What’s new and good?

So I’m going on a smoothie feast!
Yup haha. For 8 weeks. From now till February 4th. Including the holidays lol.
There are a lot of new things happening here on the SNI blog. Here’s a quick run down of what’s going on and what is yet to come.

Raw music

If you keep up with my column in Sway Magazine, and you read my article last thursday on the benefits of music therapy, or if you follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or You Tube, you’ve probably already heard the good news. There’s a new feature on the SNI blog! I call it Raw Music. After you nourish your body with raw recipes, you can come back to the blog and nourish your heart with raw music. I’ll be posting weekly raw music videos every week on Wednesdays. I won’t be sending out email about the raw music vids though, so you’ll have to come back here on your own to enjoy them. Or you can choose to subscribe to my channel on YouTube if you’d like to get notifications.

Life lessons

How have you been enjoying the series of life lessons here on the SNI blog? Would you like to hear more of these? I have more to talk about but I wanna make sure that these are helpful for you. If you’d like the series of life lessons to continue, leave me a comment here on the blog, or tweet your thoughts to @rochellehanson and use the hashtag #lifelessons. If there’s a specific topic you’d like me to discuss here at Simply Natural Ideas, let me know, and I’ll schedule it in If I don’t hear anything from you in the comments, I’ll just assume that you’ve had enough of the life lessons- so if you do like them, be sure to let me know!

Cellercise
It’s been a while since you all heard me talking about Cellercise here on the blog lol. I know. I must confess. It’s shameful but true. I haven’t been using my Cellerciser as much as I should. I’m kind of into this leisure health jumping right now lol which is totally not hard core exercise, but it’s still beneficial. In February, I’m planning to film a weekly cellercise series where I show you some super cool moves and tell you how it all makes me feel and what it does for my overall health so you can look forward to that. One of my goals for 2012 is to get stronger abs. I wanna get solid without sit ups so I’m going to focus on making videos on how to use the Cellerciser to do just that. Whether you have a cellerciser or not, the goal of this upcoming series is to motivate you (and me) to keep moving!!

Smoothie Feast?!?!?!

OK If you all didn’t think I was a health nut before, you’re definitely gonna think I’m a health nut now lol. I’m going on a smoothie feast. Yup. You heard me! A smoothie feast. And I’m sticking to it during the holidays lol. Im actually doing it for 8 weeks. That’s 56 days of fresh smoothies, homemade blended soups, and yummy in my tummy herbal teas.

“Why would you go on a smoothie feast during the holidays, Rochelle? Isn’t good health supposed to be about balance??? Don’t you wanna have fun and enjoy your Christmas dinner? Aren’t your family members gonna think you’re weird???”

Yes. Health is about balance. I’ve been balancing all year. It’s time to give my system a break.
Yes. It would be fun to enjoy a traditional Christmas Dinner. But I can still have fun without it.
And as for my family? They ALREADY think I’m weird lol. No harm in confirming the matter.

Why now?!?!?!?!

This time of year is the hardest for me when it comes to healthy eating.
I’m sure it’s difficult for you too. There’s Christmas dinner with my Moms side and there’s Christmas dinner with my Dads side. Then there’s Happy New Year with the Hanson’s and Happy New Year with the Henry’s (my cousins). As if the holidays weren’t already enough, on Feb 4th we usually sing Happy Birthday to me and eat cake again!

Last year between Christmas, New Years, and my birthday, I made WAY more compromises than I should have and I just wasn’t happy about my choices. I didn’t gain a lot of weight last year during the holidays but this is honestly not about weight gain or fat loss. This is about my health. Why do we have to eat candy & cake in order to feel like we’re having a good time? The simple answer is we don’t. Try to tell me that when my step mom’s home made New York cheese cake is staring at me looking like true love lol.

So here’s my crazy idea.
Admit that I have weaknesses.
Admit that I’m not perfect.
Intellectually I know what balance looks like.
During the rest of the year when I’m safe and sound in my healthy happy home,
I can be more flexible with my choices.
But during this holiday season
In order for me to stay true to everything that I’ve learned about breaking cravings,
I think it’s important for me to create structure so I don’t fall. I know myself, and it’s just not a good idea for me to rely on my emotions or even my logic when it comes to eating healthy during the holidays this year. I’m not going to make a big deal or agonize over what people will think of me, I’m just going to bring my delicious smoothies in my cute little mason jars, and enjoy my friends and family. I’ll even bring some extra smoothies to share in case people want some.

Another reason I’ve decided to go on a smoothie feast during the holidays is because I’d like to start the new year off in a really good place. I’m preparing to launch my health coaching practice mid January 2012, and I don’t want the holiday festivities and the junk food thereof to get in the way of my positive thoughts, my vibrant demeanour, or my overall health. Over the past two years I’ve gotten to know myself very well, and I know that when I’m surrounded by unhealthy options -which is exactly what happens during the holidays, I will choose them if I don’t give myself a solid reason not to. So… smoothie feast it is!!

What does this mean for YOU.

Every day of my smoothie feast I will write a quick blog post and share what I had for the day and how I feel. I started the feast on Monday, so tuesday morning I’ll share the post about what I had. You can join me on the feast if you want to, but don’t feel any pressure to do so. If you’re an SNI subscriber, don’t worry, I won’t be sending out an email with every blog post lol you will still only get one little email per week. If you’re interested in the recipes just come over here to the SNI blog. There will be a page called Smoothie Feast with links to all the daily posts. More than anything else, I hope that my smoothie feast will motivate you to believe in yourself. If I can stick to a smoothie feast during the holidays, surely you can add more healthy foods into your life throughout the rest of the year, right? I believe in you

Ok so that’s about all that’s new and good here at SNI. What’s new and good with you? Don’t forget to let me know if you want me to keep up with the series of life lessons next week, and if they’ve been helpful for you at all. Leave me a comment here on the blog and tell me what you think.

Subscribe so you don’t miss the good stuff. You’ll also get a copy of my free ebook, Breaking Cravings.

Talk soon,

-Rochelle.