funny because most people consider a fulfilling life to look like a lot of highlight reels going around on instagram right now. You’ll see people skydiving, hiking alps, skiing, bouldering etc… but this is such a minor part of their lives. For most people anyways… but it’s weird when you realize everything else they did that day. First they slept, ate some food, showered and got ready, washed their dishes if they weren’t too lazy, maybe drove for hours and hours and took a nap at that point, went through getting rentals or what have you… Then took a super cool looking picture.

So why do we focus so much on wild things we should be doing “like everyone else”? Most of our lives consist of routine, everyday tasks so we might as well enjoy it. I’ve considered making a post saying “I washed, dried, AND folded all of my laundry today, I hope you can too! We are in this together!” but I guess that’s a little strange to most people. All the necessary cleaning that goes on seems like such a chore, especially after such a long day. I can’t even imagine how it feels with kids. So I have a few thoughts to consider in how to make the most of your life and come to accept the tasks it consists of.

Laundry – the never ending cycle

Why do we do laundry? Well it makes our clothes smell good, gets rid of dirt etc that has been collected throughout the day, and gives us confidence when we are walking out the door. So there you go, we do laundry in order to feel better about ourselves.

Dishes – the worst

Why do we do dishes? Well it allows us a vessel to put food and beverages in, and to be able to make fun food creations also known as meals. It’s a lot nicer to have a satisfying shiny plate to eat off of rather than a well-used one. It’s like creating a blank canvas for the endless possibilities of food consumption. Exciting… isn’t it?!

Vacuuming – the easiest form of physical activity

Why do we vacuum? Well it cleans the floor so we can walk around without socks on. Very liberating… but also it’s like playing Pac-Man, you can see all of the items on the floor so you’re able to chase it around until it gets eaten by the vacuum. Having fun goals like these is the most motivating way to get you moving around the house. Not to mention you need to turn your cleaning music on super loud since you can’t hear anything. And what does loud music lead to? DANCING.

Sleeping – priming for the activities ahead

Why do we sleep? Well there’s tons of science as to why we need to so let’s just accept that we use those 8ish hours to prime for the day ahead. Once we get over the fact that 1/3 of our ENTIRE LIFE is spent rather unconscious, then we can be grateful as to how a great sleep can affect everything else. I’m sure a lot of you believe you will never dance and enjoy vacuuming, however, what if you had an amazing deep sleep and started the day bursting with energy? And you just got a promotion? And you realize you baked cookies last night and see them on the counter? Had it not been for a 10/10 sleep, maybe you wouldn’t quite feel like dancing. But thanks to our amazing bodies and everything it does while we are sleeping, we can be fully recovered and prepared for a whole new day of eating, cleaning and after our energy is depleted, sleeping!

I hope you look at today with a slightly different view – all the things you don’t want to do are actually so worth it and not a waste of time. Have fun with it any way that you can. I would love to know what you do to make every day tasks more exciting!