10 Positive Mantras To Break Free of Diet-Obsessed Living

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If you’ve been reading my blog for a while or ever took a sneak peak at my About Me page, you know that healthy living didn’t come naturally to me. In fact, my entire college years were consumed of yo-yo dieting, hours and hours at the gym, “fake food” and obsession with my weight. I can’t even tell you how many tears were shed over the darn scale alone! I was unhappy, and in effect definitely unhealthy. I felt frustrated, F-A-T, alone and “not good enough.”

It wasn’t until I graduated from college that I decided to throw all of my “food rules” and restrictions out the window and actually start LIVING. At this time I also discovered yoga, running, clean eating and my secret talent for cooking. When I switched from dieting to living (and felt OK with it), everything and I mean everything began to change.

If this sounds like you, or you know someone struggling with similar issues, here are 10 mantras to repeat over and over again to start make that positive shift toward a healthier lifestyle. Because, after all, you won’t see a change in your body or your health if you aren’t OK up … Read More!

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Healthy Chicks in the Community Week 2: Bre the Yoga Queen

2 Comments / Healthy Chicks in the Community /

I am super excited to announce this week’s star of Healthy Chicks in the Community. Bre is one of those all around cool gals, who I always enjoy catching up with (especially over gourmet coffee). I truly admire her positive attitude towards life, love and all those good things! I’ll let Bre take it away from here…

NAME/AGE: Bre, 26

TWITTER: @brenourse

FACEBOOK: Bre Nourse Yoga

CURRENT CITY: Boston (North End)

‬‪​WHAT YOU DO FOR WORK: I teach yoga, dip my toe in the design and photography pool and from time to time I sling $100 yoga pants at that big yoga clothing store we all know and love.

‬‪​NUMBER ONE PASSION: Teaching people to connect with their bodies through movement and meditation.

‬‪​I FEEL MY HEALTHIEST SELF WHEN I AM: Being kind to my body, fueling myself with foods that make me feel good and doing the work during my meditation. Its not just about the physical body, without a healthy mind we’d have nothing.

‬‪​BUT I AM ALSO A REAL GIRL & SOMETIMES:
I like to eat dessert for breakfast and watch all the shows in my dvr!

‬‪​TOP THREE KITCHEN STAPLES:
Olive Oil, Pepper and my potato … Read More!

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Healthy ChickLit: Take More Time to Unplug

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The other day, I entered the 13 in 2013 Pin-spiration contest, hosted by SheKnows. The contest required each contestant to pin 13 photos from SheKnows, signifying our inspirations for 2013.

You can view my entire board here, but I wanted to focus on of my greatest inspirations/intentions for the New Year: taking more time to unplug. While being a freelance writer, health coach, and blogger often requires me to be quite “plugged in” practically all day long, I am going to make it a point to take more time each day to disconnect and do “me” (and “we”) things.

For instance, last night I shut down my laptop and threw my phone in my purse (on silent) to enjoy two hours of quality time with The Boy. It was so nice to chat about our days over Haru Sushi (a new fave!) 100% engaged in the conversation and present with each other. No emails. No twitter updates. No Instagramming our maki rolls. No texting my best friend. Just being…in the moment, in the now.

So go ahead and take a break from your iPhone, your laptop or whatever else it is that you’re hooked on and simply … Read More!

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Make Your Workouts Sweaty & Pretty: Sparkly Soul Headband Giveaway

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Good morning ladies, and happy Monday! I’m please to announce a very exciting giveaway on Healthy Chicks today involving both fitness AND fashion. If you’re like me, you like to get down and dirty with your workouts and, well, sometimes that leaves you looking (and feeling) like a sweaty mess. Think: wet hair in your face, sweat dripping down your back, you get the picture.

But who said workouts couldn’t be pretty too? With Sparkly Soul headbands, you can keep your hair out of your face and sparkle throughout your entire workout sesh. Not to mention, their gentle elastic headbands are designed with your comfort in mind,  minimizing slipping, too-tight headaches or hair damage.

I love all of the pretty colors they come in – from Kaleidoscope Pink to Apple Green – so you can pick and choose what color makes you feel your most sparkling self! I myself have the Gold thin headband, and just ordered another one in Charcoal. They’re perfect for any fitness activity, from hot yoga and Pilates to kickboxing and long-distance running.

OK, let’s get to the good stuff: I will be giving away ONE sparkly soul headband in the color and size of your … Read More!

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Find the Beauty in Nature {My NH Getaway in Photos}

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[gearing up for an afternoon of skiing at Waterville Valley, our first ski of the year!]

[beautiful Sunday afternoon stroll to the town square]

[a moment of tranquility by the gazebo]

[sunshine peeping through the clouds in the mountains!]

[lovin’ the vintage feel of the town center]

[letting our thoughts get lost with the clouds…]

[blackboard menus…my favorite kind]

[Dashing through the snow…]

Hope you all had a safe, happy & healthy weekend!… Read More!

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Athleta’s Fitness & Fashion Event on Newbury

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Last night, I was invited to attend “New Year, NEW YOU!” a fitness-inspired fashion event at Athleta on Newbury Street. Since I love fitness and fashion (well, when it comes to my workout gear) I was IN.

The event was hosted by Eventbrite and Athleta, two fabulous community-oriented companies in my book, so unsurprisingly was a huge hit. The evening entailed a sneak peek at Athleta’s new spring line, with local fitness teachers walking around to mingle and show off their beautiful clothes.

When I walked in there was a great crowd of ladies, all looking to have a good time and get their Fitness & Fashion on! After I signed in and chatted with some of the management team, I head over to the apps & drinks table to grab some quick, healthy bites. I filled my plate with a variety of cheese, some toasted pita, hummus and stuffed grape leaves and also snagged a Peach HINT Fizz for a light and tasty treat.

I was so excited to see Melina’s juice (from e.t.c Juicery) being served too! “How cool, I know her!” It’s safe to say her new juice is going to be a … Read More!

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sweetgreen + Healthy Chicks in the Community

26 Comments / Healthy Chicks in the Community /

Sweet News

Good afternoon, friends! Hope you are all having an amazing week so far. This week has been one of those fascinating, life-changing weeks for me, you know the kind. For one, I’ve landed the part-time job of my dream, assisting with marketing and community relationships at sweetgreen in Boston. If you haven’t heard of them, I urge you to check out their website, including their zesty menu! I totally have my eye on the January salad.

They are expanding to the city in early summer, and I’m going to help spread the word and make their launch as successful as possible. sweetgreen currently has locations in PA, MD, VA and NY and will soon be coming to my city aka Boston (which is your city for many of you) in June.

While their company is essentially a healthy, eco-friendly restaurant (for example, their proteins are hormone & antibiotic free and their packaging is 100% plant based), they are much more than that and take great pride in their mission in spreading the sweet life. I couldn’t be more thrilled to a part of their company, especially when their mission is something I so firmly believe in.… Read More!

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Healthy ChickLit: Have Fun With Your Veggies & Vegetarian Marinara Spaghetti Squash

Leave a Comment / Food & Recipes /

Of course people scrunch their noses and roll their eyes at the thought of “eating healthy” when they think of it as bland, cardboard-tasting, flavorless meals (think: a pile of iceberg lettuce with fat-free, calorie-free dressing).

And up until about five years ago, that’s what healthy did mean to me: boring salad bars, diet sodas, sugar-free everything, low calorie, processed-fake-food-crap. Blah.

Then I discovered how much fun I could have in the kitchen cooking healthy food, how creative I could get with my veggies, and how utterly delicious green “healthy” foods could really be.

Most days of the week, The Boy and I craft up wholesome, healthy dishes together in the kitchen and more often than not it’s an exciting experiment. We use what we have in the fridge, creating innovative recipes and award-winning concoctions (at least according to us.) In fact, while I am pretty skilled in the kitchen, The Boy is really the Master Chef of the two of us which makes life a little easier.

No matter what we concoct, we typically (most days) aim to make most of our meal veggie-based with healthy fats, nutritious proteins and wholesome grains added in.

Last night, we had lots … Read More!

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Six Health-Boosting Ways with Quinoa

6 Comments / Food & Recipes /

Quinoa and I have quite the love affair. I discovered this grain-like seed a few years ago when I was dealing with gluten issues and haven’t looked back since.

I typically enjoy quinoa at least twice a week and  unsurprisingly, it’s quickly become one of my favorite kitchen staples. Really, I never go without it. In fact, we have three bags of it in our cupboards now. (Hey, you never know when you’ll need it!)

Quickie Quinoa Facts

  • While many refer to quinoa as a grain based on the similarities, quinoa is in fact a seed.
  • It’s 100% gluten free, making it a great choice for someone with Celiac’s or a gluten sensitivity, or for those who don’t digest gluten-heavy grains very well. As an added benefit, it’s also very easy for most to digest!
  • It cooks up in about 15 minutes, making it my favorite go-to when I “don’t have time” to cook as opposed to other grains like rice that can take up to an hour to prep
  • Quinoa is a complete protein, making it superb for endurance & energy!
  • High in B vitamins, iron and potassium to name a few
  • It’s always good to rinse quinoa thoroughly
… Read More!

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Healthy ChickLit: Be Thankful

5 Comments / Health & Wellness, Lifestyle /

As hard as it may be to do so, I think it’s vital to focus on the feel-goods in your life every day. At the beginning and the end of the day, I try to find a few things that I’m thankful for or blessed to have. They can be the little things, like being able to run 3 miles bundled up in the cold (even when you’d rather stay in bed) or the big things: the life-changing things.

Often this comes up during health coaching, when women feel as though they aren’t “enough” or could be doing “better.” I try to re-shift their thoughts and remind them of all the wonderful achievements they already have, to focus on all of the good (that you showed up for yoga, your glorious family, the home-cooked, nutritious meal you made for your boyfriend) and let go of all of the “bad” (that you skipped the gym, that your thighs are too big, that you didn’t get what you wanted.)

Things I am thankful right now:

–That my dad survived a bad car crash the other night on the highway, even though the car was totaled: He spun out on ice … Read More!

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