We’ve had some email trouble here in LeanGreenMama Land this week and last, so if you’ve emailed me and not heard back from me in the past couple weeks, please email me again. We had trouble sending email for a while and I will never know which messages didn’t get delivered. Sorry for the trouble!

I recently happened upon an interview with a spiritual guru who claims that there’s no such thing as life balance — that when we’re balanced out, we’re boring, we’re stagnant, we’re not reaching out for our goals. While I get what he’s getting at — that we as humans should always be aiming for something bigger than the current life we’re leading, whatever that means for each of us — I think he misses the point of life balance.

I’m a big believer in (and recommender of!) life balance, which is particularly challenging for moms! By my definition, achieving a balanced life means you’re taking care of yourself well enough not to feel crazed much of the time, not to feel frustrated and frazzled and always attempting to compensate for stuff we’ve done wrong. (more…)

Today I’m sharing my answer to a really great question I know is lurking in the minds of many, many overweight moms when they think about weight loss and their own ability to get the weight off and keep it off. Thanks to the subscriber who sent this my way!

Reader Question: Will I ever “get it right”? What is the right balance of improvement that I can sustain?

My Answer:This is a tough question and yet a really important one as well. Because I’m not working with you as your coach, I don’t know your exact circumstances or where you are in your own journey to weight loss and health. But there is absolutely a way to get to a point where the healthier lifestyle takes over and you get to stop thinking about it because it just becomes who you are, how you live your life rather than the “tacked on, artificial” thing that it feels like at first if you’re anything like me and my clients.

So the answer is YES, you can absolutely get it right and lead a healthier, happier lifestyle that supports your body and soul so that you’re able to get the weight off without any of the mind junk that’s held you back in the past, which gets you more satisfied with yourself and your life as you go.

How can you get there? It does mean listening to your body, taking time to take care of yourself, being as consistent as you can manage in eating well, giving up unconstructive beliefs you’ve held about yourself and weight loss that have been keeping you from following through with getting your best body, getting and staying physically active and getting clearly focused on your long-term goals.

And when I say “focus,” I mean this more in terms of really connecting to these goals at an emotional level — knowing you’ll love how you’ll feel and really owning that joy so that you can almost taste it and feel it long before you’ve actually reached your goal weight. I don’t believe in that generic “just put your mind to it” advice on focus that doesn’t work for most of us. It’s too clinical to try to just “hunker down and focus” — think about how you’ll FEEL in a size 4/6/8/10 body (or choose the size that feels comfortable and unscary to you, but awesome nonetheless!), how much less you’ll worry about how you look, how much more energy you’ll have when the extra weight’s off. And getting there also means being willing to eliminate foods or activities that aren’t getting you closer to those goals.

And it might also mean eliminating actions like eating to placate other people’s feelings. You didn’t ask specifically about that last point, but I want to elaborate on it briefly because I find it to be so relevant to moms because we women often put ourselves last, and we also often put ourselves in social situations where others may pressure us to eat junk, to “indulge” because we’ve had such a rough time and so forth, even though that’s not what we really want for ourselves. I see that particularly in settings where kids are involved because “you don’t want to deprive your child.” If you’re sensitive to social pressure like that, sometimes it might mean that in order to feel balanced, you need to change your lifestyle a bit so that you go to fewer events or, even better, you can take the time to learn how to handle those situations more effectively so that you can press on with your new lifestyle even when others aren’t on board. We each have to live our lives in our own bodies, and it helps not to feel the need to succumb to pressure from others.

Now, that list of changes I just shared probably sounds like a lot to you, and it would FEEL like a lot too if you tried to tackle everything at once, which is why I’m ALL about the “ease in” scenario. And I’m going to be launching a new program really soon that helps you figure out these lifestyle changes one at a time in a way that actually works for folks like me who need a little more TLC as we work on weight loss. I’ve shared many times that I really struggled with weight loss for many years, and going “cold turkey” into a new lifestyle just plain did not work for me, so I developed a completely different scenario that led to me going from the depressed, ill, overweight “young old woman” I was to the Lean Green Mama I am today. :) I’ll be sharing lots more on the new program really soon, promise! And in the interim, bear in mind that everything I share in the Inner Circle is also based on these ideas too — and there’s a resource specifically on getting focused and motivated (my way, not the conventional, ineffective way bandied about far too much that makes us feel incapable if we can’t get it right — which is near impossible because the method itself doesn’t work!).

As for the right balance of improvement for YOU (or anyone reading this!), what seems right or manageable for you is the only right answer. Each of us has different needs, comes from a different background, has different family circumstances and different personal thresholds for what we can handle in the way of change at a time and over a period of time. When I work with clients one on one, we tackle individual changes at a time, and I work hard to gauge what is overwhelming for the client versus what is somewhat beyond the current comfort zone and yet still actually going to allow the client to grow. Because you can’t grow if you’re not mildly uncomfortable!

We have to step outside our comfort zones to get to new places, and if you’re doing that on a regular basis and yet are still doing OK, not feeling pushed or panicked and feel good about where things are going, you’ll get where you want to more quickly than it feels like right now. And even though it may be tempting at times to rush things, being the “tortoise” rather than the “hare” in this situation actually gets you to your goal sooner without stressing you unduly or setting you back if you’ve done too much at once.

I get lots of questions about healthy weight loss from blog readers like you, as well as my ezine subscribers, and I’m sharing a recent weight loss tip I gave in case it helps another mom out there in her healthy weight loss journey:

Healthy Weight Loss Question: Do I have to eat beans and nuts to lose weight? It seems like I wouldn’t lose weight if I ate those items.

My Answer: As you may already know know, I recommend a whole-foods, mostly plant-based diet for health and weight loss purposes based on Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s recommendations for healthy weight loss. And that includes greens, beans, fruit and healthy fats such as raw sunflower seeds and pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and raw nuts like cashews, walnuts and almonds, plus ground flaxseeds. This approach to weight loss is what I used myself and still follow to this day to maintain a healthy weight effortlessly. (In case you’re new to this blog, I want to note that I don’t advise trying to make every dietary change at once if you’ve struggled in the past with sticking to a weight loss program! Easing in really helps. But that’s another post for another time.)

Even though it seems as if eating nuts or seeds would be problematic for healthy weight loss, in reality, most women need to eat fat so that their bodies will actually release body fat instead of hoarding it for hard times. Plus, healthy fats serve several purposes vital to our health — assisting with brain function, digestion and much more. So while you don’t have to eat huge amounts of fat every day — just an ounce of raw nuts or seeds and half an avocado is all you need if you’re overweight — you do need to eat fat daily to lose weight healthfully.

Several years ago when I was in the process of losing weight myself, I hit a plateau or set point within about 10 lbs. of my ideal weight, and I tried multiple things to get past it. At that point, because I’d become more physically active, my body began requiring more healthy fats, and literally within a day of adding in more fat, the scale began moving again. This is really common as you near your ideal weight, though certainly there is very occasionally someone who needs less fat rather than more (but there’s never a reason to eliminate healthy fats from your diet entirely, which can be risky for your health!).

Likewise, we need beans in our diet for our health because they provide a wonderfully healthy protein source and plenty of staying power in our bodies so that our meals last in our systems longer. If you follow the basic eating plan outlined by Dr. Fuhrman in Eat to Live and ensure that you’re not overeating on nuts, seeds, dried fruit or regular fruit for that matter (7-8 pieces of fruit a day for an average woman who works out 3-4 times a week for 45 minutes would certainly be too much in most cases), then it might be time to consider eating 1/2 cup of beans a day rather than the minimum 1 cup that’s part of the regular plan.

Remember, healthy weight loss means, among other things, treating your body kindly and giving it the nutrients it needs not only to survive (we can, after all, survive on junk food for a good long while, but that still leads long-term to illness, fatigue and also — yes! — premature aging! and who wants that?!), but to THRIVE!

I’m so happy that nutrition’s impact on health is finally getting some real attention in the media. In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new documentary that’s coming out soon called Forks and Knives, and I can’t wait to see it. It’s focused on the research and work of 2 brilliant minds: Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.

At first glance, the film might not look like it’s your thing — 2 old guys talking about disease and healthy eating doesn’t necessarily sound all that exciting, right? But what you may not know is that Campbell is a researcher who found a powerful connection between diet and long-term health while heading up the largest nutritional/health study ever performed — and the results, published in his book The China Study, are incredible (and I’ve been recommending everyone read this for years! See my Recommended Resources for a link). Dr. Esselstyn is known for getting near-perfect results for his heart patients who followed his dietary recommendations — meaning they never had serious heart problems again if they followed his recommendations.

Now, you may be wondering what diseases like heart disease have to do with healthy weight loss for moms, which is the main subject of this blog — and the answer is that these diseases have everything to do with healthy weight loss! Because, you see, how I recommend you eat is based on these same studies and results (among many, many others)! If you eat healthfully, you naturally lose weight *and* you also happen to pretty much ensure you’ll never have to worry about the most common diseases most Westerners die of too. Odd, perhaps, but very true. Healthy eating really does matter — and to more than just your waistline (though let’s face it — that part’s awesome too!).

So you can look great, feel great and be a true Lean Green Mama :) and also be healthier than 90% of the rest of the population to boot! No small feat!

And now, without anymore ado, here’s the trailer for Forks and Knives:

Are you standing in the way of your own weight loss success?Tonight’s monthly Inner Circle coaching call is called “7 Powerful Ways You May be Sabotaging Your Weight Loss: What You Must STOP Doing to Get the Weight Off for Good!” — and on this call, I’ll be discussing the 7 most common ways that overweight moms often get sidetracked or held back entirely from losing weight, as well as what you can do to make sure you don’t fall prey to these pitfalls. If you feel like losing weight’s been an uphill battle in the past, you don’t want to miss this Inner Circle coaching call!

The call’s FREE for Inner Circle members. If you’re not a member, there’s still time to get on board before tonight’s call — which will also be available as an MP3 download for you to listen to at your convenience on the Inner Circle members-only site. Join the Inner Circle now.

I came across a quotation today that spoke to me, and I wanted to share. You see, I used to be terrified — absolutely, utterly terrified — of making mistakes. It kept me paralyzed, kept me from taking chances, kept me from opening up about who I really am as a person because I was so afraid that if anyone could see the mistakes I made, they wouldn’t want to be around me. I credit this mindset for keeping me from pursuing my own weight loss for years as well (more…)

Just a quick update: My family traveled to San Francisco last week for a brief, but fun-filled trip that involved much walking and enjoying the great outdoors (urban outdoors, that is!). It’s been below freezing here in NY for a long time now, and there’s a patch of snow on my lawn that refuses to melt even when the temp registered above freezing for a few days as a respite from the winter cold.

Now … if you’ve been reading my posts at all, you know I’m a huge fan of delicious produce, and my local health food stores know that I’ll be leaving their doors with bag after bag full of healthy greens, beans, veggies and fruits. (more…)

I’m generally considered a very happy, positive person focused on the best things in life. (That’s why I love coaching so much!) But sometimes I feel like a curmudgeon. Yes, a curmudgeon. A grumpy, bad-tempered person who doesn’t want to be nice. And here’s why …

There’s a lot, no, a plethora of absolute and total junk floating around out there in the media and the world at large about nutrition. More junk than help, in fact. And much of what’s out there either caters to the idea of moderation (which only very rarely is “moderate” at all in our culture where highly processed foods are seen as the norm and folks like me who eat actual nourishment for our meals are the weird ones) and often tells you it’s fine to eat stuff I wouldn’t feed my worst enemy, or, even worse, the articles are geared to make you feel less bad for eating unhealthy foods but touted as featuring “facts on healthy eating.”

For the record, I for one don’t believe anyone should EVER feel bad for eating bad food (more…)

As a reader of this blog, you probably already know what a huge fan of Dr. Joel Fuhrman I am. His nutritional advice for health and weight loss is better than any other on the planet, bar none, and it quite literally turned me from a very sick and weak person into the Lean Green Mama I am today. :) If you’re a fan yourself, you may be interested in finding that the folks at Whole Foods are as well …

“When Joel Fuhrman Speaks, the VIPs at Whole Foods Listen”

In case you don’t know Dr. Fuhrman yet, my favorites of his are:

Eat to Live: This is his basic program for healthy weight loss, with over 1,500 studies to back up his nutritional recommendations.

Eat for Health (2-book set): Here he outlines his ANDI and MANDI food scoring scales, which let you see how well you’re really eating and taking care of your health.

Disease-Proof Your Child: This is a really helpful reference for raising healthy children, complete with kid-friendly recipes.

Now, I’m the first to note that there’s more to healthy weight loss than knowing what to eat, but getting the nutritional side of things right certainly is a huge part of it, and Dr. F’s nutritional guidelines changed my life and the life of everyone in my family — and they’re what I recommend to the women I coach too because eating this way impacts your health and weight so powerfully. I’m thrilled that big influencers in the corporate world are finally beginning to see the incredible promise of nutrient-dense eating from Dr. Fuhrman; it’s the best way to care for your body and get thin and fabulous to boot!