One of our faculty, Dr. Daniel Amen, has a favorite acronym that he likes to share with us. It is HALT which stands for:

• Don’t get too HUNGRY.
• Don’t get too ANGRY.
• Don’t get too LONELY.
• Don’t get too TIRED

According to Dr. Amen, HALT is an acronym that is commonly used in addiction treatment programs, but it is also particularly helpful for overeaters who have trouble coping with daily stress. HALT has proven to be a very effective way to keep people on track when they are trying to change their eating habits. Dr. Amen shares with us some strategies that apply this technique.

HALT: DON’T GET TOO HUNGRY

Going too long without food lowers your blood sugar levels, which can lead to a variety of emotional issues, including feelings of stress, anxiety, and irritability. These may be the very emotions that trigger your overeating.

Low blood sugar levels are also associated with lower overall brain activity, which is linked to an increase in cravings and impulsivity. Heightened a...

Healthy eating starts in the kitchen so learning food prepping skills can go a long way in building up a healthy lifestyle. Here are some brilliant ideas from our very own nutritionist Chef Jenny Ross. 

Batch Prep
Preparing in advance means you’ll be making larger batches of healthy proteins, grains, vegetables and salads than you may have done in the past. You’ll need a great storage option for larger batches of things like quinoa, rice and veggie mix ups. Nutritionist and chef Jenny Ross recommends storing your batches in glass containers with locking lids as a clean option that is easily reusable. Finding stacking containers that can nest for easy storage when not in use will save you space in the kitchen as well.

Veggie Noodles make a great simple base for lunch entrees on the run. Create fresh noodles from carrots, zucchini, cucumber or yellow squash. Top that base with a great plant based protein like avocado, mushrooms or tofu and then add your favorite toppings. In 3 simple...

What does your morning routine look like? Do you go through it in a rush so you can head out the door to avoid traffic? Or maybe the first thing you do is look at your phone and check for messages and scroll through social media. Whatever your morning looks like, it’s important to start it with the right frame of mind. A good morning routine can help set the tone for the day so you can better control your schedule instead of your schedule controlling you. When you start your morning right, it can help you stay focused on what’s important not just for work, but for yourself and the people you care for. Here are some tips from Verywell Mind on how to do that.

1. Give Yourself Time

Don't hit snooze! It can be so hard, especially in the beginning, to not go back to old ways and hit that snooze button so you can lay in bed just a little longer. A good morning routine allows you enough time to actually enjoy—and benefit from—your routine!

The amount of time can vary from person to person ...

INGREDIENTS: 

• 2 tablespoons of ghee (clarified butter) or raw coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped shallot 
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cremini (baby bella) mushrooms 
• 1 1/2 cups fresh chopped spinach 
• 2 tablespoons finely diced red bell pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup egg whites 
• 1/4 cup unsweetened homemade almond milk 
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked sea salt 
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup diced fresh mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS: 

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease six wells of a muffin tin with a little coconut oil or line them with paper liners.
2. Wash and cut vegetables. 
3. In a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of ghee over medium heat.
4. Add the shallot and sauté until soft, about 1 minute. Add the red bell pepper and mushrooms and cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the spinach and cook until just wilted, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and transfer to a paper towel squeezing off excess moisture.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together th
...

At RISE, we recommend doing a detox at least twice a year. It helps reset the body and releases toxins that cause inflammation. Health expert JJ Virgin wrote that many people start a weight loss plan without addressing their body's toxic burden. But here's the thing: Toxins are stored in fat. When you lose weight, you release those toxins, which can lead to toxic overload. She also said it’s important to minimize that toxic burden so you can lose weight successfully. Here she shares 5 things that you need to detox correctly. 

1. Clean, Lean Protein

Your liver converts toxins into water-soluble substances, which your body can then excrete. Here's the take-home: Without amino acids like glycine, taurine, and glutamine, your liver cannot do this. As a result, your body may actually become more toxic. 

Many detox plans, which are little more than sugar water with a few added nutrients, miss this critical point. When you don’t get sufficient protein, your body may become more toxic. A ...

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cubed firm tofu
• 1 cup cubed eggplant
• 1 cup cremini mushrooms
• 1 cup baby tomato
• ½ cup onion slices
• 2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
• Seasoning of choice

Directions:

1) Soak skewers to prepare for loading.

2) Place vegetables onto the skewers rotating in the following order: mushroom, onion, eggplant, tomato.

3) Coat with oil and seasoning.

4) Bake or grill at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

This recipe is by Chef Jenny Ross and part of the meal plan this month in our RISE Coaching program.

How do you practice self-care? What are some of the things you do to take care of yourself? Perhaps it’s a nice long bath at the end of the day, cooking healthy meals, or going for a walk. These are all good; but maybe that’s not what self care is all about. Real self care doesn’t mean we need to find ways to escape stress and do things that relax us. It also means doing the hard work of facing our problems, instead of avoiding them and finding ways to distract us. Here are some ideas from Psychology Today on what real self-care means.

“Self-care means doing what makes you anxious now, like setting boundaries with tough people, saying no when you don’t want to do something, getting through a tough workout, or telling someone something they don’t want to hear. It means compassionately accepting yourself for who you are instead of burning yourself out trying to be everything to everyone all the time. It’s living your life in a way that doesn’t leave you needing to check out or take a br...

Ingredients

GUACAMOLE INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 avocado pitted and peeled
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic fresh and minced or dried powder
• 1 tablespoon lime juice 1 or less

There’s a reason why we need to reduce clutter in our lives. According to Psychology Today, all this clutter, physical and mental, can interrupt your flow—both your ability to move and your ability to think. In a 2016 study at the University of New Mexico by Catherine Roster and colleagues they examined how clutter compromises an individual’s perception of home, and ultimately feelings of satisfaction with life. The underlying premise of the study was that because many people identify so closely with their home environments, the extent to which it’s cluttered can interfere with the pleasure they experience when being in that environment.

The authors of the New Mexico study concluded that “Clutter is often an insidious and seemingly harmless outgrowth of people’s natural desire to appropriate their personal spaces with possessions… when [clutter] becomes excessive, it can threaten to physically and psychologically entrap a person in dysfunctional home environments which contribute t...