Today, I wanted to let you in on my intermittent fasting journey (and provide an Intermittent Fasting Guide) as that may help yours if you’ve begun, or maybe you’re curious what it’s ALL ABOUT.
If either sounds like YOU, I created a FREE Intermittent Fasting Guide with you in mind that you can download. It’s called The Start and Sustain Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle Guide… and it also comes in handy when you start IF and then take a short break.
That’s exactly what I did in 2023 during the holiday season, and then realized what I was missing from the benefits I saw on and in my body earlier in the year. I took a quick selfie for comparison…
…Um, that’s a bit of skin showing there! 👙 Oh and believe me, I’m not someone who bares all skin in case you’re wondering why this photo doesn’t fit along with my food and other healthy lifestyle inspo ones.
But the photo really does hone in on my gut ab area (as deep as I can show) and is the healthy reason why I started intermittent fasting in the first place.
I was feeling discomfort in my gut in the upper stomach area where the esophagus meets the stomach (aka the lower esophageal sphincter).
Despite doing all the healthy tips regularly like sourdough, veggie fiber, and ACV, I could feel a dull feeling in the stomach gut area when the optimal feeling is no nagging ache (or even better, feel nothing in those areas). An uneventful inside body feeling day is a good day.
You’ve probably felt similar if you ever experienced heartburn, GERD or acid reflux. Last summer’s heat didn’t help either (hottest recorded in history). That kicks up the Pitta. And, not the kind of fire-in-the-belly you want! 🔥
Even though my stomach case was mild, it’s probably what most people feel who experience heartburn in daily busy and stressful work lives. 🙋🏻♀️
And as someone who once-upon-a-time lived a stressful corporate work life (and works on feeling good and better all the time), I don’t believe you should suffer more than a minute necessary. So, I had to figure it out!… I couldn’t just let it slide. And maybe that’s how you are too in your health areas…
But, lemme backup just a minute so you have some background info…
I started cooking and baking virtually all my meals after the pandemic. So, I knew which ingredients were put into each healthy dish or snack (that I ate 90% of the time). I often show some of the celebrational weekly meal tables, healthy bakes, and dishes weekly here in my blog articles.
…That comes from the side of me that worked a decade in catering party planning, where food is love.
But most my eating ways were healthy (…with a lot less sugar for this former refined sugar addict!). And I was intentionally feeding healthy foods to help a happy gut as that’s where most of the happy hormones (serotonin) are produced.
But I could still feel the gut discomforts even though everything else was running smoothly. And after researching, listening to health interviews, and putting it all together… I came to the conclusion that it’s not the type of food that’s the problem, it’s the fooditself.
Every food ingredient on the planet seems to be in question in some way these days. The only purer ones are the whole ones. And where there are edible food skin nutrients, that’s where the invisible poisons are too.
Even with good intentions to eat more healthy, our daily healthy foods are tainted.
The year prior, I was writing articles for wellness national publications on health and the Blue Zones, the oldest groups of people alive on the planet to date. So I was researching daily and comparing their food and healthy lifestyle ways with my own.
And I realized their B.Z. cheese is not our cheese process, and their bread is not our bread. Starting at the flour.
What we source and bring back home from grocery stores is processed, stripping out the gut valuable nutrients.
…So even with healthy and anti-inflammatory eating intentions, disappointingly we’re still off-setting so much food damage that’s out of our control.
From garden to grocery store, the good nutrients contain some harmful pesticide sprays and/or preservatives to make food shelf life last longer.
…And that means all of us have imperfect guts. And then we add plastic packaged food products, antibiotics, and daily stress into our lives… and that all compounds to the gut issues…
Or in some cases, leaky guts, bloating, IBS, etc. The list is long. And the gut stretches taller than you and me both. With over 15 feet, there’s all kinds of growing bug opportunities where we want to tip the scales to the good ones daily. Doing this impacts so much of our health and daily energy.
And long story short, all this is to say that’s why I started intermittent fasting regularly in 2023 for healthy preventative gut reasons and to help let the body naturally repair the gut.
It’s a great way to lose bad habits like snacking, sugar, overeating, drinking too late, drinking too much, etc. And a great opportunity to let your body detox reset, sleep more efficiently, and lose weight. If you want to discover more about the benefits and strategies, get the free guide.
Add milk and cocoa powder to a pot, and heat until you see a light boil (a few small boil bubbles). Then turn the heat off.
Take the pot off the heat and let cool for a few minutes.
Add your egg yolks to a separate mixing bowl and beat with sugar to emulsify until pale or lighter yellow color.
Add slightly cooled mixture to egg yolks and constantly stir with quick motions (prevent curdling).
When combined, set in refrigerator to cool down for about 15 minutes or longer.
Prepare ice cream maker machine and bowl if you will be using one to set the soft serve ice cream. Take bowl out of freezer for about 30 minutes if it has been in the back of the freezer. Freezer temps vary but you want the bowl cold enough but e.g. not with frozen icicles on the sides but not water condensation. Tip: for the balance, have the bowl a little less cold because you can always freeze the ice cream back up in the freezer. And soft serve is more creamy, watery, and soft than ice cream.
Alternatively, if you are not using an ice cream maker/bowl, be sure to stir the ice cream every half hour or so to remove any forming icicles.
Ideas for healthier lunches is always on the agenda year-round.
The time we take for lunch is often hurried and goes by in a blink of an eye. There are ideas for healthier lunches that you may have forgotten to try in your busyness.
We learn to speed through lunch when we’re old enough to learn. Lunches can be an afterthought when we’re hungry, running in between activities.
I would encourage the idea that lunch is the most important meal of the day (one I don’t recommend skipping or skimping on) when you need the extra energy to carry out your day!
If you like and can eat carbs or pasta, this is a meal where you can get the most efficiency out of your carbs.
You need and burn the energy in a working or working out afternoon. If you focus on carbs for your dinner meal, as you age, this can slow you down.
That’s why I like the idea of the plant-based dinner. But that doesn’t always fill you up during the day when you need the energy boost to keep you going like carbs can.
Growing up you have a memory about your overall childhood lunches.
My public-school lunches were both memorable… and not.
They were a special time that I could sit and spend time with my friends, and that probably helped me appreciate just sitting around with others socializing and chatting.
Healthy mindful snacking can be a game changer especially if you combine with mindful eating and healthy eating habits. Learn from my snacking display ideas and tips deployed in a decade of party planning including weddings and other special occasion events that ended up as thousands of clients (…oh my, where does the time go?)
If you didn’t grow up with a healthy mindful snacking habit, this idea may seem initially odd to you, your mind, and body (mind-body). And why I don’t question others who don’t snack between meals!
You’re better off paying attention to your hunger cues, fullness cues, and changes in your body than focusing on emotional cues especially if weight gain is a struggle.
I know how food can be comforting and carrots aren’t stress calming foods.
But if you do regularly snack or are open to the idea, you may find that snacking time is a nice mindfully healthy break to reset, start a new project and give your body some needed energy.
That’s why I take a 5-minute mindful snack break at least 2-3 times a day. Maybe this is a new approach for you.
And if so, it could be what you need to add to your day to reset your emotions, thoughts, and moods (while keeping your body in your comfortable tip-top happy shape).
It’s more effective than saying no that rarely works when the kitchen is open (and you’re not fasting if that’s something you do).
I also find that snacking helps me to maintain a consistent dress size that I’m comfortable in. This is what most of us want.
There are many added factors as to why this will work better for some people and not as well for others, including the beliefs you have behind this truth.
You’re the eating expert for your body. And you’re the only one who knows your body better than anyone when it comes to how it looks and your preferences.
Busting The Myth That Eating More Healthy Mindful Snacking Will Automatically Make You Gain Weight
I like to use the analogy of your brain. One of your brain’s primal concerns is to keep you alive. Your thoughts alert you and your body of potential dangers through fear and anxiety.
Your body has similar concerns and is sending signals like hunger pains to protect you from starvation.
If you feed your body often, then you’re teaching your body that there’s no need to go into food conservation red alert mode. If instead you feed your body say one meal a day, then that’s a trigger to your body to store fat more easily, as fat energy would keep you alive longer.
Your body pays attention to what is happening first. While your mind is on its frequency and tied together with the body through the gut. The mind-body communication is delayed like an audio lag so that’s why it’s better to slow down and chew.
How else does healthy mindful snacking regularly benefit you?
Besides body efficiency, time efficiency is another reason snacking can help…
If you get hungry or are in low-energy unproductive moods, opening the fridge door can help you get over your temporary lull faster than if you mull around without changing your situation.
As a mindful action, you can snap out of a funk when you look in the fridge as a visual cue for your mind-body to kick into gear.
The trick is to have healthy snacks and food choices so you can be snacking mindfully and healthy.
You can pull these snacks out earlier in the day so you’re prepared and not triggered during the day to find something not as healthy.
When you look at snacking from the mindful planning perspective, the 5 minutes of snack-prep time is nothing. Compare that to getting in and out of the grocery store which can take at least 4 times the amount of loss efficiency time, plus the travel time it takes.
If you’re one of the people who check out of the “under 15 items” grocery line with just 2-3 items, think how much time you’d save if you changed your regular shopping habits to include pantry and fresh item perimeter shopping.
Still on the fence?
Besides efficiency and uplifting-mood changing reasons, there are physical health benefits today to add as we have healthier snacks and food trends available to us and on our side.
When you prepare and eat small, bite size healthy snacks regularly (like a bird does pecking at crumbs) and in between meals throughout the day, your body can re-fuel energy to keep going.
You can replace the need to afternoon power nap or have an espresso with a 5-minute mind-body benefitting snack.
If you snack on hard boiled eggs or popcorn with nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor, you can feel some energy boost from the B-vitamins.
Healthy Mindful Snacking Ideas:
Healthy mindful snacking is at the core of intuitive eating where you only eat when you’re hungry. Or you have a bite versus a whole big restaurant portion.
Like this cheese and fruit bigger-than-eyes display that was at one of my Mediterranean cuisine restaurant parties.
The white cubes that look like tofu are Shanklish, that’s a popular Lebanese, high quality sheep’s milk cheese that pairs well with falafel (chickpea and gluten-free) for a “charcuterie” board with a twist.
But toning it down a notch as many of us can’t easily re-create a board like those at professional catered parties, you can make a simple at-home charcuterie board or snack board inspired by bright wedding food colors that are full of polyphenols.
One theme you can use is orange veggies loaded with beta-carotene.
Growing up for me, snacking with bright orange salty snacks wasn’t the healthy kind. And the sweets weren’t either.
These days, processed and high sugar snacks are still easily available and causes toward child obesity on the rise. And if I had to do over, learning healthy snacking habits earlier would have been better and easier.
The healthy switch especially isn’t easy for a Vata with a sweet tooth and salty fix as an adult.
And once a Vata always a Vata.
But if I can do it, you can too if you can get into the mindful space one step at a time.
How about this mid-day bright orange sweet potato board with balsamic buffalo mozzarella cheese and healthy Za’atar crackers?
Za’atar or savory crackers, balsamic buffalo mozzarella, and sweet potato dip are a great way to express healthy snack creativity in minutes. 🍠
Listening to food trends with one ear is also a better idea than going all in as the trend can change.
Low-fat eating dominated trends when I was a young adult and that has changed.
Back then, a no-fat cookie could questionably appear to be healthier than a handful of higher fat almonds for healthy mindful snacking. We know that’s not today’s truth.
And an apple is still an apple, but now we have many varieties including organic types to choose from.
In a metro-city area, finding healthy snack options is easier and at our fingertips.
This was a hummus bar setup at The Wedding Wire HQ.
Here are eight 5-minute healthy mindful snacking break ideas that never grow old…
1.Homemade hummus.
You can make this in 5 minutes with a blender. I use a Magic Bullet that doesn’t need to brought out each time. That’s why it’s magic.🪄
For homemade hummus, you can take a can of garbanzo beans or chickpeas, then add sea salt, and olive oil. Reserve some of the juice for the recipe which is why I opt for organic cans (also lower in sodium).
If you want, add healthy flavors such as garlic, roasted red peppers, or spicy cayenne pepper.
Voila! You have successfully made homemade hummus, and probably less expensively than a store-bought version.
You could dip carrots, celery, or pita chips in your hummus. You can bake your own corn tortilla.
If you want more creaminess like in store bought hummus or want authentic hummus flavors, you could add tahini or sesame oil and peanut butter as a substitution.
2. Guacamole dip or spread.
You can make a simple guacamole dip with smashed ripe avocados and a few drizzles of olive oil and/or a dash of lemon juice. This can also made as a hummus with garbanzo beans.
There are specific breads that taste better with certain spreads. Sprouted bread pairs well with guacamole where others may fail to give you the same taste and healthy experience level.
3. Kale chips.
You can bake dry, pre-washed kale on low heat for crispy kale chips. Simply add sea salt. This is a great nutritional snack alternative to potato chips.
These days the kale bags come pre-washed so you can skip the the washing and drying that saves time.
4. Popcorn with a drizzle of truffle oil.
If you want more fiber in your diet, popcorn is a whole grain with the bran fiber layer intact.
Try to resist the urge to get the movie butter and butter flavors, and instead add a few drops of truffle oil or extra virgin olive oil to give a little healthy fat and flavor.
You can also add a dash of umami mushroom seasoning.
If you want a savory, umami taste without iodized or table salt, you can try plain popcorn and add white pepper. I like to use a white pepper grinder mill that adds an amazing umami taste. For health, don’t add too much white pepper. You can balance the blend with non-iodized sea salt.
Another popcorn favorite is EVOO (olive oil) with a dusting of turmeric for a smoky good health flavor! And another healthy orange snack to add to the board I mentioned! 🧡
5. Granny Smith apple with all-natural peanut or almond butter.
If you have a sweet tooth, you could take a Granny Smith apple, cut up and dip in all-natural peanut butter that you stir up. I prefer organic and keep the skin on for additional nutrients.
Apples keep the doctor away and help to keep your teeth clean. You can also make “candy” apples.
6. Bowl of edamame.
You may have discovered these green looking beans as a sushi restaurant appetizer. They are served in the pod for an experience.
You can also buy them shelled and unshelled edamame in the frozen veggie aisle in some grocery stores like international stores. They are made of soy protein so are more than just veggie snacks. They are also high in calcium and fiber.
Cook or heat up and sprinkle with a pinch of coarse sea salt. You can also find snacks with a wasabi kick that can also help to clear up nasal sinus allergies.
7. Bowl of granola, almonds, or healthy trail mix.
If you have a few additional minutes to wait, you can make granola so easily and whip up a batch for the oven in 5 minutes with oatmeal, honey, light olive oil, and your favorite dried fruits. Spread out to a thin layer on a baking sheet and pop in the oven on low heat.
8. Roasted squash seeds. You can bake in advance your butternut squash and spaghetti squash seeds with EVOO until toasty brown to your liking.
Squash seeds are loaded with Vitamins A, C, some B vitamins, and minerals.
You can learn tips on how to prepare spaghetti squash and what’s going on these days on food allergies from a party menu planner perspective.
Some Final Tips to Consider:
1.Energy and physical health. For Vata bodies especially, when you snack regularly, your metabolism increases. It’s counter-intuitive, but you’ve taught your body that you will be feeding your body more often, so it learns not to live in survival mode.
Fat energy is burned more efficiently because your body no longer needs to store this energy, just in case you get stuck on a snow mountain or cave (and need the fat).
Most people don’t know this, and can believe losing weight is all about eating fewer calories.
That’s important but teaching your body to be efficient is also helpful, along with knowing when to eat the biggest meal like earlier in the day.
There are many theories out there. And giving a new way a try to test is worth the healthy effort.
2.Productivity. Taking a snack break clears your head. You can rest from your project or work, and let your mind rest for a few minutes, and recharge. When you focus on an activity like snacking, this can take you away from multi-tasking.
You remind yourself to take time for yourself. Then when you come back to your work, you get more done. You have more energy.
Many studies show that 10-minute breaks are better for you than one large break.
Do this 6 times a day and that can raise your productivity, preferred over an hour lunch break that could slow you down if you eat a heavy meal.
I find that not setting arbitrary times or alerts for breaks is beneficial because when you snack when you want to, you are fulfilling a desire and not a to-do on your list. Having optimum enjoyment is the goal, and not adding another to-do to your busy day.
3.Creativity. You can come up with additional ideas and breakthroughs with your breaks. You may even find a solution to a problem you’ve had with a healthy mindful snacking break.
Getting up and out of your work gives you normalcy and time to recharge and reset.
Do less, produce more. Enjoy your snacks. Mixing up instead of taking an hour break, a few minutes is all you need to refresh.
You can efficiently use these breaks to also take quick restroom breaks.
We sometimes get too busy. I get some of my best ideas doing the simplest tasks like walking to the kitchen or cleaning a bowl.
4.Mindfulness. After you pick up your snack with your hands or fork, you can focus on chewing small bites and can draw your attention back to your sense of tasting, smelling, and touching.
These little body movements and sensation cues are so undervalued in our busy worlds. They turn us to our Ayurvedic ways that are natural to us in balance when our systems are running in balance.
Drawing yourself back to your present moment also brings an appreciation for what you have — more evidence of happy moments and joy in your life that you can become aware of in the mind-body connection.
5.Emotional health. A simple habit of healthy snacking can help you in moments if you feel anxiety coming on, especially during a stressful season.
Stress serves a purpose. When you look at solidly built trees they have endured stress.
Trees form tight rings when they’re under stress that gives them the foundation to help them keep growing and build strength. Getting through stressful times is helpful for your progress and growth.
Snacks can help you stay happy. These small things (and habits) make a big difference to impact your mind-body.
You can take this a step further and add to healthy mindful snacking, another life-enhancing way to handle or process any feelings you have that are not helping you in your day.
You can listen to inspiring music, or reset with a yoga pose and intention like Mountain Pose (standing with your arms wide in the air or heart center) for mindfulness, zen, or meditation.
Your intention can be creativity, getting a project done, or believing what you want to happen is on the way.
These are examples of complementary activities. These small moments will keep your focus on your day’s purpose and what you want to accomplish.
Why are the simple things the ones we often ignore? They can have the most impact on our mind-body health.
Getting a reminder to do simple activities, such as drinking more water, can be what we need. When we start one simple task, that sets our mind to think there may be other simple habits that we can incorporate or bring back to our awareness and daily lives like to snack mindfully.
Pay attention to what you’re feeling if you’re more of a thinker. Women especially have a way to power through and discredit our feelings.
If you feel overall overwhelmed, a complicated life creates anxiety. This can be a sign to step away and get back on track to the simple or main things in your life (to calm your mind-body).
If you run a business, or if you have two jobs as a parent and going to work, find ways to simplify your life. Build systems and do the things you really want to do.
I often use, you only get to do this life once, and this moment once as a mantra. This keeps me from veering off the path or doing things I could regret as much as I can prevent.
And maybe that helps you. Taking in your mind-body moments will be beneficial for your physical and mental health today and in the future that you’re taking a step in creating today.
