New Year & Resolutions

     It's a new year, and we are all thinking about the big old question. What will be my New Years Resolution? It's something that most us do every year, yet only 8% off all people who make resolutions actually stick to them(New Years Statics). I know for myself, I have barely ever stuck to any of my resolutions that I have made. One reason why we fail so much, is that we put so much stress on ourselves to accomplish these goals. In fact, we put so much stress on ourselves that we actually set ourselves up for failure from the start. It's like we know we are going to fail internally, so we just set ourselves up for failure without thinking.

When I make my resolutions this year, I'm going think about it in terms of running.  When running,  you can't just go out and run a marathon if you have never run before. Instead, you have to work up and build up to the mileage in order for you to run that marathon. If we think of that recipe, we could better set up ourselves to be successful in our resolutions.

    So when making a resolution think baby steps and take some of these steps to help you make a resolution that will become a recipe for success.

1. Make sure the resolution is for you and not anyone else. A resolution should be something that you want to improve or make better about yourself, and not decided based on what society says.  Your resolution should come from your heart and soul.  

2. Start your resolution slow and steady to win the race. For example, if you want to eat healthier, pick one meal at a time to change your diet, and then move up to two meals, once you have successfully conquered eating one healthy meal per day.

3. Don't be hard on yourself if you fail. As humans, we all make mistakes; it's just going to happen.  One way to help you from continuing to make mistakes is by keeping a journal of every time you fail. When you fail, write down what you were feeling and what your day was like. The next day, aim to get back on track and look at why you failed. By looking back, you can try and find methods or ways to prevent you from repeating the same mistake. As we learned in school (though our politicians may not follow this) is that we learn from our past. Our past is a gateway of knowledge and experience that could help us succeed.

4.  Lastly, I like using Chris Freytag's (of ChrisFreytag.com) 80/20 percent rule to improve your life. If you are able to accomplish your resolution 80% of the time, I see it as a success. After all we aren't prefect, but I say 80% is a pretty good number to aim for.

Happy New Year from The Healthy Munch

Life Without Coffee & Caffeine

Buzz Buzz Buzz, it's the sound that everyone hears in the morning. In fact it's a dreadful sound that most of us don't want to hear at all, but it's a fact that we have to get up and head to work. Just as the alarm becomes a routine, so does our daily cup of coffee.  In fact, each day 54% of americans over the age of 18 drink roughly around 3.1 cups of coffee a day (Coffee Statistics ) which equates to a total of 500 mg or more of caffeine a day that we are drinking. This is not including any other caffeinated items we may be having through out the day such as soda, energy drinks, etc.  So can this really be good for us? The fact is that the amount of coffee and caffeine Americans are drinking is exceeding the total recommended daily consumption, which is around 200-300mg of caffeine per day.  So what are some of the negative effects of caffeine? They include insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, irritability, stomach upset, dehydration, fast heartbeat, and muscle tremors (Caffeine Side Effects). In addition to these symptoms, caffeine can cause the urge to consume more sugary food as it will spike your sugar level, causing you to crash.
   Upon learning all of this, I embarked on a challenge to rid myself of coffee and caffeine as much as possible. I started my journey over three weeks ago, and I have to say that I am feeling much better overall and have much more energy throughout the day without coffee. I had always been a morning person, but now I feel even more energized in the morning since ditching the coffee. It was a tough battle, as during the first week I suffered really bad headaches and was feeling brain cloudy and shaky during the day, while starting to get off of the coffee. I felt it was worth the benefits of  better sleep, a clearer mind to think, and feeling better about myself overall. As part of this journey, I began testing different teas that would be both caffeine free and would provided a more  natural and holistic approach towards energizing the body and supplying beneficial vitamins and nutrients.  The first tea I turned to was Dandelion Tea, as I feel it's a super power of tea. I used Traditional Medicinals Dandelion Tea, as my morning cup of hot beverage to get my day started and the benefits are just amazing.

works great to purify the blood and cleanse the system

Enhances detoxification, by stimulating urination and, by replacing potassium lost in the process

improved the function and maintains optimum liver, kidney, pancreas, spleen, stomach and gall bladder functions

Help control weight