Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Resolutions, New Year’s or Otherwise

I found it intriguing that January 1st fell on a Monday this year. Fresh starts can happen any time, but many of us tend to wait for milestone dates: Mondays, significant birthdays, New Year’s Day, and so on.

I haven’t set New Year’s resolutions in years, but I do set goals and intentions. In 2014, I set a creative intention to cross stitch every day. A few years later, I added crocheting. Last fall, I added knitting. I mediate almost daily and I exercise five to six days a week. I’ve set two goals for my coaching practice this year. I’m working out what my Epicure business goals will be for the year.

The difference for me is that resolutions sound grand…until there is no plan to accomplish them.

Goals! I am a fan of SMARTER goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely, evaluate, and revise.

“I want to eat healthier” sounds great. Everyone, this time of year, has a way for people to do exactly that. How? What are the action steps? Who is keeping you accountable? Are you having fun? Are you adapting where necessary? Why am I asking so many questions? (LOL! It’s a thing I do.)

Am I anti-resolutions? Nope! I want to lose weight and get stronger. Ok…that’s great…now what? I am going to replace _____ with _____ and do more of _____. Specifics are important. Most importantly? Why. What’s your why? WHY do you want to _________? I want to lose weight so I feel better in my clothes, and feel stronger so I have more stamina to do things. Why matters. Specifics matter. Positive accountability matters. (For example, by working with a coach!)

What are your goals? What are your intentions? What are your resolutions?

Keep in mind…a New Year’s resolution can be just something fun. What works for you?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Little Changes Make Huge Impacts

After being an independent Epicure consultant since fall of 2019, I (and my hubby) finally signed up for the Epic Life Challenge for the spring of 2022. Meal planning, portion control, focusing on goals, and focusing on #NSV (non-scale victories) in addition to pounds and inches shed are the main features of the challenge, and this all goes well with my coaching philosophy. I needed a change & something new to do, so in addition to the Epic Life Challenge, I also joined a 9Round Fitness center and I have been LOVING kickboxing! But I digress. LOL! (I mean come on. You’re used to that from me by now, surely?)

I had a couple of absolutely gigantic non-scale victories this week that made me feel fantastic! We have had a few rough days with frightening medical news about family, and also with some frightening medical news about one of our dogs. One of my go-to, feel-better methods in olden days? Potato chips. Salt, crunch, and grease to make me feel better. Guess who did NOT, in fact, resort to potato chips at any point this week? That would be me. I also usually acknowledge that I’m likely to be too tired to cook after work on certain days, and we frequently get takeout that isn’t exactly great for us. I was absolutely exhausted and drained, and I made a meal anyway. It was easy, because I thawed some prepared sauce and I boiled some frozen, gluten-free (Jolie-safe!) ravioli, so the meal prep took a total of about ten minutes. (And now I need to make more of that sauce. LOL!) But it was also a MAJOR win because I had wanted very much to NOT go out for dinner…and we didn’t.

These were both little things and huge things all at once. Both I & my hubby are slowly but steadily losing weight, and we are making incremental, positive, sustainable changes to get it done. And we’re still having fun at the same time. (Glass of wine on #winewellnesswednesday, anyone? Don’t mind if I do.) We’ve also kicked up the exercise a notch, we’ve been drinking lots more water, and we are more thoughtful about what we’re eating.

What’s a little change that you can make in the next week to make a big impact on your life?

Cheers! Here’s to your health!

Wine & Wellness Wednesday: Epic Life Collection

In the next few days I’ll be adding specific information to the My Services section of the web site, however, I wanted to share a little bit about what’s coming up & why I’m adding it.

I’m a foodie who’s allergic to many foods and who loves to cook, both complicated recipes and fast recipes. And to be honest, sometimes my cooking is healthier…but sometimes it’s not. Because come on. It’s about balance. And dark chocolate. And spinach. But maybe not spinach with dark chocolate.

But I digress. 

For several years I’d bought freezer meal kits from a direct sales company called Wildtree, and I enjoyed many of the products, even though I couldn’t eat as many of the things in the catalog as I would have liked. I toyed with the idea of signing up to sell it, and then Wildtree announced they were closing. Well, ok, selling that won’t be happening. My consultant found Epicure, I sampled one of the seasoning mixes, did some research, and I found the Epic Life Collection as one of the Epicure offerings. And I was intrigued. And then I signed up to sell Epicure as an independent consultant.

The Epic Life Collection is seasonings, measuring cups, a journal, and a menu plan/shopping guide. It’s an easy, accessible, and delicious approach to quick and healthy eating in positive, sustainable ways. It also matches my coaching philosophy really well! (For the record, Epicure sells many, many delicious things beyond this collection!)

The new offerings from Make One Change Health Coaching include several layers of coaching support tied with the Epic Life Collection, and I’m excited to offer it as a tool to help my clients build sustainable, healthy habits!

Please get in touch with whatever questions you have!

Cheers! Here’s to your health!