Why it's so Incredibly Important to have a Goal or a set of Clear Intentions

Having a set of clear intentions and clear goals for yourself is one of the most important things you can do to ensure that you are getting the most out of life.  Essentially by having a goal to work towards you have harnessed the power of making a decision, you have made the decision to set out and achieve your goal.  Making a decision is the ultimate power, it is the single factor that shapes and controls your destiny.  It gives you something to focus on that excites you, it gives you something to achieve with meaning.  When you have a clear goal, it's your decision then to follow through and achieve the goal you've set out.  That decision you make at that moment can change the course of your life forever.


So I have been assessing my goals and thinking about some of the times that I've felt my absolute best and most comfortable in my own skin.  One of those times was when I had made a decision to only eat un-processed foods for a whole year.  The intention of that goal was to essentially change my eating habits so that the way I was eating became a lifestyle for me.  I've been thinking about what is truly important to me and what I should be doing to bring my intentions into balance.  One thing that is important to me is to stay true to what I stand for and what I believe in.  I guess I haven't done that because I've been worried about rocking the boat at home.


Last year when I was competing, my relationship with food and achieving my fitness model body was my number one and everything else took a back seat, including my own self love, my fiancé, friends and family.  But I had determination, an unbreakable drive to achieve something and I was not going to let anything get in my way.  Once I had it bought to my attention by my fiancé that he was well and truly sick of what I was doing.  I reassessed my goals and decided that fostering a loving relationship with my man was way more important to me than eating chicken every 3 hours on the dot.  So I stopped what I was doing, essentially, I didn't have a goal to work towards anymore.  That brings me to today.  I've made some huge life decisions and I have some big things going on in my life, but I don't have any clear cut goals that I am so incredibly passionate about, that fill me up with light and that add energy to my life, more importantly I haven't flexed my decision making muscle in months.


I really had to get clear about what is important to me and how I can be living my life with integrity.  Some things I don't want is to go back on a cookie cutter diet program that doesn't take into account how my body is actually feeling and what it is telling me, but I do want to feel better about myself and I do want to loose some weight, but I want to do it in a way that makes me feel incredible not deprived.  I also want to get my business off the ground, I have all the time in the world right now to be making my dreams become a reality but I'm not using my 24hrs wisely.


With those parameters in mind I need to create some SMART goals for myself and make the decision to achieve these goals that I am setting for myself today.  There are three main goals that I will be setting today:

• A health goal;
• A fitness goal; and
• A business goal.

Because my blog is health and wellness related I'm going to share my health and fitness goals with you, my tribe as a bit of a declaration.  Because I believe in the law of attraction and what you put out into the universe you will get back.  Also I love having someone to be accountable to and sharing goals and tracking those things with my tribe is a sure fire way of being held accountable because I don't want to let a sista down!

Deep breath, ok here we go!

Health 

For the next 60 days, I will only eat un-processed foods, using my knowledge of nutrition and healing, so that I will look and feel my absolute best on my wedding day.  I will keep an online journal (here) of my daily food intake so that I am accountable for my actions and so that I can measure my progress.

Fitness

By the 21st September 2014, I will complete Kayla Itsnie's BBG program, I will not miss a single day, so that I will look and feel my absolute best on my wedding day.  I will keep track of my progress in an online journal (here) so that I am accountable for my actions and so that I can measure my progress.

 These are my goals and I have made the decision today to achieve these goals in a loving way that serves me.  I believe that I can achieve what ever it is I put my mind too.  I know that I can achieve these goals and I now have you my beautiful tribe to keep me accountable.

xx

4 Elements Diet and My Very First Attempt at Blogging

So I've gone to bed, tired and ready to fall asleep, but something is keeping me awake.  It's a drive and a push to do something more that is keeping me from falling asleep but I can't quiet work out what that is.  Maybe I'm just thirsty....

Well anyway, I got myself some water and was lying here scrolling through Instagram, yep 'cause that's going to help a sista fall asleep, not!  I then started thinking about my first ever blog that I started way back in 2011.  I called it 4 Elements Diet.  I had been sitting in bed one fateful Tuesday evening, around the same time as now and I remember I had been trolling through the internet in search of anything and everything and I came across a girl who had challenged herself to eat only foods that where provided from the Earth for 365 days (it was called the Earth Diet, you may or may not of heard of it?!)  So I was sitting up late on my laptop and was thinking, hey I should do my own version of this and blog about it!

And so 4 Elements Diet was born.  Here is my very first blog post, (killin' it in 2011).  Ok, so I had this thing that I didn't want to use capital letters ever... yeah I got over that, don't know where that came from, guess I thought I was being a game changer and leading the pack.  Second is the hideous theme, lol I was learning!

Anyway the point of this whole post was that re-reading my old blog got me really inspired.  I was someone who inspired me to make a change for the better for myself.  I've been inspired by my own determination from 3 years ago, my absolute authentic and pure passion for living a healthier and clean life.  My last journal entry ends at 61 days, I think that's when I threw the towel in.  I don't know why I did though, I do remember that I felt incredible, I was never stressed about food or my weight, I was loosing weight, it was falling off me effortlessly, I just knew that my body was finding it's balancing point I had this absolute belief that my excess weight would come off until my body was happy, I remember getting to a point that I never felt hungry because I always listened to my body's cues, I had boundless energy and my sex drive was through the roof!

I kinda want that back, that raw authentic energy, that passion and drive for inspiring others through my daily choices, I wonder if I can go 61 days of eating only un-processed foods?  

Could you?

Getting Grounded and Grateful

I am just loving connecting with so many self inspired women, who are real, authentic and living and breathing their passions.  Today's guest to the blog is the incredibly talented spiritual coach Pip Herbert from Grounded Guidance.  

Pip is going to share some insights on how to get practice mindfulness through being grounded and showing gratitude.  Pip take it away...

Each morning, I get up, go outside and ground myself, I usually exercise at this time too, and I get present.

But what does this mean and what difference does it make?

By stopping to listen to the sounds around me, tune into my body, my breath, notice my emotions, I am fully present in the moment.  It is very challenging to maintain this level of mindfulness, of presence throughout the entire day, as of course we lead busy lives filled with distractions… doing several things at once, day dreaming, or thinking about what to cook for dinner.

If I’m ungrounded, I am clumsy, my head is in a haze, I feel scattered and may try to put the milk away in the cupboard, I am certainly not feeling empowered by what I want to create in my life.

 Like anything, mindfulness takes practice and getting grounded takes intention. Remembering to stop for a moment and BREATHE. Plant your feet on the ground and send all that buzzing energy into the earth, let go of the exhaustion. Be in that moment.

Allow yourself to be fully present with the person you’re listening to.  To feel what your body needs, and be connected to your soul-essence, your intuition.

 In this space of grounding and mindfulness, I find what naturally arises is gratitude.

I am present enough to notice the beauty around me and appreciate how lucky I am. You do not have to be feeling particularly optimistic to allow the blissful feeling of gratitude to envelope you. If you are struggling to think of something, simply remember how privileged you are, that there is always someone worse off than you.

When we are focusing on the many wonderful things in our life, we create more of this thanks to the universal law of attraction. Often we are thinking about what’s yet for us to achieve, to buy, or what we don’t have yet. When we shift our attention to what we DO have, the universe conspires to give you more of that. In the space of gratitude I experience joy, happiness, thankfulness, peace, love, excitement. Hell yeah to more of that!


So – try it. Each day, think of or write down 3 things you’re grateful for. Really connect to the emotion of it when you do this. You may be surprised how great it feels.

+ To follow Pip on Instragram click here.

++ Check out Pip's website here.

+++ To follow Pip on Facebook click here.

What exactly is a Holistic Health Coach

Setting an example is not the main means to influencing others; it is the only means.

Some of you may know that I've been studying to become a Holistic Health Coach.   I am so damn excited about it, I love my course so much.  Every Monday night around 10pm the next weeks module is released and I can pretty much say that I wake up during the night every Monday and download the next module just so I can see what I'm learning that week, then try to calm my excitement to go back to sleep.

I have honestly never studied anything that lights me up so much.  It is in line with my true purpose and god damn, I know that this is what I was put on this earth to do!

Seriously this is what I feel like doing when I talk about Health Coaching. (photo from the gorgeous kinfolk site)

In our current healthcare system, almost no time is spent discussing daily diet and lifestyle.  I believe that there needs to be more well-trained professionals to teach people how to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

As a Holistic Health coach I will offer guidance and inspiration to help my clients shift their behaviour to healthier habits by making step-by-step changes to their diet and lifestyle.  I'll be able to teach you about new, healthy foods and the concept of primary foods - i.e. relationships, physical activity, career and spirituality.

When you work with me I'll make sure that you develop a deeper understanding of the foods and lifestyle choices that work best for you, and implement lasting changes that improve your energy, balance and health.  Instead of prescribing one diet or one way of exercise (because we all know this doesn't work), I'll be focused on teaching you to become self-sufficient by observing your own unique responses to various modifications and choosing health-promoting behaviours that work for you.

So what exactly is a Holistic Health Coach

A Holistic Health coach is a guide and mentor who empowers clients to take responsibility for their own health and supports them to implement and sustain lifestyle and behaviour changes that will contribute to the achievement of their personal wellness goals.  Some common areas where a Holistic Health Coach may help a client to focus include weight management, food cravings, sleep energy, stress management, and digestion - just to name a few.

As confucius says:

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

If you are interested in working with me, please don't hesitate to get in contact with me.  I'd love to hear from you.

Guest Blogger - Berry Coconut Chia Pudding by Claire Power

Claire Power is one wellness babe to watch, she is putting her passions of health and cooking to good use to inspire others to get in their kitchens and to start cooking their way to better health.

I absolutely love any babe who is out there inspiring and empowering other women to look after themselves and live up to their truest potential.

Claire has been kind enough to share a "tote-able" recipe for us for day 15 of the Get Active, Nourish and Be Grateful challenge that Kat and I are running for the month of July.

Claire thanks so much for sharing your recipe with us today!!  How did the inspiration for this recipe come about??

Chia puddings are popping up everywhere on social media and on television due to the new ads for the Chia Co company with brand ambassador Kelly Slater.  I think it's great that these little seeds of goodness gets some more publicity.  They are so nutritious and delicious!

However, it is very easy and cheap to make it so you should try to make your own at home.  There are different ways o do them using different milks or using mashed banana.  The flavour combinations are endless, mango, apple, berries, cacao, matcha and so on.

Berry Coconut Chia Puddings recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp chia seeds;
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (you could use almond milk, cashew milk or cow's milk too);
• 1 vanilla bean;
• dash of cinnamon;
• optional: honey or rice male syrup; and
• toppings: fresh or frozen berries, nuts, bananas use whatever you feel like!

Instructions:

1. Mix chia seeds and milk;
2. Add vanilla & cinnamon;
3. Leave overnight until the chia seeds absorb the milk and become a jelly like texture;
4. Top with fresh fruit, berries, nuts... and
5. Serve cold.

+ To follow Claire on Instagram, click here.

++ Check out Claire's blog here.

+++ For more information on the Get Active, Nourish and Be Grateful, click here.

Nourish Yourself from the Inside Out

After getting active for 10 days straight, it's now time to concentrate on Nourishing yourself from the inside out for the next 10 consecutive days.  The question that I am going to put to you, is what does Nourishing Yourself mean to you?  The reason I ask this is because what works for me may not work for you.

We live in a world of modern nutrition.  Almost everyone is on one diet or another.  So many people dwell on calories, carbs, fats, proteins, restrictions and lists of good and bad foods.  It would seem that each day we are hit with a new discovery, proclaiming the health benefits of a certain food or the best way to lose 5 kilos in a week.  Diet books are best sellers, cooking shows are more popular than ever, while more and more families are eating out.

The world of nutrition has become incredibly complex.  How is it possible that one expert can prove dairy is a necessary component of a healthy diet, while another expert can prove dairy is extremely detrimental to health; one expert can claim meat is essential to a healthy human body while another expert says meat is an unnecessary and unhealthy part of the the human diet?

So to avoid and navigate myself confidently through a media-driven an perplexed diet industry, I now take a new approach to nutrition and that is one of bio-individualtiy.  

No perfect way of eating works for everybody.

The food that is perfect for your unique body, age and lifestyle may make another person gain weight and feel lethargic.  Similarly, no perfect way of eating will work for you all the time, what may have worked for you a number of years ago, may not be right for you now and what you eat during the week may be totally different to what you eat on a weekend when you are relaxing.

One thing that you need to remember is that being healthy is really not that complicated.  Trust that your body knows what it needs and what it wants to eat.  It's the brain that makes mistakes.  It's very easy to convince yourself to follow some diet plan and after a week it may leave you feeling lethargic and bloated.  You don't need to read nutrition books to know what to eat, instead you have to foster a deep relationship with your body in which it naturally tells you what it needs to function at its highest potential.

So for the next 10 days I don't want you to think about restricting anything from your diet, I want to you concentrate on ADDING IN the right clean foods.  

Here is a list of things that I would encourage you to ADD IN to your diet each day:

• Upon rising have a warm glass of water with 1/2 a lemon. 
• Pump up your green vegetables, have at least 4 servings of vegetables per day - you might do this by having a green juice or a green smoothy in the morning, then one serving of greens with lunch and one serving of greens with dinner.
• Don't be afraid of fruits, have 2 servings per day - this could be an apple with a spoonful of nut butter, strawberries, blue berries, add a banana to your smoothie for breakfast.
• Eat good quality and properly prepared whole grains - have at least 2 servings per day - think quinoa or oats for breakfast, sprouted bread, sourdough bread for lunch
• Lean meat and protein sources - have at least 2 servings per day - think chicken, pork, wild salmon, sardines, and white fish
• Good fats - have 2 serving per day - think coconut oil, olive oil, fish oils (essential fatty acids), seen and nut oils and organic butter - use coconut oils for cooking, pour olive oil over your salad, add seeds to your salad, spread organic butter over your toast.

Real food is medicine.

Great food and a healthy diet means enjoying full flavours and invigorating meals while relishing the fresh, simple and unadulterated.  Remember that processed food is loaded with sugars, artificial sweeteners, damaging hydrogenated fats and oils, white flour, chemicals, fillers, synthetic vitamins and minerals, food additives, preservatives, heavy metals and pesticides, all of which contribute to the toxicity with our bodies and are damaging the health of our planet.

Over the coming days I will go over some of my favourite super foods, we'll have a guest post from the fabulous Clair Power from Power of Wellness and plenty of fun recipes and healthy tips and tricks that you can incorporate into your diet.

Nic

xx

Fitting Out and Living in the Now

So I went for a ride this afternoon and had the biggest realisation!

I've been living in the past and I haven't been meaning too!

I had got so caught up in coming clean about my bad eating habits that I couldn't move past them and sub consciously I had let them define me.  It made it so easy to slip back into that hole because well I had admitted to everyone what I had been doing... well admitting is the first step, moving past it is the second step.

I'm not letting my binge eating habits define me anymore, that's not who I am.  I am that girl, you know, the one who loves to get up before sunrise, just so I can see the beginning of a new day.  I'm the one who wakes up and writes my morning pages so that I am clear on my intentions for that day.  I am that girl who gets changed into exercise clothes as soon as I get out of bed so that I can get outside and move my body. I am that girl and I'm going to be a happy, healthy active person for the rest of my life.

Yeah, you know what, I don't fit into the standard mould, I FIT OUT and I love that I do!  I do weird things like oil pull with coconut oil and drink warm lemon water first thing in the morning and meditate and journal and I do it all because I understand the benefits but most of all it makes me feel A-MAZ-ING!

I believe in chasing your dreams, I believe in seizing the day, I believe in living and being your best self and I believe in empowering other women to do the same.

Remember, your past does not define you, it's what you do in the now that makes you.  Always live in the present and stay true to who you are, even if everyone around you doesn't understand why you do what you do.

Nic
xx

Guest Blog for Day 9 - Get Active, Nourish and Be Grateful

I am so stoked to have this amazing trainer on board with the Get Active, Nourish and Be Grateful challenge for the month of July.  Even more stoked because this absolute babe knows how to train hard and her clients are seeing incredible results because of it!

Meet Candy!

So Candy tell us what's your favourite way to train?

HIIT training is my favourite type of training. I use the HIIT training method with my running, rowing, body weight and even my strength training workouts! 

Tell us a little more, what is HIIT style training all about?

HIIT is a workout method that alternates maximum effort "work" intervals with low intensity "rest" intervals. 

The benefits of HIIT include:

• weight loss. HIIT is more effective then steady state cardio for weight loss! 
• HIIT increases agility as it trains the body for explosive power. (Helping you jump higher & sprint faster) 
• HIIT training increases your metabolism & has an "after burn" effect (keeps the body burning calories hours AFTER your workout) 
• Increases stamina. It's easier to continue short bursts of intense training when you know you have a rest interval coming up! 
• HIIT is less time consuming! HIIT sessions usually go for 45 mins and has the same (if not better) benefits then a long low intensity workout. 
• Increases mind power. HIIT training makes you stronger mentally allowing you to push yourself through short spurts of pain & high intensity workouts as there are small "rest" intervals to break it up. 

There are many forms of HIIT training. My favourite is the Tabata workout. 
(Each set is 30 secs long- 20 secs work interval & 10 secs rest interval.) 

So can you give us a session to follow for Day 9 of the challenge :)

Here is a Tabata workout anyone can do at home!

So here are the rules: There will be 8 x 30sec Rounds.  You will work your butt off for 20sec and then rest for 10sec and repeat that for each exercise 8 times.

So for example, you do as many Burpees as you can for 20sec, rest for 10sec, then do Burpees for 20sec then rest for 10sec then repeat another 6 times (8 rounds in total).

Remember to push each round as it's only 20 secs! 

• Burpees 
• Jump squats 
• Push-ups 
• Mountain climbers (each leg)
• Power jump lunges (each leg)
• Plank

Good luck and let me know how you go in the comments section below!!

Be sure to check out Candy here : Facebook or on Instagram 

xx

Warm Turmeric Balance Bowl

I like to enjoy this particular warm bowl of oats on cold and windy winter mornings.  

There is nothing quiet like going out for a walk in the fresh winters air and then coming home to a warm bowl of porridge.  Particularly one that has amazing anti-inflammatory properties.

Turmeric has a natural anti-inflammatory compound.  Now don't get me wrong, a little inflammation in the short term is incredibly important.  It helps the body fight foreign invaders and also has a role in repairing damage.  Without inflammation, pathogens like bacteria could easily take over our bodies and kill us.  Although short term inflammation is beneficial, it can become a major problem long term and inappropriately deployed against the body's own tissues.  This is a problem and it is this chronic inflammation that is now known to be a contributor to many common Western diseases.

Turmeric can inhibit many molecules known to play major roles in inflammation.  Therefore, anything that can help fight chronic inflammation is of potential importance in preventing and even treating and inflammation causing disease.  So sprinkle Turmeric on everything (I do!)

So to make this warming balancing bowl of goodness you'll need:

• 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/3 cup oats
• 1 cup water (or enough water to cover the oats in the pot, I normally do this by site)
• 1 tablespoon of LSA mix
• 1/4 cup of activated nuts
• 1 tablespoon shredded coconut

How its done:

• Add the oats, water and spices to a pot and whisk with a fork to get all the spices combined.
• Bring the oats to the boil, stirring (this should only take a couple of minutes)
• Then pour into a bowl, then add the nuts, LSA mix and shredded coconut
• I like to smash my nuts up in a zip-lock bag before I add them to the top

Then sit in the sun, or the warmest part of your home and saviour each and ever mouthful.  Ahh bliss

xx

Primary Food Vs Secondary Food

@yogakiss and I, mucking around while doing something that we both love :)

Nutrition is a secondary source of energy.  Primary foods, or non food sources of nourishment, are what really fuel us.

All that we consider today as nutrition is really just a secondary source of energy.


Do you remember when you where a child, that you used to play and play without a care in the world for things like eating every three hours.  Remember when Mum used to call you in for dinner, all you could think about was playing still and eating food was the last thing on your mind.  At the table, you Mum would have dutifully ensured that you left no morsel of food behind, and as a child you would have forced down the required amount eager to get back out and play.

Do you remember being deeply in love for the first time?  Everything is light and warm, colours are vivd, and life is full of joy.  You're high off your lover's presence, sustained and exhilarated by the blissful connection.  You float on air and food becomes secondary.

Think back to a time when you were involved in an exciting work project.  You believed in what you were doing whole-heartedly and felt confident and stimulated.  Time stopped and the outside world was muted - food was an afterthought.

Now recall a time you were depressed or experiencing low self-esteem - you were starving for primary food.  No matter how much you ate, you never felt satisfied.  The need for love, power or mere acknowledgement drove the desire for excess food.

Even in good times when we come home at night, we often look into the refrigerator for something to eat, when all we really want is a hug or someone to talk to.

Primary food goes beyond the plate, nurturing us on a deeper level.

Elements such as a meaningful spiritual practice, an inspiring career regular and enjoyable physical activity, and honest and open relationships that feed your soul and your hunger for living all constitute primary food.

The four main primary foods are:

• Career;
• Relationships;
• Physical Activity; and
• Spirituality.

There more primary food we give ourselves, the less we depend on secondary food.  On the contrary, the more we fill ourselves with secondary food, the less space we leave for primary food; our true source of nourishment.

Take some quality time to explore your personal balance between primary food and secondary food - explore for yourself which area could use some attention??

Feel free to leave me a comment below to let me know which area you could be working on.